Of Rajahs and Hornbills: A timeline of Brooke Sarawak

[Al-numbers]

Sorry for the late replies, everyone!

And the Brunei-screw continues...

...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.

Let me rephrase what I said during the beginning of the TL: Brunei is so screwed. In fact, it might end up becoming more screwed than OTL due to the next few updates. The polity now distrusts the United States thanks to the debacle, and with it's finances slipping and Sarawak and the British earning the enmity of the court, it's only a matter of time before the sultanate latches on to a power that could back off all three polities; not a good idea in a region that will be on the Great Powers' sights.

Yankee Rajah? I like the sound of that.

Wow, I did NOT know that about Americans trying to establish a local post in Ambong and Marudu!...

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 was hoping to get some sort of reaction to this. The notion that there was an American colony in Borneo alone was eye-opening when I first found out about it, and even more so once I found out just how did it end up that way.

I modeled on the Yankee Rajah affair as being a foil of the Brookes. Rajah James originally obtained Sarawak by pacifying the local revolt and establishing stable rule on the area, earning his approval as governor of Kuching. Claude obtained his lease through manipulating the court and didn't enforce stable rule in the first place (he didn't have his own ships, so he couldn't enforce stability in his holdings anyhow).

Besides that, Sarawak had foreign help (British Royal Navy), local support (James and Charles visiting villages), and incorporation of existing lords into the administration (Sarawak Service, Council Negri, etc.) . The "State of Ambong and Marudu" was the complete opposite of it with no foreign help, no local support, no incorporation of the existing administration, and so on. The disease was the just the icing on the barely-crumbing cake.

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

Well, for a lack of a better word... maybe. Claude transferred his rights to Borth Borneo (and the Rajah title) to Torrey when the Vinston colony was established, and Torrey still had both when he left the colony for Hong Kong. This means that the "State of Ambong and Marudu" still exists - even if it's just in paper - and that Torrey is it's - technical - monarch.

Currently, the man is holding on to both the lease rights and the Rajah title because of the profit he could make by selling them to someone else, so as long as the title and the lease rights are in his hands (or another American's) then American North Borneo still exists, even if it's just on a technicality. However, the rights will run out in just under a decade so anyone who buys them must know how to deal with the consequences of North Borneo suddenly becoming free for colonization in 1875.

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

Well, thanks to the Yankee Rajah debacle the Brookes, the British, the Dutch, and everyone else is watching North Borneo. Right now, almost every power in the East Indies is eyeing one another to see what will happen next, and no one wants to move first. Purchasing the title now might cause an "Oops" moment for the Brookes, so for the moment they're watching the British and Dutch (and North Borneo) carefully.

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

Back then, there were no borders indicating just how large was Brunei, Sulu, and Bulungan's areas on North Borneo, and the OTL American lease stretched all the way from Brunei Bay to the Sulu Archipelago! . For the sake of map clarity, I had to draw the map as it is.

Fair point, though. Sulu's area would probably not be as big as shown, even ITTL. Maybe the mapmaker grossly misjudged the Yankee Rajah's land claims and made Sulu larger than it is.

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

Well how else would describe the sheer amount of land that was grabbed by Rajah James in 1862.

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.

I haven't forgotten about the Fuzhou settlers, and they will play a part in Rajah Charles's Sarawak.

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?

Actually, considering the direction of this TL, we might be seeing Gurkhas in Borneo during this world's alternate World War.

Also, you seem to be under the impression that WWI and WWII will happen just like OTL, when I've already changed a few POD's all the way in in 1860's Europe (Cavour, Leopold, etc.)

Keep it up, sketchdoodle!

An excellent update as per usual.

Thank you!

 

[Tredecimus]

About the British North Borneo Company

Is the BNBC butterflied away?

 

[Al-numbers]

Is the BNBC butterflied away?

The British North Borneo Company was made when the Austro-Hungarian Consul to Hong Kong sold his North Borneo rights (which he purchased from Torrey and the Sulu Sultanate IOTL) to a British trader in the early 1880's. Considering that we still have at least ten years to go until then, the BNBC is still up in the air.

It's kinda sad the Consul sold his rights IOTL. I always wanted to see how an Austro-Hungarian Sabah could develop, as well as how would Vienna and Budapest handle it all.

