The history of West Kalimantan can be traced back to the 17th century. Dayaks were the main inhabitants of the province before the 17th century. The Malays are the native Muslims of West Kalimantan and established their own sultanate. Similar to most parts of Borneo, many of the Malays in West Kalimantan were also partly descended from the Malayalised Dayaks. The high Chinese population in this province was due to a republic founded by Chinese miners called Lanfang Republic (蘭芳共和國: Republik Lanfang), an autonomous state allied with Pontianak and Sambas Sultanate, as a substate of Qing. The government of Lanfang Republic was ended in West Kalimantan after the Dutch occupation in 1884.