Of Rajahs and Hornbills: A timeline of Brooke Sarawak

[Al-numbers]

A car float accident? What?

Basically this; a barge designed to carry train cars across rivers and seas. IOTL, the man was in one of the train cars when it accidentally fell of the barge and into the Nile River, drowning him. With Ahmad Rifaat alive ITTL, the position of Khedive of Egypt would fall on him instead of his brother, who led Egypt and Sudan drowning in debt (no pun intended ) and ultimate British control.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Basically this; a barge designed to carry train cars across rivers and seas. IOTL, the man was in one of the train cars when it accidentally fell of the barge and into the Nile River, drowning him. With Ahmad Rifaat alive ITTL, the position of Khedive of Egypt would fall on him instead of his brother, who led Egypt and Sudan drowning in debt (no pun intended ) and ultimate British control.

Thank you. Not a concept I'm familiar with.

 

[Al-numbers]

Thank you. Not a concept I'm familiar with.

You're welcome

The Bosporus Straits, Florence, and the U.S.A coming up soon. Then it's back to Borneo for the rest of the 1860's (though there will be a section on Italy's colonial ambitions ITTL).

 

[Al-numbers]

International snippets of the mid-1860's: part 2/2

Bosporus Strait, The Ottoman Empire, 1 August 1866.​

On the sailing ship, Jaafar was almost ready to give in to his tiredness before finally locating his ruler.

For the man, the entire trip to Stamboul was both a dream and a nightmare. Never before had he ever set foot outside the Malay Peninsula, and never had he imagined that his first trip would be to Europe with the ruler of his kingdom and close personal friend, the Temenggung of Johor. He also never expected the seasickness and boredom abroad the ship as it traversed the Indian Ocean from port to port. Thank Allah for small blessings was his personal mantra throughout the whole journey.

Compared to him, the Temenggung of Johor was more relaxed during the whole trip, though he did suffer from the same doldrums of boredom as Jaafar. It might be the cause of the man now staring at the refreshing view opening up before him. The Malay monarch stood silently, looking out at the streets and mosques west of the schooner as the Bosporus Strait enveloped the passenger ship whole. To the exhausted Jaafar, the man seemed lost within his own thoughts, though he knew his ruler well enough for that to be a misnomer. Odd as he is, Temenggung Abu Bakar is never lost.

“Tuanku – My Lord,” Jaafar spoke. “We are fast approaching the harbour. Everyone on board is preparing to disembark. It’s best if we prepare ourselves for the landing now.”

“And miss the view from this deck?” answered Abu Bakar jovially, noticing his friend behind him. “Come, Jaafar! Come! Let’s wash our eyes after seeing nothing but days of blue sea. We might not even see this view in our farewell trip!”

“I am quite sure we would see the same view when we head for England, Tuanku.” the monarch’s friend spoke back with a smile, walking towards the steel railing to his ruler. “…But do not hold me accountable if we end up making fools of ourselves.”

“With you? No worries for that. Now come and tell me: what do you see?”

Jaafar looked out at the strange sight beyond the schooner railing. From the tone of Abu Bakar’s words, and from past experiences like this one, he knew that the monarch saw more than just the pretty view. Assessing the conditions of foreign cities at first sight was a game both of them played after days of being cooped up on board, surrounded by nothing but sea and sky.

Viewing the vista, the man began to articulate his thoughts. “I see houses. I see mansions. I see palaces built in the style of the Europeans. I see mosques with minarets rising high into the air. I see Turks and Arabs and Greeks on the street. I see business. I see …change. I see… a city as old as time itself.” Jaafar slowly turned his head towards his ruler. “…I see a city. A great city. A city truly befitting an empire.”

The Temenggung nodded, his mood changing swiftly. “I don’t doubt that my friend, but I wonder if the Uthmaniyah – the Ottomans, are truly as great as they are anymore. There is a reason why our ultimate destination is England and our goal to impress the British court, not the Turkish sultan's. True, we will dine with the Turkish royals tonight as honored guests, but it’s not them we need to look out for back home.”

Abu Bakar paused for a while, letting his last sentence hanging over them before continuing, his tone now lighter. “Still though, considering where we are now, I’ve been thinking of maybe going on a detour once we return back home from London.”

Jaafar raised his eyebrows. “Tuanku?”

Temenggung Abu Bakar looked back at his closest friend, smiling. “How do you think of Florence, Jaafar?”

**********

Florence, Kingdom of Italy, July 22 1866.​

“No, you will NOT!!”

