IOTL, The Straits Settlements (consisting of the four individual settlements of Penang, Singapore, Malacca, and Dinding) were established following the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, by which the Malay archipelago was divided into a British zone in the north and a Dutch zone in the south, with the British settlement of Bencoolen (on Sumatra) exchanged for the Dutch colony of Malacca and undisputed control of Singapore. The Settlements were largely Chinese in population, with a tiny but important European minority, and their capital was moved from George Town, the capital of Penang, to Singapore in 1832. Their scattered nature proved to be difficult and, after the company lost its monopoly in the china trade in 1833, expensive to administer. During their control by the East India Company, the Settlements were used as penal settlements for Indian civilian and military prisoners, earning them the title of the "Botany Bays of India". The years 1852 and 1853 saw minor uprisings by convicts in Singapore and Penang. Upset with East India Company rule, in 1857 the European population of the Settlements sent a petition to the British Parliament asking for direct rule, but the idea was overtaken by events elsewhere, with the Indian Rebellion of 1857 breaking out.
When a "Gagging Act" was imposed to prevent the uprising in India spreading, the Settlements' press reacted with anger, classing it as something that subverted "every principle of liberty and free discussion". As there was little or no vernacular press in the Settlements, such an act seemed irrelevant- it was rarely enforced and ended in less than a year. However, this reception did greatly influence the decision by the British to relocate their penal settlements for Indian civilian and military prisoners (which they'd be a greatly over-supplied with for several years to come, courtesy of the Indian Rebellion) from Singapore and the Straits Settlements, and establish new, hitherto unsettled "Botany Bay/s of India" elsewhere. IOTL, the British elected to establish their new penal colony, for the Indian mutineers involved in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, on the Andaman Islands- shifting the Penal Settlement from Singapore to Port Blair (Viper Island) in 1858, and transporting an estimated 13-20,000 prisoners to the Convict Settlement, also known as the "British Gulag", between 1858 and 1864.
We know the list of the first group of 200 prisoners who were transported to the Ross Island Penal Colony under the control of Dr James Pattison Walker from Calcutta, who soon set the convicts the arduous task of clearing the dense forest of Ross Island, building their own shelters and other buildings, and laying roads, with no food, clothing or shelter provided. And just over a month after their arrival, on the 23rd April 1858, 91 out of the 288 inmates managed to stage an escape- only to be savagely attacked by the Andaman Aboriginals, forcing them to flee back to the prison camp seeking medical help (with all 81 returnees summarily executed by hanging in a single day). JP Grant, the President in Council in Calcutta complained to the higher authorities, but Walker wasn't reprimanded, and emboldened by this, he fitted the remaining convicts at the Penal Colony with iron shackles, chains and identity-tagged neck collars, to prevent any further escapes.
Of the 10 escapees who'd managed to escape, and hadn't made it back to the prison camp, at least one of them was spared by the Andamanese people- Dudnath Tiwari, a political prisoner. He was absorbed into the aboriginal culture, married two of their girls, and learned their language. However, when the Andamanese were on the verge of mounting a massive surprise attack on the penal colony, on 16 May 1859, he ran away, betraying them to the British and secretly informing the Superintendent of the coming raid. And when the aboriginals attacked the camp with bows and arrows, in the "Battle of Aberdeen", the British were fully prepared, and were able to easily bring their superior weapons to bear, completely routing the natives. This total victory did result in a change of approach from the British though; steps were initiated to seek peace with the natives, with a British officer was appointed to look after their welfare (a move which Dr Walker was reportedly deeply dissatisfied about).
And 'Dr Death' was finally deposed from his position of control over the penal settlement in early October 1859, after he suggested branding the convicts on their forearms with information of the crime and sentence that they had been given). Even so though, of the 13-20,000 prisoners shipped out to the Ross Island Penal Colony, almost half had already died by mid-1864, with an observed death rate of c.7-10% per annum, and with only 45 prisoners out of the c.10,000 survivors (at most) considered 'medically fit' by the camp's doctors. With no export products, and no means of income (other than the mass human testing of pharmaceutical drugs like quinine, which was forcibly fed to c.10,000 penal colonists in the 1870s) the Ross Island Penal Colony ran at a huge fiscal loss for the British, and wound up being an unmitigated failure as anything other than a death camp.
