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Singapore

Facts & Figures

Map of Singapore
President: Tony Tan Keng Yam (2011)

Prime Minister: Lee Hsien Loong (2004)

Land area: 241 sq mi (624 sq km); total area: 267 sq mi (692.7 sqkm)

Population (2012 est.): 5,353,494 (growth rate: 1.993%); birth rate: 7.72/1000; infant mortality rate: 2.65/1000; life expectancy: 83.75

Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Singapore,5,183,700.

Monetary unit: Singapore dollar

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Geography

The Republic of Singapore consists of the main island of Singapore, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsulabetween the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, and 58 nearby islands.

Government

Parliamentary republic.

History

Inhabitants of the Malaysian peninsula and the island of Singapore firstmigrated to the area between 2500 and 1500 B.C. ( see Malaysia). British and Dutch interest in the region grew with the spice trade, and the trading post of Singapore was founded in 1819 by Sir StamfordRaffles. It was made a separate Crown colony of Britain in 1946, when the former colony of the Straits Settlements was dissolved. The other two settlements on the peninsula—Penang and Malacca—becamepart of the Union of Malaya, and the small island of Labuan was transferred to North Borneo. The Cocos (or Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island were transferred to Australia in 1955 and in 1958,respectively.

Singapore attained full internal self-government in 1959, and Lee Kwan Yew, an economic visionary with an authoritarian streak, took the helm as prime minister. On Sept. 16, 1963, Singaporejoined Malaya, Sabah (North Borneo), and Sarawak in the Federation of Malaysia. It withdrew from the federation on Aug. 9, 1965, and a month later proclaimed itself a republic.

Under Lee,Singapore developed into one of the cleanest, safest, and most economically prosperous cities in Asia. However, Singapore's strict rules of civil obedience also drew criticism from those who said the...