Straits Settlements Heritage

Straits Settlements Coat of Arms (Centre), on the wall of Tanjung Pagar Railway Station, Federated of Malaya States Railways

Straits Settlements Heritage

The British came to South East Asia and established a trading post in 1786, Penang by Captain Francis Light on behalf of the East India Company.It was then named as Prince of Wales Island, and the town as George Town - after the reigning British Monarch; King George III.

Come 1795, they attacked and captured the Dutch port of Malacca, which would be British possession after the signing of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty in August 1824. In 1819, the Sir Stamford Raffles founded and acquired Singapore for the East India Company.

By 1826, the East India Company, as part of British India, combined Penang, Malacca and Singapore into one single administrative unit to be named as the “Straits Settlements” - aptly named as the three trading posts were located along the Straits of Malacca.

The Straits Settlements eventually became a Crown Colony in 1867, managed by the Colonial Office in London and belonged to the British Monarch. The colony was administered by a Governor who also represented the King or Queen of Great Britain – the first being Sir George Ord.

The booming trade and commercial of the Straits Settlements attracted many settlers – the minority were the important Europeans with the  majority whom were Chinese merchants, traders and workers from Southern China. The Indians were next with most being Tamils from South India. Together with the Malays who came
from Sumatra, long before the British came, they formed the main multi-ethnic society in the Straits Settlements.

Through the years, with unique mix marriages between the locals and foreign settlers, two groups of peoples were formed – the Peranakans and the Eurasians. These two segment of the peoples are ethnically unique to the Straits Settlements Heritage.

The Peranakans ( locally born) was a mixed between local malays and migrants forming Cina Paranakans ( Chinese Baba Nyona), Jawi Peranakan ( Jawi Pekan) and Arab Peranakans.The Eurasians were locals of Malay, Chinese and Indians with mainly mixed ancestries of Portuguese, Dutch, British and Europeans.

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