So then, what if, rather than relocating their Indian penal colonies from Singapore and the Straits Settlements to establish their Convict Settlement for the Indian mutineers on the cramped, worthless, unproductive and unprofitable Andaman Islands, as they did IOTL, they'd established it elsewhere? And which alternative location/s do you feel would make for the most feasible, profitable, impactful, and/or interesting place/s for the British to establish their Penal Settlement/s immediately after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, instead of OTL's Ross Island Penal Colony (to be explored as the basis/POD for a fully-fledged ATL)? Particularly if a variant of the 'Great Escape' attempt still happens ITTL, with up to 1/3rd of the inmates managing to stage a successful escape as they did IOTL? Could you imagine any of them potentially rising to rival, or even surpass, the success of OTL's Singapore (and/or Malaysia)? And how different from OTL could TTL wind up becoming as a result?
When a "Gagging Act" was imposed to prevent the uprising in India spreading, the Settlements' press reacted with anger, classing it as something that subverted "every principle of liberty and free discussion". As there was little or no vernacular press in the Settlements, such an act seemed irrelevant- it was rarely enforced and ended in less than a year. However, this reception did greatly influence the decision by the British to relocate their penal settlements for Indian civilian and military prisoners (which they'd be a greatly over-supplied with for several years to come, courtesy of the Indian Rebellion) from Singapore and the Straits Settlements, and establish new, hitherto unsettled "Botany Bay/s of India" elsewhere. IOTL, the British elected to establish their new penal colony, for the Indian mutineers involved in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, on the Andaman Islands- shifting the Penal Settlement from Singapore to Port Blair (Viper Island) in 1858, and transporting an estimated 13-20,000 prisoners to the Convict Settlement, also known as the "British Gulag", between 1858 and 1864.
We know the list of the first group of 200 prisoners who were transported to the Ross Island Penal Colony under the control of Dr James Pattison Walker from Calcutta, who soon set the convicts the arduous task of clearing the dense forest of Ross Island, building their own shelters and other buildings, and laying roads, with no food, clothing or shelter provided. And just over a month after their arrival, on the 23rd April 1858, 91 out of the 288 inmates managed to stage an escape- only to be savagely attacked by the Andaman Aboriginals, forcing them to flee back to the prison camp seeking medical help (with all 81 returnees summarily executed by hanging in a single day). JP Grant, the President in Council in Calcutta complained to the higher authorities, but Walker wasn't reprimanded, and emboldened by this, he fitted the remaining convicts at the Penal Colony with iron shackles, chains and identity-tagged neck collars, to prevent any further escapes.
Of the 10 escapees who'd managed to escape, and hadn't made it back to the prison camp, at least one of them was spared by the Andamanese people- Dudnath Tiwari, a political prisoner. He was absorbed into the aboriginal culture, married two of their girls, and learned their language. However, when the Andamanese were on the verge of mounting a massive surprise attack on the penal colony, on 16 May 1859, he ran away, betraying them to the British and secretly informing the Superintendent of the coming raid. And when the aboriginals attacked the camp with bows and arrows, in the "Battle of Aberdeen", the British were fully prepared, and were able to easily bring their superior weapons to bear, completely routing the natives. This total victory did result in a change of approach from the British though; steps were initiated to seek peace with the natives, with a British officer was appointed to look after their welfare (a move which Dr Walker was reportedly deeply dissatisfied about).
And 'Dr Death' was finally deposed from his position of control over the penal settlement in early October 1859, after he suggested branding the convicts on their forearms with information of the crime and sentence that they had been given). Even so though, of the 13-20,000 prisoners shipped out to the Ross Island Penal Colony, almost half had already died by mid-1864, with an observed death rate of c.7-10% per annum, and with only 45 prisoners out of the c.10,000 survivors (at most) considered 'medically fit' by the camp's doctors. With no export products, and no means of income (other than the mass human testing of pharmaceutical drugs like quinine, which was forcibly fed to c.10,000 penal colonists in the 1870s) the Ross Island Penal Colony ran at a huge fiscal loss for the British, and wound up being an unmitigated failure as anything other than a death camp.
So then, what if, rather than relocating their Indian penal colonies from Singapore and the Straits Settlements to establish their Convict Settlement for the Indian mutineers on the cramped, worthless, unproductive and unprofitable Andaman Islands, as they did IOTL, they'd established it elsewhere? And which alternative location/s do you feel would make for the most feasible, profitable, impactful, and/or interesting place/s for the British to establish their Penal Settlement/s immediately after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, instead of OTL's Ross Island Penal Colony (to be explored as the basis/POD for a fully-fledged ATL)? Particularly if a variant of the 'Great Escape' attempt still happens ITTL, with up to 1/3rd of the inmates managing to stage a successful escape as they did IOTL? Could you imagine any of them potentially rising to rival, or even surpass, the success of OTL's Singapore (and/or Malaysia)? And how different from OTL could TTL wind up becoming as a result?
