The Sultanate of Kedah may be the earliest sultanate on the Malay Peninsula and is supposedly one of the oldest Sultanates in the world, allegedly founded in 1136.
The information regarding the formation of this sultanate and the history before and after its creation comes from the "Kedah Annals". The Kedah Annals were written in the eighteenth century, over a millennium after the formation of the Kedah Kingdom. It describes the first king of Kedah as arriving on the shores of Kedah as a result of an attack by a mythical gigantic beast. It states that the nation was founded by the offspring of Alexander the Great; who maintained ties with Rome throughout his reign (oddly two centuries after the decline of the roman empire due to sacks by the Visigoths and Vandals in 410 and 455).
The Kedah Annals also provide us with very unreliable information regarding the sultans of Kedah. Listing the first sultan of Kedah as Sultan Mudzafar Shah I centuries before the partitioning of the Arabic Muslim empire into distinct sultanates and almost three centuries prior to the contradictory claims of the Terengganu Inscription Stone. This claim also directly contradicts the fact that the Buddhist Srivijaya kingdom was in direct control of Kedah at the time that Sultan Mudzafar Shah I allegedly converted the region to a sultanate.
Kedah (Malay pronunciation: [kʰəˈdɑh]; also known by its honorific, Darul Aman, or "Abode of Peace") is a state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area of over 9,000 km², and it consists of the mainland and Langkawi. The mainland has a relatively flat terrain, which is used to grow rice. Langkawi is an archipelago of islands, most of which are uninhabited. Kedah was called Kadaram (Tamil:காடாரம்) by ancient and medieval Tamil people and Syburi (Thai: ไทรบุรี; rtgs: Sai Buri) by the Siamese when it was under their influence.
To the north, Kedah borders the state of Perlis and shares an international boundary with the Songkhla and Yala provinces of Thailand. It borders the states of Perak to the south and Penang to the southwest.
The state's capital is Alor Setar and the royal seat is in Anak Bukit. Other major towns include Sungai Petani, and Kulim on the mainland, and Kuah on Langkawi.
Archaeological evidence found in Bujang Valley reveals that a Hindu–Buddhist kingdom ruled ancient Kedah possibly as early as 110 A.D. The discovery of temples, jetty remains, iron smelting sites, and clay brick monuments dating back to 110 A.D shows that a maritime trading route with south Indian Tamil kingdoms was already established since that time. The discoveries in Bujang Valley also made the ancient Kedah as the oldest civilisation of Southeast Asia.