Straits Settlements

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It has been suggested that Straits Settlement of Malacca be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

Negeri-Negeri Selat The Straits Settlements British colony ↓ 1826 – 1946 →   →   → Flag Coat of arms Malaya in 1922. The unfederated Malay states in blue, the Federated Malay States (FMS) in yellow and the British Straits Settlements in red Capital Singapore Language(s) Malay, English Government Monarchy King  - 1820–30 George IV  - 1936–52 George VI Governor¹  - 1826–30 Robert Fullerton  - 1934–46 Shenton Thomas Historical era British Empire  - Established 1826  - Disestablished 1946 Currency Straits dollar, until 1939 Malayan dollar, from 1939 Preceded by Succeeded by Penang Dutch Malacca Singapore Dindings Labuan Singapore Malayan Union North Borneo 1: Also as the British High Commissioner to the FMS and North Borneo

This article is part of the History of Malaysia series
Prehistory (60,000–2,000 BCE)
Early kingdoms
Gangga Negara (2nd–11th century CE)
Langkasuka (2nd–14th century)
Pan Pan (3rd–5th century)
Srivijaya (7th–13th century)
Kedah Kingdom ((630-1136)
The rise of Muslim states
Kedah Sultanate (1136–present)
Malacca Sultanate (1402–1511)
Sulu Sultanate (1450–1899)
Johor Sultanate (1528–current)
Jementah Civil War (1879)
European colonialism
Portuguese Malacca (1511 - 1641)
Dutch Malacca (1641 - 1824)
Kingdom of Sarawak (1841–1946)
British Malaya (1874–1946)
Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824
Burney Treaty (1826)
Straits Settlements (1826–1946)
Larut War (1861–1874)
Klang War (1867–1874)
Pangkor Treaty of 1874
Federated Malay States (1895–1946)
Unfederated Malay States (1800s–1946)
Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909
Battle of Penang (1914)
North Borneo (1882–1963)
Mat Salleh Rebellion (1896–1900)
World War II
Japanese occupation (1941–1945)
Battle of Malaya (1941–42)
Parit Sulong Massacre (1942)
Battle of Muar (1942)
Battle of Singapore (1942)
Syburi (1942–1945)
Battle of North Borneo (1945)
Sandakan Death Marches (1945)
Malaysia in transition
Malayan Union (1946–1948)
Federation of Malaya (1948–1963)
Malayan Emergency (1948–1960)
Bukit Kepong Incident (1950)
Independence Day (1957)
Federation of Malaysia (1963–present)
Operation Coldstore (1963)
Indonesia confrontation (1962–1966)
Brunei Revolt (1962–1966)
Singapore in Malaysia (1963–1965)
1964 Race Riots (1964)
Communist Insurgency War (1967-1989)
Contemporary Malaysia
Malaysia today
May 13 Incident (1969)
New Economic Policy (1971–1990)
Operation Lalang (1987)
1988 constitutional crisis (1987–88)
Asian financial crisis (1997–98)
[edit this box]

This article is part of the History of Singapore series
Early history of Singapore (pre-1819)
Founding of modern Singapore (1819–1826)
Straits Settlements (1826–1867)
Crown colony (1867–1942)
Battle of Singapore (1942)
Japanese Occupation (1942–1945)
Sook Ching massacre (1942–1945)
Post-war period (1945–1955)
First Legislative Council (1948–1951)
Maria Hertogh riots(1950)
Second Legislative Council (1951–1955) Anti-National Service Riots (1954)
Internal self-government (1955–1962)
Hock Lee bus riots (1955)
Chinese middle schools riots (1956)
Merger with Malaysia (1962–1965)
Merger referendum, 1962
Operation Coldstore (1963)
Race Riots of 1964
MacDonald House bombing (1965)
Republic of Singapore (1965–present)
1969 Race Riots of Singapore (1969)
Operation Spectrum (1987)
East Asian financial crisis (1997)
Embassies attack plot (2001)
See also Timeline of Singaporean history
[edit this box]

The Straits Settlements were a collection of territories of the British East India Company in Southeast Asia, which were given collective administration in 1826 as a crown colony, as distinct from the native princely states, some of which later formed the Federated Malay States. Initially, the Straits Settlements consisted of Penang, sometimes officially named Prince of Wales Island, Singapore with about a score of islets of insignificant size lying in its immediate vicinity, the islands and territory of the Dinding, Province Wellesley, the town and territory of Malacca and the islands of Labuan.

