British mediation and the new sultanate in Johor
A postcard showing the palace which was built by Temenggong Abu Bakar in Johor Bahru, on the shore of the Tebrau strait, after he had moved the capital of the state of Johor from Singapore to Johor Bahru.
The Johor sultans of the 16th and 17th centuries were direct descendants of the Melaka dynasty. However, this lineage came to an end in 1699 with the assassination of Sultan Mahmud, who had no heirs. He was succeeded by the Bendahara (prime minister), and the capital was moved to Riau-Lingga. Thus it was one of his descendants, Sultan Abdul Rahman, who was ruling the Johor-Riau-Lingga sultanate when the British established a free port in Singapore in 1819. Subsequently, British mediation, which favoured the Temenggongs, largely determined the lineage of the new sultanate of Johor.
- Information in the full article includes
- The rulers, 1812-1862
- From Temenggong to Maharaja
- From Maharaja to Sultan