# Chinese Protectorate is established (1877)

URL: https://allhistories.com/singapore/timeline/1877-chinese-protectorate-is-established
Location: Singapore
Themes: main-event

The Chinese Protectorate was founded in 1877 to handle matters affecting the Chinese residents of the Straits Settlements, with protectorates in Singapore, Penang and Malacca, each headed by a Protector. Coolie agents were required to register with it, and arrivals from China began to rise sharply from the 1880s. The coolie trade had become extremely exploitative by the 1850s. By reducing workers' reliance on coolie brokers and secret societies, the Protectorate opened up the labour market. Chinese social societies, including kongsi, had to register, since many were secret societies or criminal organisations. Residents were encouraged to seek official help instead, which weakened the societies' influence. Protectorate agents inspected households employing domestic servants, and those in especially harsh conditions were sent to Singapore's Home for Girls. The Protectorate also sought to protect women and girls who had been tricked into prostitution in brothels run by secret societies, removing girls under 16 from such establishments. It marked a shift to more active government engagement with the Chinese community. At this point in the timeline (1877), Edward Archibald Harbord Anson, Acting Governor of the Straits Settlements (1877 – 1877), was in charge of the Straits Settlements, a British Crown colony governed from Singapore.

## Why it matters
The Protectorate was the colonial state's first systematic attempt to protect and regulate the migrant Chinese majority and to curb secret-society power.

Ruler at the Time: [Edward Archibald Harbord Anson](https://allhistories.com/singapore/rulers/edward-archibald-harbord-anson)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Chinese Protectorate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Protectorate)
- [Wikipedia — History of Singapore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Singapore)