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Council of the Baltic Sea States

The Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) is a regional intergovernmental organisation working on three priority areas: These three priority areas aim to address the themes of sustainable development, environment, sustainable maritime economy, education, labour, culture, youth engagement, civil security, children's rights and trafficking in human beings.
 * Regional Identity,
 * Safe & Secure Region and
 * Sustainable & Prosperous Region.

Member states
The CBSS has 10 member states as well as the European Union:

 * 🇩🇰 Denmark
 * 🇪🇪 Estonia
 * 🇫🇮 Finland
 * 🇩🇪 Germany
 * 🇮🇸 Iceland (1995)
 * 🇱🇻 Latvia
 * 🇱🇹 Lithuania
 * 🇳🇴 Norway
 * 🇵🇱 Poland
 * 🇸🇪 Sweden

Former member states

 * 🇷🇺 Russia (suspended in March 2022 and withdrew in May the same year)

Observer states
11 other countries have observer status:

 * 🇧🇾 Belarus (suspended in 2022)
 * 🇫🇷 France
 * 🇭🇺 Hungary
 * 🇮🇹 Italy
 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands
 * 🇷🇴 Romania
 * 🇸🇰 Slovakia
 * 🇪🇸 Spain
 * 🇺🇦 Ukraine
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
 * 🇺🇸 United States

History
The CBSS was established by the region's Foreign Ministers in Copenhagen in March 1992 as a response to the geopolitical changes that took place in the Baltic Sea region with the end of the Cold War. The CBSS founders were Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, Thorvald Stoltenberg, Lennart Meri, Jānis Jurkāns, Algirdas Saudargas, Henning Christophersen, Paavo Väyrynen, Andrei Kozyrev, Margaretha af Ugglas, and Krzysztof Skubiszewski. Since its founding, the CBSS has contributed to ensuring positive developments within the Baltic Sea region and has served as a driving force for multilateral cooperation.

Since 1998 the CBSS has been served by a permanent international Secretariat that is located in Stockholm, Sweden and funded by the Member States. The highest institution of CBSS is the conference of foreign ministers, which convenes once per year.

On 3 March 2022, a declaration from 11 members of the CBSS suspended Russia from the Council's activities with immediate effect as a result of 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, Belarus, with observer status, was suspended from participating in CBSS activities.

Presidencies
The Council Presidency rotates between the eleven Member States on an annual basis. Each Presidency lays down a set of specific priorities to guide the works of the Council for the Presidency year and lasts for one year from 1 July until 30 June.

Committee of Senior Officials
The Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) consists of high-ranking representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the 11 CBSS Member States as well as of a high-level representative of the European Union. The CSO serves as the main discussion forum and decision-making body for matters related to the work of the Council between Ministerial Sessions. The CSO monitors, facilitates and aims to coordinate the work of all CBSS structures.

The period chaired by each country rotates on an annual basis and follows the Council Presidency. The CSO Chairman is a representative, usually at ambassadorial level, appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country which holds the Council Presidency.

A number of CBSS structures are operating under the auspices of the CSO.

The CSO monitors the work of the Expert Groups and coordinates the work undertaken in the agreed three long-term priorities 'Regional Identity', 'Sustainable & Prosperous Region' and 'Safe & Secure Region'.

Expert Groups

 * CBSS Expert Group on Sustainable Maritime Economy
 * CBSS Expert Group on Sustainable Development – manages Baltic 2030 Action Plan
 * CBSS Expert Group on Children at Risk
 * The Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings

Secretariat
A Permanent International Secretariat of the CBSS was established following a decision taken at the 7th Ministerial Session of the CBSS in 1998 in Nyborg, Denmark. The Secretariat was officially inaugurated at its premises on the island of Strömsborg in Stockholm on 20 October 1998. From November 2010 until July 2020 the Secretariat was located at Räntmästarhuset at Slussplan 9, Stockholm, Sweden. Since July 2020, Momma Reenstiernas Palace at Wollmar Yxkullsgatan 23 is the new home of the CBSS Secretariat.

The mandate of the Secretariat is as follows:

 * to provide technical and organisational support to the Chairman of the CBSS and the structures and working bodies of the Council;
 * to ensure continuity and enhanced coordination of CBSS activities;
 * to implement the CBSS Information and Communication Strategy;
 * to maintain the CBSS archives and information database;
 * to maintain contacts with other organisations operating in and around the Baltic Sea region, the national authorities of Member States and the media.

Strategic partners
Since the 10th Ministerial Session of the CBSS in 2001, the Council has intensified efforts to coordinate CBSS activities with other organisations actively working to advance regional cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region. The CBSS has taken the initiative to organise annual coordination meetings, (organised and presided over by the CSO Chair), with the participation of Baltic Sea regional organisations, thus providing a more structured channel for involving the strategic partners to voice their concerns and coordinate their efforts with the CBSS and other organisations such as:

 * B7 Baltic Seven Islands
 * BASTUN
 * BCCA
 * Baltic Sea Forum
 * BSPC
 * BSRUN
 * BSSSC
 * BUP
 * Business Advisory Council
 * CPMR
 * HELCOM
 * IOM
 * NGO Forum
 * OECD
 * ScanBalt
 * UBC

Long term priorities
In June 2014, the Council decided, after an evaluation and review of the CBSS five long-term priorities, to mainstream three renewed long-term priorities for the Council of the Baltic Sea States – Regional Identity, Sustainable & Prosperous Region and Safe & Secure Region.

The Regional Identity

 * Goal: To foster a Baltic Sea Region identity and intensify contacts supporting its further development
 * Objective: To develop the concept of Baltic Sea Region identity for and a sense of belonging to the Baltic Sea Region through engagement, participation and multilevel governance, in a community spirit and to create a notion of regional unity across borders by developing people-to-people contacts through dialogue, macro-regional networks and institutions;

Sustainable and Prosperous Region

 * Goals: To develop the Baltic Sea Region as a model region of sustainable societies able to manage and use resources efficiently, to tap the economic, technological, ecological and social innovation potential of the region in order to ensure its prosperity, environmental protection and social cohesion; To contribute to the eradication of obstacles hampering the comprehensive and sustainable development of the region
 * Objectives: To improve the overall competitiveness of the Baltic Sea region through sustainable economic growth and labour markets, research and development, innovative infrastructure, an integrated maritime policy, transport and communications; To support the transition of the Baltic Sea region towards a competitive, green and low-carbon economy thereby ensuring sustainable development and inclusive growth; To support further action to reach a good environmental status and a healthy ecosystem supporting a prosperous Baltic Sea Region; To strengthen the region's capacity to adapt to climate change and the resilience capacity of ecosystems and societies; To ensure further mainstreaming of sustainable development at all levels and in all policy sectors, integrating economic, social and environmental aspects; To promote sustainable and green technologies and initiatives in order to protect the ecosystem and biodiversity of the Baltic Sea region;

Safe and Secure Region

 * Goal: To enhance societal security and safety in the Baltic Sea Region and to ensure that people of the Region are protected from and resilient to violence, accidents and emergencies through preparedness, and safeguarded against harm caused by criminal exploitation and human trafficking
 * Objectives: To counteract all forms of trafficking in human beings, in the Baltic Sea Region via preventive and protective activities and projects based on a coherent and multidisciplinary approach; To promote comprehensive and sustainable child protection in order to prevent and respond to all forms of violence against children through a multi-sectorial approach and increased cooperation between relevant authorities and other stakeholders in the Baltic Sea Region; To strengthen societal resilience to disasters and hazards in all stages of crises through adequate prevention, preparedness, response and recovery; To enhance interoperability and strategic macro-regional cooperation enabling assistance and rapid response to cross-border accidents and emergencies, including disasters that may have cross-border consequences and impact.

title: Council of the Baltic Sea States


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History of the British Virgin Islands

The history of the British Virgin Islands is usually, for convenience, broken up into five separate periods:
 * Pre-Columbian Amerindian settlement, up to an uncertain date
 * Nascent European settlement, from approximately 1612 until 1672
 * British control, from 1672 until 1834
 * Emancipation, from 1834 until 1950
 * The modern state, from 1950 to present day

These time periods are used for convenience only. There appears to be an uncertain period of time from when the last Arawak left what would later be called the British Virgin Islands until the first Europeans started to settle there in the early 17th century, when records of any settlement are unclear. Each of the above periods is marked by a dramatic change from the preceding time period, providing a way to define the history.

