State Papers Online Colonial: Asia, Part III:
An invaluable collection of British Colonial Office files on the history of West Malaysia and Singapore from the early 19th to mid-20th centuries
State Papers Online Colonial: Asia, Part III: Malay States, Malaya, and Straits Settlements is the third instalment of State Papers Online Colonial: Asia, a program to digitise largely the British Colonial Office’s files relating to the former British colonies in East and Southeast Asia.
This collection includes 12 Colonial Office series, over 5,000 volumes, of mostly original correspondence covering the governance of the Straits Settlements, including Malacca, Penang, and Singapore; the Federated Malay States of Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, and Selangor; and the later Federation of Malaya, which comprises Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor, and Terengganu. These series also contain the first part of the Colonial Office’s “old collection” of maps and plans of former colonial territories as well as images from the Colonial Office Photographic Collection.
Within these documents, researchers can trace the history, politics, and culture of British Malaya, including power transfer from local sultans to colonial rule, trade among Malaya, the United Kingdom, and other parts of the world, development of mining and rubber industries, Japanese invasion and occupation during WWII, formation of political parties, communism, Chinese and Indian labour and immigration, the Malayan Emergency, the path toward independence, the establishment of the Federation of Malaya, Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation, and the separation of Malaysia and Singapore.
Manuscript series (The National Archives, UK) in Part III include:
- CO 273, 1838-1946: Straits Settlements Original Correspondence
- CO 425, 1867-1873: Straits Settlements Entry Books
- CO 426, 1867-1945: Straits Settlements Register of Correspondence
- CO 486, 1873-1926: Straits Settlements Register of Out-Letters
- CO 700, 1807-1906: Maps and Plans: Series I
- CO 717, 1920-1951: Federated Malay States: Original Correspondence
- CO 786, 1919-51: Federated Malay States: Register of Correspondence
- CO 889, 1956: Federation of Malaya Constitutional Commission (Reid Commission): Minutes and Papers
- CO 1022, 1950-1956: South East Asia Department: Original Correspondence
- CO 1030, 1953-1965: Far Eastern Department and Successors: Original Correspondence
- CO 1047, 1905-1938: Maps and Plans: Series II
- CO 1069: 1860s-1961: Colonial Office Photographs
Additional Details
subjects covered
- Asian Studies
- South & Southeast Asian Studies
- British Studies
- Colonialism
