British Malaya

Malaysia, 1826–1957. Draft, not yet reviewed

The term British Malaya loosely describes a set of states on the lower Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British hegemony or control between the late 18th and the mid-20th century. British Malaya comprised the Straits Settlements, the Federated Malay States, and the Unfederated Malay States, which all held varying degrees of autonomy. Under British hegemony, Malaya became one of the most profitable territories of the Empire. During World War II, the Empire of Japan overran British Malaya and occupied the colony as a single unit administered from Singapore.

Seat of power: Kuala Lumpur

No rulers documented for this era yet.

Culture

• In April 1771, Jourdain, Sulivan and de Souza, a British firm based in Madras, India, sent Francis Light to meet the Sultan of Kedah, Muhammad Jiwa Zainal Adilin II, to open up the Kedah's market for trading.
• The British established a trading post in Singapore in 1819 and gained complete control of the island in 1824.
• The British, as well as the Dutch were active in the states, each seeking to monopolise production of tin and other commodities.

Picture

The Sultan Abdul Samad Building in Kuala Lumpur originally housed the offices of the British colonial administration.

Image: Gerold Kogler, CC BY-SA 3.0, file

Sources

• British Malaya (Wikipedia)
• British Malaya (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.