[1] For more detailed information respecting the several islands and
groups of the archipelago, see the separate articles BORNEO; JAVA;
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS; SUMATRA, &c.
[2] See _The Geographical Journal_, ix. 80 seq. (London, 1897).
MALAIR, a small province of Persia, situated between Hamadan and
Burujird. It has a population of about 70,000, and, together with the
district Tusirkhan, pays a yearly revenue of about £13,000. It produces
much corn and fruit; a great quantity of the latter, dried, is exported.
Its capital and seat of government is Doletabad (Dowletabad), a thriving
little city, with a population of about 5000, situated at an elevation
of 5680 ft., 38 m. from Hamadan and 32 m. from Burujird. It has post and
telegraph offices.
MALAY PENINSULA (called by the Malays _Tanah Malayu_, i.e. the Malay
Land), a lozenge-shaped strip of land projecting into the China Sea,
and forming the most southerly portion of the continent of Asia.
Geographically, the peninsula begins at the isthmus of Kra, 10° N., at
which point it is only between 60 and 70 m. in width, and the distance
from sea to sea is further diminished by a large irregular salt-water
inlet. Politically and anthropologically, however, this upper portion
must be regarded as a continuation of the kingdom of Siam rather than as
a section of Malaya. From the isthmus of Kra the peninsula extends south
with a general inclination towards the east, the most southerly point
being Tanjong Bulus in 1° 16½´ N. A line drawn diagonally down the
centre from the isthmus of Kra to Cape Romania (Ramunya) gives the
extreme length at about 750 miles. The breadth at the widest point, from
Tanjong Pen-unjut in Trengganu to Tanjong Hantu in the Dindings
territory, is about 200 m. The area is estimated at about 70,000 sq. m.
The peninsula is bounded on the N. by Siam, on the S. by the island and
strait of Singapore, on the E. by the China Sea, and on the W. by the
Strait of Malacca.
_Physical Characteristics._--A range of granite mountains forms a
backbone which divides the peninsula into two unequal portions, the
larger of which lies to the east and the smaller to the west of the
chain. Smaller ranges run parallel to the main mountain chain in many
places, and there are numerous isolated spurs which have no connexion
with either. The country is covered with limestone in many parts, and
large isolated bluffs of this formation stand up in the plains both on
the eastern and the western slopes. The descent from the summits of
the range into the plain is somewhat less abrupt on the western than
it is on the eastern side, and between the foot of the mountains and
the Strait of Malacca the largest known alluvial deposits of tin are
situated. On the eastern side of the range, after a steep descent, the
granite formation speedily gives place to slates of vast depth,
intersected here and thereby fissures of quartz containing gold, and
in many places covered by limestone which has been superimposed upon
the slates. The highest known peak in the main range is that of Gunong
Korbu, 7217 ft. above sea-level. The highest mountain is believed to
be Gunong Tahan, which forms part of an isolated range on the eastern
side, between Pahang and Kelantan, and is estimated at about 8000 ft.
