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| b. Peninsular and Island Southeast Asia |
| 1. British Malaya |
| 1795 |
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| The British took Malacca to hold for the Dutch, who were under French domination at the time. | 1 |
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| 1800 |
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| The British secured Province Wellesley from the sultan of Kedah. | 2 |
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| 1802 |
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| Malacca was restored to the Dutch under terms of the Treaty of Amiens. | 3 |
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| 1811 |
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| The British retook Malacca, which was used as a base for the expedition against Java. | 4 |
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| 1818 |
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| The Dutch recovered Malacca, under terms of the Treaty of Vienna. | 5 |
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| 1819 |
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| FOUNDING OF SINGAPORE by Sir Stamford Raffles. Practically abandoned for centuries, the city was soon to become the strategic and commercial center of the region, completely overshadowing Malacca. The founding of the city of Singapore signaled a larger development: the new towns created throughout island Southeast Asia focused on export, not local consumption. In addition to trade, these new urban centers served as important communications and administrative centers for the surrounding countryside (from which they extracted goods for export). To facilitate this type of extractive trade, port cities emerged to funnel tin, rubber, rice, and other primary products into world markets. At the close of the 19th century, Singapore may have been the most polyglot city in Asia: residing there were more than 164,000 Chinese, 23,000 Malays from the peninsular states, more than 12,000 Javanese and Sumatrans, as well as at least 1,000 Arabs. | 6 |
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| 1824, March 17 |
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| The Dutch ceded Malacca to Britain, in return for Bengkulen in Sumatra. | 7 |
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| 1826 |
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| British treaty with Siam. Under terms of this agreement the sultanates of Perak and Selangor were recognized as independent, while Siamese control of Kedah was acknowledged. At the same time Perak ceded to Britain Pangkor Island and the Sembilan Islands for use as bases in the fight against piracy. | 8 |
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| 1850 Ff |
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| Steady influx of Chinese laborers into the peninsula. These were employed chiefly in the tin mines, though many also turned to piracy on the coast. Their presence created disturbance in many states and ultimately provoked British interference. | 9 |
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| 1867, April 1 |
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| End of the rule of the British East India Company. The Straits Settlements thenceforth had the status of a Crown colony. | 10 |
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