The Italians managing a colony properly? 
Well, I hope they apply it to Libya.
Well, I hope they apply it to Libya.
Of Rajahs and Hornbills: A timeline of Brooke Sarawak
- Thread starter Al-numbers
- Start date
I do not know what kind of population the natives had in the area of Italian New Guinea. Can we get a notion of what percentage the settlers make-up in the population? Also I assume there is a military build-up in the colony to protect the colonists as well?
With the divergence comment I am wondering if the island will end up divided four ways long term.
With the divergence comment I am wondering if the island will end up divided four ways long term.
The Italians managing a colony properly?
Well, I hope they apply it to Libya.
Don't know if Italy will go to war with the Ottoman for Libya, as the Porte is stronger ITTL and more importantly can use Egypt to supply the troops in Libya...this mean a prolonged war and a potential mess; said that Italy will go for increasing her economic penetration there, expecially with still a strong presence in Tunisia and the Ottoman reaction if still as OTL (try to obstacolate it with almost any mean) can create a lot of tension.
Eritrea is the one to concentrate for now, as there is already a presence and it's in a good position to be used as a supply station for the pacific possession and as a strategic point to keep Suez open; ITTL much of the non pacific colonial effort will concentrate here, trying to expand the colony and get some inroad in Abyssinia (put interest will be much less than OTL and subordinate to the interest of the eritrean colonial effort)
To those who have missed it, the last update was on the previous page.
Thanks! I noticed that the school-exam format hasn’t been used in the later updates, so I figured to bring it back and gave the writing style a twist.
The Dutch and the Onin Papuans are not going to be fast friends. With proselytisers on both sides and regional influence on the line, the Bomberai region is going to be one of the more simmering places of the East Indies. The very faiths themselves may evolve differently, and that could affect more than just Dutch Papua.
What, no love for an inconstant Latin nation?
The colonization of Italian Papua does seem to be a bit on the better side, but keep in mind that migration numbers often ranged in the hundreds back then (the De Rays’ expedition had around 500 people both IOTL and ITTL) and that most of the settlers were poor farmers whom were subsidised by the state in their new home. Add to this the post-Risorgimento pangs back home, and you’ve got a ready supply of people whom would take the gamble of migration. For the mountain railway, well, cargo is cargo, and trains can haul more goods in bulk.
In terms of native rights, keep in mind that the favours were selective to only the lakeside peoples; The author mentions nothing about any other groups being included, and there’s still a chance of dim relations if colonial officials come into contact with groups like the Dani.
The administrators at Cavour weren’t really offering local rights out of the goodness of their hearts, but the Marquis de Rays’ incident brought home how useful tribal allegiances could be in emergency situations and in terms of logistical work. Plus, the survivors of New France whom settled at Papua would want some form of native contact and insurance should the colonial umbrella falls, and their opinions have changed a lot from their hardship.
(Also, keeping some tribes in line would greatly avert an alt-native rebellion like what Sabah experienced, though the Italian officials would not notice this. Quick-thinking they may be, but native-minded they are not.)
That would be interesting, and it would side-step the peering eyes of the Colonial Office (and provide Australia with a place to dump their Indian workers). But such a thing would also encounter opposition from Queensland, whom would feel extra jittery from all the goings-on to the north and push for white settlement anyway. There’s going to be a lot of debate as to how British New Guinea shall be worked, and it won’t be settled entirely by the Australians.
Of all the Great Powers, Germany was less affected by the interaction between the native peoples of Sundaland and their colonial masters ITTL. The only time they did intervene regionally (Sulu Affair) was more towards trade and geopolitical aims than anything else, so their notion of colonialism is more “behind”, in a sense. Couple this with a faraway territory and some recalcitrant tribes, and you’ll be lucky if they did moderate themselves.
But the ‘Illusory Paradise’ era won’t last forever. Paternalistic officials aren’t confined to any single colonial nation, caring priests aren’t always bound to official laws, and their treatment of the native peoples won’t be passively accepted by the other residents of New Guinea.
She’s quite a character, and there’s a great deal of potential with a woman like her hanging around ITTL. Being the largest landowner of German New Guinea comes with a few perks, and her business empire could steer the territory to become more than its current state.
That’s one way to put it. The divergences of British New Guinea are more subtle ITTL, but it’s there. Generally, there are more rules regarding native interaction and land sales. The region also holds more of a lingering interest amongst intrepid investors, especially with rest of New Guinea being developed differently ITTL.
Census records for the region were non-existent back then, but I guesstimate that Italian Papua had a surprisingly high population of around 170,000 – 200,000 idegionous people, mostly due to the relatively populous Baliem Valley.