Doctor Barco was fuming over what his new assistant asked him, his voice rising almost high enough to be overheard outside the thick office door. Of all the things you would do to a patient…

“But sir, the Prime Minister insisted on being bled– ”

“I do not care if Camillo himself hands a carving knife to your hand!! We are supposed to heal him, not do him more harm!!” Barco shouted back, his voice booming in the enclosed office. “Bleeding him is the exact opposite of what you do when treating a malaria patient and that goes the same whether he is a pauper or the king himself!!”

The new assistant simply stared at him, gobsmacked at the senior physician’s anger.

Of all the times to lose my trusted assistant… Barco mentally wailed to himself, rubbing his crinkled forehead with his hand. Managing the health of the most powerful man in the nation was not an easy job, especially if said powerful man insisted that bleeding himself was a surefire cure for his bouts of sickness. From the first day of employment, Doctor Barco and his employed assistant tried everything to prevent Camillo Benso from deteriorating in his long days in office. Unfortunately, neither he nor his work partner anticipated the carriage accident that happened earlier that week, or the prime minister devolving into another bout of malaria.

And it was not just the loss of a trusted assistant that vexed Barco. The Third Italian War of Independence had started barely a month ago, and everyone in Italy is either looking at the king or the prime minister as their public face of the conflict. Unfortunately due to the man’s sickness, almost every Italian is also watching the elder physician to make sure he won’t compromise the Conte’s constitution. Of particular note was King Victor Emannuel II himself, who pelted the doctor almost every day with notes asking on how well was the prime minister recovering. I haven’t had a good sleep in weeks, and neither does the Conte himself. And now I’m stuck with this fool…

“I’m going out for a walk,” the senior physician turned to the door, opening the portal before turning around. “And don’t follow me.”

“But sir– ”

SLAM.

I need to clear my head. Barco noted, walking down the corridor on which he and Camillo Benso had their offices. Passing by the prime minister’s door, the physician could still hear the voice of his exclusive client through the thick wood, working continuously even through his fever. Barco silently chided the man’s continued tenacity. Blasted idiot. If I’d told him one I’ve told him a hundred times: you won’t be here for long if you push yourself too much. Then again, this is a war… but still!! There must be a time when he must say ‘enough!’ and get some rest when…

Suddenly, a loud stomping noise began emanating from the distant staircase, disrupting the physician from muddling in his thoughts. An aide appeared on the corridor landing, wheezing and panting from his run up the steps. Without another word, the man quickly sprinted down the corridor and ran past the bewildered doctor, sliding to a halt in front of the prime minister’s office door.

“What in the world– ”

Knock knock knock

“Yes?” a voice spoke through the door.

The aide quickly opened it and disappeared from Doctor Barco’s sight. Even from the distance, there was no breakdown in sound as the man quickly explained the latest news from the war front.

“We have won Lissa!”

**********

Excerpt from the journal of Claude Lee Moses, 1864 (U.S National Archives: obtained 1900)


​

August 25.

The last forts in Dauphin Island have finally surrendered. Mobile Bay is now fully under Union control, and there are no ports left from Florida to the Mississippi that the Rebs can use against us. Farragut wanted us to stay in the bay against future attacks, but I doubt there will be any that’ll head this way. Anyways, I won’t be here for long anyhow. If everything goes according to plan, I shall be back in Washington by mid-September and discuss my future position with the foreign policymakers of the city.

I’ve been thinking more about my future position after this war today, particularly about the pay. From what I’ve learned from Washington before taking sail, Consuls are not salaried by the state whatsoever, and the most the government would give me is a small service fee, collected intermittently throughout the year. If I’m going to Borneo to represent the United States, I’ll need to make my own income, alone.

Or maybe not. I still have my contacts and friends working in the Far East from the old days, and I’m sure the island itself is full of natural riches that has hitherto been untapped by man, waiting to be exploited. The only problem is that the ruler of the city I will be posted in, Brunei, has been somewhat skeptical of all the foreigners docking in and out of his lands. One rumor has it that one of the ruler’s governors has rebelled and is now ruling a separate kingdom of his own in the far west of the island. If that is true, I could exploit this weakness to get my own pay.

…Due to my current position, I still haven’t heard of my dear friend from Hong Kong. I hope this service would be over soon. ​

__________

Footnotes:

1) From the Bospous update, I welcome our latest recurring character in the TL, Temenggung/Maharaja/Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor (boy does he have a lot of titles). This man and his actions will influence Malaya and – indirectly – the East Indies all way through the end of the 19th century. So far, he’s going on his 1866 tour of Europe as per OTL, though ITTL Abu Bakar decides to also visit Florence on the way back (not that weird actually, considering the man’s European trips).

