Colonial rule in Malaya and Vietnam

Samuel's 14 pages of handwritten class notes, rebuilt as one page you can read on a phone. Malaya first (Britain), then Vietnam (France), then a side-by-side comparison and practice questions. The original photos are at the bottom if you want to check anything against the handwriting.

What this set of notes covers

1 · Malaya before 1874: ports and states

Britain got its three ports long before it touched the rest of the peninsula: Penang (1786), Singapore (1819) and Melaka (1824). Together they were the Straits Settlements. They were stopping points on major trade routes, used for trade (ports) and defence (forts).

Three kinds of British control (by 1914)

What the Malay states were like before the British

2 · Four reasons Britain moved into the Malay states

3 · The Larut Wars and the Perak succession dispute

Two Chinese secret societies, the Ghee Hin and the Hai San, fought four wars over the Larut tin mines. At the same time three Malay princes fought over who should be Sultan of Perak. In 1873 the two fights merged into one civil war.

1. 1848Tin found in Larut. Chinese labourers pour in from Penang and the mainland and join either the Ghee Hin or the Hai San.
2. 18611st Larut War. Starts when the Hai San cut off water to a Ghee Hin mine. The Ghee Hin lose, flee to Penang and demand compensation from the Malay chief of Larut.
3. 18652nd Larut War. Starts over a gambling dispute. The Ghee Hin want revenge; the Hai San are angry that the British backed the Ghee Hin. The Ghee Hin lose again; riots follow in 1867 and stop only when the British fine both sides.
4. 1871Sultan Ali of Perak dies. Succession fight between three chiefs: Raja Abdullah, Raja Ismail and Raja Yusuf.
5. 18723rd Larut War. Triggered by a love scandal, really a fight over mines. The Ghee Hin hire mercenaries from the mainland and win. Raja Abdullah sides with the Ghee Hin.
6. 18734th Larut War. The Hai San retake Larut; the Ghee Hin, backed by Abdullah, counter-attack. The succession dispute becomes a full civil war.

The Ghee Hin backed Abdullah's claim to the throne in exchange for control of the mines, so the Hai San threw their weight behind Ismail.

4 · The Pangkor Treaty (1874)

By the 4th Larut War the violence in the mines had spilled over and was disrupting trade in the Straits Settlements such as Penang. Britain brokered a settlement.

Four terms

1. Raja Abdullah recognised as the legitimate Sultan of Perak.
2. Residential clause: the Sultan must accept a British Resident, whose advice must be asked and acted upon on all questions other than Malay religion and custom.
3. Financial control: collection and control of all state revenue and general administration placed under the Resident.
4. Chinese settlement: secret society leaders sign a peace bond to disarm, destroy their stockades and let a British officer settle future mining disputes.

How Britain benefited

5 · The Residential system: Birch vs Low

What decided success: his relationship with the Sultan and chiefs; his personality, initiative and resourcefulness; and whether he could actually solve local problems.

Timeline of Residents in Perak

1. Nov 1874J.W.W. Birch appointed Resident.
2. Oct 1875Relations between Birch and the Malay chiefs break down completely.
3. 2 Nov 1875Birch is stabbed to death. The Perak War begins days later.
4. 1876J.G. Davidson appointed, resigns quickly after getting no military support.
5. Jul 1876Perak War ends with the capture of the leaders.
6. 1877Hugh Low appointed Resident. Raja Yusuf becomes Raja Muda (heir) and acts as ruler. In September the first Perak State Council meets.
7. 1884Low abolishes debt slavery in Perak.
8. 1889Low retires.

Same job, opposite results

The first Perak State Council (1877)

Members: Raja Muda Yusuf, Raja Idris, the Temenggong, the Resident (Hugh Low), the Assistant Resident, the head of the Ghee Hin, the head of the Hai San.

6 · From Residents to a federation, 1889 to 1909

What was wrong with the Residential system

1. Too much power in the Residents' hands: many Sultans and chiefs were not consulted on day-to-day running of the state.
2. Uneven development: each state on its own, no coordination or shared resources.
3. Roads and railways did not connect across states, confusing and inconvenient for miners, merchants and businesses.

1. 1889Frank Swettenham becomes Resident of Perak.
2. 1893Swettenham proposes a federation of the four states to fix the Residential system.
3. 1895He wins the Sultans' approval by arguing a federation would reduce the Residents' power by putting them under more oversight.
4. 1 Jul 1896Federated Malay States formed: Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang. Swettenham becomes the first Resident-General.
5. 1897First Durbar (conference of rulers): Sultans, chiefs and British officers discuss matters for all four states, mainly Islamic affairs, Malay customs and welfare.
6. 1904Swettenham retires.
7. 1909Bangkok Treaty: Siam transfers Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu to Britain. In return Britain backs Siam against French aggression and lends Siam money for railways. These become the Unfederated Malay States, each with a British Adviser whose advice the Sultan must accept.

7 · Tin, rubber, and who really benefited

Tin and rubber turned Malaya from a subsistence economy into an export economy built on extracting raw materials. Tin was central to the FMS budget: Samuel's notes record revenue of about $9 million in 1896 rising to $21 million by 1902.

Policies that kept Malays out

British policy meant mainly Europeans and some Chinese merchants benefited. Before the British, Malays could freely use the Sultan's land; now they were restricted.

8 · Environmental and social impact of British rule

Environment

• Tin mining left tailings (waste) that raised riverbeds, causing flooding and pollution.
• Rubber plantations meant deforestation, which caused soil erosion.
• Both came together in the Great Flood of 1926.

