British Malaya 1824 67

First published in 1948, this volume’s third edition emerged contemporaneously with the transition from the Malayan Union to the Federation of Malaya, an area covering the Malay Peninsula and modern Singapore. The volume recounts the experiences of the first British residents of Malaya. Its object was to explain the circumstances and evolution of the British administration in Malaya, along with a history of the region.

From its beginnings in the late eighteenth century, the vibrant colonial port of Penang attracted a diverse range of peoples, enabled pioneering commercial enterprises, and fomented inter-ethnic collaboration and inter-cultural borrowings. The island came to be known as the 'Pearl of the Orient', and for many travellers it was their first port of call in Southeast Asia. In the early nineteenth century, Singapore displaced Penang in international trade, but the island remained a major focus of regional trade. For this reason, the story of Penang's relations with the Malay Peninsula and other parts of Southeast Asia reveal a great deal about conditions within the region.