Singapore (新加坡) is a city-state in Southeast Asia . Founded as a British trading colony in 1819, since independence it has become one of the world's european escorted tours most prosperous countries and boasts european escorted tours the world's european escorted tours busiest port.
Combining the skyscrapers and subways of a modern, affluent city with a medley of Chinese, Malay and Indian influences and a tropical climate, with tasty food, good shopping and a vibrant night-life scene, this Garden City makes a great stopover or springboard into the region.
However, unlike many other densely populated countries, Singapore - with more than 50% of its area covered by greenery and with over 50 major parks and 4 nature reserves - is an enchanting garden european escorted tours city.
The centre of the city is located in the south consisting roughly european escorted tours of the Orchard Road shopping area, the Riverside, the new Marina Bay area and also the skyscraper-filled Shenton way financial european escorted tours district known, in acronym-loving Singapore, as the CBD (Central Business District).
Marina Bay The newest feature of Singapore, dominated european escorted tours by the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort (hotel, casino, shopping mall, convention centre and museum) and the Marina Barrage. The newly opened Gardens by the Bay situated next to Marina Bay Sands integrated resort is a large public garden which house two huge cooled conservatories – the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest as well as a cluster of gigantic Super Trees.
East Coast The largely residential eastern part of the island contains Changi Airport, miles and miles of beach and many famous eateries. Also covers Geylang Serai, the true home of Singapore's Malays.
In the centre, Singapore's addressing system is fairly similar to Western countries (such as 17 Orchard Road), but the new housing developments on the outskirts may appear more intimidating: a typical address might be "Blk 505 Jurong West St 51 #01-186". Here, "Blk 505" is the housing block number (Blk = Block), "Jurong european escorted tours West" is the area, while "St 51" is the street name/number, and "#01-186" means floor 1 unit number 186, stall or shop 186. The first digit of both housing block and street number is the neighbourhood's number (in this case 5), making it easier to narrow down the right location. There are also 6-digit postal codes, which, considering the small size of the island, generally correspond to exactly one building. For example, "Blk 9 Bedok South Ave 2" is "Singapore 460009". Finally, you will also encounter Malay terms in addresses: the most common are Jalan ( Jln ) for "Road", Lorong ( Lor ) for "Lane", Bukit ( Bt ) for "Hill" and Kampong ( Kg ) for "Village".
Singapore has a partly deserved reputation for sterile predictability that has earned it descriptions like William Gibson's "Disneyland with the death penalty" or the "world's only shopping european escorted tours mall with a seat in the United european escorted tours Nations". Nevertheless, the Switzerland european escorted tours of Asia is for many a welcome respite from the poverty, dirt, chaos, and crime of much of the Asian mainland, and if you scratch below the squeaky clean surface and get away from the tourist trail you'll soon find more than meets the eye.
Singaporean food is legendary, with bustling hawker centres european escorted tours and 24-hour coffee shops offering cheap food from all parts of Asia, and shoppers can bust their baggage allowances in shopping centres like Orchard european escorted tours Road and Suntec City. In recent years some societal restrictions have also loosened up, and now you can bungee jump and dance on bar tops all night long, although alcohol is still very pricey and chewing gum can only be bought from a pharmacy for medical use.
Two casino complexes or "Integrated Resorts", to use the Singaporean euphemism opened in 2010 in Sentosa and Marina Bay as part of Singapore's new Fun and Entertainment drive, the aim being to double the number of tourists visiting and increase the length of time they stay within the country. Watch out for more loosening up in the future.
The first records of Singapore date back to the second and third centuries where a vague reference to its location was found in Greek and Chinese texts, under the names of Sabana and Pu Luo Chung respectively.
According european escorted tours to legend, Srivijayan prince Sang Nila Utama landed on the island in the 13th century and, catching sight of a strange creature european escorted tours that he thought was a lion, decided to found a new city he called Singapura , Sanskrit for Lion City . Alas, there have never been any lions anywhere near Singapore (until the Singapore Zoo opened) european escorted tours or elsewhere on Malaya in historical times, so the mysterious beast was more probably a tiger or wild boar.
More historical european escorted tours records indicate that the island was settled at least two centuries earlier and was known as Temasek , Javanese for "Sea Town", and an important port for the Sumatran Srivijaya kingdom. However, Srivijaya fell around european escorted tours 1400 and Temasek, battered by the feuding kingdoms of Siam and the Javanese Majapahit, fell into obscurity.