Pre-Columbian settlement
The first recorded settlement of the Territory was by Arawak Indians who came from South America, in around 100 BC. Vernon Pickering places the date later, at around 200 AD, and suggests that the Arawak may have been preceded by the Ciboney Indians. They are thought to have settled in nearby St. Thomas as early as 300 BC. There is some evidence of Amerindian presence on the islands. perhaps in seasonal fishing camps, as far back as 1500 BC. There is little academic support for the idea of a permanent settlement on any of the current British Virgin Islands at that time.

The Arawak inhabited the islands until the 15th century, when they were displaced by the more aggressive Caribs, a tribe from the Lesser Antilles islands. The Caribbean Sea is named for these people.

None of the later European visitors to the Virgin Islands reported encountering Amerindians in what would later be the British Virgin Islands. Christopher Columbus did have a hostile encounter with the Carib natives of St. Croix.

Comparatively little is known about the early inhabitants of this territory specifically (as opposed to the Arawak generally). The largest excavations of Arawak pottery have been found around Belmont and Smuggler's Cove on the northwest of Tortola. Many other archeological sites have been found with Arawak artifacts, including at Soper's Hole, Apple Bay, Coxheath, Pockwood Pond, Pleasant Valley, Sage Mountain, Russell Hill (modern day Road Town), Pasea, Purcell, Paraquita Bay, Josiah's Bay, Mount Healthy and Cane Garden Bay. Modern archaeological excavations regularly cause local historians to revise what they thought they knew about these early settlers. Discoveries reported in the local newspapers in 2006 have indicated that early Arawak settlement of the islands may have been more significant than had earlier been thought.

1492: Early European exploration
The first European sighting of the Virgin Islands was by Christopher Columbus in 1493 on his second voyage to the Americas. Columbus gave them the name Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Vírgenes (Saint Ursula and her 11,000 Virgins), shortened to Las Vírgenes (The Virgins), after the legend of Saint Ursula. He is also reported to have personally named Virgin Gorda (the Fat Virgin), which he thought to be the largest island in the group.

The Spanish claimed the islands by original discovery, but never settled the Territory. In 1508, Juan Ponce de León settled Puerto Rico, and reports in Spanish journals suggested that the settlement used the Virgin Islands for fishing, but nothing else. Their references may have been to the present U.S. Virgin Islands, which are closer.

In 1517, Sebastian Cabot and Thomas Spert visited the islands on their return from exploring Brazilian waters. Sir John Hawkins visited the islands three times, firstly in 1542 and then again in 1563 with a cargo of slaves bound for Hispaniola. On his third visit, he was accompanied by a young captain by the name of Francis Drake in the Judith.

Drake returned in 1585, and is reported to have anchored in North Sound on Virgin Gorda prior to his tactically brilliant attack on Santo Domingo. Drake returned for the final time in 1595 on his last voyage, during which he died. The main channel in the British Virgin Islands was named in his honor.

In 1598, George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, is reported to have used the islands as a staging ground for his later attack on La Fortaleza in Puerto Rico, during conflicts between England and Spain.

English (and Scottish) King James I granted a patent to James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle, for Tortola, as well as "Angilla, Semrera (Sombrero island) & Enegada". Carlisle also received letters of patent for Barbados, St. Kitts and "all the Caribees" in 1627 (the "Carlisle proprietorship"). He died shortly after, but his son, the 2nd Earl of Carlisle, leased the patents to Lord Willoughby for 21 years in 1647. Neither ever attempted to settle the northern islands.

First Dutch settlements
Dutch privateer Joost van Dyk organized the first permanent settlements in the Territory in Soper's Hole, on the west end of Tortola. By 1615, van Dyk's settlement was recorded in contemporary Spanish records, which noted its recent expansion. He traded with Spanish colonists in Puerto Rico and farmed cotton and tobacco.

Some sources suggest that the first settlements in the Virgin Islands were by the Spanish, who mined copper at the copper mine on Virgin Gorda. No archaeological evidence supports any settlement by the Spanish in the islands, nor any mining of copper on Virgin Gorda prior to the 19th century.

By 1625, van Dyk was recognized by the Dutch West India Company as the private "Patron" of Tortola and had moved his operations to Road Town. During the same year, van Dyk lent some limited (non-military) support to the Dutch admiral Boudewijn Hendricksz, who sacked San Juan, Puerto Rico. In September 1625, in retaliation, the Spanish led a full assault on the island of Tortola, laying waste to its defenses and destroying its embryonic settlements. Joost van Dyk escaped to the island that would later bear his name, and sheltered there from the Spanish. He later moved to the island of St. Thomas until the Spanish gave up and returned to Puerto Rico.

Notwithstanding Spanish hostility, the Dutch West India Company considered the Virgin Islands to have a significant strategic value, as they were located approximately halfway between the Dutch colonies in South America (now Suriname) and the most important Dutch settlement in North America, New Amsterdam (now New York City). The Dutch built large stone warehouses at Freebottom, near Port Purcell (just east of Road Town), to facilitate exchanges of cargo between North and South America.

At this time, the Dutch settlers erected some small earthworks and a three-cannon fort above the warehouse, on the hill. This was the site where the English later built Fort George. The Dutch also constructed a wooden stockade for a lookout post above Road Town. This site was later developed as Fort Charlotte. They stationed troops at the Spanish "dojon" near Pockwood Pond, later to be known as Fort Purcell. In the 21st century, it is usually called "the Dungeon".

In 1631, the Dutch West India Company expressed an interest in the rumors of copper on Virgin Gorda, and a settlement was set up on that island, which came to be known as "Little Dyk's" (now known as Little Dix).

In 1640, Spain attacked Tortola in an assault led by Captain Lopez. The Spanish attacked again in 1646 and 1647, led by Captain Francisco Vincente Duran. The Spanish anchored a warship in Soper's Hole at West End and landed men ashore. They sent another warship to blockade Road Harbour. After a team of scouts returned a safe report, the Spanish landed more men and attacked Fort Purcell overland by foot. They massacred the Dutch, and next attacked Road Town, killing all inhabitants and destroying the settlement. They did not bother with the smaller settlements further up the coast in Baugher's Bay or on Virgin Gorda.

Decline of the Dutch West India Company
The Dutch settlements did not return a profit. Evidence suggests that the Dutch settlers spent most of their time more profitably engaged in privateering than in trading. The lack of prosperity of the territory mirrored the lack of commercial success of the Dutch West India Company as a whole.

The Company changed its policy. It sought to cede islands such as Tortola and Virgin Gorda to private persons for settlement, and to establish depots to support the slave trade in the Caribbean, as the Company were importing slaves from Africa. The island of Tortola was sold to Willem Hunthum at some point in the 1650s, at which time the Dutch West India Company's interest in the Territory effectively ended. In 1665, the Dutch settlers on Tortola were attacked by a British privateer, John Wentworth; he captured 67 slaves and took them to Bermuda. The record of his prize is the first documentation of slaves being held in the Territory.

In 1666, a report to the Company stated that some of the Dutch settlers had been driven out by an influx of British "brigands and pirates", although numerous Dutch remained.