The west coast throughout its whole length is covered to a depth of
some miles with mangrove swamps, with only a few isolated stretches of
sandy beach, the dim foliage of the mangroves and the hideous mud
flats presenting a depressing spectacle. On the east coast the force
of the north-east monsoon, which beats upon the shores of the China
Sea annually from November to February, has kept the land for the most
part free from mangroves, and the sands, broken here and there by
rocky headlands thickly wooded, and fringed by _casuarina_ trees,
stretch for miles without interruption. The islands on each coast
present the features of the shore to which they are adjacent. On both
the east and the west coast the islands are thickly wooded, but
whereas the former are surrounded by beautiful sands and beaches, the
latter are fringed by mangrove-swamps. The whole peninsula may be
described as one vast forest, intersected in every direction by
countless streams and rivers which together form the most lavish
water-system in the world. Only an insignificant fraction of these
forests has ever been visited by human beings, the Malays and even the
aboriginal tribe having their homes on the banks of the rivers, and
never, even when travelling from one part of the country to another,
leaving the banks of a stream except for a short time when passing
from one river-system to another. The bulk of the jungle, therefore,
which lies between stream and stream, has never been trodden by the
foot of man. The principal rivers on the west coast are the Perak, the
Bernam and the Muar. The first-named is far finer than its fellows,
and is navigable for steamers for about 40 m. from its mouth, and for
native craft for over 250 m. It is exceedingly shallow, however, and
is not of much importance as a waterway. The Bernam runs through flat
swampy country for the greater part of its course, and steam-launches
can penetrate to a distance of over 100 m. from its mouth, and it is
therefore probably the deepest river. The country which it waters,
however, is not of any value, and it is not much used. The Muar waters
a very fertile valley, and is navigable for native boats for over 150
m. On the east coast the principal streams are the Petani, Telubin,
Kelantan, Besut, Trengganu, Dungun, Kmamun, Kuantan, Pahang, Rompin,
Endau and Sedeli, all guarded by difficult bars at their mouths, and
dangerous during the continuance of the north-east monsoon. The
deepest rivers are the Kuantan and Rompin; the largest are the
Kelantan and the Pahang, both of which are navigable for native boats
for a distance of over 250 m. The Trengganu river is obstructed by
impassable rapids at a distance of about 30 m. from its mouth. The
rivers on the east coast are practically the only highways, the Malays
always travelling by boat in preference to walking, but they serve
their purpose very indifferently, and their great beauty is their
chief claim to distinction. Magnificent caves are found on both slopes
of the peninsula, those at Batu in Selangor being the finest on the
west coast, while those of Chadu and Koto Glanggi in Pahang are the
most extensive yet visited by Europeans on the east coast. They are
all of limestone formation. So far as is known, the Malay Peninsula
consists of an axial zone of crystalline rocks, flanked on each side
by an incomplete band of sedimentary deposits. Granite is the most
widely spread of the crystalline rocks; but dikes of various kinds
occur, and gneiss, schist and marble are also met with. These rocks
form the greater part of the central range, and they are
often--especially the granite--decomposed and rotten to a considerable
depth. The sedimentary deposits include slate, limestone and
sandstone. Impure coal has also been recorded. The limestone has
yielded _Proetus_, _Chonetes_ and other fossils, and is believed to be
of Carboniferous age. In the sandstone Myophoria and other Triassic
fossils have been found, and it appears to belong to the Rhaetic or
Upper Trias.[1] The minerals produced are tin, gold, iron, galena and
others, in insignificant quantities.
The tin occurs in the form of cassiterite, and is found chiefly in or
near the crystalline rocks, especially the granite. As stream tin it
occurs abundantly in some of the alluvial deposits derived from the
crystalline area, especially on the west coast. Only two tin lodes are
worked, however, and both are situated on the east coast, the one at
Kuantan in Pahang, the other at Bandi in Trengganu territory. On the
west coast no true lode has yet been discovered, though the vast
alluvial deposits of tin found there seem to make such a discovery
probable in the future. Since 1890 the tin produced from these
alluvial beds has supplied between 50% and 75% of the tin of the
world. Gold is worked with success in Pahang, and has been exploited
from time immemorial by the natives of that state and of Kelantan.
Small quantities have also been found on the western slope in Perak.
