SINGAPORE, or PUR, East India, a British possession consist ing of a small island and a strongly fortified seaport city, the capital of the Crown colony of the Straits Settlements, off the southern ex tremity of the Malay Peninsula, commanding the eastern entrance to Malacca Strait, the chief route to the Far Ease The municipality was founded in 1819 by the East India Company, through the foresight and good management of Sir Stamford Raffles, to whose memory a fine monument has been erected. Since 1824 it has been the capital of the consolidated governments of Singapore, Penang and Malacca. The city is well-built, has a sea frontage of about six miles and a fine harbor with extensive docks and wharves. It has become the commercial entreptit of southern Asia and the Indian Archipelago, and carries on such extensive transactions that it has been termed *the Liverpool of the East' The port is free to vessels of all kinds and nations, without charges on exports and im ports, anchorage, etc., only light dues being pay able. Singapore is a coaling station of the British navy, and is defended by forts carrying heavy ordnance, and by submarine mines. The imports from Great Britain comprise cottons (the largest import), iron, machinery, coals, hardware and various manufactures; the ex ports thither consist of tin, coffee, rice, sugar, nutmegs, mace, sago, tapioca, catechu, gambier, hides, rattans,. imports and numerous sun dries. The mports from the continent of Europe and the United States consist of wines, spirits and liquors, manufactured goods, pro visions, etc., in exchange for similar commodi ties to those sent to Britain. Singapore carries on an extensive trade with Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. The annual value of exports from and imports into Singapore, taken to gether, is $275,000,000 and upwards, being ex ceeded by only three other Asiatic ports. The total tonnage, entered and cleared, exceeds 17, 500,000 annually. There are a number of fine
buildings, as the governor's palace, the city hall, two cathedrals, a museum and library. There is also a fine public park and botanical gardens. A railway has been constructed from Singapore to Kranji, on the Johore Straits. The city is well supplied with water, but in other respects its sanitary arrangements are backward.
The island of Singapore is of rhomboidal shape, about 27 miles long and 14 miles broad; area, 206 square miles. It is separated from the mainland by a narrow strait two miles to one half a mile in breadth. Its surface is generally undulating, rising in some parts into round verdure-clad bills, the highest of which, called Bukit-Tima or the Tin-hill, rises 520 feet above the sea. Tin smelting is the chief of the set tlement's industries, more than half of the world's tin product coming from the smelting works of Pulan Brani. The fisheries also are very productive and give employment to a large number of people. The chief cultivated plants include coffee, pineapples and other fruits, cocoanuts, aloes, gambier, pepper, indigo, sugarcane, etc. Fruits and vegetables are grown in immense variety and to great perfec tion. The British settlement dates. from 1819 when permission was obtained to build a fac tory on the southern shore of the island. By treaty in 1824 they purchased for 60,000 Spanish dollars and a life annuity to the Sultan of Johore and his resident officer of 24,000 dollars, the sovereignty and fee simple of the island, as well as of all the seas, straits and islands to the extent of 10 geographical miles (111/2 miles) around. The climate is very hot, moist and oppressive. The population is mainly Chinese, with a sprinkling of Malays and East Indians, and about 4,000 whites. Pop. about 235,000, of whom about 193,000 are in the municipality. See STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.