论莱佛士在东南亚的殖民活动

摘要

T ・S ・莱佛士（Thomas Stamford Raffles）是近代东南亚殖民史上最重要的活动家之一，因其在创建新加坡自由港方面的贡献而被赞誉为“新加坡之父”。在任职爪哇期间，他通过削弱当地土著王公的权力巩固了英国在当地的殖民利益，改革爪哇土地制度与土地税制度，推行废除奴隶制度的政策。此外，莱佛士还代表英国东印度公司取得了对新加坡岛的控制权，并将该岛建设成具有商业与驻军双重功能的重要据点。莱佛士在东南亚的殖民活动，在客观上促进了爪哇近代经济改革，加速了新加坡成为自由港的建设进程。%T ・ S ・ Raffles (Thomas Stamford Raffles)was one of the most important activists in the colonial history of mod‐ern Southeast Asian ,and was praised as “Father of Singapore” for his contribution in creating Singapore Freeport .During his ten‐ure of office ,he consolidated local British colonial interests by weakening the power of the local feudal princes .He also reformed land system and Land-rent System ,and abolished slavery policies in Java .In addition ,Raffles won the control right of Singapore on behalf of the British East India Company ,and built with the dual function business and garrison stronghold .To sum up ,Raf‐fles’s colonial activities promoted the modern economic reform of Java objectively and accelerated the constructional process of Sin ‐gapore as a free port .