英国在巴兰万安岛建立殖民地的经过及结局

Inspiration from Establishment of British Settlement on Balambangan Island

巴兰万安岛是位于婆罗洲北部的一个小岛,目前是马来西亚的领土。18世纪中叶,日益增长的中英贸易,使得英国东印度公司急需在马来群岛寻找一个据点作为货物集散地和贸易中心。在经过了东印度公司职员达尔林普的侦查与研究后,英国东印度公司最终选择了巴兰万安岛作为殖民地,并在与苏禄苏丹进行交涉后,签订了土地割让条约。达尔林普带着割让条约回到伦敦与东印度公司董事会交涉,最后获得董事会同意在巴兰万安岛建立殖民地。但是,达尔林普因职权与待遇问题未能与董事会达成共识,董事会随即委任明古连的官员赫伯特作为巴兰万安岛殖民地的首领。赫伯特糟糕的管理和挪用公款的行为,导致巴兰万安岛没有达到东印度公司所期望的目的。巴兰万安岛的周边地缘政治也影响了苏禄王国的对英关系。当苏丹伊斯雷尔察觉到巴兰万安岛殖民地的建立对苏禄王国产生了威胁,尤其是影响了中国与苏禄的贸易和西班牙的合作,就改变了原先友好的态度,决定摧毁这个英国人的殖民地。苏禄人袭击和洗劫巴兰万安岛后,获得了岛上大量的军火和财物,这足以让他们在往后的几十年里称霸苏禄群岛。与此同时,这批军火也助长了东南亚的海盗活动。英国东印度公司从巴兰万安岛殖民计划的失败当中获得了一定的教训,让他们往后在东南亚建立殖民地时避免重蹈覆辙。

Balambangan Island is located in the northwest of Borneo,and now is a part of Malaysia.In the middle of the 18th Century,the mounting of Sino-British trade resulted British East India Company need to seek a settlement in Malay Archipelago for entrepot.A settlement can be seen after the investigation of Alexander Dalrymple and Balambangan Island.Later,Dalrymple negotiated with Sulu Sultan and they signed a treaty of cession.Dalrymple went back to London and negotiated with the Court of Directors of EIC,after a few years later,directors agreed with the plan of Balambangan Island,but Dalrymple and directors of EIC cannot reach a concensus with issue of wages and authority.The Court of Directors appointed Bencoolen staff John Herbert as the chief of Balambangan Settlement,consequently under the Herbert's administration;the settlement did not attain the purpose because of his deception and mismanagement.The ruler of Sulu Sultanate Sultan Israel perceived establishment of Balambangan threaten to his kingdom,especially on the trade between China and Sulu.Hence,he decided to devastate this settlement.After the Suluan’s attack and plunder Balambangan Island,they obtained a large quantity of ammunition and property;they allowed to be dominate the Sulu Archipelago in decades of the years.This ammunition also enhance piracy in Southeast Asia in future.Finally,this settlement was failed and EIC gained valuable experience from this experiment in establish settlement in Southeast Asia,especially on establishment of settlement in Penang and Singapore.