The sultanate of Aceh

About this book

Aceh was a sultanate of considerable political and economic influence in the Malay Archipelago up to the late eighteenth century. Its strategic location and commercial importance attracted the English East India Company which made efforts to establish a factory there. Acehnese rulers, expecting a treaty arrangement to enhance the sultanate's trade as well as their own political position, responded favourably to early British overtures. The British came closest to securing a base in Aceh between 1760 and 1824 at a time when Aceh was looked upon as an invaluable entrepot to support their China trade and as a possible naval base to protect British interests in the region amidst growing threats from the French and Dutch. In this search for a British base, Aceh appeared prominently in the original intention and instructions of the authorities in India and in London. In the end, the British decided on Penang and, later, Singapore. In the accounts of the founding of Penang and Singapore, Aceh is consequently treated only incidentally. This study, however, traces the course of those events back to Aceh where British interest in establishing a base for the region was first stirred. It also examines the reasons why this interest was not sustained. . As trade between the British and Aceh grew, relations between the two became strained. This study looks at the course of Aceh-British relations that culminated in the 1819 treaty. The treaty, arranged by Stamford Raffles, was as much an attempt to resolve an internal Acehnese conflict as it was to regulate Aceh-British relations.