The golden sword; Stamford Raffles and the East

Sir Stamford Raffles (1781 – 1826) is principally remembered nowadays as the founder of Singapore. But he was also a remarkable scholar and collector who graetly admired the peoples of what would become Malaysia and Indonesia, and he was an enthousiastic researcher into all aspects of their civilization, languages and natural and cultural history. His History of Java, the zource of many basic Western ideas about the area, remains the starting point for studies of the wastern archipelago. A profound humanitarian, Raffles swa knowledge and education as the solution to all misunderstanding and was a major supporter of schools, museums and other learned institutions. His last act was the foudning of London Zoo.