1672: British colonisation
England took control of the British Virgin Islands in 1672, at the outbreak of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, and have retained influence since. The Dutch averred that in 1672 Willem Hunthum put Tortola under the protection of Colonel Sir William Stapleton, the English Governor-General of the Leeward Islands. Stapleton reported that he had "captured" the Territory shortly after the outbreak of war.

Colonel William Burt was dispatched to Tortola and took control of the island no later than 13 July 1672 (when Stapleton reported the conquest to the Council of Trade). Burt did not have sufficient men to occupy the Territory, but before leaving the island, he destroyed the Dutch forts and removed all their cannons to St. Kitts.

By the Treaty of Westminster of 1674, the war was ended, and provision was made for mutual restoration of all territorial conquests during the war. The Treaty provided the Dutch with the right to resume possession of the islands, but by then the Dutch were at war with the French, and fear of a French attack prevented their immediate restoration. Although the possessions were not considered valuable, for strategic reasons the British became reluctant to surrender them, and after prolonged discussions, orders were issued to Stapleton in June 1677 to retain possession of Tortola and the surrounding islands.

In 1678, the Franco-Dutch War ended, and the Dutch returned their attention to Tortola, although it was not until 1684 that the Dutch ambassador, Arnout van Citters, formally requested the return of Tortola. However, he did not do so on the basis of the Treaty of Westminster, but instead based the claim on the private rights of the widow of Willem Hunthum. He asserted that the island was not a conquest, but had been entrusted to the British. The ambassador provided a letter from Stapleton promising to return the island.

At this time (1686), Stapleton had completed his term of office and was en route back to Britain. The Dutch were told Stapleton would be asked to explain the discrepancy between his assertion of having conquered the island, and the correspondence signed by him indicating a promise to return it, after which a decision would be made. Unfortunately, Stapleton traveled first to France to recover his health, where he died. Cognisant that other Caribbean territories which had been captured from the Dutch during the war had already been restored, in August 1686 the Dutch ambassador was advised by the British that Tortola would be restored, and instructions to that effect were sent to Sir Nathaniel Johnson, the new Governor of the Leeward Islands.

But Tortola was never actually returned to the Dutch. Part of the problem was that Johnson's orders were to restore the island to such person or persons who have "sufficient procuration or authority to receive the same..." However, most of the former Dutch colonists had now departed, having lost hope of restoration. Certainly there was no official representation of the Dutch monarchy or any other organ of government. In the event, Johnson did nothing.

In November 1696, a subsequent claim was made to the island by Sir Peter van Bell, the agent of Sir Joseph Shepheard, a Rotterdam merchant, who claimed to have purchased Tortola on 21 June 1695, for 3,500 guilders. Shepheard was from the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and the prospect of Tortola coming under Brandenburger control did not sit well in Westminster. The Brandenburg claim was dismissed by the British on the grounds that Stapleton had conquered rather than been entrusted with Tortola. The now common delaying tactic of forwarding all correspondence to Governor Codrington for comment was employed. Codrington readily appreciated the risks of a Brandenburg trading outpost on Tortola, as such an outpost already existed on nearby St. Thomas. The Brandenburgers had previously set up an outpost for trading slaves on Peter Island in 1690, which they had abandoned, and they were not considered welcome. At the time they had an outpost on St. Thomas, but they engaged in no agriculture, and only participated in the trading of slaves. Negotiations became more intense, and the British re-asserted the right of conquest and also (wrongly, but apparently honestly) claimed to have first discovered Tortola. During the negotiations, the British also became aware of two older historical claims, the 1628 patent granted to the Earl of Carlisle (which was inconsistent with Hunthum's title being sold to him by the Dutch West India company), and an order of the King in 1694 to prevent foreign settlement in the Virgin Islands. In February 1698, Codrington was told to regard the earlier 1694 orders as final, and the British entertained no further claims to the islands.

Geographical limits of the territory
Although the islands which presently form the British Virgin Islands have been under British control since 1672, a number of other islands came under the control of the British Crown (some more than once) during the subsequent period, but no longer form part of the Territory. At the time the British took control of the territory, the following islands were considered part of the Virgin Islands.

 * St. Thomas. The British initially claimed St. Thomas (and St. John as well), but in 1717, the Danish disputed their claim to those islands.  In contrast to the long dispute over ownership of Tortola, the dispute over St. Thomas was settled readily with a year.  The Danish claim was strong; they had the benefit of the Treaty of Alliance and Commerce of 1670 between Britain and Denmark, which led to the founding of the Danish West India Company in 1671 which its charter permitted it to take possession of and occupy the two islands.  On 25 May 1672, the Danes took possession of St. Thomas, and discovered it to have been abandoned by the British settlers some weeks earlier.  The British could scarcely object to the Danes retaining the island.
 * St. John. However, no sooner than the dispute over St. Thomas settled, than acrimony flared up again over St. John, when the Danes purported to settle it on 23 March 1718.  The reaction of Walter Hamilton, Governor of the Leeward Islands, was immediate.  He dispatched HMS Scarborough to the island.  A period of fraught negotiations followed, but ultimately the Danes refused to quit St. John, and the British declined to use force to seize it.  Truthfully, the British were less concerned about St. John than about St. Croix, which they thought that the Danes would eventually covet as well.
 * St. Croix (or St. Cruz, as it was known at the time). The British fears proved to be well founded.  In 1729, a claim was made to St. Croix by the Danes who (in an ironic twist) claimed it had been sold to them by the French.  St. Croix had been settled at an uncertain point over a century before by settlers from a number of different European nations, but in 1645 violence had flared up between them, and the English governor was murdered.  The English summarily expelled the Dutch, and the French, at their own request, were removed to Guadeloupe, leaving the British in sole control of the island.  But in 1650, the Spanish invaded from Puerto Rico and the British surrendered the island.  Later in the same year, the Dutch had sought to return to St. Croix, believing that the Spanish would by then have returned to Puerto Rico, but when they arrived the Spanish were still there, and the Dutch were all killed or captured.  The Governor General of the French Caribbean colonies then subsequently mounted an attack on the island at his own expense and drove out the Spanish, but he was unable to establish a colony, and surrendered the title to the island to the Grand Master of the Order of Malta in 1653.  In 1665, St. Croix reverted by purchase to the French West India Company, and upon the Company's collapse in 1674, the King of France claimed it as part of his dominions, although the island was subsequently ordered to be abandoned as an economic failure - the date of abandoning would later be hotly disputed.  In May 1733, the French purported to sell the island to the Danish West India Company.  If the French had only abandoned it in 1695 (as they asserted), it was French at the time of the Treaty.  If the French had abandoned the island in 1671 (as the British claimed), then under the 1686 Treaty, St. Croix would be peaceably in British possession.  In the end, the French had documents to support their claim, and the British did not, and so the Council of Trade admitted that "upon the whole we must submit... whether it may be proper to advise His Majesty to insist any longer upon a title so weakly supported."  The British thereafter ceased to resist the French sale of the island to the Danes.

Britain would actually conquer St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix in March 1801 through the Napoleonic wars, but they restored them by the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802. They were then re-taken in December 1807, but were restored again by the Treaty of Paris of 1815. Thereafter, they would remain under Danish control until 1917 when they were sold to the U.S.A. for US$25 million, and were later renamed the "U.S. Virgin Islands".

 * Vieques (or Crab Island, as the British referred to it). Vieques was periodically settled by the British, but on each occasion they were driven off by Spanish soldiers from nearby Puerto Rico.  In the early 18th century, the Colonial authorities ordered the removal of British settlers on Vieques and re-settled them on St. Kitts.  Ironically enough, a century later after emancipation a number of former slaves would go and seek work on Vieques as free men of colour, notwithstanding that Vieques was still a slave owning society.

