[2] Throughout its pre-Melakan history, Pahang was established as a mueang[3] or naksat[4] of some major regional Malayic mandalas including Langkasuka,[5] Srivijaya[6] and Ligor.

[10] During this period, Pahang was heavily involved in attempts to rid the Peninsula of the various foreign imperial powers; Portugal, Holland and Aceh.

Supported by the neighbouring Terengganu Sultanate and the Siamese, Wan Ahmad emerged victorious, establishing controls over important towns and expelled his brother in 1863.

After 1806, the empire's constituent parts effectively became principalities, and the cultural unity that had hitherto existed between the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Riau-Lingga was gradually destroyed.

The signing of Anglo-Dutch Treaty in 1824 further undermined the cohesion of the Johor-Pahang-Riau-Lingga empire and contributed to the emergence of Pahang and Johor as independent states.

The Treaty confirmed, among other things, that the islands south of Singapore, including Java and Sumatra, were to remain the preserve of the Dutch, while the Peninsula would be within the British sphere of influence.

While Bendahara Tun Ali had acknowledged Abdul Rahman as his overlord, the Anglo-Dutch Treaty confined the Sultan to Riau-Lingga, where he was deemed a vassal of the Dutch, and prevented him from exercising his control over the Malay Peninsula, which had come under the British.