Singapore (Singapore)

 

 

Singapore exports most of its rubber and tin, and even imports some of Indonesia's exports (petroleum, tin and rubber) for re-export. Singapore is a typical example of what is known as an entrepôt port, its main functions being those of handling, forwarding, shipping, re-shipping, breaking bulk, sorting, distributing and collecting. Its processing industries — far less important than its commission trade — include a large tin-smelter, rubber factories and pineapple canneries.

 

 

The development of Singapore is associated with the name of T. S. Raffles, an official of the British East India Company, who picked the small fishing village of Singapore to establish a trade station on the route to the Far East. A policy of free trade, plus encouragement to settlers and the advantageous location of Singapore, promoted its rapid rise in the 19th century. One of the most decisive factors in the growth of Singapore has been the flow of Chinese immigration. It was encouraged by the British, who considered the Chinese settlers business-like and hard-working. Chinese now make up 76 per cent of the population; Malays make up only 12 per cent; and Indians and Pakistanis eight per cent.

 

 

Singapore was one of the Straits Settlements before World War II. In 1946, it was set up as a British colony separate from Malaya, but joined her — together with Sabah and Sarawak — in the Federation of Malaysia, when it was set up within the British Commonwealth in 1963. Then, in 1965, Singapore broke away from the Federation as an independent State.