Relationships with the Danes were strained from the outset. The Danes continuously resorted to nearby islands for timber, clearly violating British sovereignty. British ships which foundered in St. Thomas was subject to extortionate levy for salvage. Further, St. Thomas became a base for pirates and privateers which the Danish Governor either could not or would not stop. During the War of the Spanish Succession the Danes supported the French colonies, and allowed the French to sell British ships seized as prizes in Charlotte Amalie. No doubt the British invasions in the early 19th century did not help relations, and in later years smuggling and illegal sales of slaves by St. Thomians would frustrate British authorities.

Law and order
Even after British control of the Territory became complete, population infiltration was slow. Settlers lived in fear of possible Spanish attack, and there was the constant possibility that diplomatic efforts might fail and the Territory might revert to an overseas power (as happened in St. Croix). Spanish raids in 1685 and ongoing negotiations between the Dutch and the British over the fate of the islands led to them being virtually abandoned; from 1685 to 1690 the population of the Territory was reduced to two - a Mr Jonathan Turner and his wife. In 1690, there was a relative explosion in the population, which had swollen to fourteen. By 1696, it was up to fifty.

From 1678, the British appointed a deputy-governor for the Territory (initially for the Territory and Saba and St. Eustatius, until the latter two islands were returned to the Dutch). The role was somewhat vague, and had no legislative, executory or judicial powers attached to it. The deputy-governor was encouraged to appoint a local governor beneath him, though it was common complaint being unable "to gett one that's tolerable fitt amongst them to take the command upon them." In 1709, Governor Parke observed that "they live like wild people without law or Government, and have neither Divine nor Lawyer amongst them..."

It was not until 1773 that the Virgin Islands actually had its own legislature.

Early attempts to establish a legislature and organs of government in the Territory are considered failures. The uncertainty of tenure and slightly ambivalent official British attitude to the fate of the Territory influenced the early population - for many years only debtors from other islands, pirates and those fleeing the law were prepared to undertake the risk of settling in the Virgin Islands. Most references to the islands from occasional visitors comment on the lack of law and order and the lack of religiosity of the inhabitants.

The Territory was granted a Legislative Assembly on 27 January 1774, however, it took a full further decade for a constitutional framework to be settled. Part of the problem was that the islands were so thinly populated, it was almost impossible to constitute the organs of government. In 1778, George Suckling arrived in the Territory to take up his position as Chief Justice of the Territory. In the event, a court was not actually established until the Court Bill was passed in 1783, but even then the vested interests ensured that Suckling could still not take up his position, and the islands had a court but no judge. Suckling finally left the islands without ever taking up his post (or ever being paid) on 2 May 1788, impoverished and embittered, due to the machinations of local interests which were fearful of the recourse of their creditors if a court was to be established. Suckling was forthright in expressing his views on the state of law and order in the Territory - he described the residents of Tortola as "in a state of lawless ferment. Life, liberty, and property were hourly exposed to the insults and depredations of the riotous and lawless.  The authority of His Majesty's Council, as conservators of the peace, was defied and ridiculed...  The island presented a shocking state of anarchy; miserable indeed, and disgraceful to government, not to be equaled in any other of His Majesty's dominions, or perhaps in any civilized country in the world."

Almost 100 years after Governor Parke had expressed his views, one of his successors would speak in similar terms. On his appointment in 1810, Governor Hugh Elliot remarked on "the state of irritation, nay, I had almost said, of anarchy, in which I have found this Colony ..." Writer Howard, an agent selling a distressed cargo of slaves from a shipwreck in Tortola in 1803 wrote that "Tortola is well nigh the most miserable, worst-inhabited spot in all the British possessions... this unhealthy part of the globe appears overstocked with each description of people except honest ones."

Quaker settlement
Although short in both duration and number, the Quaker settlement in the British Virgin Islands from 1727 to 1768 played an important part in the history of the Territory for two reasons. Firstly, the trenchant opposition of the Quakers to slavery had a contributing effect to the improvements in the treatment of slaves within the Territory (the exceptional case of Arthur William Hodge notwithstanding) compared to other Caribbean islands, and to the large number of free blacks within the islands. Secondly, for such a small community, a large number of famous historical figures came from that small community, including John C. Lettsome, William Thornton, Samuel Nottingham and Richard Humphreys. There are some vague assertions that Arthur Penn, brother of the more famous William Penn, also formed part of the Quaker community of the British Virgin Islands for a time. However, this seems unlikely as the dates of his lifetime do not fit easily within the time frame of the Quaker community in the British Virgin Islands, and as Quaker history is generally very well documented, it is unlikely that an expedition by a member of such a famous family would go unnoticed.

Fortification
Between 1760 and 1800, the British significantly upgraded the defences of the Territory. Usually building upon earlier Dutch fortifications, new structures armed with cannons were erected at Fort Charlotte, Fort George, Fort Burt, Fort Recovery, and a new fort that was built in the centre of Road Town which came to be known as the Road Town Fort. As was common at the time, plantation owners were expected to fortify their own holdings, and Fort Purcell and Fort Hodge were erected on this basis.

Slave economy
In common with most Caribbean countries, slavery in the British Virgin Islands forms a major part of the history of the Territory. One commentator has gone so far as to say: "One of the most important aspects of the History of the British Virgin Islands is slavery."

As Tortola, and to a lesser extent Virgin Gorda, came to be settled by plantation owners, slave labour became economically essential, and there was an exponential growth in the slave population during the 18th century. In 1717 there were 547 black people in the Territory (all of whom were assumed to be slaves); by 1724, there were 1,430; and 1756, there were 6,121. The increase in slaves held in the Territory is, to a large degree, consistent with development of the economy of the British Virgin Islands at the time.

Slave revolts
Uprisings in the Territory were common, as they were elsewhere in the Caribbean. The first notable uprising in the British Virgin Islands occurred in 1790, and centred on the estates of Isaac Pickering. It was quickly put down, and the ring leaders were executed. The revolt was sparked by the rumour that freedom had been granted to slaves in England, but that the planters were withholding knowledge of it. The same rumour would also later spark subsequent revolts.

Subsequent rebellions also occurred in 1823, 1827, and 1830, although in each case they were quickly put down.

Probably the most significant slave insurrection occurred in 1831 when a plot was uncovered to kill all of the white males in the Territory and to escape to Haiti (which was at the time the only free black republic in the world) by boat with all of the white females. Although the plot does not appear to have been especially well formulated, it caused widespread panic, and military assistance was drafted in from St. Thomas. A number of the plotters (or accused plotters) were executed.

It is perhaps unsurprising that the incidence of slave revolts increased sharply after 1822. In 1807, the trade in slaves was abolished. Although the existing slaves were forced to continue their servitude, the Royal Navy patrolled the Atlantic, capturing slave ships, and freeing slave cargoes. Starting in 1808, hundreds of freed Africans were deposited on Tortola by the Navy who, after serving a 14 year "apprenticeship", were then absolutely free. Naturally, seeing free Africans in the Territory created enormous resentment and jealousy amongst the existing slave population, who understandably felt this to be enormously unjust.

1834: Emancipation
The abolition of slavery occurred on 1 August 1834, and to this day it is celebrated by a three-day public holiday on the first Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in August in the British Virgin Islands. The original emancipation proclamation hangs in the High Court. However, the abolition of slavery was not the single defining event that it is sometimes supposed to have been. Emancipation freed a total of 5,792 slaves in the Territory, but at the time of abolition, there were already a considerable number of free blacks in the Territory, possibly as many as 2,000. Furthermore, the effect of abolition was gradual; the freed slaves were not absolutely manumitted, but instead entered a form of forced apprenticeship which lasted four years for house slaves and six years for field slaves. The terms of the forced apprenticeship required them to provide 45 hours unpaid labour a week to their former masters, and prohibited them from leaving their residence without the masters permission. The effect, deliberately, was to phase out reliance on slave labour rather than end it with a bang. The Council would later legislate to reduce this period to four years for all slaves to quell rising dissent amongst the field slaves.

