Keeping a Sultan's title, deciding taxes and selling more exports are different kinds of evidence. Match each to the question it can answer.
Choose the evidence that best addresses the claim you want to test.
Did rulers retain practical power?
- Residents' advice had to be followed outside religion and custom.
- Revenue administration came under their influence.
If a ruler must follow advice on raising and using money, his freedom to govern is restricted even when his title remains.
Treaty rules show the formal arrangement. Compare them with evidence of how officials and rulers actually acted in each state.
Did the export economy expand?
- Tin production and rubber cultivation developed.
- Transport links and investment connected production to ports.
Mines and plantations supplied goods; transport links moved them to ports and overseas buyers. These connections help explain expanding trade.
Growth does not show an equal distribution of benefits.
Did everyone accept British rule?
- Some elites cooperated with British officials.
- Others resisted intrusive administration, including in Perak.
Cooperation and resistance show different interests and choices. Neither response can stand for the whole population.
A few examples show that responses differed, but cannot tell us how many people held each view.