an island of Malaysia, situated off the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. In 1786 it was ceded to the East India Company as a British colony by the sultan of Kedah. Known as Prince of Wales Island until 1867, it united with Malacca and Singapore in a union of 1826, which in 1867 became the British colony called the Straits Settlements. It joined the federation of Malaya in 1948