_Climate, &c._--It was formerly the custom to speak of the Malay
Peninsula as an unhealthy climate, and even to compare it with the
west coast of Africa. It is now generally admitted, however, that,
though hot, it compares favourably with that of Burma. The chief
complaint which Europeans make concerning it is the extreme humidity,
which causes the heat to be more oppressive than is the case where the
air is dry. On the other hand, the thermometer, even at Singapore on
the southern coast, which is the hottest portion of the peninsula,
seldom rises above 98° in the shade, whereas the mean for the year at
that place is generally below 80°. On the mainland, and more
especially on the eastern slope, the temperature is cooler, the
thermometer seldom rising above 93° in the shade, and falling at night
below 70°. On an average day in this part of the peninsula the
temperature in a European house ranged from 88° to 68°. The number of
rainy days throughout the peninsula varies from 160 to over 200 in
each year, but violent gusts of wind, called "Sumatras," accompanied
by a heavy downpour of short duration, are more common than persistent
rain. The rainfall on the west coast varies from 75 to 120 in. per
annum, and that of the east coast, where the north-east monsoon breaks
with all its fury, is usually about 155 in. per annum. Malarial fevers
make their appearance in places where the forest has been recently
felled, or where the surface earth has been disturbed. It is noticed
that labourers employed in deep mines worked by shafts suffer less
from fever than do those who are engaged in stripping the alluvial
deposits. This, of course, means that a new station, where clearing,
digging, and building are in progress, is often unhealthy for a time,
and to this must be attributed the evil reputation which the peninsula
formerly enjoyed. To Europeans the climate is found to be relaxing and
enervating, but if, in spite of some disinclination for exertion,
regular exercise is taken from the beginning, and ordinary precautions
against chills, more especially to the stomach, are adopted, a
European has almost as good a chance of remaining in good health in
the peninsula as in Europe. A change of climate, however, is
imperatively necessary every five or six years, and the children of
European parents should not be kept in the peninsula after they have
attained the age of four or five years. The Chinese immigrants suffer
chiefly from fever of a malarial type, from beri-beri, a species of
tropical dropsy, and from dysentery. The Malays formerly suffered
severely from smallpox epidemics, but in the portion of the peninsula
under British rule vaccination has been introduced, and the ravages of
the disease no longer assume serious dimensions. Occasional outbreaks
of cholera occur from time to time, and in the independent states
these cause terrible loss of life, as the natives fly from the disease
and spread the infection in every direction. As a whole, the Malays
are, however, a remarkably healthy people, and deformity and
hereditary diseases are rare among them. There is little leprosy in
the peninsula, but there is a leper hospital near Penang on Pula
Deraja and another on an island on the west coast for the reception of
lepers from the Federated Malay States.
_Flora and Fauna._--The soil of the peninsula is remarkably fertile
both in the plains and on the mountain slopes. In the vast forests the
decay of vegetable matter during countless ages has enriched the soil
to the depth of many feet, and from it springs the most marvellous
tangle of huge trees, shrubs, bushes, underwood, creepers, climbing
plants and trailing vines, the whole hung with ferns, mosses, and
parasitic growths, and bound together by rattans and huge rope-like
trailers. In most places the jungle is so dense that it is impossible
to force a way through it without the aid of a wood-knife, and even
the wild beasts use well-worn game-tracks through the forest. In the
interior brakes of bamboos are found, many of which spread for miles
along the river banks. Good hard-wood timber is found in plenty, the
best being the _merabau_, _penak_, _rasok_ and _chengal_. Orchids of
countless varieties abound. The principal fruit trees are the
_duri-an_, mangosteen, custard-apple, pomegranate, _rambut-an_,
_pulas-an_, _langsat_, _rambai_, jack-fruit, coco-nut, areca-nut,
sugar-palm, and banana. Coffee, tobacco, sugar-cane, rice, pepper,
gambier, cotton and sago are cultivated with success. Great
developments have been made of recent years in the cultivation of
rubber in British Malaya. The principal jungle products are gutta and
rubber of several varieties, and many kinds of rattan. The mangrove
grows on the shores of the west coast in profusion. Agilawood, the
camphor tree, and ebony are also found in smaller quantities.