3) Camillo Benso ( the ITTL Prime Minister of Italy) suffered from recurring bouts of malaria throughout his life, and insisted on being bled to relieve himself of the sickness. This was one of the factors that led to his early death in 1861 IOTL. ITTL, Doctor Barco made sure that didn’t happen, though his new assistant didn’t get the memo.

2) The Battle of Lissa was a naval battle between the Italian and Austrian Navies in the Adriatic sea. IOTL, Italy lost due to mismanagement and rivalry between the ship captains. ITTL, with Camillo Benso around to keep things in check, Italy won.

4) Claude (or Charles) Lee Moses is an OTL person and he did serve in the American Civil War as a naval officer, though there is hardly anything about him in the U.S Archives (which is odd, considering we had to learn about him here in Malaysia). However, he was also a trader to the Far East before the war and developed numerous relationships with the trading companies of Hong Kong and Shanghai.​

 

[Archangel]

We can see some glimpses of the modern world.

Keep it up, sketchdoodle!

 

[Al-numbers]

We can see some glimpses of the modern world

Well, not quite the modern world. The one thing about history is that a lot of stuff can happen in just a short amount of time, and the late nineteenth century will be a weird one for South-East Asia.

I would throw in that possibly the battle of Mobile Bay could be it but that's probably my Alabamian state pride talking really if no one else finds the answer I'll tap my Uncle for info on it.

Is it too late now for me to say 'thank you'?

 

[Jonathan Edelstein]

The plot thickens. I wonder what "Albert Baker" and the Savoys might cook up.

 

[Al-numbers]

The plot thickens. I wonder what "Albert Baker" and the Savoys might cook up.

Well, "Albert Baker" would probably just want to see what the heck is up with the nation that is defeating the Austrian Empire so quickly. The Savoys... will think differently.

And one more thing I missed in the footnotes: Back then, foreign Consuls really had to make money on their own, especially those who are posted to far-flung places with poor infrastructure and outside links. For some nations (like the U.S) there is a service fee, but it's not paid per month or per week due to aforementioned poor infrastructure and few outside links.

1860's Borneo is about to get complicated.

 

[Al-numbers]

Muhammad Amirul Idzwan, Brunei: Rise and Fall of the Bornean Empire (Delima Publishing: 2001)

…if the annexation of Simanggang didn't alert Brunei of its neighbour's expansionist aims, then the cession of the Rajang Basin in 1861 to Sarawak certainly did. In a single stroke of a pen, over 50,000 square kilometres of Bruneian territory – larger than the entire land area of Denmark – changed hands, all for an increased cession payment of about 4500 Dollars to Bandar Brunei. Besides the ginormous expansion, Sarawak also gained permission to send a Consul of its own to the capital and to conduct business activities within the sultanate itself.

To say that the Bruneian court was thrown into haywire was the least of it. The loss of the Rajang Basin not only reduced the empire’s size by an enormous chunk, it also deprived them from one of the most profitable parts of the whole polity. The Rajang Delta up to the town of Bintulu was the heartland of the Melanau subgroup, and their cultivation of sago palm (a staple food source for the Melanau) and the subsequent manufacture of the starch formed a valuable source of currency for the sultanate, especially with Western demand for sago rising by the year. The industrialization of Europe and the United States has created a demand for the starch in textiles and food, and the Bruneian government was becoming increasingly dependent on sago as a cash produce.

That ended with Sarawak's expansion. The Melanau as a whole needed some persuading to accept Brooke rule, but the Rajah's guarantees against piracy and the preservation of sago production within Melanau producers swayed them to change their overlords from the northeast to the southwest. The distribution of sago overseas was also affected as merchants from Kuching took over the middle-men positions that had been held by Bandar Brunei up to that point. This deprived the sultanate of the taxes that it can enforce on overseas traders, adding another blow for the beleaguered Bornean Empire.

The Bruneian court – or to be more precise, what was left of it – knew that this state of affairs could not continue, but at the same time there was no clear consensus on what should be done to avoid such a future event. Thanks to the sultan’s matchmaking (and Sarawak taking care of some of the more troublemaking figures) the palace nobility was no longer the faction-ridden nest that it once was during the 1840’s. Despite this, almost everyone disagreed on what steps could be taken to revive the sultanate, and whatever solutions they tried to pursue always stumbled on the greatest roadblock of them all, money.