Contents 1 History and government 1.1 The Dindings and Province Wellesley 1.2 The governor's wider role 1.3 Dissolution 2 Population 3 Finance 4 See also 5 References and external links

[edit] History and government

The establishment of the Straits Settlements followed the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, by which the Malay archipelago was divided into a British zone in the north and a Dutch zone in the south. This resulted the exchange of the British settlement of Bencoolen (on Sumatra) for the Dutch colony of Malacca and undisputed control of Singapore. Its capital was moved from Penang to Singapore in 1832.

In 1867, the Settlements became a British crown colony, making the Settlements answerable directly to the Colonial Office in London instead of the Calcutta government based in India on April 1. Earlier on February 4, a "Letters Patent" granted the Settlements a colonial constitution. This allocated much power to the Settlements' Governor, who administered the colony of the Straits Settlements with the aid of an Executive Council, composed wholly of official (i.e. ex-officio) members, and a Legislative Council, composed partly of official and partly of nominated members, of which the former had a narrow permanent majority. The work of administration, both in the colony and in the Federated Malay States, was carried on by means of a civil service whose members were recruited by competitive examination held annually in London.

Penang and Malacca were administered, directly under the governor, by resident councillors.

[edit] The Dindings and Province Wellesley

The Dindings, consisting of some islands near the mouth of the Perak River and a small piece of territory on the adjoining mainland, were ceded by Perak to the British government under the Pangkor Treaty of 1874. Hopes that its excellent natural harbour would prove to be valuable have been doomed to disappointment, and the islands, which are sparsely inhabited and altogether unimportant both politically and financially, were administered by the government of Perak.

Province Wellesley, situated on the mainland opposite to the island of Penang, was ceded to Great Britain in 1798 by the Sultan of Kedah, its northern and eastern border; Perak lies to the south. The boundary with Kedah was rectified by treaty with Siam in 1867. It was administered by a district officer, with some assistants, answering to the resident councillor of Penang. The country consists, for the most part, of fertile plain, thickly populated by Malays, and occupied in some parts by sugar-planters and others engaged in similar agricultural industries and employing Chinese and Tamil labor. About a tenth of the whole area was covered by low hills with thick jungle. Large quantities of rice are grown by the Malay inhabitants, and between October and February there is excellent snipe-shooting to be had in the paddy fields. A railway from Batu Kawan, opposite to Penang, runs through Province Wellesley into Perak, and thence via Selangor and the Negri Sembilan to Malacca, with an extension via Mar under the rule of the sultan of Johor, and through the last-named state to Johor Bharu, opposite the island of Singapore.

[edit] The governor's wider role

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands (which were settled and once owned by a Scottish family named Clunies-Ross) and Christmas Island, formerly attached to Ceylon, were in 1886 transferred to the care the government of the Straits Settlements in Singapore along with the addition of Labuan in 1906.

The governor of the Straits Settlements was also High commissioner for the Federated Malay States on the peninsula, for British North Borneo, the sultanate of Brunei and Sarawak in Borneo, and since the administration of the colony of Labuan, which for a period was vested in the British North Borneo Company, was resumed by the British government he was also governor of Labuan. British residents controlled the native states of Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Pahang, but since the 1st of July 1896, when the federation of these states was effected, a resident-general, responsible to the (governor as) high commissioner, has been placed in supreme charge of all the British protectorates in the peninsula.

[edit] Dissolution

The colony was dissolved in 1946, when Singapore became a separate crown colony (ultimately independent), while Penang and Malacca joined the Malayan Union, which eventually became Malaysia.