 

[Namayan]

The British North Borneo Company was made when the Austro-Hungarian Consul to Hong Kong sold his North Borneo rights (which he purchased from Torrey and the Sulu Sultanate IOTL) to a British trader in the early 1880's. Considering that we still have at least ten years to go until then, the BNBC is still up in the air.

It's kinda sad the Consul sold his rights IOTL. I always wanted to see how an Austro-Hungarian Sabah could develop, as well as how would Vienna and Budapest handle it all.

I think the issue is power projection of austo-,hungry over Sabah vs sulu. I don't think they would be able to hold into it like the British if ever sulu wanted to take it back. So at that ATL, Sabah would be definitely not be part of any nation centered in Malaya.

If you think of it, the British were the best bet for retaining sabah indefinitely or until decolonization due to their experience in colonies and their power projection.

 

[Kinny Riddle]

If von Overbeck manages to keep Sabah, then it would certainly be interesting to see the Dayak warriors of Sarawak (via the Sarawak Rangers) engaging in combat with the Kadazan-Dusun warriors of Sabah as one of the most exotic major World War I proxy battlefronts.

 

[Al-numbers]

I think the issue is power projection of austo-,hungry over Sabah vs sulu. I don't think they would be able to hold into it like the British if ever sulu wanted to take it back. So at that ATL, Sabah would be definitely not be part of any nation centered in Malaya.

If you think of it, the British were the best bet for retaining sabah indefinitely or until decolonization due to their experience in colonies and their power projection.

True, but Austria-Hungary did have jungle explorers of their own, and Sabah does have one of the largest coal deposits in Borneo (at the time), and it does provide a stopover to China, and Austria-Hungary did have a navy... and was considered a Great Power up until the 1900's....

NO! I don't wanna get influenced!

If von Overbeck manages to keep Sabah, then it would certainly be interesting to see the Dayak warriors of Sarawak (via the Sarawak Rangers) engaging in combat with the Kadazan-Dusun warriors of Sabah as one of the most exotic major World War I proxy battlefronts.

That is, if von Overbeck buys the lease from Torrey and the Sulu Sultanate. I'm juggling a few ideas at the moment, and some of those include an alternate colonization of Borneo. We might see a different Power altogether acquiring the area in the 1880's.

 

[NickBana]

If von Overbeck manages to keep Sabah, then it would certainly be interesting to see the Dayak warriors of Sarawak (via the Sarawak Rangers) engaging in combat with the Kadazan-Dusun warriors of Sabah as one of the most exotic major World War I proxy battlefronts.

They did... Google Mat Salleh...

 

[Herr Frage]

True, but Austria-Hungary did have jungle explorers of their own, and Sabah does have one of the largest coal deposits in Borneo (at the time), and it does provide a stopover to China, and Austria-Hungary did have a navy... and was considered a Great Power up until the 1900's....

NO! I don't wanna get influenced!

Have you the will to resist the implausiblity influence of the Dark Side? That which skirts the lines of the ASB for the rule of cool alone?

 

[Al-numbers]

Have you the will to resist the implausiblity influence of the Dark Side? That which skirts the lines of the ASB for the rule of cool alone?

Well, I can't say that seeing the flag of A-H planted on Kinabalu's summit doesn't sound anything but cool. Still though, I might have plans for another colonial candidate taking over the region.

Dutch-Brooke relations and post-1866 Sabah next, then a final Sarawak update to close the 1860's (in a way).

 

[Kinny Riddle]

They did... Google Mat Salleh...

What are you talking about? IIRC Mat Salleh Rebellion is mostly confined to Sabah and involved mostly Kadazandusun groups. The only mention of anything Dayak related is the murder of two Iban traders. Otherwise, my google search yielded very little results.

 

[Al-numbers]

About Mat Salleh and the rebellions of North Borneo, they could go a lot differently due to the extra attention of Borneo ITTL.

So my new University term just started last week and it's been a complicated time for me as of late. Due to this, I may not be able to update this TL as much as I want to and there will probably be longer waits between updates in the near-future. I'll try to make sure something gets posted up here soon, though!

 

[NickBana]

What are you talking about? IIRC Mat Salleh Rebellion is mostly confined to Sabah and involved mostly Kadazandusun groups. The only mention of anything Dayak related is the murder of two Iban traders. Otherwise, my google search yielded very little results.

OTL The British did hire some Dayak as policemen.

P/S: Most history books about Sarawak did mentions Robert Pringle as their primary source...

 

[Al-numbers]

Arise, thread.

