Kuching my Home Town - History

I have posted about many other places, but not much about my home town Kuching, except for the food. It is always not easy to describe your home town. It is so familiar, you don't know where to start. Anyway, here's my first attempt at it.

Kuching is a unique city among historic cities in Asia. It is the only place to have been ruled by White Rajahs. The White Rajahs were members of the Brooke family which ruled Sarawak for over 100 years. 

The first Rajah was James Brooke, a British adventurer who first landed in Kuching in 1839. He was made Rajah after helping the then Governor of Sarawak – Pengiran Muda Hashim to quash a rebellion. Unlike the colonialists in other parts of Asia who were mostly interested in exploiting the colonies for economic gains, the White Rajahs made Sarawak their home, and set up administration systems which helped to develop the state. It was only until the 2nd World War, after Sarawak was occupied by the Japanese, that the Brooke family decided to cede Sarawak to become a Crown Colony. Later, in 1963, Sarawak joined the Federation to form Malaysia.

Due to this unique history, Kuching has some interesting built heritage, in the form of buildings built during the Brooke era, and later on the Colonial era. 

The Old Courthouse - as it is commonly referred to in Kuching, was actually an administrative centre built by the Brookes. It was later used as the courthouse by the Sarawak Government, hence the common name. It has been altered extensively over the years, and in the most recent incarnation, it has become the Sarawak Tourism complex.