The Raj of Sarawak, also State of Sarawak, located in the northwestern part of the island of Borneo, was an initially independent state that later became a British Protectorate in 1888. It was established as an independent state from a series of land concessions acquired by an Englishman, James Brooke, from the Sultan of Brunei. Sarawak received recognition as an independent state from the United States in 1850, and from the United Kingdom in 1864. The area now forms the Malaysian state of Sarawak.