Over 1200 rarely seen, beautiful and fascinating images vividly bring Malaysia's history to life - including maps, prints and engravings before the age of photography; rare hand-coloured glass slides; early photographs of picturesque views and evocative portraits captured in the 1860s by early professional studios, official photographs of royal festivities; amateur attempts to record people, places and wildlife; the shots of press photographs chronicling everyday life as well as major events such as World War II, the Emergency and Independence; and the late 20th century photographers who have documented the country's journey from a largely agrarian community to an industrialized nation. The two-year search for the vivid and unusual resulted in a number of unexpected discoveries which are reproduced alongside classic images without which no visual history of Malaysia would be complete. Each picture conveys a strong sense of place, and together they tell the story of Malaysia's progress through its development from that of an ancient trading kingdom to that of a modern independent nation.