Map of Singapore. CO 1069/565/37
State Papers Online Colonial
DELIVER GREATER RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
These British Colonial Office files document two hundred years of British engagement with the people and resources of Singapore, Brunei, Labuan, Sarawak, and British North Borneo (now Sabah). Researchers will find insight into Britain’s administration and governance of these countries, their international relations across the period, and the changing demographics and daily life of inhabitants. The documents also showcase how colonial history continues to influence these now-independent countries through chosen strategic alliances, manners of conduct, and institutional structures and how they deal with the repercussions of their colonial legacies today.
TOPICS COVERED
- Chinese communities in East Malaysia
- The Cobbold Commission and Federation of Malaysia
- Coexistence of sultans, rajahs, trading companies, and British governors or residents
- Communism in Asia, and the perceived threat by the British government
- Details of political parties and their activities
- Establishment of trading companies to exploit local resources, notably the British North Borneo Company, known as the “British East India Company” of Southeast Asia
- The fallout from the failure of Britain to defend Singapore and now Malaysia from the Japanese in World War II, which destroyed its credibility as an infallible ruler in the eyes of the local people
- Indigenous peoples
- Sultans in Brunei retaining the throne during the British protectorate
- Trade, exports, and the development of the rubber, timber, oil, coal, electricity, railway, fishing, and banking industries
- Transfer of power from local sultans to colonial rule and colonial rule to independence
- The “White Rajahs”
Look Inside
Rubber Estate clearing of young rubber, 1900s. CO 1069/522/54
Forestry work in Borneo, c.1920s. View of men moving a large log. CO 1069/541/1
Map of Singapore. CO 1069/565/37
Borneo. The Sultan of Sulu and Party, late 19th century. CO 1069/532/2
British North Borneo (now Sabah), late 19th century. CO 1069/532/25
Additional Details
subjects covered
- Asian Studies
- South & Southeast Asian Studies
- British Studies
- Colonialism