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

...Bruneian Sabah after 1866 was an awkward region to handle with, and the aftermath of the Vinston debacle did not help matters. Whilst the Yankee Rajah affair showed the world just how disastrously a planned colony could fail, it also highlighted the advantageous position of North Borneo to the island's major powers, and a few European nations beyond.

For the lords of the coast, the State of Ambong and Marudu instantly highlighted just how insignificant they were in administrative politics, with a large number of them being entirely side-lined by Brunei in the lead-up to the Americans' planned colony of Vinston. The Affair also showed just how the Overseas Powers saw their land in its entirety, and in what way. Whist some countries saw the region as a land of traditional customs and laws, others saw them as little more than bargaining chips; a notion not too kindly accepted by the inhabitants of Bruneian Sabah.

The "Overseas Powers" themselves also faced an awkward position over the territories of North Borneo. The Vinston debacle, alarming enough as it was, had alerted Sarawak, the British and the Dutch to the potential of having a North Bornean corridor of their own. This was especially apparent to British officials throughout the East Indies who viewed a secure trade route for China as an important priority; A British North Borneo would provide security for British shipping as well as keeping a check on the slave-raiding Sulu Sultanate and the Illanun pirates. The potential of tapping into Borneo's resources was an added benefit after witnessing the success of Sarawak and the Dutch East Indies.

However, the British weren't the only ones who eyed Brunei's northern coast. The Kingdom of Sarawak had been in contact with the region for over a decade, and had even made headway in trading with the natives of southern Palawan before the Yankee Rajah affair (the town of Brooke's Point is said to have dated to around this time period). For the Brooke family, Bruneian Sabah was the perfect area to expand their power and influence across Borneo at minimal cost to themselves. The Dutch, on the other hand, were vaguer in their reasoning of coveting the area, but historical archives show that there was an earnest awareness of the region once the Yankee Rajah Affair was over.

To make things more complicated, the styled "Rajah of Ambong and Marudu" was continuously eyeing his leased territories on North Borneo. After fleeing to Hong Kong from the failing colony, the entrepreneurial Joseph W. Torrey began putting back the bankrupt American Borneo Company together and - after a few years - started trading operations once more across the South China Sea, though he never made any overt moves to North Borneo for the moment. Still, considering the man's Rajah title and his hold on the lease to the region, an uneasiness settled among Borneo's Powers that the trader could come again to Bruneian Sabah and stake his claim onto the region once more.

Thus as the 1860's passed and the 1870's dawned Bruneian Sabah remained in a sort of limbo, eyed by various powers yet unable to belong to either of them. However, as more European nations began joining the colonial game, there was a seemingly assured feeling among all the Bornean players that the impasse would soon be breached...

**********

Anton De Rycker, The Hornbill and the Lion: Dutch-Brooke Relations (Leiden University Press: 1982)

...As with the rest of Borneo, the Dutch East Indies watched the fall of Vinston with a mix of fascination and wariness; The Kingdom of Sarawak had already caused a great deal of trouble for them on the island, and almost no one wanted to know the sheer consequences of another White Rajah state succeeding, much less one that was aligned to the United States.

By the late 1860's both the Dutch and the Brookes have resigned themselves to their respective positions on the island, sullenly accepting that neither of them would be able to boot off the other side for good. Correspondence between the two powers was firmly established during the decade and a Dutch Consul was posted to Kuching to formally establish ties with the Sarawak government. Despite this, relations with the White Rajahs were still far from warm as economic and border affairs dragged both powers into constant disagreements, particularly when Dayaks became the main topic.

This was mainly due to the border demarcation established by the Borneo Treaty back in 1862. According to conventional (colonial) thought, territorial borders were supposed to establish what parts of a polity should a piece of land belong to and what colonial Power should its inhabitants defer to. However, the Dayak subgroups that have lived before partition had always roved between Sarawak and Dutch Borneo, and this did not majorly change in the following years after the Treaty. As both Bornean Powers began consolidating their holds, this dilemma would result in many headaches for both the Dutch and the Brooke family.

Part of this had to do with local trade. During the mid-to-late 1860's, Dutch merchants quickly made substantial inroads into local communities, emphasizing and putting forward goods sold through official channels sanctioned from Batavia. Despite this, there was no escaping the fact that British and Sarawakian goods - particularly for essential commodities like salt - had much lower rates of exchange when compared to Dutch wares, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by the Dayaks of Sentarum after hearing about it from their Sarawakian cousins. In such a wild and unguarded environment, smuggling became inevitable.

