Straits Settlements

Singapore, 1826–1946. Draft, not yet reviewed

The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under control of the British Raj in 1858 and then under direct British control as a Crown colony in 1867. The Straits Settlements originally consisted of the four individual settlements of Penang, Singapore, Malacca and Dinding. In 1946, following the end of World War II and the Japanese occupation, the colony was dissolved as part of Britain's reorganisation of its Southeast Asian dependencies in the area.

Seat of power: Singapore

No rulers documented for this era yet.

Culture

• Singapore became the site of a British trading post in 1819 after its founder, Stamford Raffles, successfully involved the East India Company in a dynastic struggle for the throne of Johor. From 1832, Singapore was the seat of government of the Straits Settlements for 114 years until its dissolution in 1946.
• 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.
• On 8 March 1858, Commercial Square was renamed Raffles Place in Raffles' honour.

Picture

Raffles Place is the centre of the Financial District of Singapore and was first planned and developed in the 1820s as Commercial Square.

Image: Bijay Chaurasia, CC BY-SA 4.0, file

Sources

• Straits Settlements (Wikipedia)
• Straits Settlements (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

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