The Cocos or Keeling Islands and the Christmas Island, originally made part of the crown colony of Singapore in 1946, came under Australian administration in 1955 and 1957 respectively, while Labuan became part of British North Borneo (becoming a district of Sabah), later also part of Malaysia.

[edit] Population

The following are the area and population, with details of race distribution, of the colony of the Straits Settlements, the figures being those of the census of 1901:

	Area in square miles	Population in 1891	Population in 1901
			Total	Europeans	Eurasians	Chinese	Malays	Indians	Other nationalities
Singapore	206	184,554	228,555	3,824	4,120	164,041	36,080	17,823	2,667
Penang, Province Wellesley and Dindings	381	235,618	248,207	1,160	1,945	98,424	106,000	38,051	2,627
Malacca	659	92,170	95,487	74	1,598	19,468	72,978	1,276	93
Total	1,246	512,342	572,249	5,058	7,663	281,933	215,058	57,150	5,387

The population, which was 306,775 in 1871 and 423,384 in 1881, had in 1901 reached a total of 572,249. As in former years, the increase is solely due to immigration, more especially of Chinese, though a considerable number of Tamils and other natives of-India annually settle in the Straits Settlements. The total number of births registered in the colony during the year 1900 was I4,814, and the ratio per 1000 of the population during 1896, 1897 and 1898 respectively was 22-18, 20-82 and 21-57; while the number of registered deaths for the years 1896-1900 gave a ratio per 1000 of 42-21, 36-90, 30-43, 31-66 and 36-25 respectively, the number of deaths registered during 1900 being 23,385. The cause to which the excess of deaths over births is to be attributed is to be found in the fact that the Chinese and Indian population, which numbers 339,083, or over 59% of the whole, is composed of 261,412 males and only 77,671 females, and a comparatively small number of the latter are married women and mothers of families. The male Europeans also outnumber the females by about two to one; and among the Malays and Eurasians, who alone have a fair proportion of both sexes, the infant mortality is always excessive, this being due to early marriages and other well-known causes. The number of immigrants landing in the various settlements during 1906 was:

Singapore 176,587 Chinese; Penang 56,333 Chinese and 52,041 natives of India; and Malacca 598 Chinese. The total number of immigrants for 1906 was therefore 285,560, as against 39,136 emigrants, mostly Chinese returning to China. In 1867, the date of the transfer of the colony from the East India Company to the Crown, the total population was estimated at 283,384.

[edit] Finance

The revenue of the colony in 1868, only amounted to $1,301,843. That for 1906 was $9,512,132, exclusive of $106,180 received on account of land sales. Of this sum $6,650,558 was derived from import duties on opium, wines and spirits, and licences to deal in these articles, $377,972 from land revenue, $592,962 from postal and telegraphic revenue, and $276,019 from port and harbour dues. The expenditure, which in 1868 amounted to $1,197,177, had risen in 1906 to $8,747,819. The total cost of the administrative establishments amounted to $4,450,791, of which $2,586,195 were personal emoluments and $1,864,596 other charges. The military expenditure (the colony pays on this account 20% of its gross revenue to the Imperial government by way of military contribution) amounted in 1906 to $1,762,438; $578,025 was expended on upkeep and maintenance of existing public works, and $1,209,291 on new roads, streets; bridges and buildings.

[edit] See also

• Governor of the Straits Settlements
• Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements
• Straits Settlement of Malacca
• History of Malaysia
• History of Singapore
• Malaya
• Postage stamps and postal history of the Straits Settlements

[edit] References and external links

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article "Straits Settlements", a publication now in the public domain.
• Straits Settlements Blue Book, rpo (Singapore, 1907)
• Straits Directory, 1908 (Singapore, 1908)
• Journal of the Straits branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (Singapore)
• Sir Frederick Weld and Sir William Maxwell, severally, on the Straits Settlements in the Journal of the Royal Colonial Institute (London, 1884 and 1892)
• Henry Norman, The Far East (London, 1894)
• Alleyne Ireland, The Far Eastern Tropics (London, 1904); Sir Frank Swettenham, British Malaya (London, 1906)
• The Life of Sir Stamford Raffles (London, 1856, 1898). (H. Cl,.)

