Straits Settlements
From 1826 to 1946, the term "Straits Settlements" was the collective name for the British colonies of Penang (former Prince of Wales Island), Singapore, and Melaka (former Malacca), today all part of Malaysia. The British East India Company had acquired these territories, situated at the strategic Straits of Malacca, at various times in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, for protection of the trade route that led to China from the Indian subcontinent.
In 1786, the sultan of Kedah ceded Penang to the East India Company, and this became the first territory of the Straits Settlements. When the permanent occupation of Penang was assured, the East India Company expanded its territorial claim to Melaka, which became part of the Straits Settlements in 1826, the same year as Singapore. Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles had acquired Singapore from the sultan of Johor for the British East India Company in 1819. The sultan of Brunei transferred the island of Labuan to Britain in 1846; the island was governed by British North Borneo from 1889 to 1905 and was incorporated into the Straits Settlements in 1912. The Cocos Islands, in the Indian Ocean southwest of Java, Indonesia, were acquired by Britain in 1857 and became part of the Straits Settlements in 1886. Britain acquired Christmas Island, off western Java, in 1888, and it merged with the Straits Settlements in 1889.
In 1826, the administrative headquarters of the Straits Settlements was at George Town (now Penang city), and the Settlements were ruled by the Indian government. A governor, an advisory council, and a number of civil servants were based in Penang city. Each territory had a resident, whose responsibility was to assist the governor. In 1836, the headquarters was moved to Singapore, and in 1867, responsibility for the Straits Settlements was taken from India and the territories were made a crown colony controlled by the British.
The British shrewdly used these territories to establish their influence in the Malay Peninsula. Between 1832 and 1946, the Straits Settlements were major ports of call for ships plying between Europe and East Asia. With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, these ports became even more important for the British empire, as they formed the main sorting and export centers of rubber. Immigrant populations of Europeans, Chinese, Malays, and Indians in the Settlements also grew substantially, attracted by the prosperity in these regions. In 1942, the Japanese invaded Singapore, and British administration of the Straits Settlements was temporarily suspended.
The Straits Settlements crown colony was dissolved in 1946. Singapore became a separate crown colony, then part of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963–1965, and finally an independent republic in 1965. Penang and Melaka were incorporated into the Federation of Malaya in 1948 and became states in Malaysia in 1963. Labuan joined North Borneo in 1946, then Malaysia in 1963, and became a federal territory of Malaysia in 1984. Christmas Island was given to Australia in 1958. The Cocos Islands were placed under Australian rule in 1955, were purchased by Australia in 1978, and became part of Australia in 1984.
Further Reading
Hall, David George Edward. (1981) A History of South-East Asia. 4th ed. Basingstoke, U.K.: Macmillan.
Ryan, N. J. (1969) The Making of Modern Malaysia and Singapore. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Oxford University Press.
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