For protection, that is… complicated. Colonization was mostly concentrated at the Bird's Head Peninsula, so there wasn’t a need to create a territory-wide defence force. But with the environment in mind, some of the settlers would have banded together to form some self-defence groups. Trouble is, some of them are disagreeable with each other due to their various backgrounds and language differences. The official tongue of the colony was Tuscan Italian, but try telling that to a Friulian or a Sicilian settler.
In any case, some self-defence groups are coalescing among the farmers while the Manikom and Hatam tribes were organized to form some sort of Expeditionary Corps. There is also a continuous naval presence at Cavour and Emmanuel Bay as a final shield to the world.
As for Italy and the Ottomans… well, you’ll see.
And yes, Eritrea and the African Horn would be a prime spot for Rome now as a wayport, especially with their Asian holdings becoming more and more important. That would mean casting eyes to Abyssinia, and they’re having their own troubles with the Dervishes next door.
Thanks! I noticed that the school-exam format hasn’t been used in the later updates, so I figured to bring it back and gave the writing style a twist.
The Dutch and the Onin Papuans are not going to be fast friends. With proselytisers on both sides and regional influence on the line, the Bomberai region is going to be one of the more simmering places of the East Indies. The very faiths themselves may evolve differently, and that could affect more than just Dutch Papua.
Italy being actually competent as a colonial power?
Okay, this TL just became ASB.
The Italians managing a colony properly?
Well, I hope they apply it to Libya.
What, no love for an inconstant Latin nation?
The colonization of Italian Papua does seem to be a bit on the better side, but keep in mind that migration numbers often ranged in the hundreds back then (the De Rays’ expedition had around 500 people both IOTL and ITTL) and that most of the settlers were poor farmers whom were subsidised by the state in their new home. Add to this the post-Risorgimento pangs back home, and you’ve got a ready supply of people whom would take the gamble of migration. For the mountain railway, well, cargo is cargo, and trains can haul more goods in bulk.
In terms of native rights, keep in mind that the favours were selective to only the lakeside peoples; The author mentions nothing about any other groups being included, and there’s still a chance of dim relations if colonial officials come into contact with groups like the Dani.
The administrators at Cavour weren’t really offering local rights out of the goodness of their hearts, but the Marquis de Rays’ incident brought home how useful tribal allegiances could be in emergency situations and in terms of logistical work. Plus, the survivors of New France whom settled at Papua would want some form of native contact and insurance should the colonial umbrella falls, and their opinions have changed a lot from their hardship.
(Also, keeping some tribes in line would greatly avert an alt-native rebellion like what Sabah experienced, though the Italian officials would not notice this. Quick-thinking they may be, but native-minded they are not.)
That would be interesting, and it would side-step the peering eyes of the Colonial Office (and provide Australia with a place to dump their Indian workers). But such a thing would also encounter opposition from Queensland, whom would feel extra jittery from all the goings-on to the north and push for white settlement anyway. There’s going to be a lot of debate as to how British New Guinea shall be worked, and it won’t be settled entirely by the Australians.
Of all the Great Powers, Germany was less affected by the interaction between the native peoples of Sundaland and their colonial masters ITTL. The only time they did intervene regionally (Sulu Affair) was more towards trade and geopolitical aims than anything else, so their notion of colonialism is more “behind”, in a sense. Couple this with a faraway territory and some recalcitrant tribes, and you’ll be lucky if they did moderate themselves.
But the ‘Illusory Paradise’ era won’t last forever. Paternalistic officials aren’t confined to any single colonial nation, caring priests aren’t always bound to official laws, and their treatment of the native peoples won’t be passively accepted by the other residents of New Guinea.
She’s quite a character, and there’s a great deal of potential with a woman like her hanging around ITTL. Being the largest landowner of German New Guinea comes with a few perks, and her business empire could steer the territory to become more than its current state.
That’s one way to put it. The divergences of British New Guinea are more subtle ITTL, but it’s there. Generally, there are more rules regarding native interaction and land sales. The region also holds more of a lingering interest amongst intrepid investors, especially with rest of New Guinea being developed differently ITTL.
Census records for the region were non-existent back then, but I guesstimate that Italian Papua had a surprisingly high population of around 170,000 – 200,000 idegionous people, mostly due to the relatively populous Baliem Valley.
For protection, that is… complicated. Colonization was mostly concentrated at the Bird's Head Peninsula, so there wasn’t a need to create a territory-wide defence force. But with the environment in mind, some of the settlers would have banded together to form some self-defence groups. Trouble is, some of them are disagreeable with each other due to their various backgrounds and language differences. The official tongue of the colony was Tuscan Italian, but try telling that to a Friulian or a Sicilian settler.
