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Visual Index of Singapore Sites:
Singapore is a small but enormously prosperous city-state on the southernmost tip of the Malay peninsula. The city is an ethic polyglot with English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil the four national languages. However, nearly 3/4 of the citizens are Chinese, mostly settlers and immigrants from the southern Chinese provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, and Hainan island.
Singapore is heavily influenced by a British colonial presence that began in 1819 when Sir Stamford Raffles established a trading post here. During World War II the city was overrun by the Japanese but was liberated in 1945. For twenty years thereafter Singapore was a part of Malaysia, but it withdrew from the federation in 1965. Since then the city-state has risen from 3rd world status to 1st. The per-capita income of its inhabitants is the fifth-highest in the world and its port is the second busiest after Rotterdam (in Holland). Some would say that this prosperity has come at a steep price: the redevelopment has destroyed much of the city's historic fabric and invited wholescale Westernization. Nevertheless, the city retains a certain character and is one of the safest and most fascinating cities in Asia.
Bibliography:
All images copyright 2002 Tim Ciccone
Lewis, Mark. The Mini
Rough Guide to Singapore
Rough Guides Ltd. London,
2000
Rowthorn, Chris et al. Malaysia,
Singapore, and Brunei
Lonely Planet Publications.
Malaysia, 2001
Signposts on site
