Справка.
Penang. Information.
PENANG is a state of Malaysia located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Strait of Malacca. In the early 18th century, the Minangkabaus of Sumatra were Datuk Jannaton, Nakhoda Bayan, Nakhoda Intan and Nakhoda Kecil opened up a settlement at Penang island. Haji Muhammad Salleh, known as Nakhoda Intan, anchored in Batu Uban and built Masjid Jamek for his seaside settlement in 1734. Later the Arabs arrived in Penang and settled mainly in Jelutong. The Arabs then intermarried with the Minangkabau and this gave rise to Arab-Minangkabau admixture who are described as Malay as they have assimilated into the local Malay community. The Arabs were among the wealthiest in Penang. The richest and prominent Arab was Sayyid Husain Aidid. On 17 July 1786, Captain Francis Light, an English trader-adventurer working for the Madras-based firm, Jourdain Sullivan and de Souza and the East India Company, landed on the island at what was later called Fort Cornwallis, took formal possession of the island "in the name of His Britannic Majesty, King George III and the Honourable East India Company" and founded a settlement at the northeast point of the island. On 12 August 1786, Light renamed the island Prince of Wales Island in honour of the heir to the British throne, as well as naming the new settlement George Town in honour of King George III. Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Shah of Kedah leased the island to him in exchange for military protection from Siamese and Burmese armies who were threatening Kedah. For Light, Penang was a "convenient magazine for trade" and an ideal location to curtail French expansion in Indochina and to check the Dutch foothold in Sumatra. Penang was Britain's first settlement in Southeast Asia, and was one of the first establishments of the second British Empire after the loss of its North American colonies. In Malaysian history, the occasion marked the beginning of more than a century of British involvement in Malaya. Unfortunately for the Sultan, the EAC's new governor-general Charles Cornwallis made it clear that he could not be party to the Sultan's disputes with the other Malay princes, or promise to protect him from the Siamese or Burmese. Unbeknownst to Sultan Abdullah, Light had decided to conceal the facts of the agreement from both parties. When Light reneged on his promise of protection, the Sultan tried unsuccessfully to recapture Prince of Wales Island in 1790, and the Sultan was forced to cede the island to the company for an honorarium of 6,000 Spanish dollars per annum. Light established Penang as a free port to entice traders away from nearby Dutch trading posts. Trade in Penang grew exponentially soon after its founding – incoming ships and boats to Penang increased from 85 in 1786 to 3569 in 1802. He also encouraged immigrants by promising them as much land as they could clear and by reportedly firing silver dollars from his ship's cannons deep into the jungle. Many early settlers, including Light himself in 1794, succumbed to malaria, earning early Penang the epithet "the white man's grave". After Light's demise, Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Wellesley, later to be Duke of Wellington, arrived in Penang to co-ordinate the defences of the island. In 1800, Lieutenant-Governor Sir George Leith secured a strip of land across the channel as a buffer against attacks and named it Province Wellesley (today Seberang Perai). The annual payment to Sultan of Kedah was increased to 10,000 Spanish dollars per annum after the acquisition. Today, as a symbolic gesture, the Penang state government still pays Kedah RM 10,000.00 annually. In 1796 Penang was made a penal settlement when 700 convicts were transferred from the Andaman Islands.[30] In 1805 Penang was made a separate presidency (ranking with Bombay and Madras); and when in 1826 Singapore and Malacca were incorporated with it, Penang continued to be the seat of government of the Straits Settlements, an extension of the British Raj. In 1829 Penang was reduced from the rank of a presidency, and eight years later, the fast-booming town of Singapore was made the capital of the Straits Settlements. In 1867 the Straits Settlements were created a Crown colony under direct British rule, in which Penang was included. Colonial Penang thrived from trade in pepper and spices, Indian piece goods, betel nut, tin, opium, and rice. The Bengal Presidency was aware of Penang's potential as an alternative to Dutch Moluccas as a source of spice production. Development of export crops became the chief means of covering administrative costs in Penang. The development of the spice economy drove the movement of Chinese settlers to the island, which was actively encouraged by the British. However, Penang port's initial pre-eminence was later supplanted by Singapore owing to the latter's superior geographical location. In spite of this, Penang remained an important feeder to Singapore – funnelling the exports meant for global shipping lines by ocean-going ships which had bypassed other regional ports. The replacement of sailing vessels by steamships in the mid-19th century cemented Penang's secondary importance after Singapore. Penang's most important trading partners were China, India, Siam, the Dutch East Indies and Britain, as well as fellow Straits Settlements, Singapore and Malacca. The rapid population growth stemming from economic development created problems such as sanitation, inadequate urban infrastructure, transportation and public health. Main roads were extended from the capital into the fertile cultivated spice farms further inland. But to sate the severe labour shortages in public works, the government began the practice of employing Indian convict workers as low-cost labourers. A great number of them worked on Penang' streets, draining swamps and clearing forests, constructing drainage ditches, and laying pipeworks for clean water. Indeed, convict labour was key to Penang's successful colonisation as many found employment in the civil service, military, and even as private servants to the colonial officials and private individuals. For ten days in August 1867, Penang was gripped with civil unrest during what was known as the Penang Riot which pitted rival secret societies Kean Teik Tong (the Tua Pek Kong Hoey), led by Khoo Thean Teik and the Red Flag against the alliance of the Ghee Hin Kongsi and the White Flag, which the British under newly appointed lieutenant-governor Col. Edward Anson put down with sepoy reinforcement after days of chaos. At the turn of the century, Penang, with her large population of Chinese immigrants, was a natural place for the Chinese nationalist Sun Yat-sen to raise funds for his revolutionary efforts in Qing China. These frequent visits culminated in the famous 1910 Penang conference which paved the way to the ultimately triumphant Wuchang uprising which overthrew the Manchu government. During World War I, in the Battle of Penang, the German cruiser SMS Emden surreptitiously sailed to Penang and sank two Allied warships off its coast – the Russian cruiser Zhemchug in the North Channel, and as it was leaving the island, the French torpedo boat, Mosquet 10 miles off Muka Head. In the interwar years and during the Great Depression, the Penang business elites suffered numerous setbacks but also witnessed the rise of the nouveau-riche such as the legendary Lim Lean Teng. Rice-milling, opium syndicates, and pawnbroking were among the most lucrative businesses. In 1922, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) visited Penang amid much splendour. During World War II, Penang, then a British island garrison, suffered devastating aerial bombardments and finally fell to invading Japanese forces on 19 December 1941 as the British withdrew to Singapore after declaring George Town an open city. Penang under Japanese occupation was marked by widespread fear, hunger, and massacres which targeted the local Chinese populace. Especially feared was the Japanese military police Kempeitai and its network of informants. Penang was administered by four successive Japanese governors, beginning with Lt-Gen Shotaro Katayama. Penang also served as a U-boat base for the Monsun boats in the Indian Ocean for Japan's ally, Germany during the War. The destruction of the Penang Secretariat building by Allied bombing in the final months of the Occupation caused the loss of the greater part of the British and Japanese records concerning the island, causing enormous difficulties to compile a comprehensive history of Penang. Following Japanese surrender in the War, on 21 August 1945 the Penang Shimbun published the statement of capitulation issued by the Emperor. The official British party reached Penang on 1 September, and after a meeting between the Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Fleet and Rear-Admiral Uzumi on 2 September, a detachment of the Royal Marines landed and occupied the island on 3 September. A formal ceremony to signify British repossession of Penang took place on Swettenham Pier on 5 September 1945.
