Straits Settlements
Straits Settlements | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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1826–1946 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Anthem: "God Save the King" (1826–1837; 1901–1942; 1945–1946) "God Save the Queen" (1837–1901) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Status |
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Capital | George Town (1826–1832)[1] Singapore (1832–1946)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Official languages | English | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Common languages | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Monarch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1826–1830 (first) | George IV | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1936–1946 (last) | George VI | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Governor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1826–1830 (first) | Robert Fullerton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1934–1946 (last) | Shenton Thomas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Historical era | Labuan incorporated | 1 January 1907 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
15 February 1942 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Formal surrender by Japan to British Military Administration | 12 September 1945 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Federated into the Malayan Union and the Colony of Singapore | 1 April 1946 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Labuan to Crown Colony of North Borneo | 15 July 1946 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Currency | Straits dollar (1898–1939) Malayan dollar (1939–1946) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Today part of | Malaysia Australia Singapore |
The Straits Settlements were a group of
The Straits Settlements originally consisted of the four individual settlements of
Settlements
Dindings
The Dindings — named after the Dinding River in present-day Manjung District — which comprised Pangkor Island and the town of Lumut on the 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 were doomed to disappointment, and the territory sparsely inhabited and altogether unimportant both politically and financially,[3]: 981 was returned to and administered by the government of Perak in February 1935.[4]
Malacca
The Dutch colony of Malacca was ceded to the British in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 in exchange for the British possession of Bencoolen and for British rights in Sumatra. Malacca's importance was in establishing an exclusive British zone of influence in the region, and it was overshadowed as a trading post by Penang, and later, Singapore.
Penang and Province Wellesley
The first settlement was the Penang territory, in 1786. This originally comprised
Singapore
Singapore became the site of a British trading post in 1819 after its founder,
History and government
East India Company rule
The establishment of the Straits Settlements followed the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, by which the Malay archipelago was divided into a British zone in the north and a Dutch zone in the south. This resulted in the exchange of the British settlement of Bencoolen (on Sumatra) for the Dutch colony of Malacca and undisputed control of Singapore. The Settlements were largely Chinese in population, with a tiny but important European minority.[6] Their capital was moved from George Town, the capital of Penang, to Singapore in 1832. Their scattered nature proved to be difficult and, after the company lost its monopoly in the china trade in 1833, expensive to administer.[7]
During their control by the
When a "Gagging Act" was imposed to prevent the uprising in India spreading, the Settlements' press reacted with anger, classing it as something that subverted "every principle of liberty and free discussion".[12] As there was little or no vernacular press in the Settlements, such an act seemed irrelevant: it was rarely enforced and ended in less than a year.[13]: 6
Crown Colony status
On 1 April 1867 the Settlements became a British
Penang and Malacca were administered, directly under the governor, by
Governor's wider role
In 1886, the
The governor was also
Japanese invasion and dissolution
During
After the war, the colony was dissolved with effect from 1 April 1946, with
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:[3]: 980
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 was solely due to immigration, more especially of Chinese, though a considerable number of Tamils and other natives of India settled in the Straits Settlements. The total number of births registered in the colony in 1900 was 14,814, and the ratio per 1,000 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 numbered 339,083, or over 59 per cent of the whole, was composed of 261,412 males and only 77,671 females, and a comparatively small number of the latter were married women and mothers of families. Male Europeans also outnumbered females by about two to one. Among the Malays and Eurasians, who alone had a fair proportion of both sexes, infant mortality was excessive due to early marriages and other causes.[3]: 980
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.[3]: 980
In 1939, the population reached 1,370,300.[15]
Finance
In the early nineteenth century, the most common currency used in the East Indies was the
In 1837, the Indian rupee was made the sole official currency in the Straits Settlements, as it was administered as part of India.
However, Spanish dollars continued to circulate and 1845 saw the introduction of coinage for the Straits Settlements using a system of 100 cents = 1 Straits dollar, with the dollar equal to the Spanish dollar or Mexican peso. In 1867, the administration of the Straits Settlements was separated from India and the dollar was made the standard currency.
The revenue of the colony in 1868 amounted to $1,301,843. That for 1906 was $9,512,132, exclusive of $106,180 received for 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.[3]: 981
Expenditures, which in 1868 amounted to $1,197,177, rose 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 paid on this account 20 per cent of its gross revenue to the British 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.[3]: 981
See also
- Federation of Malaya
- Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca
- History of Malaysia
- History of Singapore
- Governor of the Straits Settlements
- Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements
- Postage stamps and postal history of the Straits Settlements
- Straits Settlements cricket team
References
- ^ Andaya & Andaya 1982, p. 121.
- ^ Andaya & Andaya 1982, p. 123.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k public domain: Clifford, Hugh Charles (1911). "Straits Settlements". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 980–981. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ "Sejarah Manjung". Laman Web Rasmi Majlis Perbandaran Manjung. Majlis Perbandaran Manjung. Archived from the original on 27 November 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Towards Self-government". Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, Singapore. Archived from the original on 13 July 2006. Retrieved 18 June 2006.|
- ^ Singapore Free Press, 3 January 1861
- Turnbull, CM(1972) The Straits Settlements, 1826–1867: Indian Presidency to Crown Colony, Athlone Press, London. P3
- ^ Anderson, C (2007) The Indian Uprising of 1857–8: prisons, prisoners, and rebellion, Anthem Press. P14
- ^ S. Nicholas and P. R. Shergold, "Transportation as Global Migration", in S. Nicholas (ed.) (1988) Convict Workers: Reinterpreting Australia's Past, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
- Turnbull, CM, "Convicts in the Straits Settlements 1826–1867" in Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1970, 43, 1
- ^ Petition reprinted in Straits Times, 13 October 1857
- ^ Straits Times, 28 July 1857
- ^ Seow, FT (1998) The media enthralled: Singapore revisited, Lynne Rienner Publishers, Singapore
- ^ "The Straits Settlements is Dissolved".
- ^ Chen, C. Peter. "Singapore". World War II Database.
Works cited
- Andaya, Barbara Watson; Andaya, Leonard Y. (1982). A history of Malaysia. New York, N. Y: St. Martin's Pr. ISBN 978-0-312-38120-2.
Further reading
- Straits Settlements Blue Book, 1906 (Singapore, 1907)
- Straits Directory, 1908 (Singapore, 1908)
- Works related to Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society at Wikisource (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)
- Swettenham, Frank (1905). . The Empire and the century. London: John Murray. pp. 827–834.
- The Life of Sir Stamford Raffles (London, 1856, 1898)
External links
Media related to Straits Settlements at Wikimedia Commons