Raffles Establishes a British Port at Singapore

During the late eighteenth century, commerce between Great Britain and Qing-dynasty China expanded rapidly, prompting the British Empire to look for maritime stations along the primary sailing corridors. The British East India Company obtained Penang through agreements with the Sultan of Kedah in 1786 and 1791. During the European conflicts of the First Coalition, the exiled Dutch ruler issued the Kew Letters in 1795, instructing overseas Dutch posts to place their colonies under temporary British custody. This arrangement briefly transferred several regional holdings, including Malacca, to British administration until European stability prompted an 1814 pact that restored these territories to the Netherlands. Once Dutch authorities resumed control, they levied steep duties on foreign vessels, which renewed the British search for an unencumbered base near the Malay Peninsula.

The regional political balance shifted further following the death of Sultan Mahmud Shah III of Johor in 1811. His elder son, Tengku Hussein, was away in Pahang attending his own wedding, leaving the younger son, Tengku Abdul Rahman, to ascend the throne. Tengku Hussein subsequently went into exile on Penyengat Island within the Riau Archipelago. By late 1818, the Dutch secured an agreement with the younger ruler to station troops in Riau, cementing their dominance over the passage through the Strait of Malacca. Meanwhile, Sir Stamford Raffles, who had assumed the post of Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen earlier that year, secured approval from British authorities in India to seek a rival commercial outpost located southeast of the strait.