The fauna of the peninsula is varied and no less profuse than is the
vegetable life. The Asiatic elephant; the _seladang_, a bison of a
larger type than the Indian gaur; two varieties of rhinoceros; the
honey bear (_bruang_), the tapir, the sambhur (_rusa_); the speckled
deer (_kijang_), three varieties of mouse-deer (_napoh_, _plandok_ and
_kanchil_); the gibbon (_ungka_ or _wawa'_), the _siamang_, another
species of anthropoid ape, the _brok_ or coco-nut monkey, so called
because it is trained by the Malays to gather the nuts from the
coco-nut trees, the _lotong_, _kra_, and at least twenty other kinds
of monkey; the _binturong_ (_arctictis binturong_), the lemur; the
Asiatic tiger, the black panther, the leopard, the large wild cat
(_harimau akar_), several varieties of jungle cat; the wild boar, the
wild dog; the flying squirrel, the flying fox; the python, the cobra,
and many other varieties of snake, including the hamadryad; the
alligator, the otter and the gavial, as well as countless kinds of
squirrel, rat, &c., are found throughout the jungles of the peninsula
in great numbers. On the east coast peafowl are found, and throughout
the interior the argus pheasant, the firebacked pheasant, the blue
partridge, the adjutant-bird, several kinds of heron and crane, duck,
teal, cotton-teal, snipe, wood-pigeon, green-pigeon of several
varieties, swifts, swallows, pied-robins, hornbills, parakeets,
fly-catchers, nightjars, and many other kinds of bird are met with
frequently. A few specimens of solitary goose have been procured, but
the bird is rarely met with. The forests literally swarm with insects
of all kinds, from _cicadae_ to beautiful butterflies, and from stick-
and leaf-insects to endless varieties of ants. The scorpion and the
centipede are both common. The study of the insect life of the
peninsula opens a splendid field for scientific research, and the
profusion and variety of insects found in these forests probably
surpass those to be met with anywhere else in the world.
_Political Divisions and Population._--Politically the Malay Peninsula
is divided into four sections: the colony of the Straits Settlements and
the Federated Malay States; the independent Malay State of Johor, which
is within the British sphere of influence; the non-federated states
under British protection; and the groups of states to the north of Perak
and Pahang which are now recognized as lying within the sphere of
influence of Siam. The colony of the Straits Settlements consists of the
islands of Singapore, Penang and the Dindings, the territory of Province
Wellesley, on the mainland opposite to Penang, the insignificant
territory of the Dindings, and the town and territory of Malacca. The
Federated Malay States under British protection consist of the
sultanates of Perak, Selangor and the Negri Sambilan on the west coast,
and the sultanate of Pahang on the east coast. Johor is the only Malay
state in the southern portion of the peninsula, the whole of which is
within the British sphere, which has been suffered to remain under
native rule. The non-federated states under British protection (since
1909) are Kelantan, Trengganu, Kedah and Perlis (Palit). The population
of the peninsula numbers about 2,000,000, of whom about 600,000 inhabit
the colony of the Straits Settlements, about 900,000 the Federated Malay
States, about 200,000 the Malay State of Johor, and about 250,000 to
300,000 the remainder of the peninsula. The population of the peninsula
includes about 850,000 Chinese, mostly immigrants or descendants of
immigrants from the southern provinces of China, of whom about 300,000
reside in the colony of the Straits Settlements, 365,000 in the
Federated Malay States, 150,000 in Johor, and the remainder in smaller
communities or as isolated traders scattered throughout the villages and
small towns of the peninsula. The Malay population of the peninsula,
including immigrants from the eastern archipelago, number some 750,000
to 800,000, while the Tamils and other natives of India number about
100,000, the aboriginal natives of the peninsula perhaps 20,000,
Europeans and Americans about 6500, and Eurasians about 9000. The colony
of the Straits Settlements, and to a lesser extent the towns of the
Federated Malay States, carry a considerable heterogenous population, in
which most of the races of Asia find their representatives.
[Illustration: Map of Malay Peninsula.]
