James Brooke

She's a long way from home, and the man standing on her deck is an equally long way from the life that might reasonably have been expected of him.

His name is James Brooke.

He's 36 years old, a former soldier, independently wealthy, unmarried, and crucially, answerable to nobody.

He's not a representative of the British government, he's not carrying orders from the East India Company, and he certainly hasn't been sent to conquer anything.

They become known as the White Rajas, and there will be just three of them, all belonging to the same family.

Between them, they will preside over a territory that grows from a relatively small stretch of river country into a kingdom almost the size of England.

Now, if you've heard of James Brooke before, you'll probably know the romantic version of his story.

The courageous Englishman who sails into a remote and dangerous land.

Mm

... and we saw how James Brooke, a supposed private British citizen, came to become the White Rajah of Sarawak, beginning a three-generation long dynasty in the region.

Now, today, we're gonna look at the other half of Malaysian Borneo, which is the state of Sabah, and we're gonna take a look at the very different colonial history that took place there.

Okay.