Kingdom of Sarawak

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Kingdom Sarawak
Kingdom of Sarawak (English)
1841 -1941
1945-1946
First flag of Sarawak (1848-1870) (1870-1946)
Second flag of Sarawak
Sarawak coat of arms
flag coat of arms
Old Flag of Brunei.svg
Old Flag of Brunei.svg
navigation Flag of Japan (1870–1999) .svg
Flag of Sarawak (1946–1963) .svg
Motto "As long as I breathe, I hope"
( Dum Spiro Spero )
National anthem Gone Forth Beyond the Sea
Official language English
Capital Kuching
Form of government kingdom
Government system Constitutional monarchy
Head of state White Rajas
James Brooke (1841–1868)
Charles Johnson Brooke (1868–1917)
Charles Vyner Brooke (1917–1946)
surface 124,450 km²
population 800,000
Population density 6.43 inhabitants per km²
independence September 24, 1841
protectorate June 14, 1888
Crown Colony June 30, 1946
currency dollar
map
MalaysiaSarawak.png

The Kingdom of Sarawak ( English Kingdom of Sarawak ) was a state that was founded in 1841 by the English adventurer James Brooke in northern Borneo . In return for his support in the fight against piracy and insurgency, the Sultan of Brunei granted the kingdom its independence. Charles Johnson Brooke , the second white Raja of Sarawak, agreed to British protectorate status in 1888 . This status lasted until 1946 when Charles Vyner Brooke ceded his rights to the United Kingdom and Sarawak became a crown colony .

history

Pengiran Muda Hashim
James Brooke fighting pirates off North Borneo, 1843
The Astana Royal Palace in Kuching
Tombs of the three white Rajas in Sheepstor, Devon , England

In the first half of the 19th century, the Sarawak area belonged to the empire of the Sultan of Brunei, but was shaken by uprisings and piracy. In 1839 the Sultan of Brunei, Omar Ali Saifuddin II , asked Pengiran Muda Hashim to pacify the rebellious ethnic groups and to fight piracy. In the same year James Brooke toured the coast of northern Borneo with his armed schooner The Royalist . Pengiran Muda Hashim asked for support, which Brooke refused.

In 1841 Brooke again toured the coast of North Borneo and this time he agreed to support Pengiran Muda Hashim in his task. He managed to peacefully end the uprising of the indigenous Bidayuh in northern Borneo, which led to the signing of a treaty in which the Sultan of Brunei Brooke left the Sarawak area for personal administration on September 24, 1841 and appointed him his liege . For this, Brooke paid the Sultan an annual amount of £ 500. The way Brooke got to his own kingdom without violence attracted a great deal of attention from the British public.

Brooke managed to become independent from the Sultan and founded the dynasty of the white Rajas. He reformed the administration and together with the Admiral Sir Henry Keppel he undertook several expeditions between 1843 and 1849 to end the piracy of the Iban tribe . Sarawak was first recognized by the United States in 1850 , followed by the United Kingdom in 1863 . In 1857 James Brooke was briefly expelled from the capital, Kuching , but was able to return to the city with the help of his nephew and subsequent successor Charles Johnson Brooke . In 1865 James Brooke supported the research trip of the Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari to Borneo.

In 1868, after the death of James Brooke, Charles Johnson Brooke became the white Raja of Sarawak. He continued the work of his uncle and continued to fight piracy and headhunting of the Iban. He expanded the trade and sphere of influence of his empire, while the Sultanate of Brunei was reduced to its present area. In 1888 he placed himself under the protection of the United Kingdom and Sarawak became a protectorate. In 1917, during the First World War , he was succeeded by his son Charles Vyner Brooke as King of Sarawak and became the third white Raja.

Under Charles Vyner Brooke, Sarawak experienced its economic heyday through the extraction of oil and rubber . This made it possible to modernize the country. During the Second World War , Borneo was occupied by Japanese troops in 1942 and the white Raja fled with his family to Sydney , Australia . In 1945, Borneo was liberated from the Australian Army and Charles Vyner Brooke was able to return. On June 30, 1946, he renounced his throne and Sarawak became a British crown colony. In return, he and his three daughters received a substantial pension . Initially his nephew and heir Anthony Walter Dayrell Brooke protested against this decision, but accepted it in 1951. On July 22, 1963, the year Charles Vyner Brooke died, Sarawak gained independence from the United Kingdom and founded, along with Singapore , North Borneo and the Federation of Malaya the State of Malaysia .

cards

White Rajas

See also

Individual evidence

  1. Hansard's Parliamentary Debates , Volume CXVIII, page 498. London 1851 (English), accessed on September 21, 2011

literature

  • Nigel Barley : White Rajah. A biography of Sir James Brooke. Little, Brown & Co., London 2002, ISBN 0-316-85920-6 .
  • Emily Hahn : James Brooke of Sarawak. A biography of Sir James Brooke. Arthur Barker, London 1953.
  • Nicholas Tarling: The Burthen, the Risk, and the Glory. A biography of Sir James Brooke. Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur et al. 1982, ISBN 0-19-582508-X .
  • Muzaffar DJ Tate: Rajah Brooke's Borneo. The Nineteenth Century World of Pirates and Head-Hunters, Orang Utan and Hornbills, and other such Rarities as seen through the Illustrated London News and other contemporary Sources. Falcon Press, Damansara Jaya 1997, ISBN 983-9672-23-1 .
  • John H. Walker: Power and Prowess. The origins of Brooke kingship in Sarawak. Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW Australia 2002, ISBN 0-8248-2500-4 .

Web links

Commons : History of Sarawak  - Collection of images, videos and audio files