Straits Settlements
The Straits Settlements (English as: "Branches of the Straits " ) included the colonies of the British East India Company in Southeast Asia on the Strait of Malacca. It existed from 1826 until 1946. Most important possessions were Penang, Singapore and Malacca.
Your great strategic importance for the Empire was based on the location on the spice route from East Asia to India and Europe. This is mainly Singapore became an important trading post. During the Opium War, they were moreover significantly as a supply base for the British military.
Establishment and expansion
The establishment of the Straits Settlements in 1826 was the administrative response to the emergence of three British possessions on the west coast of Malaya.
In 1786, Francis Light acquired Penang Island for the East India Company. Later, it was also the opposite coast, the province Wellesley, included.
Another development was the founding of Singapore by Stamford Raffles in 1819.
In 1824, the signing of a treaty between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands followed. This contract was the Malay archipelago in a British zone in the north, on the Malaysian mainland, and a Dutch zone in the south, on the islands of Southeast Asia, divided. Thus, the colony came Bengkulu on Sumatra to the Netherlands and Malacca to England.
The capital of the Straits Settlements was initially Georgetown on Penang. In 1832 Singapore was the capital.
On April 1, 1867, the Straits Settlements were a Crown Colony. The Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands were annexed, and on October 30, 1906 Labuan. The Governor of the Straits Settlements was also High Commissioner for the Malay States of Johore, Sarawak, Brunei and British North Borneo, all of which were British protectorates then.
Resolution
On 1 April 1946, the Straits Settlements were dissolved. Singapore, initially together with Labuan, became a separate Crown Colony. Penang and Malacca were crown colonies as part of the Malayan Union, the Labuan was also connected on 15 July 1946. The Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands were placed under Australian administration.