An outline, era by era

Southeast Asia

French Indochina, British Burma and Malaya; Siam stays independent

Late Modern Era / 19th Century · ~1800 – 1914

In the nineteenth century almost all of mainland and island Southeast Asia came under European rule. The British took Lower Burma in 1826 and 1852 and the rest of the country by 1886, and extended their control over the Malay states from the Straits Settlements of Penang, Malacca and Singapore. The French began with Cochinchina in 1862 and built French Indochina, formed in 1887, from Vietnam, Cambodia and later Laos.

Siam, now Thailand, was the one mainland kingdom that was never colonised. Its kings Mongkut and Chulalongkorn modernised the state, signed trade treaties with the Western powers, and gave up border territory to France and Britain. Siam also served as a buffer between the British and French empires. These changes set the political map of the region for the next century, and they shaped the nationalist movements that followed.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. The Burney and Bowring treaties and the opening of Siam

    Event

    What happened

    In 1826 Captain Henry Burney signs a treaty of trade and friendship between Britain and Siam. In 1855 Sir John Bowring, governor of Hong Kong, negotiates a much wider treaty with King Mongkut. It sets low import duties, allows British subjects to trade freely and gives them extraterritorial rights.

    The rest is history

    Other powers, including the United States and France, soon signed similar treaties with Siam. Trade grew sharply, and rice became the main export. The treaties limited Siam's control over its own tariffs and courts, and Siamese rulers spent decades trying to reverse this. Treaty revision came gradually in the early twentieth century.

    Sources

    1. BookWyatt, David K. Thailand: A Short History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984.
    2. BookTerwiel, B. J. Thailand's Political History. Bangkok: River Books, 2005.

  2. The Anglo-Burmese Wars

    Event

    What happened

    Britain fights three wars with the Burmese kingdom. The first (1824 to 1826) ends with the Treaty of Yandabo, which cedes Assam, Arakan and Tenasserim. In the second (1852) Britain annexes Lower Burma, including Pegu. In the third (November 1885) British forces take Mandalay in days and King Thibaw is deposed.

    The rest is history

    Burma was annexed to British India on 1 January 1886. Resistance by Burmese fighters continued for several years. Burma remained a province of British India until 1937, when it was separated and given its own administration.

    Sources

    1. BookMyint-U, Thant. The River of Lost Footsteps: Histories of Burma. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006.
    2. BookWebster, Anthony. Gentlemen Capitalists: British Imperialism in South East Asia, 1770-1890. London: I. B. Tauris, 1998.

  3. Britain founds Singapore and the Straits Settlements

    Event

    What happened

    In 1819 Stamford Raffles of the East India Company signs an agreement with local Malay rulers to set up a trading post on Singapore. The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 divides the Malay world, leaving Malaya and Singapore to Britain and the East Indies to the Dutch. In 1826 Penang, Malacca and Singapore are joined as the Straits Settlements.

    The rest is history

    Singapore, a free port, grew quickly into a hub of regional trade. The Straits Settlements became a Crown colony in 1867. They served as the base from which Britain expanded its influence over the Malay states.

    Sources

    1. BookTurnbull, C. M. A History of Modern Singapore, 1819-2005. Singapore: NUS Press, 2009.
    2. BookAndaya, Barbara Watson, and Leonard Y. Andaya. A History of Malaysia. London: Macmillan, 1982.

  4. The Pangkor Engagement and the Residents in Malaya

    Event

    What happened

    In 1874, after a succession dispute and fighting among Chinese tin-mining groups in Perak, the British sign the Pangkor Engagement with Raja Abdullah. He accepts a British Resident whose advice must be followed on all matters except Malay religion and custom. Similar arrangements follow in Selangor, Sungai Ujong and Pahang.

    The rest is history

    The Resident system gave Britain control of administration without formal annexation. The Perak Resident, J. W. W. Birch, was killed in 1875, and a short British military campaign followed. In 1896 Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang were joined as the Federated Malay States.

    Sources

    1. BookAndaya, Barbara Watson, and Leonard Y. Andaya. A History of Malaysia. London: Macmillan, 1982.
    2. BookKhoo Kay Kim. The Western Malay States, 1850-1873. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1972.

  5. The French conquest of Cochinchina and Cambodia

    Event

    What happened

    In 1858 a French and Spanish force attacks Da Nang, and it moves to Saigon in 1859. The Treaty of Saigon in 1862 cedes three southern provinces to France, and the rest of Cochinchina is taken by 1867. In 1863 King Norodom of Cambodia accepts a French protectorate.

