Island Profiles

Singapore offers an exhilarating array of experiences and attractions. Museums, colonial and ultra modern architecture, ethnic neighborhoods bustling with hawker food stalls, spice vendors, temples and shrines, world class shopping and incomparable night life are all within reach  in this unique island city of five and a half million inhabitants. Chinatown Ethnic Chinese make up the largest percentage of Singapore’s population, so we will start with Chinatown. Located adjacent to the CBD, or Central Business, Chinatown has neighborhoods that date…

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Singapore’s history is comparatively new and recent. Officially established in 1819 as a trading post by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, it had only a very small indigenous population at the time. The oldest known record of Singapore is from a 3rd century Chinese account of a place called Pulau Ujong, or ‘Island at the End’. It was also at one time called Temasek, or ‘Sea Town’.  The Sanskrit word Singapura, or ‘Lion City’, dates from the 13th century. Controlled by…

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This month takes us to the vibrant, fascinating island country of Singapore.  This city-state consists of one main island and 62 smallerislands located off the tip of the Malay Peninsula. A melting pot of cultures, Singapore is a densely populated mixture of  Chinese, Malay and Indian ethnicities with significant expatriate populations from many other countries. A city of 5.5 million people, Singapore is nevertheless known as the ‘garden city’ due to it’s extensive parks and green areas. For many years…

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