Joseph John Gurney, a Quaker, wrote in his Familiar Letters to Henry Clay of Kentucky that the plantation owners in Tortola were "decidedly saving money by the substitution of free labor on moderate wages, for the deadweight of slavery".

In practice, the economics of the abolition are difficult to quantify. Undeniably, the original slave owners suffered a huge capital loss. Although they received £72,940 from the British Government in compensation, this was only a fraction of the true economic value of the manumitted slaves. In terms of net cash flow, whilst the slave owners lost the right to "free" slave labour, they now no longer had to pay to house, clothe, and provide medical attention for their former slaves, which in some cases almost balanced out. The former slaves now usually worked for the same masters, but instead received small wages, out of which they had to pay for the expenses formerly borne by their masters. However, some former slaves managed to amass savings, which clearly demonstrates that in net terms the slave owners were less well off in income terms as well as capital as a result of abolition.

Decline of the sugar industry
An often held view is that the economy of the British Virgin Islands deteriorated considerably after the abolition of slavery. Whilst this is, strictly speaking, true, it also disguises the fact that the decline had several different causes. In 1834 the Territory was an agricultural economy with two main crops: sugarcane and cotton. Of the two, sugar was the considerably more lucrative export.

Shortly after the abolition of slavery the Territory was rocked by a series of hurricanes. At the time, there was no accurate method of forecasting hurricanes, and their effect was devastating. A particularly devastating hurricane struck in 1837, which was reported to have completed destroyed 17 of the Territory's sugar works. Further hurricanes hit in 1842 and 1852. Two more struck in 1867 and 1871. The island also suffered severe drought between 1837 and 1847, which made sugar plantations almost impossible to sustain.

To compound these miseries, in 1846 the United Kingdom passed the Sugar Duties Act 1846 to equalise duties on sugar grown in the colonies. Removing market distortions had the net effect of making prices fall, a further blow to plantations in the British Virgin Islands.

In 1846, the commercial and trading firm of Reid, Irving & Co. collapsed. The firm had 10 sugar estates in the British Virgin Islands and employed 1,150 people. But the actual economic effect of its failure was much wider; the company also acted as a de facto bank in the Territory, allowing advances to be drawn on the company as credit. Further, the company had represented the only remaining direct line of communication to the United Kingdom; after its collapse, mail had to be sent via St. Thomas and Copenhagen.

By 1848, Edward Hay Drummond Hay, the President of the British Virgin Islands, reported that: "there are now no properties in the Virgin Islands whose holders are not embarrassed for want of capital or credit sufficient to enable them to carry on the simplest method of cultivation effectively."

In December 1853 there was a disastrous outbreak of cholera in the Territory, which killed nearly 15% of the population. This was followed by an outbreak of smallpox in Tortola and Jost Van Dyke in 1861 which caused a further 33 deaths.

Up until 1845, the value of sugar exported from the Territory varied, but averaged around £10,000 per annum over the preceding ten years. With the exception of 1847 (an unusually good year), the average for the subsequent 10 years was under £3,000. By 1852, it had fallen below £1,000 and would never recover.

Although this was terrible news for the islands as a whole, as Isaac Dookhan has pointed out, this did mean that the value of land plummeted sharply, and enabled the newly free black community to purchase land where otherwise it might not have been able to do so. It also created the basis for the future peasant agricultural economy of the British Virgin Islands.

Insurrection
Soon after emancipation, the newly freed black population of the British Virgin Islands started to become increasingly disenchanted that freedom had not brought the prosperity that they had hoped for. Economic decline had led to increased tax burdens, which became a source of general discontent, for former slaves and other residents of the Territory alike.

In 1848, a major disturbance occurred in the Territory. The causes of the disturbance were several. A revolt of slaves was occurring in St. Croix, which increased the general fervour in the islands, but the free population of Tortola were much more concerned with two other grievances: the appointment of public officials, and the crackdown on smuggling. Although Tortola had sixteen coloured public officials, all except one were "foreigners" from outside the Territory. During the period of economic decline, smuggling had been one of the few lucrative sources of employment, and recent laws which imposed stringent financial penalties (with hard labour for non-payment) were unpopular. The anger was directed against the magistrates by the small shop keepers, and they concentrated their attack on the stipendiary magistrate, Isidore Dyett. However, Dyett was popular with the rural population, who respected him for protecting them from unscrupulous planters. The ringleaders of the insurrection had supposed that their attack would lead to a general revolt, but their choice of Dyett as a target robbed them of popular support, and the disturbance eventually fizzled.

However, the insurrection of 1853 was a far more serious affair, and would have much graver and more lasting consequences. Arguably it was the single most defining event in the islands' history. Taxation and economics was also at the root of that disturbance. In March 1853, Robert Hawkins and Joshua Jordan, both Methodist missionaries, petitioned the Assembly to be relieved on taxes. The Assembly rejected the request, and Jordan is said to have replied "we will raise the people against you." Subsequent meetings fostered the general discontent. Then in June 1853 the legislature enacted a head tax on cattle in the Territory. Injudiciously, the tax was to come into effect on 1 August, the anniversary of emancipation. The burden of the tax would fall most heavily on the rural coloured community. There was no violent protest when the Act was passed, and it has been suggested that rioting could have been avoided if the legislature had been more circumspect in enforcing it, although the historical background suggests that insurrection was never far away, and only needed a reason to spark into life.

On 1 August 1853, a large body of rural labourers came to Road Town to protest the tax. However, instead of showing a conciliatory approach, the authorities immediately read the Riot Act, and made two arrests. Violence then erupted almost immediately. Several constables and magistrates were badly beaten, the greater part of Road Town itself was burned down, and a large number of the plantation houses were destroyed, cane fields were burned and sugar mills destroyed. Almost all of the white population fled to St. Thomas. President John Chads showed considerable personal courage, but little judgement or tact. On 2 August 1853, he met a gathering of 1,500 to 2,000 protesters, but all he would promise to do was relay their grievances before the legislature (which could not meet, as all the other members had fled). One protester was shot (the only recorded death during the disturbances themselves) which led to the continuation of the rampage. By 3 August 1853, the only white people remaining in the Territory were John Chads himself, the Collector of Customs, a Methodist missionary and the island's doctor.

The riots were eventually suppressed with military assistance from St. Thomas, and reinforcements of British troops dispatched by the Governor of the Leeward Islands from Antigua. Twenty of the ringleaders of the riots were sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment; three were executed.

"Decline and disorder"
The period which followed the riots of 1853 has been referred to by one historian as the period of "decline and disorder". Some commentators have suggested that the white population essentially refused to return, and the islands "went to de bush". But this is clearly an exaggeration. Whilst many whites did not return to their heavily mortgaged and now ruined estates, some did, and rebuilt. But the rebuilding required as a result of the insurrection, as well as the climate of uncertainty it created, alongside the existing poor economic conditions, created an economic depression which would take nearly a century to lift. It would in fact take a full two years before even the schools in the Territory would be able to open again.

Tensions in the Territory continued to simmer, and local unrest ran high. Exports continued to decline, and large numbers traveled abroad seeking work. In 1887, a plot for an armed rebellion was uncovered. In 1890, a dispute over smuggling led to further violence, and a Long Look resident, Christopher Flemming, emerged as a local hero simply for standing up to authority. In each case widespread damage was averted by bringing in reinforcements for the local authorities from Antigua and, in 1890, from St. Thomas.

