Singapore the Island Country

Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island nation located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It lies 137 kilometers (85 miles) north of the Equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands. At 704.0 km² (272 square miles), it is one of the few city-states in the world and the smallest country in Southeast Asia.

The main island contained a fishing village sparsely populated by indigenous Malays and Orang Lauts at the mouth of the Singapore River when it was colonized by the British East India Company in 1819. The British used the position as a tactical trading outpost along the spice route. Occupied by the Japanese Empire during World War II, it reverted to British rule in 1945 and was later part of the merger which established Malaysia in 1963. Two years later, it left the federation and became an independent republic on August 9, 1965. The new republic was admitted to the United Nations on September 21 of the same year.

Since gaining independence, Singapore has seen its standard of living rise dramatically.[citation needed] Foreign investment and government-led island-wide industrialization have created a modern economy based on electronics and manufacturing, featuring entrepôt and financial trade centering around the country's strategic location.[citation needed] In terms of GDP per capita, Singapore is the 18th wealthiest country in the world. The geographically small nation has a foreign reserve of S$212 billion (US$139 billion).

Singapore is an authoritarian state. More people are executed per capita in Singapore than any other independent nation-state in the world.

The Constitution of the Republic of Singapore established the city-state's political system as a representative democracy while the country has official United Nations' recognition as a parliamentary republic. The People's Action Party has won control of Parliament in every election since self-government in 1959.

Dynamic Singapore is an island, a city and a country all at the same time. Its blend of Asian cultures and Western attitudes has made it the most stable economy in the region and the logical gateway to Southeast Asia. Singapore has traded in its rough-and-ready opium dens and pearl luggers for towers of concrete and glass, and its steamy rickshaw image for cool efficiency and spotless streets, but you can still recapture the colonial era with a Singapore Sling under the languorous ceiling fans at Raffles Hotel.

At first glance, Singapore appears shockingly modern and anonymous, but this is an undeniably Asian city where Chinese, Malay and Indian traditions from feng shui to ancestor worship create part of the everyday landscape - colourful contrasts that bring the city to life.