Directory_and_Chronicle_1940 — Page 1799

BRUNEI

D97

The first European account of Brunei is that of Pigafetta, Magellan's historian who sailed with him on liis famous voyage round the world. Pigafetta visited Brunei in 1521 and was greatly impressed by the splendour of the Court and the size of the town, the population of which he estimated at 25,000 families. Further visits were paid by the Portuguese in 1526 and 1530, and a trading factory and Catholic mission were established at the beginning of the next century. Spain too, having taken possession of the Philippines, evinced an active interest in Brunei affairs and twice attacked the capital. Later the English and the Dutch in turn made sporadic ap-

pearances

Towards the end of the sixteenth century the power of Brunei began to decline, and the outlying territories gradually fell away. The Dutch, having established trading stations on the South west, South and East of Borneo, rapidly extended their sphere of influence over the semi-independent but nominally vassal Sultanates. This disintegration continued until by the beginning of the nineteenth century the kingdom of Brunei had so dwindled in extent as to include only what is now Sarawak and part, of British North Borneo.

At this period the capital itself seems to have degenerated to the condition of a slave market for the sale of captives of the Illanun and Sulu pirates. Anarchy was rife in the outlying districts, and in 1841, in return for his services in assisting the Bendahara, Rajah Muda Hashim, to quell an insurrection at Kuching, Sarawak proper was ceded to Mr. James (later Sir James) Brooke, who was proclaimed Rajah of Sarawak. In 1846 the island of Labuan was ceded to Great Britain as a base for anti- piracy measures, and in 1877 the whole of the northern portion of Borneo was ceded to form the nucleus of what was to become British North Borneo. At various later dates further cessions were made to the Rajah of Sarawak and to the British North Borneo Company till the territories of the State were eventually reduced to their present circumscribed limits.

In 1847 the Sultan entered into a Treaty with Great Britain for the furtherance of commercial relations and the mutual suppression of piracy, an additional clause providing for extra-territorial jurisdiction over British subjects in Brunei, which provision was modified by an Agreement of 1856. By a further Treaty made in 1888 Brunei, was placed under the protection of Great Britain, and the Sultan agreed that the foreign relations of the State should be conducted by Her Majesty's Government. Provision was also made for the setting up of Consular Courts with jurisdiction over: British subjects and foreign subjects enjoying British protection. In 1906 a supple- mentary Agreement was entered into whereby the Sultan undertook to accept a British officer to be styled Resident, who should be the agent and representative of the British Government under the High Commissioner for the Malay States.

CLIMATE

The climate is of the tropical marine type and is characterised by uniform tem- perature, high humidity and copious rainfall. The heat is usually tempered with a slight breeze and the temperature rarely exceeds 90° F, the usual daily range being between 76° F. and 86° F.

The annual rainfall is high and varies from 100 inches at the coast to over 200 inches in certain parts of the interior. The highest rainfall during the year was at Batu Apoi where 257'92 inches were recorded. There are no well defined seasons, but the rainfall tends to be heaviest from October to the middle of January during the period of the North-East monsoon, known locally as the "landas".

Local standard time is eight hours fast of Greenwish (time meridiam 120° E). As the mean Longitude of the State is roughly 115° E, there is thus a sort of natural day- light saving of about twenty minutes.

GOVERNMENT

Brunei is a Sultanate. The present Ruler, the twenty-seventh Sultan of the line, is His Highness AHMED TAJUDIN AKHAZUL KHAIRI WADIN IBNI ALMERHUM SULTAN MOHAMED JEMAL-UL-ALAM, who succeeded his father in 1924 at the age of eleven. During his minority the Pengiran Bendahara and the Pengiran Pemanclia, the two chief Ministers of State, acted as joint Regents. In 1931 His Highness the Sultan assumed full sovereignty and the Regency terminated

ᎠᏎ