Whilst the violence undoubtedly reflected disenchantment with the economic decline and lack of social services, it would be wrong to construe this period as a form of "Dark Ages" for the Territory. During this period there was, for the first time, a significant expansion in the islands' schools. By 1875, the Territory had 10 schools; a remarkable development in light of the complete absence of functional schools after the insurrection of 1853. This period also saw the first coloured British Virgin Islander, Fredrick Augustus Pickering, appointed as President in 1884.

Pickering stepped down in 1887, and in 1889, the title of the office was changed to Commissioner, marking a clear decrease in administrative responsibilities. Offices were also consolidated to save on salaries. The Council itself became less and less functional, and it only narrowly avoided dissolution by appointing two popular local figures, Joseph Romney and Pickering.

Modern developments
However, in 1901 the Legislative Council was finally formally dissolved, and the islands were then officially administered through the Governor of the Leeward Islands, who appointed a commissioner and an executive council. The territory was not remotely economically prosperous, and social services had deteriorated to the point of nearly vanishing. Emigration was extremely high, particularly to St. Thomas and to the Dominican Republic. Both concern and assistance from Britain was in very short supply, not least because of the two World Wars which were fought during this period.

In 1949 another unlikely hero emerged. Theodolph H. Faulkner was a fisherman from Anegada, who came to Tortola with his pregnant wife. He had a disagreement with the medical officer, and he went straight to the marketplace and for several nights criticised the government with mounting passion. His oratory struck a chord, and a movement started. Led by community leaders such as Isaac Fonseca and Carlton de Castro, on 24 November 1949 a throng of over 1,500 British Virgin Islanders marched on the commissioner's office and presented their grievances. They presented a petition which commenced:

"'We are imbued with a desire to decide our local affairs with our own selves. We have outgrown that undesirable stage where one official, or an official clique, makes decisions for us... We are seeking the privilege of deciding how our monies are spent and what shall be our Presidential laws and policies.'"

1950 – Self government
As a result of the demonstrations the previous year, the Legislative Council was reinstituted by the British government in 1950 under a new constitution. The reformation of the Legislative Council is often left as a footnote in the territory's history – a mere part of the process that led to the more fundamental constitutional government in 1967. The 1950 constitution was in fact always envisaged as a temporary measure (it was famously described by McWelling Todman QC as “an instrument minimal in its intent and its effect” ). But, having been denied any form of democratic control for nearly 50 years, the new council did not sit idly by. In 1951 external capital was brought in to assist farmers from the Colonial Welfare and Development office. In 1953 the Hotel Aid Act was enacted to boost the nascent tourism industry. Up until 1958 the territory had only 12 miles of motorable roads; over the next 12 years the road system was vastly improved, linking West End to the East End of Tortola, and joining Tortola to Beef Island by a new bridge. The Beef Island airport (now renamed after Terrance B. Lettsome) was built shortly thereafter.

External events also played a factor. In 1956 the Leeward Islands Federation was abolished. Defederation enhanced the political status of the British Virgin Islands. Jealous of its newly acquired powers, the council declined to join the new Federation of the West Indies in 1958, a move that would later be crucial in the development of the offshore finance industry.

In 1967 a new constitution with a much greater transfer of powers was brought into effect by order-in-council, and introduced true ministerial government to the British Virgin Islands. Elections followed in 1967, and a comparatively young Lavity Stoutt was elected as the first Chief Minister of the territory.

Financial services
The fortunes of the Territory dramatically improved in the late twentieth century with the advent of the offshore financial services industry. Former president of the BVI's Financial Services Commission, Michael Riegels, recites the anecdote that the industry commenced on an unknown date in the 1970s when a lawyer from a firm in New York telephoned him with a proposal to incorporate a company in the British Virgin Islands to take advantage of a double taxation relief treaty with the United States. Within the space of a few years, hundreds of such companies had been incorporated.

This eventually came to the attention of the United States government, who unilaterally revoked the Treaty in 1981.

In 1984 the British Virgin Islands, trying to recapture some of the lost offshore business, enacted a new form of companies legislation, the International Business Companies Act, under which an offshore company which was exempt from local taxes could be formed. The development was only a limited success until 1991, when the United States invaded Panama to oust General Manuel Noriega. At the time Panama was one of the largest providers of offshore financial services in the world, but the business fled subsequent the invasion, and the British Virgin Islands was one of the main beneficiaries.

In 2000, KPMG were commissioned by the British government to produce a report on the offshore financial industry generally, and the report indicated that nearly 41% of the offshore companies in the world were formed in the British Virgin Islands. The British Virgin Islands is now one of the world's leading offshore financial centres, and boasts one of the highest incomes per capita in the Caribbean.

Hurricane Irma
The islands were struck by Hurricane Irma on 6 September 2017, causing extensive damage (particularly on Tortola), as well as four deaths in the BVI. The Governor, Gus Jaspert, declared a state of emergency under the Territory's constitution, the first time this had ever happened. A state of emergency was also declared by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. The most significant damage was on Tortola. The UK's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson visited Tortola on 13 September 2017 and said that he was reminded of photos of Hiroshima after it had been hit by the atom bomb.

By 8 September, the UK government sent troops with medical supplies and other aid. More troops were expected to arrive a day or two later; the ship HMS Ocean, carrying more extensive assistance, was not expected to reach the islands for another two weeks, however.

The damage to infrastructure was extensive, and restoration of public electricity to the entire territory took nearly six months. After the hurricane passed, entrepreneur Richard Branson, a resident of Necker Island (British Virgin Islands), called on the UK government to develop a massive disaster recovery plan for British islands that were damaged. That should include "both through short-term aid and long-term infrastructure spending", he said. Premier Orlando Smith also called for a comprehensive aid package to rebuild the BVI. On 10 September, British Prime Minister Theresa May pledged £32 million to the Caribbean region generally for a Hurricane relief fund.

Fourteen days after Hurricane Irma, the Territory was struck again by Hurricane Maria, also a Category 5 storm (albeit not as strong as Irma). However the eye of the storm passed to the south of Saint Croix, and the damage was minimal compared to Hurricane Irma.

In May 2018 the Immigration Department of the British Virgin Islands announced that the population of the Territory has dropped by approximately 11% since Hurricanes Irma and Maria struck the previous year.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: History of the British Virgin Islands


text:
History of Brunei

The history of Brunei concerns the settlements and societies located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, which has been under the influence of Indianised kingdoms and empires for much of its history. Local scholars assume that the Islamisation of Brunei started in the fifteenth century with the formation of the Bruneian Empire, a thalassocracy that covered the northern part of Borneo and Sulu. At the end of the 17th century, Brunei subsequently entered a period of decline brought on by the Brunei Civil War, piracy, and European colonial expansion. Later, there was a brief war with Spain, in which Brunei evacuated its capital for a brief period until the Spanish withdrew. The empire lost much of its territory with the arrival of the Western powers, such as the Spanish in Luzon and Visayas and the British in Labuan, Sarawak, and North Borneo. The decline of the Bruneian Empire accelerated in the nineteenth century when Brunei gave much of its territory to the White Rajahs of Sarawak, resulting in its current small landmass and separation into two parts. Sultan Hashim Jalilul Alam Aqamaddin later appealed to the British to stop further annexation in 1888. In the same year, the British signed a "Treaty of Protection" and made Brunei a British protectorate until 1984 when it gained independence and prospered due to the discovery of oil.

Prehistory
The earliest record of Bruneian people can be traced back to the presence of Austro-Melanesians around 40,000 B.C.E. in Niah Cave, Miri Division, Sarawak. The remains found there were linked to those found in Last Glacial Period. During the ice age, Borneo and Palawan were linked with each other.

After the sea level rose, over 10,000 years, Southeast Asian territories were divided into two regions. The population there began to move to various lands for various reasons. Hoabinhians, or Proto-Melanesians, then moved to Borneo and lived in Niah Cave until around 8,000 B.C.E.

