OriginsEdit
The silat tradition has deep roots in Malayculture and can trace its origin to the dawn of Malay civilization, 2000 years ago.[1][2][3][4]The first silat to be described as Melayu is that of Riau. A section of the riverbank population took to the sea in small boats and spread across the Malay Archipelago, coming into contact with various neighbouring ethnicities. Their combatives were crude but nevertheless provided the basis of all silat. On the peninsula they mixed with Deutero-Malays and Chamic people in a wave of migration from mainland Asia around 300 B.C.[5][6] These settlers were rice-farmers from whom modern Malays are directly descended.