In any case, some self-defence groups are coalescing among the farmers while the Manikom and Hatam tribes were organized to form some sort of Expeditionary Corps. There is also a continuous naval presence at Cavour and Emmanuel Bay as a final shield to the world.
As for Italy and the Ottomans… well, you’ll see.
And yes, Eritrea and the African Horn would be a prime spot for Rome now as a wayport, especially with their Asian holdings becoming more and more important. That would mean casting eyes to Abyssinia, and they’re having their own troubles with the Dervishes next door.
Since the advent of the SEA Games, I have become mightily distracted by all the athletics events going around here. So I'm popping in to say that there won't be any updates for Rajahs and Hornbills until at least the end of August. I'll still pop in from time to time, but I'm probably going to scream myself hoarse at the various stadiums and event centers for the next few days.
See you guys soon!
See you guys soon!
International snippets of the 1890's: 3/?
Charlie MacDonald, Strange States, Weird Wars, and Bizzare Borders (weirdworld.postr.com, 2014)
You know what, screw this.
Since more and more of my recent posts have been about wars, I think it’s time I made the topic addition officially… well, official. Also, I’m finding out that some of our weird, modern nations were kinda born from some pretty interesting and bizarre conflicts in of themselves.
However, I am not going to be some squinty-eyed historian who will prattle on about so-and-so person on that so-and-so date for that so-and so battle. Details? No thank you.
So, got that? Title change, extra focus, expansion official, and now back to our usual bickering.
In this case, let’s focus on East Asia after the Sino-French War. The end of the conflict was, in a nutshell, the end for Empress Dowager Cixi. It blew apart the Qing Dynasty’s prestige in Indochina and shattered the confidence of the puffed-up traditionalists at court, all of whom quickly pointed at each other to explain the defeat. Not only had Peking lost her influence in the south, it also had to cede the Pescadores Islands aka. the stepping stones to Taiwan*, opening the island province to future foreign meddling. Also, before we go further: Yes, Taiwan. I refuse to call it Formosa like what some people in Europe or the Americas does. Even the Japanese call it Taiwan, so I’m going to. Bite me.
For the traditionalists, too bad for them, and too bad for Cixi. It didn’t matter that she herself supported modernising the army and navy, or that she navigated as best she could amongst the Forbidden City’s deadly decadent court. To most officials, she was the very symbol of a government that, “didn’t go far enough” to win the war. The fact that, since Emperor Tongzhi’s death, she was also the spider behind his heir's regency and a traditionalist on other issues didn’t help matters. After a nasty bout of court politics too long to talk about, Cixi and her cohorts ended up being outmanoeuvred by the reformists, whom were headed by Empress-Mother Alute and her young son, Prince Alin [1] . The Empress Dowager would later get herself kicked out of Peking, eventually spending the rest of her days at faraway Xi’an.
So long and farewell, you fascinatingly weird and conspiratorial woman.
With that, the reformists quickly went to work, though they soon found themselves drowning in their difficulties of modernizing China. To put it simply: there was a lot of problems. Infrastructure? Haphazard. Taxation? Unequal. Starvation? Still a concern. The law system? Plagued with corruption. See also: radical secret societies, anti-Manchu movements, and widespread anti-Christian sentiment. And corruption. Massive, massive corruption
And the biggest mess of all was the state of the armed forces. After their battles with the French, the imperial court wanted a unified army and navy. Trouble is, Qing China never had a unified army or navy. Almost all their armed and naval forces were independently based on their respective home regions and they were ridden full with, again, corruption and mismanagement. Ammunition was sold for cash, sailors gambled on machine parts, and regional commanders were almost free to do what they want in their spare time. The extra fact that, during the Sino-French War, the court sought the help of the Black Flags, a literal bandit force and protection racket [2], was an embarrassing sore to Empress Alute.
All of that had got to go.
By 1890, Peking had installed a roundtable of generals and harangued every leading commander to meet up yearly to discuss military logistics. More men were promoted through merit, not by wealth or family lines. The judicial system was reworked, and corruption in the armed forces was searched and expunged like weeds in a racehorse course. New gunnery was bought from the West, and more military advisors were hired to instruct the Qing on modern warfare.