    The rest is history

    Cochinchina became a French colony run directly from Saigon. French control then spread north. The Treaty of Hue (1883 to 1884) made Annam and Tonkin protectorates, and the Sino-French War ended with China giving up its claim to Vietnam in 1885.

    Sources

    1. BookTucker, Spencer C., ed. Vietnam. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999.
    2. BookBrocheux, Pierre, and Daniel Hémery. Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 1858-1954. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.

  6. The Union of Indochina and the Franco-Siamese crisis

    Event

    What happened

    In 1887 France joins Cochinchina, Annam, Tonkin and Cambodia into the Indochinese Union. In 1893, after a naval confrontation at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River, France forces Siam to give up its claims east of the Mekong. Laos is added to the Union.

    The rest is history

    Britain and France agreed in 1896 to keep the core of the Chao Phraya valley as a buffer. Siam lost more territory to France in 1904 and 1907, and in 1909 it ceded four Malay states to Britain. The kingdom nevertheless kept its independence.

    Sources

    1. BookWyatt, David K. Thailand: A Short History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984.
    2. BookWinichakul, Thongchai. Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a Nation. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994.

  7. Chulalongkorn's reforms in Siam

    Event

    What happened

    King Chulalongkorn, who reigned from 1868 to 1910, abolishes slavery in stages and ends the old practice of prostration before the king. In the 1890s he replaces the old system of governing through nobles with ministries on a European pattern. He also builds railways and a modern army and school system.

    The rest is history

    These reforms strengthened central control over provinces that had once been semi-autonomous. They also made the state look modern to the Western powers. Historians still discuss how far they were responsible for Siam's survival and how far the rivalry between Britain and France was.

    Sources

    1. BookWyatt, David K. The Politics of Reform in Thailand: Education in the Reign of King Chulalongkorn. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969.
    2. BookBaker, Chris, and Pasuk Phongpaichit. A History of Thailand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

  8. The Dutch and the Java War

    Event

    What happened

    From 1825 to 1830 Prince Diponegoro leads a revolt against Dutch rule in central Java. It ends when he is arrested during negotiations. In 1830 the Dutch introduce the Cultivation System, which requires villages to grow export crops for the colonial government.

    The rest is history

    The system made the Netherlands East Indies highly profitable for the Dutch treasury, though it brought hardship for many Javanese farmers. It was phased out from the 1870s. The Dutch later extended their rule across the archipelago, finishing the conquest of Aceh only around 1904.

    Sources

    1. BookRicklefs, M. C. A History of Modern Indonesia since c. 1200. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001.
    2. BookCarey, Peter. The Power of Prophecy: Prince Dipanagara and the End of an Old Order in Java, 1785-1855. Leiden: KITLV Press, 2007.

  9. Siam was saved by clever diplomacy alone

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often said that Siam stayed free because its kings were brilliant diplomats who outwitted the Europeans. In this telling the country was never conquered and never lost anything that mattered.

    The rest is history

    Skilled diplomacy was a real factor, but it was not the only one. Siam lost large areas, including parts of Laos, Cambodia and the northern Malay states, and it accepted unequal treaties. Britain and France also preferred a neutral buffer to a clash over the Chao Phraya valley, as their 1896 declaration shows. Historians such as Thongchai Winichakul have also argued that the story of a heroic escape was built by later Thai nationalism.

    Sources

    1. BookWinichakul, Thongchai. Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a Nation. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994.
    2. BookWyatt, David K. Thailand: A Short History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984.

  10. Anna and the King of Siam

    Popular belief

    The legend

    In the popular story, an English governess named Anna teaches the king's many children and his court, and persuades the proud king to adopt Western ways. It is the basis of the novel Anna and the King of Siam (1944) and of the musical The King and I (1951).

    The rest is history

    Anna Leonowens did work at the court of King Mongkut as a teacher from 1862 to 1867. Her own books, published in the 1870s, contain many exaggerations and errors, and she overstated her influence and her background. Her account was long banned in Thailand as insulting to the monarchy. Mongkut himself had already studied English and Western science, and he began modernising before she came.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryLeonowens, Anna. The English Governess at the Siamese Court. Boston: Fields, Osgood, 1870.
    2. BookMorgan, Susan. Bombay Anna: The Real Story and Remarkable Adventures of the King and I Governess. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008.

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