Former British crown colony comprising territories bordering on the strategic Malacca Strait in south-east Asia. The three English East India colonies of Penang, Malacca, and Singapore were combined in 1826 as the Straits Settlements. After 1858, they passed to British Indian control, and in 1867 became a crown colony, to which Labuan was added in 1912. The colony was dismantled in 1946, Singapore becoming a separate colony and Penang, Malacca, and Labuan joining the Malayan Union.