The British East India Company colony of the Straits Settlements is established in 1826 following the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, by which the Malay archipelago had been divided into a British zone in the north and a Dutch zone in the south.

This had resulted in the exchange of the British settlement of Bencoolen (on Sumatra) for the Dutch colony of Malacca and undisputed control of Singapore.

The Settlements are largely Chinese in population, with a tiny but important European minority.

The capital is George Town, the capital of Penang.