James Brooke (1803-1868) was born in India. However, he was British, not Indian. India was a British colony at that time, and James's father was an official in the colonial government.
James attended school in England, and then he went into the army. He was injured in a war in Burma, so he left the army. He bought a boat and explored the islands off the coast of Asia.
Sarawak is on one of these islands. The name of the island is Kalimantan. Today most of Kalimantan belongs to Indonesia. While Mr. Brooke was traveling in Asia, there were problems in Sarawak. Some of the people did not like their leader, the raja, so they started fighting against him. The fighting continued and the raja couldn't stop it. Finally, he asked Mr. Brooke for help.
Mr. Brooke asked the British navy to help him. They soon defeated the raja's enemies.
When the war was over, the raja asked Mr. Brooke to be the ruler of Sarawak. He became the raja. It was very unusual to have a European raja in Asia. He was a good ruler. He organized a strong government, and there was no more fighting. Some of the people in the jungle were head hunters. They killed people and kept their heads. He made them stop.
After James Brooke's death, his son became raja.
Today Sarawak is part of Malaysia. Malaysia is an independent country instead of a British colony. Sarawak has a governor, but he is not British. There are no more British rulers in Sarawak or Malaysia.
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