Before it was known as Sarawak, the area was referred to by Portuguese cartographers as Cerava.
In the early 16th century, the eastern seaboard of Borneo was charted by the Portuguese, who identified the region encompassing what is now Sarawak as Cerava. While these European explorers charted the territory, they did not establish permanent settlements during this period.
By the early 19th century, the land that would become Sarawak had evolved into a territory that was loosely governed under the influence and control of the Brunei Sultanate. This historical period predates the arrival of James Brooke in 1839, who would later establish the Kingdom of Sarawak.