As Singapura, it then briefly regained importance as a trading centre for the Melaka Sultanate and later, the Johor Sultanate. However, Portuguese raiders then destroyed the settlement and Singapura faded into obscurity once more.
The story of Singapore as we know it today began in 1819, when Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles made a deal with a claimant to the throne of the Sultanate of Johor : the British would support his claim in exchange for the right to set up a trading post on the island.
Though the Dutch initially protested, the signing of the Anglo-Dutch treaty in 1824, which separated the Malay world into British and Dutch spheres of influence (resulting in the current Malaysia - Indonesia and Singapore-Indonesia borders), ended the conflict. The Dutch renounced their claim to Singapore and ceded their colony in Malacca to the British, in exchange for the British ceding their colonies on Sumatra to the Dutch.
Well-placed at the entrance to the Straits of Malacca, european escorted tours straddling the trade routes between China, India, Europe, and Australia, Raffles' master stroke was to declare Singapore a free port , with no duties charged on trade. european escorted tours As traders flocked to escape onerous Dutch taxes, the trading post soon grew into one of Asia's european escorted tours busiest, drawing people from far and wide. Along with Penang and Malacca , Singapore became one of the Straits Settlements and a jewel in the British colonial crown. Its economic fortunes received a further boost when palm oil and rubber from neighbouring Malaya were processed and shipped out via Singapore.
When World War II broke out, Fortress Singapore was seen as a formidable British base, with massive naval fortifications guarding against assault by sea. However, not only did the fortress lack a fleet, as all ships were tied up defending Britain from the Germans, but the Japanese wisely chose to cross Malaya by bicycle instead!
Despite hastily turning the guns around, this was something european escorted tours the unimaginative British ruling class had not prepared for at all, and on 15 Feb 1942, with supplies european escorted tours critically low after less than a week of fighting, Singapore's colonial masters ignominiously surrendered. The colony's erstwhile rulers were packed european escorted tours off to Changi Prison. Tens of thousands perished in the subsequent brutal Japanese occupation. The return of the British in 1945 was triumphalist.
Granted self-rule in 1955, Singapore briefly joined the Malaysian Federation in 1963 when the British left, but was expelled because the Chinese-majority city was seen as a threat european escorted tours to Malay dominance. The island became independent on 9 August 1965, thus becoming the only country to gain independence against its own will in the history of the modern world!
The subsequent forty years rule by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew saw Singapore's economy boom, with the country rapidly becoming one of the wealthiest and most developed in Asia despite its lack of natural resources, earning it a place as one of the four East Asian Tigers . Now led by Lee's son Lee Hsien Loong , the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) continues to dominate the political scene with 81 out of 87 seats in Parliament. Societal restrictions european escorted tours have been loosened up in recent years though, with the government trying to shake off its staid image, and it remains to be seen how the delicate european escorted tours balancing act between political control and social freedom will play out.
Singapore prides itself on being a multi-racial country, and has a diverse culture despite its small size. The largest group are the Chinese, who form about 75% of the population. One quarter of Singapore residents are foreigners.
european escorted tours Amongst the Chinese, Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese speakers are the largest subgroups, with Mandarin acting as the lingua franca of the community. Other notable "dialect" groups among the Chinese include the Hakkas, Hainanese and Foochows.
Indians form about 9% of the population. Among the Indians, Tamils form the largest european escorted tours group by far, though there are also a significant numbers of speakers of other Indian languages such as Hindi, Malayalam and Punjabi.
The remainder are a mix of many other cultures, most notably the Eurasians who are of mixed European and Asian descent, and also a handful of Burmese, Japanese, Thais and many others. Slightly over one-third of Singapore's residents are not citizens.
There are a large number of Filipinos, many of them working as domestic helpers. Throngs of these happily smiling and chattering Filipinas may be seen in public spaces - especially on Sundays when they take their only day off.
Singapore is also religiously diverse, with no religious group forming a majority. Religious freedom is guaranteed by the constitution of Singapore. Buddhism is the largest religion with about 33% of the population declaring themselves Buddhist. Other religions which exist in significant numbers include Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Taoism. In addition to the "big five", there are also much smaller numbers of Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Jews, Baha'is and Jains. Some 17% of Singaporeans profess european escorted tours to have no religious affiliation.
As Singapore is located a mere 1.5 degrees
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