Home > Thomas Stamford Raffles
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles ( 26 July 1781 - 5 July 1826) was the founder of the city (now country) of Singapore, and is one of the best-known of the many Britons who created the largest empire the world has ever seen.
Little is known of Raffles' parents. At 14 he started working as a clerk in London for the British East India Company, the quasi-government trading company that shaped much of England's overseas conquests. In 1805 he was sent to what is now Penang in the country of Malaysia, then called Prince of Wales Island, starting a long association with southeast Asia.
Raffles was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Java in 1811 and promoted to Governor of Sumatra shortly thereafter, during the period Britain took administrative control of the Dutch colonies while the NetherlandsDutch redirects here. For other uses, see Dutch (disambiguation). The Netherlands ( Dutch: Nederland is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a constitutional monarchy. It is located in northwestern Europe and borders the North Sea, Belgium were preoccupied with the Napoleonic WarsThe Napoleonic Wars lasted from 1804 until 1815. They were a continuation of the conflicts sparked by the French Revolution and covered the duration of the First French Empire. The First and Second Coalitions For a more detailed account see the French Rev in EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se. During his Governorship, Raffles introduced partial self-government, stopped the slave tradeFor specific articles on the slave trade, see: Atlantic slave trade Slave trade in the ancient world Slave trade in the Middle Ages Slave trade in Islamic World Slave trade in Africa Slave trade in the Americas Slave trade and the British Empire Swedish s, restored and researched BorobudurBorobudur located in the Indonesian island of Java, 40 km (25mi) north-west of Yogyakarta, is a Buddhist stupa related to the Mahayana tradition, and the largest Buddhist monument on earth. It was built between 750 and 850 CE by the Javanese rulers of the and other ancient monuments, and replaced the Dutch forced agriculture system with a land-tenure system of land management. He also researched and wrote a book entitled History of Java, describing the history of the island from ancient times.
In 1815Events January 3 Austria, Britain, and France form a secret defensive alliance treaty against Prussia and Russia. January 8 War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans February 3 The first commercial cheese factory is founded in Switzerland February 6 New Jersey g he left again for England after the island of Java was returned to control of the Netherlands following the Napoleonic Wars. He came back to the island of Sumatra in 18181818 is a common year starting on Thursday. Events February 12 Chile gains its independence from Spain March 11 Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is published March 22 Easter Sunday falls on its earliest possible date. The next time Easter will fall this early:, and on 29 January, 1819, he established a free-trade post at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula a site that became Singapore. Raffles declared the foundation of what was to become modern Singapore on 6 February of that year, securing transfer of control of the island to the East India Company. By the time he left for good in 1823, the city was on its way to become the largest port in the world.
Raffles was also a founder and first president of the Zoological Society of London. He was knighted in 1817.
In Singapore, his name lives on in Raffles Junior College, Raffles Institution, Raffles Hotel, Stamford Road, Stamford House, Raffles City and Raffles Place , while he is also remembered in the name of the largest flower in the world, the Rafflesia.
