Singapore City Overview
The island population is an ethnic mix of Chinese, Malays, Indians and British and lives harmoniously with each other, thanks to the tolerance towards different religions, the great prosperity, the very strict laws and a uniformly hot but pleasant tropical climate.
Particularly striking is the impressive efficiency of the people of Singapore as well as the safety and cleanliness of this city, which is achieved at the cost of personal freedom: disregarding the strict laws can lead to felling, corrective work and severe fines. People who repeatedly drop garbage are forced to do street cleaning services, which is extremely humiliating in Singapore. The seat belt wearing obligation is currently being strictly controlled and non-compliance can be punished with prison.
Singapore has a burning need to succeed and get to the top; the city presents itself as an economic miracle that the rest of the world can take as an example. Rightly so, because Singapore is actually one of the global economic centers.
There are countless religious and cultural festivals and events throughout the year in the ethnic quarters of Chinatown, Little India and Geylang Serai. Singapore residents still rely on Feng Shui advisors, astrologers, and fortune tellers to move, marry, or plan children.
The art scene questions the conventional state of affairs and offers an outlet for long suppressed emotions in its annual exhibition series. The Raffles Hotel and a number of museums offer more traditional insights into the past.
The modern consumer society has also prevailed here: in early summer, everything is under the motto of sales, especially in the lively Orchard Road, and food can be found on every corner, whether at street food stalls, in modern grocery stores or a variety of restaurants.
In 2019, dynamic and successful Singapore celebrated its 200th birthday. It was 200 years ago that the cornerstone was laid for the rapid success story that tells how a global hub for business, innovation, technology and entertainment emerged in the place where there were only a few fishing settlements. Today Singapore is not only one of the most expensive cities in the world for vacationers.
Important facts
Area code: 65
Population: 5,607,300
Latitude: 27.433311
Longitude: -110.232982
Singapore Weather
Singapore has a uniformly hot, but pleasant tropical climate. The temperature is over 28 ° C all year round. From October to February, the monsoons bring more rain and it is a little cooler.
City History of Singapore
The tropical tip of the Malay Peninsula was settled in 1299 by a Malay sultan who built a palace on Bukit Larangan (now Fort Canning). Five centuries later, in 1819, the globetrotting adventurer and British colonial official Thomas Stamford Raffles captured the island for the British East India Company and founded the city of Singapore – laying the foundations for one of the world’s wealthiest commercial centers. Today, the city stretches from its core, the capital city of Singapore City, at the mouth of the Singapore River along the southeast coast.
On September 1, 1963, Singapore became independent from the United Kingdom. Since the island became a republic in 1965, Lee Kuan Yew, who was a senior minister until 2011, has pursued a dynamic free trade policy. This has led to an unprecedented rise in living standards – most city dwellers are homeowners – and rapid economic growth.
The Asian crisis of 1997 caused chaos throughout the region, but here it was little more than a short-term low, even though the unemployment rate rose from 3.2% to 6%. Even during the global recession from 2001 to 2003, the economy and tourism industry proved to be robust, even though the crisis was felt here too. The economy recovered quickly and grew steadily in the early 21st century. Such shocks are a cause for concern, even if the visitor arriving at the world-class Changi Airport does not feel much of it. And despite the recession in late 2008, many analysts believe Singapore will recover again.