But it was also around this time that things began to change. Qing court politics are more complex and vindictive than I can understand, but from that year onwards, the imperial court prioritised the land armies more than the naval fleets. In a weird way, it did made some sort of sense: China was a land power, and control over the vast expanses was seen as the utmost of importance to the dynasty. Plus, a tamed army could help wonders against any bandit force or smuggling concerns. Conversely, there was little at sea to reason for large investments to the navy, apart from Taiwan. True, the Great Powers had more than enough ships to blast the coastline to the stratosphere, but they still need to fight the armies in the end.
Now this wasn't to say that the separate navies were entirely neglected. Modern cruisers were still commissioned and a Navy Yamen was established in 1892 to provide a unified command for the various armadas. But on the whole, a lot of attention went more towards stitching the various armies together and improving the communications between them.
One of the new arsenals of the Qing, built to cater the demand for modern firearms amongst the various armies. They're going to need it.
And it all went… mixedly. And yes, I think that term should be in the English language.
Imagine a meeting between your uncles, if all your uncles are part of the Camorra. The commanders and generals of the Qing were kinda like that. They didn’t like to lose their independence, nor the weeding of some of their shady pastimes, and a few had egos that could rival Kaiser Wilhelm II. So when everyone was forced to actually discuss logistics together as a group at the roundtables, things went south pretty fast. So perhaps that explained why things went the way they did during the Sino-Japanese War of 1895.
And to talk about that we need to talk about Korea. A lot happened in the build-up to 1895, but it can all be rounded up with the Peninsula being “Like shrimp among whales”. By the mid-decade, the Japanese had already extracted multiple concessions from the Korean government, whom found itself increasingly torn apart over what to do with all these foreigners messing about the place. In April the 17th, a riot erupted in Seoul over troop pays and food prices, and several members from the Japanese embassy ended up dead in the crossfire. At the kingdom’s request, Qing China sent in troops to restore order while Japan sent in their troops to restore order. Neither side backed down, skirmishes ensued, the Sino-Japanese War exploded by the end of the month.
And this is where the disparity between the army and navy came back to bite Peking. They never really got the corruption out from the army, and the generals and commanders made several stupid mistakes when they tried to fight with the Koreans (Heck, the Japanese were able to march all the way to the Yalu river in 2 months!). But the Qing performed much better as they retreated north and were able to box in the fighting around Lower Manchuria while, at the same time, keeping the war from ravaging the peninsula of Liaodong. Any naval landings around Lüshunkou and Weihaiwei quickly became a meatgrinder as the incoming Japanese found themselves facing German-bought shore batteries and army after army of partly-reformed troops.
By contrast, the Qing imperial navy did horribly. Like, shoddy Imperial Russian motor-wagon horribly. The entire northern fleets got blown up at the Battle of the Yalu River while the southern fleets got their asses kicked at the Battle of Keelung, allowing the Japanese to fully encircle and invade Taiwan. This was why, when the peace negotiations started 7 months later, Tokyo was able to snag the island despite Peking’s protests. Apart from that, Korea was removed from Qing vassalage and made fully independent, and most importantly, the region of Manchuria was forced open to foreign investment, becoming the late 19th century equivalent of a Free Trade Zone.
“Wait, did we just blew up the the entire northern fleet right there?”
To China and Japan, the war was a watershed. Japan showed the world that it could punch the Qing a bloody nose and influence East Asian affairs. But with that, Tokyo rankled at their army’s failed seizure of Liaodong and the coastal forts, so it probably wasn’t a surprise that the imperial navy began to gain favour amongst some power brokers afterwards. For China, the war showed how valued the military was and how much still needed to go in reforming it. Still, it was a shocking blow to Chinese prestige, and the fact that a former “little vassal” state fought them, won, and carved up Chinese territory was a bitter pill to swallow.
And like clockwork, anti-Japanese and anti-foreign sentiment was aflame yet again, some of which manifested in anti-Christian persecutions by numerous secret societies. While those in the south filled up escape boats to Malaya, Borneo, the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies, the converts in the north began gravitating to perhaps the only place that could give them work and safety, where foreign companies might protect them in exchange for their labour: Manchuria…
Oh my God, the Qing part is longer than the whole war!! Shoot!! Um... yeah, I'm really not good at writing this stuff.
____________________
Notes:
1. See post #668 & post #861
2. Also see post #861
So does the Qing dynasty retain enough prestige to keep China a monarchy? Did their better than shoddy performance fighting the Japanese on land prove that Monarchical China's attempts at modernization should continue to be followed? Manchuria....what do you have in mind you devious devil....