v • d • e British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations Legend Current territory  ·   Former territory * now a Commonwealth Realm  ·   now a member of the Commonwealth of Nations Europe  18th century 1708–1757  Minorca since 1713  Gibraltar 1782–1802  Minorca 19th century 1800–1964  Malta 1807–1890  Heligoland 1809–1864  Ionian Islands 1878–1960  Cyprus 20th century since 1960  Akrotiri and Dhekelia North America  17th century 1607–1776  Virginia 1610–1907  Newfoundland since 1619  Bermuda 1620–1691  Plymouth Colony 1629–1691  Massachusetts Bay Colony 1632–1776  Maryland 1636–1776  Connecticut 1636–1776  Rhode Island 1637–1662  New Haven Colony 1663–1712  Carolina 1664–1776  New York 1665–1776  New Jersey 1670–1870  Rupert's Land 1674–1702  East Jersey 1674–1702  West Jersey 1680–1776  New Hampshire 1681–1776  Pennsylvania 1686–1689  Dominion of New England 1691–1776  Massachusetts 18th century 1701–1776  Delaware 1712–1776  North Carolina 1712–1776  South Carolina 1713–1867  Nova Scotia 1733–1776  Georgia 1763–1873  Prince Edward Island 1763–1791  Quebec 1784–1867  New Brunswick 1791–1841  Lower Canada 1791–1841  Upper Canada 19th century 1818–1846  Columbia District / Oregon Country1 1841–1867  Province of Canada 1849–1866  Vancouver Island 1858–1866  British Columbia 1859–1870  North-Western Territory 1862–1863  Stikine Territory 1866–1871  Vancouver Island                       and British Columbia 1867–1931  *Dominion of Canada2 20th century 1907–1949  Dominion of Newfoundland3 1Occupied jointly with the United States 2In 1931, Canada and other British dominions obtained self-government through the Statute of Westminster. "Dominion" remains Canada's legal title; see Canada's name. 3Gave up self-rule in 1934, but remained a de jure Dominion until it joined Canada in 1949. Latin America and the Caribbean  17th century 1605–1979  *Saint Lucia 1623–1883  Saint Kitts (*Saint Kitts & Nevis) 1624–1966  *Barbados 1625–1650  Saint Croix 1627–1979  *St. Vincent and the Grenadines 1628–1883  Nevis (*Saint Kitts & Nevis) 1629–1641  St. Andrew and Providence Islands4 since 1632  Montserrat 1632–1860  Antigua (*Antigua & Barbuda) 1643–1860  Bay Islands since 1650  Anguilla 1651–1667  Willoughbyland (Suriname) 1655–1850  Mosquito Coast (protectorate) 1655–1962  *Jamaica since 1666  British Virgin Islands since 1670  Cayman Islands 1670–1973  *Bahamas 1670–1688  St. Andrew and Providence Islands4 1671–1816  Leeward Islands 18th century 1762–1974  *Grenada 1763–1978  Dominica since 1799  Turks and Caicos Islands 19th century 1831–1966  British Guiana (Guyana) 1833–1960  Windward Islands 1833–1960  Leeward Islands 1860–1981  *Antigua and Barbuda 1871–1964  British Honduras (*Belize) 1882–1983  *St. Kitts and Nevis 1889–1962  Trinidad and Tobago 20th century 1958–1962  West Indies Federation 4Now the San Andrés y Providencia Department of Colombia Africa  18th century 1792–1961  Sierra Leone 1795–1803  Cape Colony 19th century 1806–1910  Cape Colony 1816–1965  Gambia 1856–1910  Natal 1868–1966  Basutoland (Lesotho) 1874–1957  Gold Coast (Ghana) 1882–1922  Egypt 1884–1966  Bechuanaland (Botswana) 1884–1960  British Somaliland 1887–1897  Zululand 1888–1894  Matabeleland 1890–1980  Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) 1890–1962  Uganda 1890–1963  Zanzibar (Tanzania) 1891–1964  Nyasaland (Malawi) 1891–1907  British Central Africa 