February 6th: Singapore, Liberia and New Zealand

Three modern states can trace their origins to a 6th of February: Singapore, Liberia and New Zealand.

Singapore:

In 1819 British governor Thomas Stanford Raffles founded Singapore. He didn't found it anew, and even the name comes from previous settlements, but the island outpost, nominally under sovereignity of Johor, had suffered a steady decay.


The British needed a more central base to control the Malaysian straits and decided that forgotten Singapore was the best choice. The only problem was that Johor's Sultan, Tengku Rahman, was allied of the Dutch but Raffles played his exiled brother Hussein against him, in exchange for the strategic island.

Major William Farquhar was placed as first governor, who had to deal with many handicaps like not being able to impose harbour taxes. Nevertheless, the settlement quickly grew, as traders from everywhere flocked to the new free port, fleeing from Dutch economic control. The very first year of its existence, trade worth $400,000 had passed through the island; in 1921 it was $8 million.


Raffles returned to Singapore in 1922 and, despite the success of Farquhar, he deposed him because he had allowed gambling and opium trade. He set several new provisions personally, and then appointed John Crawfurd as new governor. In 1825, Singapore had already more that 10,000 inhabitants and the value of merchandising using its facilities was of $22 million.

Liberia:

Today in 1820, 86 freed slaves from the USA landed at what is now Monrovia, where they founded Christopolis. The settlement was ruled by the Amreican Colonization Society, which intended to relocate freed slaves in Africa under its protection in a hybrid of humanitarian and colonial policy.


In 1847, the colony, after having been settled by 13,000 Afroamericans, became the first African colony to become independent under the presidency of Joseph Jenkins Roberts and the one-party system of the True Wigh Party.


The one-party system was stable until 1978, when the foundation of an opposition party brought the country to a bloody civil war.

New Zealand:

Today in 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi arguably ceded Maori sovereignity to the British Crown, allowing to make New Zealand a colony (which was already since January anyhow). It is viewed as the founding point of New Zealand.


Yet from the Maori viewpoint, the treaty is more than dubious as the translation to Maori language includes many neologisms, particularly kwanatanga, supposedly a translation of sovereignity but actually meaning governorship.

Furthermore the treaty wasn't even ratified by Britain and attempts to enforce it were despised by the judges as "a praiseworthy device for the amusement of ignorant savages".

Yet, Maori rights movement found it this treaty a rallying point in the 60s and 70s and eventually it was confirmed by an act of New Zealand parlament that enforced the treaty in 1975, creating a special tribunal that started to review all land purchases since 1840.

Some other events that happened today:

• 1778 - France recognizes the USA, being the first nation to do so
  
• 1900 - The International arbitration Court of The Hague is created
• 1955 - Jack Kilby files the first patent for an integrated circuit

Full list: Wikipedia.