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A Brief History of Modern Singapore

Singapore’s modern history dates back till the 1819 when the Englishmen Sir Thomas Raffles established a port in Singapore. The British had seen the potential of a trading port in the Far East as well as a naval presence.

The trade soon grew between India and China, with Singapore becoming the major link. It had been decided by the British, that they would dominate the area, and wrestle power away from the Dutch. The Dutch, for a period of time had been frustrating the British, by refusing entry into their ports. London sent Raffles with instructions to establish a port on the Straits of Malacca, which was the main shipping lane between India and China.

The expedition to find this port was funded by the British East India Company, who had realised the importance of the new Opium trade. Arriving in Singapore on the 29th January 1819, Raffles soon realised the major importance of this naturally deep harbour port. Lying at the very end of the Malay Peninsula, the island was inhabited with just a few hundred people. The islanders were led by a man called Tengku Rahman, who was controlled by the Sultan of Johor, who intern was controlled by the Dutch. However it was Tengku’s older brother Tengku Hussein, who did a deal with Raffles giving him the power on the island, and allowing the British to establish a port.

Raffles appointed a Major William Farquhar in charge of settling the island, with artillery and a small regiment. But it was Raffles, who made the decision to make the port free, and not charge duty as ports controlled by the Dutch did.  Despite some early set backs, the port grew quickly, as word spread threw other traders, of the free taxes and duty’s. Within a short space of time the population had grown to almost 5,000 and trade volume was almost $8 million by the end of the year 1821. By 1825 the population had again doubled to that of over 10,000 and trade surpassing all exceptions at $22 million. Singapore was now more important, that that of Penang, the long established port in the area. Raffles returned to Singapore in 1822 but was unhappy with what he saw. He was very critical of some decisions that Farquhar had made. The two things that Raffles saw as social evils, were gambling and opium, both had been given licences for sale in Singapore.

Raffles set about change quickly, organising new policies for settlement and ethnic subdivisions, of which are still found today. In 1823, raffles signed a new treaty with Sultan and Temenggong, giving more procession of the island, to the British. An agreement was also reached, that would bring Singapore under British law, but provision must be made for ethic tradition, customs and religion.  In October 1823 Raffles left Singapore for the last time, but before leaving he replaced Major Farquhar, with Mr John Crawfurd. An efficient and frugal man, Crawfurd soon put his mark on the island, with vigour and determination.

The Singapore of today owes a huge debt to Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles, who was never to return Singapore, and died at the age of 44 in the year 1826.