1893–1968  Swaziland 1895–1920  British East Africa 1899–1956  Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 20th century 1900–1914  Northern Nigeria 1900–1914  Southern Nigeria 1900–1910  Orange River Colony 1900–1910  Transvaal Colony 1906–1954  Nigeria Colony 1910–1931  South Africa 1911–1964  Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) 1914–1954  Nigeria Protectorate 1915–1931  South West Africa (Namibia) 1919–1960  Cameroons (Cameroon) 5 1920–1963  Kenya 1922–1961  Tanganyika (Tanzania) 5 1954–1960  Nigeria 5League of Nations mandate Asia  18th century 1757–1947  Bengal (West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh) 1762–1764  Philippines 1795–1948  Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1796–1965  Maldives 19th century 1819–1826  British Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore) 1826–1946  Straits Settlements 1839–1967  Colony of Aden 1841–1997  Hong Kong 1841–1941  Kingdom of Sarawak (Malaysia) 1858–1947  British India (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Burma) 1882–1963  British North Borneo (Malaysia) 1885–1946  Unfederated Malay States 1891–1971  Muscat and Oman protectorate 1892–1971  Trucial States protectorate 1895–1946  Federated Malay States 1898–1930  Weihai Garrison 20th century 1918–1961  Kuwait protectorate 1920–1932  Iraq5 1921–1946  Transjordan5 1923–1948  Palestine5 1946–1948  Malayan Union 1946–1963  Sarawak (Malaysia) 1948–1957  Federation of Malaya (Malaysia) since 1965  British Indian Ocean Territory 5League of Nations mandate Oceania  18th century 1788–1901  New South Wales 19th century 1803–1901  Van Diemen's Land/Tasmania 1807–1863  Auckland Islands6 1824–1980  New Hebrides (Vanuatu) 1824–1901  Queensland 1829–1901  Swan River Colony/Western Australia 1836–1901  South Australia since 1838  Pitcairn Islands 1841–1907  Colony of New Zealand 1851–1901  Victoria 1874–1970  Fiji7 1877–1976  British Western Pacific Territories 1884–1949  Territory of Papua 1888–1965  Cook Islands6 1888–1984  Sultanate of Brunei 1889–1948  Union Islands (Tokelau)6 1892–1979  Gilbert and Ellice Islands8 1893–1978  British Solomon Islands9 20th century 1900–1970  Tonga (protected state) 1900–1974  Niue6 1901–1942  *Commonwealth of Australia 1907–1953  *Dominion of New Zealand 1919–1949  Territory of New Guinea 1949–1975  Territory of Papua and New Guinea10 6Now part of the *Realm of New Zealand 7Suspended member 8Now Kiribati and *Tuvalu 9Now the *Solomon Islands 10Now *Papua New Guinea Antarctica and South Atlantic  17th century since 1659  St. Helena 19th century since 1815  Ascension Island11 since 1816  Tristan da Cunha11 since 1833  Falkland Islands12 20th century since 1908  British Antarctic Territory13 since 1908  South Georgia and                       the South Sandwich Islands12, 13 11Dependencies of St. Helena since 1922 (Ascension Island) and 1938 (Tristan da Cunha) 12Occupied by Argentina during the Falklands War of April–June 1982 13Both claimed in 1908; territories formed in 1962 (British Antarctic Territory) and 1985 (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands)

v • d • e Protectorates and crown colonies of British Malaya and Borneo Malaya Straits Settlements (1826–1946) · Federated Malay States (1895–1946) · Unfederated Malay States (1800s–1946) Borneo Sultanate of Brunei (1888–1984) · Kingdom of Sarawak (1841–1941) · North Borneo (1882–1963)