It was no secret that the sultanate was short of cash, but almost no one – save for perhaps the upper nobles and the sultan – knew how serious the problem was. The loss of sago production, huge as it was, was only one in a series of financial punches that have struck the sultanate since the early 1800’s. By the mid-1860’s piracy was no longer a problem, but Sarawak’s cannons and protection have made it into an enticing port for local traders, and despite the kingdom’s recent upheavals (or perhaps because of it), almost all native trade south of the Rajang now flowed to Kuching while the Sulu Sultanate and the British Straits Settlements sucked up Brunei’s international customers. Despite the continuous cession payments paid year by year by James Brooke (now totalling $8,500: over $160,000 in today’s terms), the empire’s finances were slipping.

So perhaps it shouldn't have been a surprise that Claude Lee Moses was greeted with great interest upon his arrival to the capital in July 1865. After four years of civil war, the United States of America had finally decided to send a Consul of their own to Brunei as a sign of rising American interests in the Far East. There were plans to install what U.S Secretary William Seward called “A Consul of our own to Borneo and all her kingdoms and dependencies”, since around 1850, but domestic politics and the subsequent Civil War kept the government busy.

For Sultan Abdul Mo'min, it seemed that a solution was finally at hand. He hoped that the consul's presence could open the door to overseas trade with the United States, as well as political leverage against the British and Sarawak, pitting all three nations on each other to prevent another large-scale annexation. Little did he realize that Claude Lee Moses was a businessman first and a consul second...

**********

Joseph Pairin Kitingan, The Land Below The Wind: A History of Sabah, (Charleston University Press; 1993)

...To say that Claude Lee Moses was a bumbling idiot is a gross oversimplification of his character and his personality. The man was a Far Eastern trader before the American Civil War, and he rose to level of naval officer when he enlisted in 1861. There are many words to describe Claude for his behaviour and actions, but ‘idiot’ is not one of them; a more accurate term would be “short-sighted” or “irresponsible” instead.

Once arriving in Bandar Brunei, he wasted no time in persuading Sultan Abdul Mo'min that trusting in him was the monarch’s best bet against the expansionist Sarawak and the British Empire, noting the court's enmity towards the latter two powers. Testing the waters, he asked for a land concession in Bandar Brunei on which he would build a U.S consulate. The sultan quickly agreed, and the site of Bukit Merikan (American Hill) was born, still owned by the United States to this day. Emboldened by this, Claude began to discuss possible routes with the court for simultaneously enriching himself, the sultanate and his government, a task made more complex by the fact that Consuls in far-flung places had to make their own pay back in the 1860’s.

Finally, a month after his arrival – and to the shock of all the established powers on the island – Claude and the sultan had an agreement with the American Consul obtaining a ten year lease on nearly all Bruneian territories north of the capital. In one fell swoop, an area of over 20,000 square kilometres, stretching from Brunei Bay to the town of Kudat in the far north, was now leased under a single person. The lands were planned to be developed and exploited, with the revenues produced being split between the U.S Consul and the Bruneian sultan with a small cut going to the overlord-noble of the northern territories, Pangiran Temenggung Anak Hashim.

Having obtained land, Claude then embarked to create a company that would have the capital to commercially develop the area. Travelling to Hong Kong, he soon attracted a small number of American and Chinese investors whom were interested in his ambitious venture. Among those piqued was one Joseph William Torrey, another ambitious American trader whom the U.S Consul soon formed a close partnership with. Pooling all their resources together, the American Borneo Company was founded with the explicit aim to start an American farming and trading colony on the banks of the Kimanis River; an audacious plan, but one that – at the time – seemed to be grounded in reality with the seemingly successful venture of Sarawak as an example.

To complete this plan, Claude transferred his lease rights to Torrey, made him head of the American Borneo Company and (through some manipulation) was conferred the title "Rajah of Ambong and Marudu" by Sultan Abdul Mo’min on November 13th 1865, making him absolute ruler of the leased lands in the same way James Brooke was towards Kuching over twenty-two years ago.

Joseph William Torrey (seated) with close friend Thomas Bradley Harris standing behind.​

It may be strange and somewhat farcical to think that Sultan Abdul Mo'min would confer the title of Rajah to an outsider again, considering the glaring history that was next-door Sarawak. However, in the traditional ruling system of the day, Rajahs were ranked below sultans, and Sarawak's split from Brunei was formerly due to British intervention though an attack on the capital in 1846. The Bruneian Sultan held paramount power according to the traditional laws whilst Torrey and the Americans would rule under him as an autonomous Rajah in partnership with Bandar Brunei.

