Singapore

Read its story

• A chokepoint with a city on itThe Strait of Malacca, and what it means to build a country on other people's cargo.4 chapters · about 9 min · 3 sources

Where it is

Singapore is an island at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, at the narrow end of the Strait of Malacca where it meets the South China Sea. It is small — a few hundred square kilometres, enlarged by roughly a quarter through land reclamation — with no significant natural resources, no agricultural hinterland and, historically, not enough fresh water. What it has is position, and a deep-water anchorage next to the world's busiest short route between two oceans.

The land and water around it

• The Strait of Malaccastrait

  The short route between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, narrowing near Singapore to a few kilometres of navigable width.

• Reclaimed landharbour

  Roughly a quarter of the island's present area has been added by reclamation, using sand imported from neighbours — which has made the sand itself a diplomatic question.

• The central catchmentforest

  Reservoirs and remnant rainforest in the island's middle, kept as water catchment. A city-state that protects forest for hydrological reasons rather than aesthetic ones.

Its history, in short

There was a settlement here called Temasek before the modern city; Britain established a trading post in 1819 and made it a free port, which drew merchants and labour migration from China, India and the archipelago. It became the administrative centre of the Straits Settlements, fell to Japan in 1942 in a defeat that ended British prestige in the region, joined Malaysia in 1963 and was expelled in 1965 — becoming independent involuntarily, with no resources and a divided population. The strategy since has been to sell position: ports, an airport built around connecting traffic, a free-trade zone, finance, and enough investment in water to remove the one dependency it could not negotiate away.

Timeline

Dates are shown on a timeline rather than as changing shapes on the map. The globe draws modern boundaries only, and tinting a modern outline to stand for a historical one would state something we cannot source.

Places that carry meaning

• The Port of Singapore1819 onward

  Among the busiest container ports in the world, and being relocated westward to Tuas to free the central waterfront. A port that moves itself is a statement about how central it is.

• Changi Airport1981 onward

  Built and repeatedly expanded around connecting traffic rather than local demand — the aviation version of the entrepôt strategy.

Learn the language here

1. 1Understand which languages are spoken hereSingapore is multilingual. Start with which languages are used, by whom, and for what — the phrase list only covers one of them.Written by Globe Quest
2. 2Learn 12 phrasesCurated everyday phrases for Singapore, with audio and a written form.Written by Globe Quest
3. 3Say them out loudSpeaking practice with pronunciation feedback, one phrase at a time.Globe Quest material, your own additions
4. 4Come back to themSpaced review, so what you learned this week is still there next month.Written by Globe Quest
5. 5Read why the language is what it isThe quest for this place covers how its languages got here and who speaks them.Written by Globe Quest

Check yourself

• What does an entrepôt economy sell?

  The convenience of being where goods change hands

  Handling, refining, financing and re-exporting things that come from and go elsewhere.

• Why is English the working language?

  It belonged to no local community in particular, so no group was privileged

  Language policy in a multilingual state is a political settlement rather than a neutral default.

Worth arguing about

• Singapore removed its water dependency by spending heavily. What dependency does your country have that money could remove — and should it?
• The Speak Mandarin Campaign worked, at the cost of the languages people actually spoke at home. Was that a reasonable trade?

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