_Races of the Peninsula._--Excluding the Tai, or Siamese, who are
undoubtedly recent intruders from the north, there are three races
which for an extended period of time have had their home in the Malay
Peninsula. These are the Semang or Pangan, the Sakai or Jakun, and the
Malays. The Semang, as they are most usually called by the Malays, are
Negritos--a small, very dark people, with features of the negroid
type, very prognathous, and with short, woolly hair clinging to the
scalp in tiny crisp curls. These people belong to the race which would
seem to be the true aboriginal stock of southern Asia. Representatives
of it are found scattered about the islands from the Andaman group
southwards. The state of civilization to which they have attained is
very low. They neither plant nor have they any manufactures except
their rude bamboo and rattan vessels, the fish and game traps which
they set with much skill, and the bows, blow-pipes and bamboo spears
with which they are armed. They are skilful hunters, however, catch
fish by ingeniously constructed traps, and live almost entirely on
jungle-roots and the produce of their hunting and fishing. The most
civilized of these people is found in Upper Perak, and the members of
this clan have acquired some knowledge of the art of planting, &c.
They cannot, however, be taken as typical of their race, and other
specimens of this people are seldom seen even by the Sakai. From time
to time they have been raided by the latter, and many Negritos are to
be found in captivity in some of the Malayan villages on the eastern
side of the peninsula. The mistake of speaking of the Sakai tribes as
practically identical with the Semang or Pangan has very frequently
been made, but as a matter of fact the two races are absolutely
distinct from one another. It has also been customary to include the
Sakai in the category of Malayan races, but this too is undoubtedly
incorrect. The Sakai still inhabit in greatest numbers the country
which forms the interior of Pahang, the Plus and Kinta districts of
Perak, and the valley of Nenggiri in Kelantan. Representatives of
their race are also found scattered among the Malayan villages
throughout the country, and also along the coast, but these have
intermixed so much with the Malays, and have acquired so many customs,
&c., from their more civilized neighbours, that they can no longer be
regarded as typical of the race to which they belong. The pure Sakai
in the interior have a good knowledge of planting rice, tapioca, &c.,
fashion pretty vessels from bamboos, which they decorate with patterns
traced by the aid of fire, make loin-cloths (their only garment) from
the bark of the _trap_ and _ipoh_ trees; are very musical, using a
rude lute of bamboo, and a nose-flute of a very sweet tone, and
singing in chorus very melodiously; and altogether have attained in
their primitive state to a higher degree of civilization than have the
Semang. They are about as tall as the average Malay, are slimly built,
light of colour, and have wavy fine hair. In their own language they
usually have only three numerals, viz. _na-nun_, one; _nar_, two; and
_ne'_, three, or variants of these; all higher arithmetical ideas
being expressed by the word _kerpn_, which means "many." A few cases
have been recorded, however, of tribes who can count in their own
tongue up to four and five. Among the more civilized, however, the
Malay numerals up to ten are adopted by the Sakai. An examination of
their language seems to indicate that it belongs to the Mon-Khmer
group of languages, and the anthropological information forthcoming
concerning the Sakai points to the conclusion that they show a greater
affinity to the people of the Mon-Khmer races than to the Malayan
stock. Though they now use metal tools imported by the Malays, it is
noticeable that the names which they give to those weapons which most
closely resemble in character the stone implements found in such
numbers all over the peninsula are native names wholly unconnected
with their Malay equivalents. On account of this, it has been
suggested that in a forgotten past the Sakai were themselves the
fashioners of the stone implements, and certain it is that all tools
which have no representatives among the stone kelts are known to the
Sakai by obvious corruptions of their Malayan names. The presence of
the Sakai, a people of the Mon-Khmer stock, in the interior of the
peninsula has also been considered as one of many proofs that the
Malays intruded from the south and approached the peninsula by means
of a sea-route, since had they swept down from the north, being driven
thence by the people of a stronger breed, it might be expected that
the fringe of country dividing the two contending races would be
inhabited by men of the more feeble stock. Instead, we find the Sakai
occupying this position, thus indicating that they have been driven
northward by the Malays, and that the latter people has not been
expelled by the Mon-Khmer races from the countries now represented by
Burma, Siam and French Indo-China. The Sakai population is dying out,
and must eventually disappear. (With regard to the Malay, see MALAYS.)