To say that Sarawak, the British Empire and the Dutch East Indies were gobsmacked was putting it lightly. When the news broke on November, all three powers immediately contacted one another of the situation, realizing the potential effects of another White Rajah state and an expansionist America on the East Indies. Inquiries from the Brooke family made their way to the White House whilst British and Dutch officials started discussing on yet another partition of Borneo. Batavia, Singapore and Kuching all sent officials to Bandar Brunei to try and make sense of the sultan's decision, but were turned around by royal officials outside the palace.

Whatever the case, it was too late to stop the ball rolling. On December the 1st 1865, thirteen Americans and fifty-nine Chinese labourers arrived at the Kimanis River and construction started on what was to be their colonial settlement, Vinston.

**********

Charlie MacDonald, Strange States and Bizzare Borders (weirdworld.postr.com, 2014)

So let's see... we’ve got one ambitious consul, one ludicrous venturing company, one American trader who got the promotion of his life, and one hunk of a territory that is not aligned to them, that has residents not familiar with them, that has diseases they’re not familiar with, and not protected by any sort of protection whatsoever. No gunboats, no ironclads, not even a paid foreign protection service.

What can possibly go wrong?

Well it wasn't long before the pirates started raiding, that’s for sure. To finance his trading colony, the ambitious Claude sailed to Hong Kong and literally blabbed to just about everyone he met whether or not they're interested in becoming "citizens of Vinston". He also exaggerated a lot on his holdings and made tall tales of his future colony's natural resources, saying that it was full of "gold, diamonds, bird’s nests, and peppers". Considering his big mouth, it was no surprise that both Chinese and Illanun pirates were upon his settlement the moment it took root.

Another black mark was that Claude and Torrey were literally newcomers to the area and didn't understand the traditional powers that actually held the land. Oh sure, they paid off that Pangiran Temenggung fellow with some cash, but he’s just the overlord of the region, not the actual landholder. That place goes to the local lords and gentry whom had already carved their own fiefdoms by the time of the Vinston colony, but they weren't even thought of as "people you should really talk to" when Claude acquired the lease. In fact, many of the lords didn't even know that they have a new White Rajah until they were told so by Sarawakian emissaries. In addition, most of the lords had been in contact with Kuching for over a decade since Hugh Low's “Let’s climb Kinabalu to get exotic plants for my dad!” expedition, and were more aligned to Sarawak to either Brunei or any other power.

You can guess what their reactions were when they found out about all this.

But perhaps their greatest mistake is that they didn't think of what disease could do to the colony. The Kimanis River is a slow moving waterway, and slow-moving waters breed mosquitoes and malaria like nothing else. In Sarawak, James Brooke appointed both western doctors and traditional healers to help him on his sick days, as well as creating forums for traditional diseases and cures to be tested and written down. That didn't happen in Vinston, and with the local situation as bad as it was it wasn’t long before everyone started dropping like flies.

To be fair though, the American Borneo Company did try to get some help, sending message after message to Singapore, Kuching and Batavia for supplies and funding. This would’ve worked if it weren’t for the island’s recent political situation (i.e: Sentarum) and that everyone was afraid of the other power gaining the upper hand in Borneo. Claude and Torrey also requested money and protection from the United States, but post-Civil War America was…not in the mood.

America to Vinston: “You do realize we have an entire country to reconstruct?”​

The rest was history. The remaining workers soon fled the failing settlement whilst Claude and Torrey fell out with one another. The "Rajah of Ambong and Marudu" quickly sailed off back to Hong Kong while the Consul had to struggle with the huge debts incurred by the failed colony. Driven to desperation, the man finally burned the whole place down in November 1866, just eleven months after it was founded. Claude Lee Moses then set fire to the American consul building in Brunei, fled from the island to Singapore, and entirely blamed the sultanate for his Bornean misadventure. The U.S Government dismissed him, sent a more amicable person to the capital, and paid back the debts the Bruneian government incurred, giving at least some relief for the cash-strapped royal court.

However, this wasn’t the end of the “Yankee Rajah” story. Despite taking off to Hong Kong from the hoo-ha, Torrey did not relinquish his title of “Rajah of Ambong and Marudu”, nor did he relinquish his ten-year lease (by now reduced to nine-years) to northern Borneo. Weirdly enough, he still hoped that somehow a profit can be made from either developing the area or selling his lease to someone else, and because of this he refused to give both of it back to Bandar Brunei, even with Sultan Abdul Mo’min’s pleas.

