Appointed Lieutenant Governor of Java in 1811 and promoted to Governor of Sumatra shortly thereafter, during the period when Britain took administrative control of the Dutch colonies while the Netherlands were preoccupied with the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. During his Governorship, Raffles introduce partial self-government, stopped the slave trade, restored and researched Borobudur and other ancient monuments, and replaced the Dutch forced agriculture system[?] with a land-tenure system of land management. He also researched and wrote a book entitled History of Java, describing the history of the island from ancient times.
Raffles declared the foundation of what was to become modern Singapore on February 6, 1819, securing transfer of control of the island to the British East India Company.
He founded the Zoological Society of London[?] and was its first president. He was knighted in 1817.
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