Irenaeus, Siteadmin, Check users, oversight, Administrators
351,811
edits
Changes
→Modern History
==Modern History==
==Modern History==
[[Image:Guan Yin Temple, Singapore.jpg|thumb|Guan Yin Temple.]]
[[File:Lee Kuan Yew.jpg|thumb|right|270px|Lee Kuan Yew, Ex-Prime Minister of Singapore, in office: 5 June 1959 – 28 November 1990.]]
Singapore was an ignored, swampy island with only a few fishing villages until 1819 when [[Sir Stamford Raffles]] of the British [[East India Company]] was given permission to establish a trading station by the Sultan of Johor. Raffles had spotted its strategic location as a crossroads on the shipping routes to the East and set about turning the island into a free trading station.<ref>[http://www.visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home/about_singapore/brief_history.html] Uniquely Singapore - Brief History</ref> Alongside the British colonial presence it attracted many entrepreneurs from China, India and the Middle East and within 5 years the population rose from 150 to 10,000. In 1824 the British bought the island outright from the Sultan. Following the Anglo-Dutch treaty of 1824, the [[Dutch]], who had largely been the dominant colonial power in south-east Asia, withdrew any objections to the British occupation.
Singapore was an ignored, swampy island with only a few fishing villages until 1819 when [[Sir Stamford Raffles]] of the British [[East India Company]] was given permission to establish a trading station by the Sultan of Johor. Raffles had spotted its strategic location as a crossroads on the shipping routes to the East and set about turning the island into a free trading station.<ref>[http://www.visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home/about_singapore/brief_history.html] Uniquely Singapore - Brief History</ref> Alongside the British colonial presence it attracted many entrepreneurs from China, India and the Middle East and within 5 years the population rose from 150 to 10,000. In 1824 the British bought the island outright from the Sultan. Following the Anglo-Dutch treaty of 1824, the [[Dutch]], who had largely been the dominant colonial power in south-east Asia, withdrew any objections to the British occupation.