Well if that was a Camorra reunion...not all of them will left it alive or at least whole. So the Sino-Japanese war as not been a total humiliation and failure for China and the term are much much more lenient than OTL, not that this will be done a too much good for them as the anti-western sentiment seem spreading; if something akin to the Boxer Rebellion happen thing will become very problematic for the Chinese as even with reform they are not ready for fight all the 8 power at the same time, sure it will be more bloody than OTL but i doubt that the endgame will be different (and Russia will have his eye for Manchuria and Korea).
So no triple intervention ITTL and the army seem to not rise to the same status of OTL...at least for now (not that's a bad thing for Japan)
. So the Sino-Japanese war as not been a total humiliation and failure for China and the term are much much more lenient than OTL, not that this will be done a too much good for them as the anti-western sentiment seem spreading; if something akin to the Boxer Rebellion happen thing will become very problematic for the Chinese as even with reform they are not ready for fight all the 8 power at the same time, sure it will be more bloody than OTL but i doubt that the endgame will be different (and Russia will have his eye for Manchuria and Korea).So no triple intervention ITTL and the army seem to not rise to the same status of OTL...at least for now (not that's a bad thing for Japan)
Hmm, not sure if this will save the Qing, but it may turn their downfall into something far more dramatic. I would say destructive too, but with how bad things got in China OTL I am hesitant to say.
Is Manchuria becoming a Christian haven a divergence.
One can hope Japan having a less resounding victory will keep their nationalism more in check than OTL.
Is Manchuria becoming a Christian haven a divergence.
One can hope Japan having a less resounding victory will keep their nationalism more in check than OTL.
Farewell, Madame Gao Dowager Cixi. Good riddance.
An early reality slap to Japan means they will not fall into the nastiness of militarism. Japan will slowly become a clone of Britain while China might emulate both France and Germany.
I pity Korea, though. Their position is unenviable.
An early reality slap to Japan means they will not fall into the nastiness of militarism. Japan will slowly become a clone of Britain while China might emulate both France and Germany.
I pity Korea, though. Their position is unenviable.
The Qing are now on the razor’s edge from becoming a global laughing stock. They managed to keep a sliver of dignity in defending the coastal forts, but you won’t hear that in the Forbidden City. If Peking knew more about the world, they'd see that not every empire is laughing at them, but such is narrow-minded perception.
Reform would be the main topic for the post-war Qing government, especially with the quality of the armed forces in mind. Despite losing Korea, their reformed army managed to grind the Japanese thoroughly in Manchuria and thus preserve the mainland’s territorial integrity (barring Taiwan). The navy and said loss of Taiwan would also serve as a cautionary example. But there are many ways to skin a cat, and the royal court could be torn on how they should reform the army and the empire.
The jury is still out on the Qing, but China overall might have a better chance of averting the Humiliation Conga of OTL, due to the reformists at court now holding the reins. Of course, it also has a chance of going the opposite route, because of said dynasty holding the reins.
A full-fledged rebellion such as the Boxers may not happen ITTL; that was dependant of a whole slew of factors, not excluding weather and the post-war fallout. But local millennialism is still around, as are martial groups with heterodox practices. If the Qing don’t handle the post-war situation well or keep a lid on anti-western sentiment, there is a chance for things to grow ugly.
It is! OTL Manchuria was, for lack of a better word, China’s Wild West. By now, the homeland of the Qing dynasty was overwhelmingly flooded with Han Chinese immigrants and had a rough-and-tumble frontier society of exiled criminals and disgraced officers, especially in the far north. The Jurchen bannermen and lords had become so dependent on the arrivals for farming that their actual power had in fact diminished in place of local Chinese merchants, some of whom are looking forward to partnering with the western companies.
ITTL, the move to open the region to foreign investment was a sop to Japan after the latter failed to take Lüshunkou and Weihaiwei. But it wouldn’t be the 19th century if the western Powers don’t try to convert the locals, and it is that that attracts converts across northern China. Besides being safer in numbers, there is also the possibility for foreign companies to charge their workers under foreign law, which would delight the Chinese Christians but rankle the rest of the empire. Whether that would entail a separate Manchurian identity, based more on faith than ethnicity, is still unclear, but there would be several Powers who'll like that.
Not everyone will move there, though, and conflict between the newly-come and the local underclass is unavoidable.
As for secret societies overthrowing the dynasty, bear in mind that there were many groups that actually supported Qing overlordship, though some do so to get the authorities off their backs about their heterodox practices.
It's still too soon to say that, but giving a reality slap to Japanese militarism one unrecorded positive out of the war. The Imperial Japanese Army isn’t discredited, but the grind of the Manchurian front puts a check on any notion of flawless victory in East Asia, and it reminds Tokyo that their giant neighbour could still give them a tumbling when forced. Japan isn’t going to be a clone of Britain right away, but the naval clique is gaining favour amongst some members of government.
