History of Bengkulu: The Dutch traded Malacca with the British for Bencoolen, Sumatra 1824

The Dutch traded Malacca with the British for Bencoolen, Sumatra 1824

1824 - The Anglo Dutch Treaty or the Treaty of London was made between the Dutch and the British. The British gives Bencoolen, in Sumatra to the Dutch and Malacca to the English.

THE BRITISH RULE

In 1786, the British acquired Penang Island and established a settlement called George Town there. Gradually, Britain acquired control over more of the area to protect its shipping lanes between China and India. The Dutch traded Malacca with the British for Bencoolen, Sumatra. In 1824, the Dutch signed a treaty which surrendered to the British their possessions on the Malay Peninsula. Nevertheless, total British control was not established until the early 1900's. In 1819, Britain sent Sir William Raffles to establish a trading post on Singapore Island. In 1826, the British formed a colony called the Straits Settlements that included Melaka and the islands of Penang and Singapore. In 1840, James Brooke, a wealthy English adventurer, helped the sultan of Brunei quiet a local rebellion. In return, the sultan ceded the southern part of his territory, present-day Sarawak, to Brooke in 1841 and bestowed on Brooke the title rajah. Brooke and his descendants, called "white rajahs," ruled Sarawak as a self-governing state until the 1940's. In 1881, North Borneo (as Sabah was then called) came under the control of a private trading company called the British North Borneo Company. The British declared North Borneo and Sarawak to be British protectorates in 1888. During the late 19th century Chinese began to migrate to Malaya. In 1896 the Malay states accepted British advisors, and Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, and Pahang formed a federation. By 1914, Britain had either direct or indirect colonial control over all the lands that now make up Malaysia, which it called British Malaya.

British rule took several forms. For example, Britain had direct colonial rule in the Straits Settlements, family control by the Brookes in Sarawak, and corporate control in North Borneo. In the kingdoms on the Malay Peninsula, the British governed indirectly, through local rulers. Britain placed a representative called a resident in each kingdom. The local sultan agreed to accept the resident's advice on political and economic matters.

To increase its revenues from British Malaya, the British expanded tin mining in the late 1800's. They also introduced rubber trees from Brazil and established rubber plantations in the late 1800's and early 1900's. To provide labor for these enterprises, the British imported Chinese workers for the tin mines and Indian laborers for the rubber plantations. To help feed the rapidly expanding work force, the British encouraged the Malays to farm for a living.

The British also encouraged ethnic divisions. For example, the British administered the two main ethnic communities in Kuala Lumpur separately through their Malay and Chinese leaders. By hardening the lines that divided the Malays, Chinese, and Indians, these policies helped keep the groups from uniting against the British.

Source:
http://www.kiat.net/malaysia/history.html
http://www.alloexpat.com/malaysia_expat_forum/malacca-history-and-places-of-interest-t251.html