Bolkiah ibni Sulaiman, also known for his title as Nakhoda Ragam, was the sixth Sultan of Brunei; reigning from 1485 until his death in 1524, he ascended the throne upon the abdication of his father, Sultan Sulaiman. His reign is known by Bruneians as "the Golden Age of Brunei".
A Bruneian Sultan illustrated in the 1879 Magellan Adventure Book. It is assumed that the person on the right riding an elephant is Sultan Bolkiah, as Magellan's men are looking at the person on the right and not the left.
Tombstone of Bolkiah
Brunei, officially State of Brunei, and formally Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with its territory bifurcated by the Sarawak district of Limbang. Brunei is the only sovereign state entirely on Borneo; the remainder of the island is divided between its multi-landmass neighbours of Malaysia and Indonesia. As of 2023, the country had a population of 455,858, of whom approximately 150,000 resided in the capital and largest city of Bandar Seri Begawan. Its official language is Malay and Islam is the state religion of the country, although other religions are nominally tolerated. The government of Brunei is an absolute monarchy ruled by the Sultan of Brunei, and it implements a fusion of English common law and jurisprudence inspired by Islam, including sharia.
The tomb of a ruler of Boni in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
Brunei (汶莱國) delegates in Beijing, China, in 1761. 萬國來朝圖
British adventurer James Brooke negotiating with the Sultan of Brunei, which led to the signing of the Treaty of Labuan, 1846
Ahmad Tajuddin, the 27th Sultan of Brunei, with members of his court in April 1941, eight months before the Japanese invaded Brunei