As for China becoming an alternate France or Germany, the imperial court needs to take care of their corruption issues before coming to that.
Korea is definitely walking on a tightrope. The post-war government would be trying their hardest to avert becoming a puppet of either Japan or any European nation. Surprisingly, they may have an extra option ITTL of cozying up to the west while still maintaining ties to the Qing, especially if their former suzerain is interested in military reforms. Still, one can’t discount the possibility of the Japanese mucking things up like their OTL assassination of Queen Min.
Well if that was a Camorra reunion...not all of them will left it alive or at least whole
Well, I did say that the naval landings were a meatgrinder. Who’s to say the commanders didn't off their rivals there?
Here’s the list for all the updates I wrote using the informal blog style. I first used it as a one-up to bring in some TL variety, but the style grew on me as I found it easier to explain complicated topics from it, especially if they were about war and diplomacy. Reading back, I'm amazed how much my writing changed.
Sarawak during the 1860's
The Yankee Rajah Affair
1877: The Russo-Turkish War
The fallout of 1877: Aceh and Johor
The fallout of 1877: Brunei and Sulu
International snippets: The Tunisia Crisis
1898-1899: Sarawak and the outside world
Interlude: Between traders and sea nomads
Apologies for the lack of an update over the weekend. To tide you all over, here's an interlude from around the turn of the century.
Saratok, Kingdom of Sarawak. 18th December 1899
The longboat was close to empty when it returned to Saratok.
For Kanang, the day was a productive one. Since dawn, the Iban peddler had rowed his craft up and down the meandering Krian river, hoping to gain some sale from the settlements straddling its banks. Despite the presence of a few other boat-peddlers, he knew the locals well and was schooled hard in the art of attracting customers, whether they be Malay, Iban, Melanau, or even Chinese . Aside from a few stashes of salt and spices, almost all the wares on his prahu were sold by the afternoon. [1]
But I must tell the rest of the longhouse of these competitors. They’re closing in on our trade.
Approaching the docks, he looked at the jumbled view of riverside shophouses and found himself releasing a sigh. The bustling village of Saratok, with its fort and brick-lined main street, is a far cry from the heaving towns of the coastal north or south, but it still looked a tad alien to Kanang, who was used to the noise and green of the deep rainforest. Three seasons ago, the Tuai Rumah had made the decision to relocate the entire community to the town, and despite some pangs, almost everyone had adapted. While feasts of wild-caught boars are no longer an option, his longhouse had prospered from the closeness to the river basin and the shipping-transport network that provided the settlement. But I do miss the howl of the monkeys at dusk.
Reaching for the docks, Kanang reached for the ropes and began tying his longboat to the pier alongside its brothers. But he quickly stopped when saw something interesting to his left: A houseboat, long and squat, bobbing gently on the wakes of the Krian. From looks alone, the craft looked battered and bruised, and it seemed to give a forlorn air to the fiery sunset. As he looked, a bare-chested man clambered up from the interior and onto the deck, shouting to his trailing wife, “Still, I’ll try to get some rice!”
“Tumpan tania!” Asked Kanang in the pidgin Malay all traders use, “Can you help me with tying my boat?”
The man looked at him for a moment. Then, “What do you want me to do?”
And it was that that allowed Kanang to invite the man and his wife to dine with his family at his standalone home at the outskirts of town, built separately from the main longhouse for more privacy for the enterprising peddler [2]. As the rice cooked, Kanang could feel the couple’s anxiousness permeating the air. It was clear that they were new to the region, and he wanted to know why.
“Where were you from?” he asked.
The man, whom introduced himself as Rano, replied. “Semporna, up in the far north. We just got here.”
A Sama couple? “That’s a long way. Why here?”
“Well, we didn’t exactly intend to leave. Not until the rebellion led by one of ours led the White Men to our village. We barely got away from them and have been wandering ever since.”
“Really? But I heard the Orang Puteh up there were the same as ours!”
“Far from it!” Rano exclaimed. “The ones we see down here are far nicer than the ones that attacked us! No forced moves, no missionaries forcing us to convert, and no stupid taxes on fish! I don’t know why, but I wish they could make the ones up north see some sense.”
Well, I wouldn’t say we don’t have any stupid taxes. Kanang mused, remembering the fines the longhouse paid for not participating in the last punitive expedition headed by the Rajah. But that’s for another time. [3]
“If you two have finished jabbering, the rice is cooked.” The peddler’s wife Salima called out with Chinese plates in hand, and for a while the only sounds from the assembled adults were those of eating their meal. Then, she questioned “So then, where will you go? Are you both going to move here?”
