Singapore (
i /ˈsɪŋəpɔː(r)/), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia‘s Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south. The country is highly urbanised with very little primary rainforest remaining, although more land is being created for development through land reclamation.
Singapore had been a part of various local empires since it was first inhabited in the second century AD. It hosted a trading post of the East India Companyin 1819 with permission from the Sultanate of Johor. The British obtained sovereignty over the island in 1824 and Singapore became one of the BritishStraits Settlements in 1826. Occupied by the Japanese in World War II, Singapore declared independence, uniting with other former British territories to formMalaysia in 1963, although it was separated from Malaysia two years later. Since then it has had a massive increase in wealth, and is one of the Four Asian Tigers. Singapore is the world’s fourth leading financial centre, and its port is one of the five busiest ports in the world. The economy depends on the industry sector and the service sector heavily, which constituted 27.2% and 72.8% respectively of Singapore’s GDP in 2010.
Singapore is a parliamentary republic with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government. The People’s Action Party has won every election since self-government in 1959, and governs on the basis of a strong state and prioritising collective welfare over individual rights such as freedom of assembly, an approach that has attracted criticism from organisations such as Freedom House.
Some 5 million people live in Singapore, of whom 2.91 million were born locally. Most are of Chinese, Malay or Indian descent. There are four official languages: English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. One of the five founding members of the Association of South East Asian Nations, Singapore also hosts the APEC Secretariat, and is a member of the East Asia Summit, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the Commonwealth.
Singapore consists of 63 islands, including the main island, widely known as Singapore Island but also as Pulau Ujong.[34] There are two man-made connections toJohor, Malaysia: the Johor–Singapore Causeway in the north, and the Tuas Second Link in the west. Jurong Island, Pulau Tekong, Pulau Ubin and Sentosa are the largest of Singapore’s smaller islands. The highest natural point is Bukit Timah Hill at 166 m (545 ft).[35]
There are ongoing land reclamation projects, which have increased its land area from 581.5 km2 (224.5 sq mi) in the 1960s to 704 km2 (272 sq mi) today; it may grow by another 100 km2 (40 sq mi) by 2030.[36] Some projects involve merging smaller islands through land reclamation to form larger, more functional islands, as with Jurong Island.[37] About 23% of Singapore’s land area consists of forest and nature reserves.[38] Urbanisation has eliminated most primary rainforest, with Bukit Timah Nature Reserve the only significant remaining forest.[37]
Singapore has a tropical rainforest climate with no distinctive seasons, uniform temperature and pressure, high humidity, and abundant rainfall. Temperatures usually range from 23 to 32 °C (73 to 90 °F). Relative humidity averages around 79% in the morning and 73% in the afternoon.[39] April and May are the hottest months, with the wetter monsoon season from November to January.[40] From July to October, there is often haze caused by bush fires in neighbouring Indonesia.[41] Although Singapore does not observe daylight saving time, it follows time zone GMT+8, one hour ahead of its geographical location.[42
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