Singapore Geography

Modern Singapore was founded on economic desires: Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founded modern Singapore in 1819 out of desire for a new trading port in the region.

Combined with a natural deep harbor, Singapore's geographic location at the southern tip of the Malay peninsula made it an ideal port and British trading post. Due to mainly economic interests, Britain retained various levels of control over the island until 1959.

During the first year of operation as a port $400,000 Spanish dollars' worth of trade flowed through Singapore. By 1821 it was $8 million and by 1825 $22 million dollars´worth of goods were moving through the port, surpassing the more established port of Penang. (source: De Vries and Van der Woude)

As a free port in the

By 1880, over 1.5 million tons of goods were passing through Singapore each year, with around 80% of the cargo transported by steamships. (source: Landow)

Trade and population growth continued apace for the next hundred years or so. While the First World War impacted the volume of trade in Singapore the country didn't suffer the same devastating economic impact that European countries suffered during and after the

When Japan withdrew from Singapore they left behind an increasingly desperate population lacking access to basic necessities like food and water. Electricity and communication services were patchy at best and the country´s harbor, its' strongest engine of economic growth, was in a deep state of disrepair.

By 1947 the Singaporean economy started showing signs of life again driven by a post-war global demand for tin and rubber. However, it took years for the economy to return to pre-war levels. (source: Lepoer, Aftermath of War) Perhaps more importantly, Britain's failure to protect their controlled areas in the region against the Japanese forces severely damaged Britain's credibility in the region. Singapore and Malaya began to agitate for more independence and self-governance. Over the next twenty years, the British Empire ceded increasingly more control to local populations.

After a rocky road to independence, including a brief period of time as part of Malaysia and violent race riots, the Republic of Singapore was established in December 1965. The neophyte nation immediately sought global recognition and joined the United Nations in September