The migration from Yangtze started to move toward Taiwan. Then, after Taiwan, the migration wave reached the Philippines via Palawan. After the migration wave reached Palawan, at least three groups began to form distinct communities. One group migrated toward Borneo, another group headed to Sulawesi, and the last moved to Java. The event lasted about a thousand years, between 4,000 and 3,000 B.C.E. The migration at this time signified the end of the bacsonian. Neolithic usage of pottery and cultivation of rice reached the Austronesians via the Philippines around 2,500 B.C.E. It reached Palawan, then went to Borneo around 2,300 B.C.E. and spread across Insulindia.

The Austronesians began to develop a faith or cosmology about megalithism i.e., worship of the earth, and then started to build social structuration and agriculture as people settled down and tried to cultivate the land. This Bronze Age cultural complex peaked around 600 B.C.E., centred in Dong Son village, thus called Dongsonian. The introduction of iron and bronze between 500 and 200 B.C.E. marked the end of neolithic cults and the start of Indian contact in S.E. Asia. The Indian trade brought beads of glass or stone to Borneo.

Pre-Islamic Hindu-Buddhist Indianised kingdoms

The history of Brunei before the arrival of Magellan's ships in 1519–1522 CE is based on speculation, the interpretation of Chinese sources, and local legends, unless otherwise proven by archaeology. Areas comprising what is now Brunei participated in the Maritime Jade Road, as ascertained by archeological research. The trading network existed for 3,000 years, between 2000 BC and 1000 AD, and was centered in Taiwan and the Philippines.

Camphor and pepper seem to have been prized objects of trade. Brunei hard camphor had a wholesale value equivalent to its own weight in silver. Ming dynasty accounts give detailed information about visits and tribute missions by rulers of Poni (modern Mandarin pronunciation) during the late 14th and early 15th century. Their names and titles suggest either Hindu or Buddhist influence. The texts confirm that the state was tributary to the Hindu Javanese Majapahit Empire, but sought and received Chinese protection in 1408.

Brunei in the legendary history of Panay island
Datu Puti led some dissident datus from Borneo in a rebellion against Datu Makatunaw. The dissidents and their retinue established the rulership of a new country called Madyaas in Panay island. After the 10 datus established many towns in Panay and southern Luzon, Datu Makatunaw, who was a relative of Datu Puti, seized the properties and riches of the datus. The warriors named Labaw Dunggon and Paybari, after learning of this injustice from their father-in-law Paiburong, sailed to Udtuhan in Borneo where Makatunaw ruled. The warriors sacked the town, killed Makatunaw and his family, retrieved the stolen properties of the 10 datus, enslaved the remaining population of Udtuhan, and sailed back to Panay. Labaw Dunggon and his wife, Uhaytanayon, later settled in a place called Muruburo.

Syair Awang Semaun epic
According to the official version of events, mainly the national epic poem Syair Awang Semaun, Brunei was founded by a band of fourteen saudara (brothers and first cousins), who eventually settled in the Brunei river near the present capital and chose one of their numbers as the first ruler. Some known versions of the epic state that they were all the sons of Dewa Amas of Kayangan, a part supernatural being who descended to earth at Ulu Limbang in an egg. Many Lundayeh / Lun Bawang believe that Awang Semaun is their ancestor's grassroots because of Telur Aco.

Discovered by the Sang Aji, he was married to that ruler's daughter by whom he fathered one son. He traveled to thirteen settlements in the region in search of an auspicious ox. At each of the villages, he fathered thirteen (or twenty-two) other sons by thirteen different aboriginal wives, daughters of the local penghulu.

The first ruler chosen by the saudara to rule the newly founded state was Awang Alak Betatar, the son of Dewa Amas and the Sang Aji's daughter. He was not necessarily the eldest among them but chosen to rule because of his fitness to do so. The official account states that he journeyed to Johor, embraced Islam, married the daughter of a Sultan "Bahkei" of Johor, and received the title of Sultan Muhammad Shah from him.

Early Chinese influence
The largest river in the territory, the Kinabatangan, was believed to be named by earlier Chinese settlers which had a factory to collect birds nests, beche-de-mer, shark fins, Borneon camphor, pearl, and pearl shells for export to China. The productions of North and Northeast Borneo from early times attracted considerable attention from Chinese merchants.

One of the earliest Chinese records of an independent kingdom in Borneo is the 977 AD letter to the Chinese emperor from the ruler of Boni, which some scholars believe to refer to Borneo. The Bruneians regained their independence from Srivijaya due to the onset of a Javanese-Sumatran war. In 1225, the Chinese official Zhao Rukuo reported that Boni had 100 warships to protect its trade and that there was great wealth in the kingdom. Marco Polo suggested in his memoirs that the Great Khan or the ruler of the Mongol Empire, attempted and failed many times in invading "Great Java" which was the European name for Bruneian controlled Borneo.

During the early years of Ming Dynasty, the Emperor of China had sent two officers named Wang Kong and Ong Sum Ping to get the gemala (glowing orb) of the Dragon which lived on China Balu where the mountain's name itself refers to the great number of Chinese lives lost being eaten by the Dragon. It is said that Ong Sum Ping later married Princess Ratna Dewi, the daughter of Sultan Muhammad Shah of Brunei. For that he was conferred the nobility title of Pengiran Maharaja Lela and elected Chief of Kinabatangan.

When the admiral Zheng He visited the Brunei in the early 15th century, he encountered a major trading port which included Chinese people who were actively trading with China.

Bruneian conquest of Borneo and the Philippines
Marco Polo wrote in his memoirs that the Great Khan or the ruler of the Mongol Empire, attempted and failed many times in invading "Great Java" which was the European name for Bruneian controlled Borneo.

According to Wang Zhenping, in the 1300s, the Yuan Dade nanhai zhi or "Yuan dynasty Dade period southern sea records" reported that Brunei administered Sarawak and Sabah as well as the Philippine kingdoms of: Butuan, Sulu, Ma-i (Mindoro), Malilu (Manila), Shahuchong (Siocon or Zamboanga), Yachen (Oton, once part of the Madja-as Kedatuan), and Wenduling (Mindanao), which would regain their independence at a later date. It eventually evolved to be called Pon-i and it was a vassal-state to the Javanese-centered Majapahit Empire.

Hindu Majapahit invasion of Borneo
In the 14th century, the Javanese manuscript Nagarakretagama, written by Prapanca in 1365, mentioned Barune as the constituent state of Hindu Majapahit, which had to make an annual tribute of 40 katis of camphor. In 1369, Sulu which was also formerly part of Majapahit, had successfully rebelled and then attacked Boni, and had invaded the Northeast Coast of Borneo and afterward had looted the capital of its treasure and gold including sacking two sacred pearls. A fleet from Majapahit succeeded in driving away the Sulus, but Boni was left weaker after the attack. A Chinese report from 1371 described Boni as poor and totally controlled by Majapahit.

Islamization and establishment of the sultanate
By the 15th century, the empire became a Muslim state, when the King of Brunei, declared independence from Majapahit and converted to Islam, brought by Muslim Indians and Arab merchants from other parts of Maritime Southeast Asia, who came to trade and spread Islam. During the rule of Bolkiah, the fifth Sultan, the empire controlled the coastal areas of northwest Borneo (present-day Brunei, Sarawak and Sabah) and reached the Philippines at Sulu. In the 16th century, the Brunei empire's influence also extended as far as Kapuas River delta in West Kalimantan.

