A History Of Perak

A History Of Perak

Author: RO Winstedt, RJ Wilkinson & We Maxwell

Publisher: Silverfish

ISBN: 9789672438106

Weight:

Pages: 280

Year: 2021

Price : RM45

This is where it all began: the first British Resident in a Malay state, his murder, the enforced protection and the eventual capitulation to the Brits. And the ultimate humiliation. Our Shakespearean tragedy.

"On the stage of Perak’s modern history there have been many actors: the Malays, the Portuguese, the Achinese, the Dutch, the Bugis from Riau and Selangor, Siam and her vassal Kedah, and the British. To some small degree it was dynastic pride that made Acheh and the Bugis her aggressors, and Siam had hardly any other conscious motive. But at the back of all Perak history has been trade. Trade alone attracted the Europeans ...

"Long before the Portuguese, the great Sumatran state Srivijaya or Old Palembang had derived large revenues from toll levied on sea-borne trade: as Chao Ju-Kua wrote in 1225 A.D., “If a merchant ship passes without entering, their boats go forth to make a combined attack and all are ready to die in the attempt; that is why this country is a great shipping. centre.”

Probably the most important history volume in our series.