_Archaeology._--The only ancient remains found in the peninsula are
the stone implements, of which mention has already been made, and some
remarkable ancient mines, which are situated in the Jelai valley in
Pahang. The stone implements are generally of one or two types: a long
rectangular adze or wedge rudely pointed at one end, and used in
conjunction with a mallet or flat stone, and a roughly triangular
axe-head, which has evidently been fixed in the cleft of a split
stick. A few stones, which might perhaps be arrowheads, have been
found, but they are very rare. The mines, which have been constructed
for the purpose of working quartz lodes containing gold, are very
extensive, and argue a high stage of civilization possessed by the
ancient miners. They consist of a number of circular or rectangular
pits sunk from the cap of a hill, and going down to a depth of in some
cases as much as 120 ft., until in fact the miners have been stopped
by being unable to cope with the quantity of water made when the level
of the valley was reached. The shafts are placed so close together
that in many instances they are divided by only a couple of feet of
solid ground, but at their bases a considerable amount of gallery work
has been excavated, though it is possible that this was done by miners
who came after the people who originally sank the shafts. Native
tradition attributes these mines to the Siamese, but no importance can
be attached to this, as it is very general for the Malays to give this
explanation for anything which is obviously not the work of their own
ancestors. A theory, which seems to have some probability in its
favour, is that these mines were worked by the Khmer people during the
period of power, energy and prosperity which found its most lofty
expression in the now ruined and deserted city of Angkor Thom; while
another attributes these works to the natives of India whose Hindu
remains are found in Java and elsewhere, whose influence was at one
time widespread throughout Malayan lands, and of whose religious
teaching remnants still linger in the superstitions of the Malays and
are preserved in some purity in Lombok and Bali. In the absence,
however, of any relics of a kind which might lead to the
identification of the ancient miners, their nationality and origin are
matters which must continue to be mere questions of speculation and
conjecture.
_History._--The first hint to reach Europe concerning the existence of
habitable lands to the eastward of the Ganges is to be found in the
writings of Pomponius Mela (A.D. 43) which speak of Chryse, or the
Golden Isle, as lying off Cape Tamus--supposed to be the most easterly
point in Asia--and over against the estuary of the Ganges. Thereafter
there occur vague references to Chryse in the _Periplus of the Erythrean
Sea_, &c., but the earliest trace of anything resembling first-hand
knowledge concerning the peninsula of Indo-China and Malaya is revealed
in the writings of Ptolemy, whose views were mainly derived from those
of his predecessor Marinus of Tyre, who in his turn drew his deductions
from information supplied to him by the mariner Alexander who, there is
every reason to think, had himself voyaged to the Malay Peninsula and
beyond. In the light of present knowledge concerning the trade-routes of
Asia, which had been in existence for thousands of years ere ever
Europeans attempted to make use of them, it is safe to identify
Ptolemy's Sinus Perimulicus with the Gulf of Siam, the Sinus Sabaricus
with the Straits of Malacca from their southern portals to the Gulf of
Martaban, the Aurea Chersonesus with the Malay Peninsula, and the island
of Iabadius or Sabadius--the reading of the name is doubtful--with
Sumatra, not as has often been mistakenly attempted with Java. Although
the first definite endeavour to locate the Golden Chersonese thus dates
from the middle of the 2nd century of our era, the name was apparently
well known to the learned of Europe at a somewhat earlier period, and in
his _Antiquities of the Jews_, written during the latter half of the 1st
century, Josephus says that Solomon gave to the pilots furnished to him
by Hiram of Tyre commands "that they should go along with his stewards
to the land that of old was called Ophir, but now the Aurea Chersonesus,
which belongs to India, to fetch gold." After the time of Ptolemy no
advance in knowledge concerning the geography of south-eastern Asia was
made until Cosmas Indicopleustes, a monk and an Alexandrian Greek, wrote
from personal knowledge between A.D. 530 and 550. His primary object was
to prove that the world was built after the same shape and fashion as
the Ark made by the Children of Israel in the desert; but he was able to
show that the Malay Peninsula had to be rounded and thereafter a course
steered in a northerly direction if China was to be reached. Meanwhile
inter-Asiatic intercourse by means of sea-routes had been steadily on
the increase since the discovery of the way to utilize the monsoons and
to sail directly to and fro across the Indian Ocean (attributed to the
Greek pilot Hippalus) had been made. After the decline of the power of
Rome, the dominant force in Asiatic commerce and navigation was Persia,
and from that time onward, until the arrival of the Portuguese upon the
scene early in the 16th century the spice trade, whose chief emporia
were in or near the Malay Peninsula, was in Persian or Arab hands.
