The White Rajahs

For over a century, Sarawak, on the island of Borneo, was ruled as an independent state by a family of English white rajahs. The founder of the dynasty was James Brooke, an ex-employee of the East India Company. While sailing along the Borneo coast, Brooke helped the Sultan of Brunei to suppress a revolt and, as a reward, the grateful sultan made him Rajah of Sarawak in 1841. The country prospered under Brooke's rule and that of his successor, his nephew, Sir Charles Brooke. Though Sir Charles placed Sarawak under British protection in 1888, the country retained its independence until the Japanese invaded it during the Second World War. After the defeat of Japan, the third and last of the white rajahs, Sir Charles Vyner Brooke, relinquished all his rights to Britain in 1946. In 1963, Sarawak became a part of the newly independent state of Malaysia.