Modern Sarawak begins in 1838, when British adventurer James Brooke landed in Kuching with his ship ‘Royalty’. The area was currently in revolt against the Sultan of Brunei; Brooke helped him put down the rebellion and was rewarded with the governorship of Sarawak in1841. After suppressing piracy in the region and coping with another revolt, he was given full sovereignty and became Rajah of Sarawak in September 1841. The ‘white rajahs’ ruled Sarawak until 1946 – pacifying the tribes of the interior, suppressing headhunting and increasing the size of the territory by purchases and treaties.
Sarawak became a British Protectorate in 1888 – but the stamps continued to show the various generations of the Brooke