Other sultanates in the area had close relations with the Royal House of Brunei, being in some cases effectively under the hegemony of the Brunei ruling family for periods of time, such as the Malay sultans of Pontianak, Samarinda and as far as Banjarmasin who treated the Sultan of Brunei as their leader. The Malay Sultanate of Sambas in present-day West Kalimantan, the Sultanate of Sulu, and the Kingdom of Luzon had formed dynastic relations with the royal house of Brunei. The Sultanate of Sarawak (covering present-day Kuching, known to the Portuguese cartographers as Cerava, and one of the five great seaports on the island of Borneo), though under the influence of Brunei, was self-governed under Sultan Tengah before being fully integrated into the Bruneian Empire upon the Tengah's death in 1641.

Relations with Europeans
Brunei's relations varied with the different European powers in the region. The Portuguese, for the most part, were more interested in economic and trading relations with the regional powers and did little to interfere with Brunei's development. This does not mean that relations were always cordial, such as in 1536 when the Portuguese attacked the Muslims in the Moluccas, and the ambassador to the Brunei court had to leave because of the sultan's hostility. The Portuguese also noted that the sultanate was heavily involved in the region's politics and wars, and that Brunei merchants could be found in Ligor and Siam.

Conflict with the Spanish Empire
Relations with Spain were far more hostile. From 1565 on, Spanish and Brunei forces engaged in a number of naval skirmishes, and in 1571, the Spanish who had been sending expeditions from Mexico succeeded in capturing Manila from the Brunei aristocracy that had been established there. Brunei raised several large fleets intending to recapture the city, but the campaigns, for various reasons, never launched. In 1578, the Spanish took Sulu and in April attacked and captured Brunei itself, after demanding that the sultan cease proselytising in the Philippines and, in turn, allow Christian missionaries to be active in his kingdom. The Spaniards withdrew after suffering heavy losses due to a cholera or dysentery outbreak. They were so weakened by the illness that they decided to abandon Brunei to return to Manila on 26 June 1578, after just 72 days. The short-term damage to the sultanate was minimal, as Sulu regained its independence soon after. However, Brunei failed to regain a foothold in Luzon, with the island firmly in Spanish hands. The Bruneians in their war against Spain, were supported by Lascars and the Ottoman Caliphate. The Spanish were aware of this and complained to their king relating how Turks and even Granadans (From the Emirate of Granada) assisted Borneans in their war against Spain. Muslim migration from the Ottoman Caliphate, Egypt, Mecca and Arabia was so constant Melchor Davalos complained to the Spanish King of their presence in Borneo and the Philippines.

"Persians and Arabs and Egyptians and Turks brought [Muhammad's] veneration and evil sect here, and even Moors from Tunis and Granada came here, sometimes in the armadas of Campson [Kait Bey], former Sultan of Cairo and King of Egypt... Thus it seems to me that these Moros of the Philippine Islands [are] mainly those who, as had been said, come from Egypt and Arabia and Mecca, and are their relatives, disciples and members, and every year they say that Turks come to Sumatra and Borneo, and to Ternate, where there are now some of those defeated in the famous battle which Señor Don Juan de Austria won."

To counteract Ottoman assistance to the Bruneians, Spain levied soldiers from their vassal states in Peru and Mexico, to supplement the Spanish troops sent to the Philippines. However, the Bruneian-Spanish conflict eventually, died down.

The long-term effects of regional changes could not be avoided. After Sultan Hassan, Brunei entered a period of decline, due to internal battles over royal succession as well as the rising influences of European colonial powers in the region, that, among other things, disrupted traditional trading patterns, destroying the economic base of Brunei and many other Southeast Asian sultanates.

Relationship with the British and Sarawak
During Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin II's reign, disturbances occurred in Sarawak. In 1839, the British adventurer James Brooke arrived in Borneo and helped the Sultan put down this rebellion.

As a reward, he became governor and later "White Rajah" of Sarawak and gradually expanded the territory under his control. Brooke never gained control of Brunei, though he did attempt to. He asked the British to check whether or not it would be acceptable for him to claim Brunei as his own; however, they said although Brunei was poorly governed, it had a definite sense of national identity and therefore could not be absorbed by Brooke.

In 1843 an open conflict between Brooke and the Sultan ended in the latter's defeat. The Sultan recognised Sarawak's independence. In 1846, Brunei Town was attacked and captured by the British, and Sultan Saifuddin II was forced to sign a treaty to end the British occupation of Brunei Town. In the same year, Sultan Saifuddin II ceded Labuan to the British under the Treaty of Labuan. In 1847, he signed the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce with the British, and in 1850, he signed a similar treaty with the United States, which, after a series of events, resulted in the first consul of the US, Charles Lee Moses, burning down his consulate. Over the years, the Sultans of Brunei ceded further stretches of territory to Sarawak; in 1877, stretches to the east of the capital were leased (later ceded) to the British North Borneo Chartered Company (North Borneo). Eventually, due to these seizures of territory, which was accepted by the sultan for annual lease payments, the British occupied the vast majority of the coast of Brunei. The Sultan only stopped handing over territory when Sarawak asked for Limbang, which the Sultan refused. Against the Sultan's wishes, Sarawak obtained control over the territory.

In 1906, the British started a residency in Brunei. This was averted from greater British control from a friendly report by Malcolm Stewart Hannibal McArthur, who prevented the nation from being colonized completely, in the Report on Brunei in 1904. This residency, with the Sultan having control over internal policies, continued until 1984. During this residency, oil was discovered, in 1928, by Shell. This is what has changed the country from its former impoverished state to a much wealthier one today.

Before independence
The Sultan of Brunei participated in efforts to form a federation of Malaysia with the Federation of Malaya, Crown Colony of Sarawak, Crown Colony of North Borneo, and the Colony of Singapore, but decided not to in the end due to the issue of oil profits and massive popular opinion against the move. This wish by the sultan resulted in a coup by the most populous party in the nation, comprising a vast majority of the population, by the Brunei People's Party (PRB). This failed due to poor organisation and their leader, A.M. Azahari, not being present in the country during the coup. Another option considered was a federation between North Borneo, Sarawak, and Brunei, but this was rejected due to oil revenues and the possible limitation of the Sultan's power.

Independence
On 14 November 1971, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah left for London to discuss matters regarding the amendments to the 1959 constitution. A new agreement was signed on 23 November 1971 with the British representative Anthony Royle.

Under this agreement, the following terms were agreed upon:

 * Brunei was granted full internal self-government
 * The UK would still be responsible for external affairs and defence.
 * Brunei and the UK agreed to share the responsibility for security and defence.

This agreement also caused Gurkha units to be deployed in Brunei, where they remain to this day.

On 7 January 1979, another treaty was signed between Brunei and the UK. It was signed with Lord Goronwy-Roberts as the British representative. This agreement granted Brunei to take over international responsibilities as an independent nation. Britain agreed to assist Brunei in diplomatic matters. In May 1983, UK announced that the date of independence of Brunei would be 1 January 1984.

On 31 December 1983, a mass gathering was held on main mosques on all four of the districts of the country and at midnight, on 1 January 1984, the Proclamation of Independence was read by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. The sultan subsequently assumed the title "His Majesty", rather than the previous "His Royal Highness". Brunei was admitted to the United Nations on 22 September 1984, becoming the organisation's 159th member.

Brunei maintains cordial relations with Malaysia and the Philippines.

After independence
Brunei gained its independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984, joining ASEAN in the same year. Economic growth from its extensive petroleum and natural gas fields during the 1990s and 2000s, with the GDP increasing 56% from 1999 to 2008, transformed Brunei into an industrialised country. Brunei has the second-highest Human Development Index among the Southeast Asian nations, after Singapore, and is classified as a "developed country". In 2014, the Sultan instituted an Islamic Sharia penal code.

Primary source

 * The Philippine Islands: Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and their People, their History and Records of the Catholics Missions, as related in contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts. Vol. IV: 1576–1582. Eds. Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson. Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1903.

title: History of Brunei