In a technical way, this means that the State of Ambong and Marudu continued to exist after the Vinston debacle and that Joseph William Torrey was still it’s (technical) White Rajah. And before you ask, yes; this was completely weird and it didn’t go unnoticed by everyone on the island. At the same time though, everyone wanted to see just how things could get any weirder and so just watched on…

The only surviving flag left of the Vinston colony. Not too subtle on their allegiances, are they?​

__________

Footnotes:

1) Despite sounding ASB, there was an actual attempt to establish an American colony in northern Borneo in 1866, right in the context of the aftermath of the American Civil War. It must be seen to be believed . Apparently the U.S Consul to Brunei obtained a temporary lease to North-Western Sabah and transferred it to a company that tried to create a profit out of it. Not surprisingly, it failed. ITTL, Sarawak, the British and the Dutch took greater notice of the colony and started watching it with greater interest than OTL.

2) The flag of Vinston was made by AH.com member Gurroruo.

 

[Kinny Riddle]

A very interesting timeline.

Will be looking forward to see Wong Nai Siong and his Fuzhou settlers founding the city of Sibu (Maling) and cultivating the Rajang Basin on Rajah Charles' invitation. Since I myself am descended from said Sibu settlers, though I'm raised outside Sarawak and my Fuzhou dialect is nonexistent. Not all Chinese settlers are as rebellious as the lot in the 1857 miners' rebellion, and if used properly, will be a great asset for the Brookes.

If you could somehow make the Sarawak Rangers more badass, maybe include Gurkha and Chinese fighters in its ranks, then we'll have an incredible French Resistance type militia capable of holding its own in jungle hideouts when the Japanese come down in WWII.

 

[NickBana]

A very interesting timeline.

Will be looking forward to see Wong Nai Siong and his Fuzhou settlers founding the city of Sibu (Maling) and cultivating the Rajang Basin on Rajah Charles' invitation. Since I myself am descended from said Sibu settlers, though I'm raised outside Sarawak and my Fuzhou dialect is nonexistent. Not all Chinese settlers are as rebellious as the lot in the 1857 miners' rebellion, and if used properly, will be a great asset for the Brookes.

If you could somehow make the Sarawak Rangers more badass, maybe include Gurkha and Chinese fighters in its ranks, then we'll have an incredible French Resistance type militia capable of holding its own in jungle hideouts when the Japanese come down in WWII.

What? We ain't badass enough?

 

[Mercenarius]

Yankee Rajah? I like the sound of that.

And the Brunei-screw continues...

 

[FleetMac]

Wow, I did NOT know that about Americans trying to establish a local post in Ambong and Marudu! Of course it was a big ol' failure, but Prior Preparation Prevents Piss-Poor Performance, and it seems the Yankee Rajah's decision to wing it was indeed quite short-sighted. Surely they knew that the region, being in the tropics and all, would require at least an initial supply of antibiotics and medicines beyond the simple day-trip scope? At least, I'd have liked to think so, but then again here we are (and the quote by America, as horrible as this is, made me chortle a little...just seems like a very Polandball-esque scenario).

Also, kudos to Gurroruo for the Vinston flag design! And here's to a great next update as well!

 

[Archangel]

Keep it up, sketchdoodle!

 

[SenatorChickpea]

An excellent update as per usual.

 

[thekingsguard]

American North Borneo may stick ITTL? That would be interesting.

 

[Al-numbers]

Political map of North Borneo

I'm going on a short family trip, so no answers from me until Monday or Tuesday. To keep things interesting, here's a map of the western coast of North Borneo during the "Yankee Rajah" affair.

(note: town locations on this map not always accurate due to Photoshop and shaking hands)

 

[NickBana]

Ermmm... Sulu area was not that big...

 

[Jonathan Edelstein]

Well, we can't expect all would-be White Rajahs to have the Brookes' competence, and the Yankee Rajah's debacle is all too plausible, as are its consequences for both him and Brunei. I suspect it may already be too late for Bandar Brunei, which let its richest areas go before realizing how much it needs them (and which doesn't have a prayer of finding OTL Brunei's present source of wealth for another century). The question is whether the sultanate will survive in some form, or whether one of its neighbors will absorb it as a province or princely state.

Oh, and well done to Muhammad Amirul Idzwan for introducing the people of TTL to the term "ginormous."

 

[Herr Frage]

Any chance the Rajah of Sarawak might purchase the title from the Yankee in Singapore? A little something to make up for Sentaurum.