2.6 The World That Trade Created

Society, Culture, and the World Economy

BY: Kenneth Pomeranz and Steven Topik

Section 2.6: Winning Raffles

Teacher: Keith Haber 1/26/12 5th Period

·  Stamford Raffles conquered Java, wrote three books, gathered much of the original collection of London Zoo, founded Singapore

·  Stamford served the British East India Company in Asia for 15 years and accomplished the following in the first bullet

·  Raffles worked for the East India Company since he was 14 years old because his father had suddenly passed away and was in debt

·  Raffles worked in the firm’s of London’s offices for ten years

·  In 1805, he was given a chance to go to Penang, on the Malay Peninsula, and he took it

·  Raffles turned himself indispensible by learning Malay during the voyage to Penang and the other employees of the company did not speak the language

·  In 1811, Raffles sailed as the number 2 civilian and chief strategist of 9,500 soldiers that took Java from the Dutch

·  He served as Java’s governor for four and a half years

·  He was fired by a vision of simultaneously liberal and authoritarian empire with free trade as the corner stone

·  Raffles employers nor the British foreign ministry favored the application of English principles in Java

·  Raffles was a war hero, explorer, naturalist, and anthropologist

·  Britain had restored the East Indies to the Dutch

·  Britain also tolerated Holland’s re-imposition of its monopoly on almost all trade with the archipelago

·  The Dutch continuously harassed foreign ships in their waters and often refused to serve the ones entering their port to enforce the monopoly

·  The Dutch were in the way of non-Dutch merchants dreaming of great profits to be made in China and Japan because Indonesia stood along the only possible sea routes linking the Indian Ocean to the Pacific

Overview

Section 2.6 is about a man named Stamford Raffles and his founding of the city ofSingapore and contribution to the start of a free trade empire. He was also heavily involved in the conquest of the Indonesian island ofJavafrom Dutch and French military forces during theNapoleonic Warsand contributed to the expansion of theBritish Empire. He was the writer of three books and he went to work young (14 years old) because his father died in debt.

In 1811 he served as governor of java for 4 and a half years. In one part of this section they describe him as “trying to introduce capitalism over night” in java.

Convinced that the European way of thinking was best, he created government system with almost all real power in the hands of the colonial governor, and no need to consult anyone (this reminded me of a dictatorship or monarchy… like he has all the power?) but sine Singapore was an entrpot rather than a place where many goods were produced, there was no need for the kind of forceful labor control measures widely used in Java (part of Indonesia) and India. That undemocratic government then proved a lasting legacy throughout the years.

This new “free trade” type of empire brought unknown and surprising profits and change to the world. J