“Oh, no.” It was the boatman’s wife Muslina that answered. “Our lives are with the blue waters. We have heard of a group of islands far out at sea where the A’a dilaut – us sea people – are welcome. We’re only here because we needed some wares for our lepa, and others like us spoke that this town had what we were searching for.”
“Your lepa?”
“Oh, our houseboat.”
“Ahh.”
“But we don’t have that much to trade, and my latest catch isn’t enough to get us what we need.” Rano interjected. “Everything nowadays costs more than before and we barely caught enough fish this morning to exchange for rice, let alone to fix our houseboat.”
Kanang immediately thought of something, but his wife beat him to it. “Well, why didn’t you say so!? You’ve come to the right place! If you came here earlier, we might have something to trade about, but our longhouse may just have what you need come next morning. We deal in everything from salt to glaze jars!”
Rano looked doubtful. “I don’t know. We need a lot of wares and food, and I need some craftsmen to mend our home.”
“Let us try to help. And if we can’t, we can ask our friends. Our longhouse are allies with the Penghulu of this river – He’s our highest leader of us Ibans that live here – and his longhouse has organized trips to the outside lands, to Singapura and Johor, and brought back goods of many kinds [4]. It’s because of him that the man you see here is now a peddler, and the Penghulu has a trade network that could get anyone anything! Let us help.”
Rano and Muslina looked as if they saw a ghost.
“She has a point.” Kanang agreed. “Let us help.”
The relief that went through the house was one Kanang found hard to stop, and he found himself belatedly shrugging off the repetitions of gratitude from the seafaring couple. But through the thanks and questions of items to procure, there was one other thing that brewed in peddler’s mind. Kanang had heard of Penghulu Munan wanting to expand his mercantile web, and recent whispers spoke of him competing with the local Peranakan classes for trade in the Natuna and Anambas islands. If the Sama couple are headed there, maybe that could give him his opening. And if the sea peoples can be recruited as peddlers…
He took his chances. “I don’t think you’ve said it, but what are the names of the islands you’re heading?”
____________________
1. Iban traders and peddlers were recorded as early as the mid-to-late 19th century, and there were British accounts of individual men of Iban descent selling salt and rice to the Kadazan-Dusun communities in British North Borneo IOTL. ITTL, the greater development of Sarawak's riverine transport system and the establishment of indigenous trade links to Singapore would have led to some home-grown peddlers as well.
2. Some Dayak tribes, upon having their community expanded through marriages or births, accommodate the increase through either extending their longhouse or through building standalone houses, close to the main complex. ITTL, some enterprising traders could ask for an individual home due to privacy reasons relating to their trade.
3. See post #437 on Brooke auxiliary laws and how they dealt with unwilling participants.
4. See post #922 on Penghulu Munan and his longhouse’s trip to Singapore.
Saratok, Kingdom of Sarawak. 18th December 1899
The longboat was close to empty when it returned to Saratok.
For Kanang, the day was a productive one. Since dawn, the Iban peddler had rowed his craft up and down the meandering Krian river, hoping to gain some sale from the settlements straddling its banks. Despite the presence of a few other boat-peddlers, he knew the locals well and was schooled hard in the art of attracting customers, whether they be Malay, Iban, Melanau, or even Chinese . Aside from a few stashes of salt and spices, almost all the wares on his prahu were sold by the afternoon. [1]
But I must tell the rest of the longhouse of these competitors. They’re closing in on our trade.
Approaching the docks, he looked at the jumbled view of riverside shophouses and found himself releasing a sigh. The bustling village of Saratok, with its fort and brick-lined main street, is a far cry from the heaving towns of the coastal north or south, but it still looked a tad alien to Kanang, who was used to the noise and green of the deep rainforest. Three seasons ago, the Tuai Rumah had made the decision to relocate the entire community to the town, and despite some pangs, almost everyone had adapted. While feasts of wild-caught boars are no longer an option, his longhouse had prospered from the closeness to the river basin and the shipping-transport network that provided the settlement. But I do miss the howl of the monkeys at dusk.
Reaching for the docks, Kanang reached for the ropes and began tying his longboat to the pier alongside its brothers. But he quickly stopped when saw something interesting to his left: A houseboat, long and squat, bobbing gently on the wakes of the Krian. From looks alone, the craft looked battered and bruised, and it seemed to give a forlorn air to the fiery sunset. As he looked, a bare-chested man clambered up from the interior and onto the deck, shouting to his trailing wife, “Still, I’ll try to get some rice!”
