page_title: British Malaya
section_title: Straits Settlements
hierarchical_section_title: British Malaya / Expansion of British influence (19th century) / Straits Settlements
caption_attribution_description: English: Scan of Straits Settlements 4c stamp of 1883
context_page_description: The term "British Malaya" loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British hegemony or control between the 18th and the 20th centuries. Unlike the term "British India", which excludes the Indian princely states, British Malaya is often used to refer to the Federated and Unfederated Malay States, which were British protectorates with their own local rulers, as well as the Straits Settlements, which were under the sovereignty and direct rule of the British Crown, after a period of control by the East India Company.
  Before the formation of the Malayan Union in 1946, the territories were not placed under a single unified administration, with the exception of the immediate post-war period when a British military officer became the temporary administrator of Malaya. Instead, British Malaya comprised the Straits Settlements, the Federated Malay States, and the Unfederated Malay States. Under British hegemony, Malaya was one of the most profitable territories of the Empire, being the world's largest producer of tin and later rubber. During the Second World War, Japan ruled a part of Malaya as a single unit from Singapore.
context_section_description: After the British secured Malacca from the Dutch through the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, they aimed to centralise the administration of Penang, Malacca, and Singapore. To this end, in 1826 a framework known as the Straits Settlements was established, with Penang as its capital. Later, in 1832, the capital was moved to Singapore. While the three holdings formed the backbone of the Settlements, throughout the years Christmas Island, the Cocos Islands, Labuan, and Dinding of Perak were placed under the authority of the Straits Settlements.
  Until 1867, the Straits Settlements were answerable to the British administrator of the East India Company in Calcutta. The Settlements' administrators were dissatisfied with the way Calcutta was handling their affairs and they complained to London. In 1856 the Company even tried to annul Singapore's free port status.
  In 1858, following the Indian Mutiny, the East India Company was dissolved and British India came under the direct rule of the Crown, which was exercised by the Secretary of State for India and the Viceroy of India. With Calcutta's waning power, and after intense lobbying by the administrators of the Settlements, in 1867 they were declared a crown colony and placed directly under the control of the Colonial Office in London. However, the declaration gave the colony a considerable degree of self-government within the British Empire.
  In 1946, after the Second World War, the colony was dissolved. Malacca and Penang were absorbed into the new Malayan Union, while Singapore was separated from the rest of the former colony and made into a new crown colony on its own. The Malayan Union was later replaced with the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and in 1963, together with North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore, formed an enlarged federation called Malaysia.
caption: Postage stamp of the Straits Settlements from 1883
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