There is considerable reason to think, however, that the more frequent
ports of call in the Straits of Malacca were situated in Sumatra, rather
than on the shores of the Malay Peninsula, and two famous medieval
travellers, Marco Polo and Ibn Batuta, both called and wintered at the
former, and make scant mention of the latter.
The importance of the Malay Peninsula, as has been noted, consisted in
the privilege which its locality conferred upon it of being the
distributing centre of the spices brought thither from the Moluccas _en
route_ for India and Europe. As early as the 3rd century B.C.
Megasthenes makes mention of spices brought to the shores of the Ganges
from "the southern parts of India," and the trade in question was
probably one of the most ancient in the world. So long, however, as
India held the monopoly of the clove, the Malay Peninsula was ignored,
the Hindus spreading their influence through the islands of the
archipelago and leaving traces thereof even to this day. The Mahommedan
traders from Persia and Arabia, following the routes which had been
prepared for them by their forebears, broke down the Hindu monopoly and
ousted the earlier exploiters so effectually that by the beginning of
the 16th century the spice trade was almost exclusively in their hands.
These traders were also missionaries of their religion, as indeed is
every Mahommedan, and to them is due the conversion of the Malays from
rude pantheism, somewhat tinctured by Hindu mythology, to the Mahommedan
creed. The desire to obtain the monopoly of the spice trade has been a
potent force in the fashioning of Asiatic history. The Moluccas were,
from the first, the objective of the Portuguese invaders, and no sooner
had the white men found their way round the Cape of Good Hope and
established themselves successively upon the coast of East Africa, in
the neighbourhood of the Gulf of Aden and the Malabar coast, than
Malacca, then the chief trading centre of the Malayan Archipelago,
became the object of their desire. The first Portuguese expedition sent
out to capture Malacca was under the command of Diogo Lopez de Siqueira
and sailed from Portugal in 1508. At Cochin Siqueira took on board
certain adherents of Alphonso d'Alboquerque who were in bad odour with
his rival d'Almeida, among them being Magellan, the future
circumnavigator of the world, and Francisco Serrão, the first European
who ever lived in the Spice Islands. Siqueira's expedition ended in
failure, owing partly to the aggressive attitude of the Portuguese,
partly to the very justifiable suspicions of the Malays, and he was
presently forced to destroy one of his vessels, to leave a number of his
men in captivity, and to sail direct for Portugal. In 1510 a second
expedition against Malacca was sent out from Portugal under the command
of Diogo Mendez de Vasconcellos, but d'Alboquerque retained it at Cochin
to aid him in the retaking of Goa, and it was not until 1511 that the
great viceroy could spare time to turn his attention to the scene of
Siqueira's failure. After some futile negotiations, which had for their
object the recovery of the Portuguese captives before hostilities should
begin, an assault was delivered upon Malacca, and though the first
attempt to take the city failed after some hard fighting, a second
assault made some days later succeeded, and Malacca passed for ever into
European hands. The Portuguese were satisfied with the possession of
Malacca itself and did not seek further to extend their empire in
Malaya. Instead they used every endeavour to establish friendly
relations with the rulers of all the neighbouring kingdoms, and before
d'Alboquerque returned to India he despatched embassies to China, Siam,
and several kingdoms of Sumatra, and sent a small fleet, with orders to
assume a highly conciliatory attitude toward all natives, in search of
the Moluccas. Very soon the spice trade had become a Portuguese
monopoly, and Malacca was the great headquarters of the trade. It should
moreover be noted that Magellan's famous expedition had for its object
not the barren feat of circumnavigation but the breaking down of this
monopoly, without violating the terms of the papal bull which gave to
Spain the conquest of the West, to Portugal the possession of the East.
