Destination Singapore
History of Singapore
Early History
The first written records of Singapore date to the second century, when the island was identified as a trading post in several cartographic references.
The Greek astronomer Claudius Ptolemaeus identified a place called Sabana in the area where Singapore lies and identified it as a nominon emporion, or designated foreign trading port, as part of a chain of similar trading ports that linked South East Asia with India and the Mediterranean.
Traders travelling between China and India have been traversing the waters around Singapore since the 5th century AD and Singapore later became a trading outpost of the ancient Buddhist Kingdom of Srivijaya, which had its centre in Palembang, Sumatra. This kingdom influenced the region between the seventh to the 10th centuries.
In the 13th century, the Kingdom of Srivijaya’s power weakened and it came under the influence of the Muslim empire of Malacca, an empire situated on the western coast of present-day Peninsula Malaysia.
Malacca’s decline began in 1511, when it fell under the sway of the Portuguese. The Muslim merchants that had founded the commercial success of Malacca fled from the new rule of Christianity and another, smaller sultanate established itself in Johor, at the southern end of the Malaysian peninsula, across the causeway from Singapore.
Colonial clashes between the European superpowers saw the Dutch wrestle control of Malacca from the Portuguese in 1641 and they held power until 1875, when Holland’s defeat in a war in Europe saw the British seizing Dutch colonies in South East Asia, including the hugely important strategic location of Malacca.
Colonial History
After European maritime nations were involved in a series of expansionist policies across the Asian continent, Sir Stamford Raffles, then the Lieutenant Governor of Java, gained permission to establish a station in the region, to secure British trade interests and he decided on Singapore, then under the Empire of Johor.
When Raffles first landed in Singapore in 1819, there was division within the Johor Sultanate. The old Sultan had died in 1812, and his younger son had ascended to the throne when the eldest son and legitimate heir, Hussein, was away.
Raffles threw his support behind Hussein, proclaiming him Sultan and installing him in Singapore. He also signed a treaty with the senior judge, of Johor, setting him up in Singapore as well. In so doing, he hoped to legitimise British claims to the island.
Initially, Raffles acquired the use of Singapore after agreeing to make annual payments to Sultan Hussein and the Temenggong. In 1824, in exchange for a cash buyout, Singapore officially came under the ownership of the British East India Company.
Raffles initiated a blueprint for central Singapore and with the first Resident of Singapore, William Farquhar, their leadership gradually moulded Singapore from a jungle-ridden backwater with poor sanitation and little modern infrastructure to a successful entrepôt and colonial outpost. Hospitals, government buildings, trading facilities, schools and a water supply system were established and predominantly boatloads of immigrants from India and China came to Singapore in search of a better life.
Modern History
Economically, Singapore went from strength to strength throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. But in the 1940s, political storm clouds were gathering over Asia in the run up to the Second World War as Japan’s nationalist quest for more power, land and natural resources saw it invade China in the 1930s.
On February 15, 1942, with Europe in the throes of World War Two, the Japanese sprung a quick and successful invasion of Singapore. The British, who had prepared for an invasion from the sea in the south, were taken by surprise by the Japanese attack via the jungles of Thailand and Malaysia. The British surrender was quick and many of the Europeans were sent to Changi Prison.
The next few years were a dark period in Singapore’s history. The Japanese treated the Chinese with particular suspicion, and many of them were tortured, incarcerated and executed. By 1945 however, it was clear that Japan, and its allies, were losing the war. The Japanese surrendered Singapore on August 14, 1945 and the British returned, but their right to rule was now in question.
The Road to Independence
After the war, the British grouped the peninsula Malay states and the British-controlled states of Sabah and Sarawak in Borneo under the Malayan Union. Singapore, which unlike the other states had a predominantly Chinese population, was left out of this union.
In the post-war climate of poverty and unemployment, communist groups such as the Malayan Communist Party and the Communist General Labour Union gained popular support.
In the late 1940s, the Communists launched a campaign of armed struggle in Malaya, prompting the British to declare a state of emergency in which the Communists were outlawed. Twelve years of guerrilla warfare from the Communists on the peninsula ensued until left-wing politics were gradually snuffed out in the Malay states and Singapore.
The end of World War II had seen Singapore become a Crown Colony, but the rise of nationalism put Singapore on the path to self-government in 1959. Singapore formed a union with Malaya in 1963, but opted for independence and became an independent republic on August 9, 1965, with Lee Kuan Yew named prime minister of the newly independent state.
