Singapore's name comes from 'Singa Pura', which means Lion City in Sanskrit. Many people around the world understand "Lion City" to refer to Singapore. There is some debate about who founded Singapore. According to the Malay Annals, a Sumatran prince called Sang Nila Utama landed on Temasek (Singapore's old name) and saw a Lion which is called 'Singa' in Malay. Thus he gave the island a new name, 'Singapura'. However, Sang Nila Utama was likely mistaken, as lions never existed in Singapore. It is believed that the "lion" was actually a Malayan Tiger, which also exists in neighbouring Malaysia. While now extinct in Singapore it used to be present back then.
There were also many pieces of old items, such as Chinese coins, that showed that Temasek was an important Asian trading port even before the British rule.
Few people lived in Singapore at the beginning of the 19th century. British governor Stamford Raffles arrived in Singapore on 28 January 1819 and wanted to set up a British trading town. At the time, the island was then ruled by Tengku Abdul Rahman, the Sultan of Johor, who the Dutch and the Bugis from Sulawesi had controlled. However, the Sultanate was weakened by infighting: the Temenggong (Chief Minister) of Tengku Abdul Rahman, as well as his officials, supported the Sultan's elder brother Tengku Long, who was living in exile in Riau.
With the Temenggong's help, Raffles managed to secretly bring Tengku Long back into Singapore. Raffles offered to recognize Tengku Long as the true Sultan of Johor, under the title of Sultan Hussein, as well as giving him $5000 per year and another $3000 to the Temenggong; in return, Sultan Hussein would give the British the right to establish a trading post on Singapore. An official treaty was signed on 6 February 1819.
In 1824, another treaty with the Sultan led to the entire island becoming under the British. In 1826, Singapore became part of the Straits Settlements. Singapore became the regional capital in 1836. Before Raffles arrived, there were only about a thousand people living on the island, mostly Malays along with a handful of Chinese. By 1860, the population had grown to over 80,000, more than half being Chinese. The country was given colony status in 1867. Later, in the 1890s, when the rubber industry became established in Malaya and Singapore, the island became a global center for sorting rubber and exporting them.
Singapore was not really affected by the First World War (1914–18), as the conflict did not spread to Southeast Asia. The only significant event during the war was the 1915 Singapore Mutiny by Muslim soldiers from British India, who were garrisoned in Singapore. After hearing news that they were to be sent to fight the Ottoman Empire in Europe, a Muslim state, the soldiers killed their officers and several British civilians before the mutiny was stopped by non-Muslim troops arriving from Johore and Burma.
After World War I, the British built the large Singapore Naval Base as part of the defensive Singapore strategy. First announced in 1921, the construction of the base went at a slow pace until the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. Costing $60 million and not fully completed in 1938, it was the largest dry dock in the world, the third-largest floating dock, and had enough fuel tanks to support the entire British navy for six months. The base was defended by heavy naval guns stationed at Fort Siloso, Fort Canning and Labrador Park, as well as a Royal Air Force airfield at Tengah Air Base. Winston Churchill called Singapore the "Gibraltar of the East", and military discussions often referred to the base as just "East of Suez".
However, the main fleet was in Europe, and the British did not have enough money to build a second fleet to protect their Asian colonies. The plan was for the Home Fleet to sail quickly to Singapore in the event of an emergency. As a result, after World War II broke out in 1939, the fleet was busy defending Britain from Germany, leaving Singapore open for a Japanese invasion.
Due to the weak defenses of the country, the Japanese attacked Singapore and easily took control of the colony on 15 February 1942. Up to 60,000 British soldiers surrendered on that day, and Churchill called it "the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history". There were a lot of losses by both the British and the rest of the Empire, with a total of nearly 85,000 people captured. About 5,000 were killed or injured, many from Australia and India.
People of Singapore went through hard times during the Japanese rule, until the surrender of the Japanese in September of 1945. Many people were tortured or killed by the Japanese as they did not follow the rules properly or because they were suspected of going against the Japanese. The Japanese also targeted the Chinese the most; between 5,000 and 25,000 Chinese were killed, now known as the Sook Ching massacre. The most notable anti-Japanese force was Force 136, headed by Lim Bo Seng. Its purpose was to encourage and supply resistance movements in the enemy-occupied territory and occasionally mount sabotage operations.
The hard times during World War II made the people think that the British were not as strong as before. Therefore, many people were supportive of independence once the British had returned.
A few years after the war, In 1963, Singapore joined with Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak to form the new nation of Malaysia. Malaysia is a country with many races. In Malaya, only the Malays have special benefits. For example, the Malays could get university education more easily than other races.
As most people in Singapore are Chinese, Singapore wanted equality for all the people of Malaysia. Singapore also wanted a common market to be set up so that goods to Malaysia would not be taxed. However, this was not done and caused arguments between the state government of Singapore and the federal government of Malaysia.
Singapore separated from Malaysia and became independent on its own on 9 August 1965.
After Independence, the president of Singapore was Yusof Ishak and its prime minister was Lee Kuan Yew.
At first, many people thought Singapore's independence would not last. In 1967, Singapore helped to start the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and in 1970 it joined the Non-Aligned Movement. Lee Kuan Yew was in charge of the country as Prime Minister of Singapore and saw it become very developed.
In 1990, Goh Chok Tong replaced Lee Kuan Yew as prime minister, while Lee Kuan Yew became Senior Minister. When Goh Chok Tong was Prime Minister, Singapore went through the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the 2003 SARS outbreak and terrorist threats by Jemaah Islamiyah. In 2004, Lee Hsien Loong, the son of Lee Kuan Yew, took over as Prime Minister. Goh Chok Tong became the Senior Minister, and Lee Kuan Yew became the Minister Mentor of Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew died in 2015.
Singapore is a parliamentary republic with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government representing constituencies. Its constitution states representative democracy as its political system. Singapore is ranked regularly as one of the least corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International.
The Cabinet has executive power, and is led by the Prime Minister, and the President. The president is elected through popular vote, and has some veto powers for a few big decisions such as the use of the national reserves and the appointment of judges, but otherwise occupies a post with little power.