In 1528 a French expedition sailed from Dieppe, penetrated as far as
Achin in Sumatra, but returned without reaching the Malay Peninsula. It
was, however, the first attempt ever made to defy the papal bull. In
1591, three years after the defeat of the Armada, Raymond and Lancaster
rounded the Cape, and after cruising off Penang, decided to winter in
Achin. They subsequently hid among the Pulau Sambilan near the mouth of
the Perak river, and thence captured a large Portuguese vessel which was
sailing from Malacca in company with two Burmese ships. In 1595 the
first Dutch expedition sailed from the Texel, but it took a more
southerly course than its predecessors and confined its operations to
Java and the neighbouring islands. During this period Achin developed a
determined enmity to the Portuguese, and more than one attempt was made
to drive the strangers from Malacca. Eventually, in 1641, a joint attack
was made by the Achinese and the Dutch, but the latter, not the people
of the sturdy little Sumatran kingdom, became the owners of the coveted
port. Malacca was taken from the Dutch by the British in 1795; was
restored to the latter in 1818; but in 1824 was exchanged for Benkulen
and a few more unimportant places in Sumatra. The first British factory
in the peninsula was established in the native state of Patani on the
east coast in 1613, the place having been used by the Portuguese in the
16th century for a similar purpose; but the enterprise came to an
untimely end in 1620 when Captain Jourdain, the first president, was
killed in a naval engagement in Patani Roads by the Dutch. Penang was
purchased from Kedah in 1786, and Singapore from the then sultan of
Johor in 1819. The Straits Settlements--Singapore, Malacca and
Penang--were ruled from India until 1867, when they were erected into a
crown colony under the charge of the Colonial Office. In 1874 the Malay
state of Perak was placed under British protection by a treaty entered
into with its sultan; and this eventually led to the inclusion in a
British protectorate of the neighbouring Malay States of Selangor,
Sungei Ujong, the cluster of small states called the Negri Sembilan and
Pahang, which now form the Federated Malay States. By a treaty made
between Great Britain and Siam in 1902 the northern Malay states of the
peninsula were admitted to lie within the Siamese sphere of influence,
but by a treaty of 1909 Siam ceded her suzerain rights over the states
of Kelantan, Trengganu, Kedah and Perlis to Britain.
Singapore is the political, commercial and administrative headquarters
of the colony of the Straits Settlements, and the governor for the time
being is _ex officio_ high commissioner of the Federated Malay States,
British North Borneo, Sarawak, the Cocos-Keeling and Christmas Islands,
and governor of Labuan.
See Sir F. Swettenham, _British Malaya_ (1906); H. Clifford, _Further
India_ (1904); _Journal of the Malay Archipelago_, Logan (Singapore);
_Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society_
(Singapore); Weld, Maxwell, Swettenham and Clifford in the _Journal of
the Royal Colonial Institute_ (London); Clifford in the _Journal of
the Royal Geographical Society_ (London). (H. Cl.)