Fort Canning Essay

A Critical Review of Key Roles played by
Fort Canning in the last 50 years of Singapore’s History Introduction
Fort Canning or Bukit Lan grant (Forbidden Hill in the Malay language) is a hill well known to many Singaporeans. It was ‘forbidden’ since local settlers believed palaces built by ancestral kings used to be there..
Some ancient ruins were found underneath all the vegetation and relics were found on the hill, suggesting that the locals had set up a trading port before Fort Canning was invaded by outside forces. Raffles was impressed by the historic significance of the hill, and built his first residence on the hill. It is also notable that Europeans were buried in a cemetery on the hill from 1819 to 1822. However, the only remnants

A keen botanist, he also built Singapore 's first botanical garden there in 1822. The residence served as the colony 's governors, thus subsequently earning the name Government Hill.
By late 1859, increased security concerns led to the hill taking on a military role with the demolition of the governor 's residence, and the building of a fort with an arms store, barracks and a hospital. The fort was named Fort Canning after Viscount Charles John Canning, who was then Governor-General and the first Viceroy of India. Government Hill was thus named after the fort, and has remained so ever since even after the end of its military role more than a century later.
Under the British Army, the fort served as the headquarters of the Singapore Base District until the spread of World War II into the Asia Pacific in 1941. In February 1942, Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival established his command post of the Malayan Command at the fort in his ill-fated attempts to defend the island from the invading Japanese forces. The Japanese also used the fort for its military until the end of the occupation in 1945, whereby the British army resumed control. The bunker is now a