Oxford in Asia hardback reprints

1 total work

A history of Sarawak under its two white Rajahs 1839-1908

by S Baring-Gould and C a Bampfylde

Published 27 July 1989

For more than a hundred years, the small South-East Asian state of Sarawak (which now forms a part of Malaysia) was ruled by an English family, and became the scene of an experiment in enlightened despotism, rare in history. James Brooke, a young and adventurous man, sailed off to Borneo and accepted the offer of a kingdom, thus effectively establishing the dynasty in 1841. In 1868, he was succeeded by his nephew, Charles, who was Rajah for nearly fifty years; and Charles was succeeded by Vyner, who ceded his country to Britain in 1946.