Education

• Britain promoted Western, English-medium schools where children of different races mixed.
• Main purpose: supply English-speaking clerks for the British administration, which gave locals a route to better-paid jobs like the civil service.
• However: these chances went mostly to the wealthy and Malay aristocrats, creating a Western-educated elite whose ideas differed sharply from everyone else's.
• Little effort to educate ordinary people; that was left to Christian missionary groups.
• Free vernacular education for Malays taught only farming and rural skills, and did not prepare Malays for modern life.

Healthcare

• Health in 19th-century Malaya was poor: malaria, beri-beri.
• British officials distrusted traditional ethnic medicine but allowed it, because it cared for locals cheaply.
• 1890: Kuala Lumpur Sanitary Board, the first in Malaya, sets rules on drainage, food hygiene, building design and waste disposal.
• Hospitals built in towns, mostly on the west coast, adding to earlier missionary hospitals.
• The north and east of the peninsula stayed poor.

9 · Vietnam before the French

10 · How France took Vietnam, 1771 to 1887

1. 1771Tay Son rebellion: the Tay Son brothers overthrow the ruling families in north and south and rule for about 30 years.
2. 1802Nguyen dynasty founded. Nguyen Anh defeats the Tay Son with help from French missionaries, and the country is run as three parts: Tonkin (north), Annam (centre), Cochin-China (south).
3. 1858France attacks central and southern Vietnam and later captures Saigon. Official reason: stop the emperor persecuting Catholic missionaries.
4. 1862Treaty of Saigon: (1) Saigon and three surrounding provinces of Cochin-China go to France; (2) French ships may sail freely on the Mekong; (3) ports of Da Nang, Ba Lat and Quang Yen opened to trade; (4) Catholicism allowed throughout Vietnam; (5) Vietnam cannot give territory to another Western power without France's permission; (6) Vietnam pays an indemnity of 4 million silver dollars.
5. 1867France conquers the rest of Cochin-China.
6. 1870 to 1871France loses the Franco-Prussian War in Europe, and looks to Asia to restore its standing.
7. 1873Francis Garnier leads an expedition from Cochin-China to Hanoi, ignores his superiors' orders and attacks Hanoi after talks to free a French merchant fail. He captures the city but is killed by Black Flag mercenaries hired by the Vietnamese court. France withdraws because the expedition was never approved.
8. 1874Second Treaty of Saigon. Emperor Tu Duc, seeing the north falling apart, decides he needs France on his side; his court is split on how to deal with France. Terms: (1) the rest of Cochin-China, French-held since 1867, formally ceded; (2) a French Resident may live in the capital, Hue; (3) Haiphong (Tonkin) and Qui Nhon (Annam) opened to French trade; (4) the Red River opened to shipping as far as Yunnan; (5) rights of Vietnamese Catholics strengthened.
9. 1880Jules Ferry becomes Prime Minister of France: a strong expansionist, determined to go beyond Cochin-China.
10. 1882Naval officer Henri Rivière seizes Hanoi, again against orders. Tu Duc hires the Black Flags again.
11. 1883Rivière is killed by the Black Flags; France sends a navy to occupy Tonkin. Tu Duc dies and the court is in turmoil; France sends an ultimatum. Treaty of Hue (25 Aug 1883): (1) Tonkin and Annam become French protectorates, so all of Vietnam is under France; (2) France controls Vietnam's foreign relations; (3) French Residents in every province; (4) the Red River opened to trade; (5) a large indemnity to France.
12. 1884Treaty of Protectorate replaces the Treaty of Hue and gives France even more authority in Tonkin. Colonisation of Vietnam is complete.
13. 1887Annam, Tonkin and Cochin-China plus Cambodia combined into the Union of Indochina.

11 · Why France did it: God, Glory, Gold

12 · Impact of French rule on Vietnam

Economic

• Economy shifted from subsistence to export; farming now aimed at export crops.
• Exports: coal from Tonkin; rubber and rice from Cochin-China.
• Tight control: state monopolies on opium, alcohol and salt, sold with high taxes for revenue. Heavy taxes on goods from China and other non-French sources, so Vietnam became a protected market for French products.
• Modern currency: before, Vietnam used barter, zinc and copper coins, and salaries paid in rice. Silver coins and notes changed Vietnam's role in the world economy.
• Infrastructure: sped up the movement of people and goods and boosted trade (especially with China). But it mainly benefited French and Vietnamese traders, while the poor were heavily taxed to pay for it. Examples: Paul Doumer Bridge, Hanoi (1903); Yunnan-Haiphong railway (1910); Trans-Indochinese railway, Hanoi to Saigon.

Social

• Migration and cities: France encouraged internal migration to the south. Migrants now had to live on paid work, not their own farms, which left them open to exploitation. Hanoi grew into a major city, drawing people escaping rural poverty.
• Education: the curriculum stressed French culture, French geography and French superiority.
• Healthcare: France built hospitals for disease research and modern public health, but the priority was the French community. Most Vietnamese had no access and still relied on traditional medicine, or opium for pain.

Benefit or harm? (Samuel's summary)

13 · Malaya vs Vietnam side by side

Practice questions

Try each one in your head or on paper first, then open it.

Worth checking with the teacher

• Rice Lands Enactment: the standard date is 1917; the handwriting could read 1933. Use 1917 unless your teacher says otherwise.
• Kuala Lumpur Sanitary Board: usually dated 1890; check the year your class was given.
• Johor: the notes say Johor did not join the UMS; most textbooks count Johor as a UMS once it accepted a British General Adviser in 1914. Worth asking how your teacher wants it phrased.
• Hugh Low's appointment: the notes say February 1877; many sources give April 1877. Either way, "1877" is safe.
• Numbers taken straight from class (Suez travel time, tin revenue, Stevenson quota percentages) are kept as given.

Samuel's original pages

Show the 14 handwritten pages (tap a page to open it full size)

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