There was also the giant headache of Iban headhunting groups crossing the border between Dutch Borneo and Sarawak, trying to evade capture by either of the powers. Sarawak had battled against headhunting for decades, yet there were still many recalcitrant Iban communities near the border that simply crossed over to escape the Rajah's forces. Any intrusion into Dutch territory would immediately be followed by inquiries and threats from Batavia, in which case Sarawak would ask their neighbours just how much (or how little) had they made way in combating headhunting. Often times, such spats would end without any answers to the original problem whatsoever.

Of course, this wasn't to say the Dutch did not learn a few things from their neighbour. Apart from diplomatic sniping, the DEI also took a leaf out of Sarawak's notebook, noticing the White Rajah's use of Dayak auxiliary troops and the formation of the Sarawak Rangers to combat rebellious settlements. In lieu of this, Dutch Residents and generals tried to broker a similar peace with the Iban tribes of Sentarum, only to be horrified when their "help-troops" regarded the call to arms as an opportunity for headhunting and plunder, as was the case in 1865 when rebellion broke out in the Sintang region.

As the 1860's passed, both Sarawak and Dutch Borneo had much to complain about, and neither seemed willing to bring itself down to compromise with the other. In such a contentious atmosphere, no one could have predicted that the spark that would bring the two together would lit up more than a thousand kilometres away...

__________

Footnotes:

1) Brooke's Point is an actual municipality on Palawan Island, with a legend that the Englishman had set foot there and established trade with the locals during the 1850's or 60's. Considering there were Sarawakian emissaries to the Sulu Sultanate as far back as the 1850's, it's highly plausible that he did sail to the island archipelago.

2) The problems of smuggling and border-jumping were real worries for both the Dutch and the Brookes, lasting all the way to the mid-1880's.

 

[Germania09]

This is so great thanks so much Sketchdoodle for continuing this TL

 

[Herr Frage]

So, who will be the one to try and snatch the cookie?

The Belgians back again?

The French perhaps?

Hmm, someone whose move will inspire closeness between the Brooke's and Batavia.

 

[Al-numbers]

This is so great thanks so much Sketchdoodle for continuing this TL

You're welcome. I might be slower in delivering updates, but I still have a fondness for this place and for this timeline.

P/S: Most history books about Sarawak did mentions Robert Pringle as their primary source...

Oooh, thanks for mentioning the author. The materials I gathered are mainly from university sources that I got access to because of being a student, so there's a lot of cross-referencing that I had to do.

So, who will be the one to try and snatch the cookie?

The Belgians back again?

The French perhaps?

Hmm, someone whose move will inspire closeness between the Brooke's and Batavia.

Ahh, let's just say that the Powers (yes, that's plural) that shall finally split the cookie are the ones that have already been mentioned on the timeline up till now. In other words, France is out.

Also, one more thing that Joseph P. Kitingan left out in his book: the reason why no one actually went for North Borneo once Vinston collapsed was that any Power that does so will earn the enmity of virtually everyone else on the island, and no one wants to fire the first shot (at least, not until the next few updates).

 

[Jonathan Edelstein]

"More than a thousand kilometers" - I guess this means that the spark will ignite outside Borneo but still in southeast Asia (if it were Europe, you'd have said more than ten thousand kilometers). Hmmm, a dispute in the sultanate of Sulu, maybe? Or someplace in eastern *Indonesia?

 

[Al-numbers]

"More than a thousand kilometers" - I guess this means that the spark will ignite outside Borneo but still in southeast Asia (if it were Europe, you'd have said more than ten thousand kilometers). Hmmm, a dispute in the sultanate of Sulu, maybe? Or someplace in eastern *Indonesia?

Correct! Well, almost. It will happen in southeast asia, but not exactly where most would think. Imagine Anglo-Dutch Treaty with more ramifications, some direct and others tangenial.

 

[SenatorChickpea]

Good to see this timeline back, and I'm very curious where the balloon is going to go up.

 

[Al-numbers]

Okay, due to me starting my university courses, I'm officially putting the timeline on hiatus (semi-hiatus? time will tell). As much as I want to write about Brooke Sarawak and Sabah and how will it affect the wider world, there's just a lot of real life work to do for me to concentrate on this thing. I might update once in a while, but I don't think I'll be as active as before until the end of the year. Sorry for letting you all down.

Stay curious, everyone.