“Tumpan tania!” Asked Kanang in the pidgin Malay all traders use, “Can you help me with tying my boat?”
The man looked at him for a moment. Then, “What do you want me to do?”
And it was that that allowed Kanang to invite the man and his wife to dine with his family at his standalone home at the outskirts of town, built separately from the main longhouse for more privacy for the enterprising peddler [2]. As the rice cooked, Kanang could feel the couple’s anxiousness permeating the air. It was clear that they were new to the region, and he wanted to know why.
“Where were you from?” he asked.
The man, whom introduced himself as Rano, replied. “Semporna, up in the far north. We just got here.”
A Sama couple? “That’s a long way. Why here?”
“Well, we didn’t exactly intend to leave. Not until the rebellion led by one of ours led the White Men to our village. We barely got away from them and have been wandering ever since.”
“Really? But I heard the Orang Puteh up there were the same as ours!”
“Far from it!” Rano exclaimed. “The ones we see down here are far nicer than the ones that attacked us! No forced moves, no missionaries forcing us to convert, and no stupid taxes on fish! I don’t know why, but I wish they could make the ones up north see some sense.”
Well, I wouldn’t say we don’t have any stupid taxes. Kanang mused, remembering the fines the longhouse paid for not participating in the last punitive expedition headed by the Rajah. But that’s for another time. [3]
“If you two have finished jabbering, the rice is cooked.” The peddler’s wife Salima called out with Chinese plates in hand, and for a while the only sounds from the assembled adults were those of eating their meal. Then, she questioned “So then, where will you go? Are you both going to move here?”
“Oh, no.” It was the boatman’s wife Muslina that answered. “Our lives are with the blue waters. We have heard of a group of islands far out at sea where the A’a dilaut – us sea people – are welcome. We’re only here because we needed some wares for our lepa, and others like us spoke that this town had what we were searching for.”
“Your lepa?”
“Oh, our houseboat.”
“Ahh.”
“But we don’t have that much to trade, and my latest catch isn’t enough to get us what we need.” Rano interjected. “Everything nowadays costs more than before and we barely caught enough fish this morning to exchange for rice, let alone to fix our houseboat.”
Kanang immediately thought of something, but his wife beat him to it. “Well, why didn’t you say so!? You’ve come to the right place! If you came here earlier, we might have something to trade about, but our longhouse may just have what you need come next morning. We deal in everything from salt to glaze jars!”
Rano looked doubtful. “I don’t know. We need a lot of wares and food, and I need some craftsmen to mend our home.”
“Let us try to help. And if we can’t, we can ask our friends. Our longhouse are allies with the Penghulu of this river – He’s our highest leader of us Ibans that live here – and his longhouse has organized trips to the outside lands, to Singapura and Johor, and brought back goods of many kinds [4]. It’s because of him that the man you see here is now a peddler, and the Penghulu has a trade network that could get anyone anything! Let us help.”
Rano and Muslina looked as if they saw a ghost.
“She has a point.” Kanang agreed. “Let us help.”
The relief that went through the house was one Kanang found hard to stop, and he found himself belatedly shrugging off the repetitions of gratitude from the seafaring couple. But through the thanks and questions of items to procure, there was one other thing that brewed in peddler’s mind. Kanang had heard of Penghulu Munan wanting to expand his mercantile web, and recent whispers spoke of him competing with the local Peranakan classes for trade in the Natuna and Anambas islands. If the Sama couple are headed there, maybe that could give him his opening. And if the sea peoples can be recruited as peddlers…
He took his chances. “I don’t think you’ve said it, but what are the names of the islands you’re heading?”
____________________
1. Iban traders and peddlers were recorded as early as the mid-to-late 19th century, and there were British accounts of individual men of Iban descent selling salt and rice to the Kadazan-Dusun communities in British North Borneo IOTL. ITTL, the greater development of Sarawak's riverine transport system and the establishment of indigenous trade links to Singapore would have led to some home-grown peddlers as well.
2. Some Dayak tribes, upon having their community expanded through marriages or births, accommodate the increase through either extending their longhouse or through building standalone houses, close to the main complex. ITTL, some enterprising traders could ask for an individual home due to privacy reasons relating to their trade.
3. See post #437 on Brooke auxiliary laws and how they dealt with unwilling participants.
4. See post #922 on Penghulu Munan and his longhouse’s trip to Singapore.
Well, the guy that could do it is a lazy bum. There's a reason Sarawak is a majority Catholic state.