Yearbook 2008
Singapore. Mas Selamat Kastari, former leader of the Singaporean branch of the radical Islamist terrorist network Jemaa Islamiyya, fled in February from the prison he has been in since 2006. He managed to escape in connection with a family visit. Kastari was arrested in 2003 in Indonesia, from where he was subsequently extradited to Singapore via Malaysia three years later. Jemaa Islamiyya struggles to make the entire Muslim part of the Southeast Asian island world an Islamic state. The group was behind the bombing of Bali in 2002, which claimed more than 200 lives.
- ABBREVIATIONFINDER: Click to see the meanings of 2-letter acronym and abbreviation of SG in general and in geography as Singapore in particular.
In May, the UN International Court of Justice in The Hague granted Singapore the right to the Pedra Branca rock island. Singapore had disputed with Malaysia the right to the island since 1979. The two countries turned to the Hague Court in 2003 to decide the conflict.
In November, Singapore’s economy went into a recession after growth was negative for two consecutive quarters. Singapore is very export-dependent and was therefore quickly hit by the autumn’s international financial crisis and the downturn in the economy.
Population 2008
According to Countryaah reports, the population of Singapore in 2008 was 5,131,061, ranking number 115 in the world. The population growth rate was 3.760% yearly, and the population density was 7330.2457 people per km2.
SINGAPORE. – City and island, located at the southern end of the Malacca Peninsula, at 1 ° 20 ′ lat. N. and 103 ° 50 ′ long. E. The island measures 43 km. from E. to O. and 22 from N. to Singapore and owes its importance above all to the position at the crossing point of the great routes traveled by world maritime trade, from East and West, from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian.
It is possible, but not certain, that Singapore was a trading center in the Middle Ages, but neither Marco Polo nor Ibn Batuta, each of whom spent the winter in neighboring Sumatra, mention it. In 1819 it was inhabited only by a few fishermen and in that year it was leased by the governor of Johore to the English sir Stamford Raffles, a rent which was then changed into perpetual possession for the sum of 30,000 dollars. The Raffles acted on behalf of the East India Company and his business was not at all appreciated in those days, so much so that he was almost alone in predicting the value of the island’s position and anchorage. In 1826 the three states of Penang, Malacca and Singapore were brought together as an Indian presidency.narrow, establishments of the).
The island consists of a central nucleus of crystalline rocks, abundantly mixed with laterites. The topography shows undulations that in the east turn into low sandy or marshy ground. The Strait of Johore, which separates the island from the Malacca peninsula, in N. is in some places only a mile wide and very shallow, so that a viaduct crossed by a wide road and a railway line connects the island to the mainland.
The city is located in the south-eastern part, but the new very large naval base is in the north-eastern part of the island. The whole region is sheltered from the island of Sumatra from the winds and strong currents of the Indian Ocean, and the anchorage is excellent.
The climate is essentially equatorial, humid and hot. The average temperature is 26 °, 6, the thermometer rarely drops below 21 ° and rarely rises above 32 °. There are few seasonal changes: the rain falls for at least half of the days of the year, and has an average value of 2527 mm.; in the last 75 years it has never dropped below 1480 mm.
Because of the low fertile soil the island was previously covered with jungle, but now it is carefully cultivated by Chinese, who plant there rubber, coconut trees and pineapples, the latter of which feed a considerable industry of canning.
The population in 1934 was 525,000, of which 391,000 were Chinese, 68,000 Malays, 42,000 Indians, 8,300 Europeans, and 7,100 Eurasians. The Chinese, therefore, predominate; but like all large seaports, Singapore has a very cosmopolitan aspect.
The city is a free port with beautiful docks and pretty docks. The core is formed by an internal port, crowded with indigenous shipping and surrounded by Chinese shops.
The trade is essentially of transit, collecting ores of tin, rubber, copra, and other products of Malacca and the East Indies, and providing for their re-export. On the island of Pulau Brani there are the largest tin foundries in the world, which in a few years have come to treat more than half of the tin in the whole world. There are also local industries and offices and agencies made necessary by the handling of manufactured goods from all the countries of Europe, to be then distributed in the Far East.
St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Raffles College (elevated to the rank of a university), a museum, a hospital and the Government Building are the buildings worth mentioning. Direct trains take you to Bangkok in less than 36 hours.
The British government has been waiting for years to fortify the island as its main naval base in the Far East.