Asia Travel Wonders – History of Singapore
December 19, 2009 by Asia Travel Wanderer
Singapore is a Southeast Asian country that borders Malaysia, Cambodia and Indonesia. Like so many of its neighbors, Singapore suffered through the toils of colonization and wars. It has managed to weather through it all and is one of the most prosperous countries in the entire world.
History of Singapore
Singapore’s establishment is credited to one man and that is Prince Parmeswara. He named the land ‘Singapura’ after the Sanskrit word for lion. Parmeswara was later on driven out of Singapore. He then went to establish the sultanate of Malacca which used Singapore as an integral trading post.
The British came to Singapore and made it a colony in an attempt to balance out the negative effect that Dutch colonies have imposed on the British trading routes in Southeast Asia.
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles was a defining character in the formation of modern day Singapore as it was him who determined that the region would play a great role in the world trading.
After the British, Singapore fell under the short rule of the invading Japanese. After the Japanese surrendered, Singapore momentarily fell into a state of disarray, but soon recovered and went on to establish an independent government.
