Singapore, an island country and the smallest country in Southeast Asia, is located on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, south of the Malaysian state of Johor, and north of the Indonesian Riau Islands. The site of several ancient port cities and a possession of several empires in its history, Singapore was a Malay fishing village when it was colonized by the United Kingdom in the 19th century. It was further occupied by the Japanese Empire in World War II, and was later part of the merger which established Malaysia. When Singapore acquired independence, having few natural resources, it was socio-politically volatile and economically undeveloped. Foreign investment and rapid government-led industrialization has since created an economy which relies on exports of electronics and manufacturing primarily from its port. According to the quality-of-life index assembled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Singapore has the highest standard of living in Asia, and is ranked 11th in the world. Measured by GDP per capita, Singapore is the 22nd wealthiest country. The geographically small nation has a foreign reserve of US$119 billion. Eighty-three percent of Singapore's population lives in housing estates constructed by the Housing Development Board and nearly half use the public transport system daily. As a result of efforts to control motorized traffic, the maintenance of natural greenery, strict regulations on industrial locations and emissions, and other pro-environmental initiatives by the government and the private sector, Singapore has been able to control its pollution levels to well within World Health Organization standards.
What’s in a Name
The name “Singapore” is derived from the Malay words “singa” (lion) and “pura” (city), which were derived from the Sanskrit words “sigha” and “pura”. In Tamil, a language of Singapore, “singam” means lion and “puram” means city. Hence, Singapore is known as the Lion City. The naming is attributed to a prince named, who according to folklore, was caught in a terrible storm that did not cease until he had thrown his crown into the water. The waters calmed immediately after that, and he sailed to the closest island he could see. The first animal he saw after setting foot on the island was a lion and thus, he decided to name the island Singapura. Recent studies of Singapore indicate that lions have never lived there (not even Asiatic lions), and the beast seen by the prince was most likely the Malayan Tiger.
History of Singapore
The first records of settlement in Singapore are from the 2nd century CE. The island was an outpost of the Sumatran Srivijaya empire and originally had the Javanese name Temasek, meaning “sea town”. Temasek rapidly became a significant trading settlement, but declined in the late 14th century. There are few remnants of old Temasek in Singapore, but archaeologists have uncovered artifacts of that and other settlements. Between the 16th and early 19th centuries, the island of Singapore was part of the Sultanate of Johor. During the Malay-Portugal wars in 1613, the settlement was set ablaze by Portuguese troops. The Portuguese subsequently held control in that century and the Dutch in the 17th, but throughout most of this time the island’s population consisted mainly of fishermen.
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posted by Hills @ 11:06 PM
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