Established in 1859, the Singapore Botanic Gardens is the oldest garden in Singapore. Besides being an ornamental and recreational garden, it was also a scientific garden in its early years. Currently, the Gardens’ mission includes providing botanical and horticultural ...

Fort Canning Hill, previously known as Bukit Larangan and Government Hill, is 156 ft high and located at the junction of Canning Rise and Fort Canning Road. It has been a landmark since Singapore’s earliest recorded history. In the 14th century, it was likely the ...

Haw Par Villa (虎豹別墅; Hu bao bieshu), also known as the Tiger Balm Gardens, is named after brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par. It is an oriental-style theme park located on the grounds of a hillside villa of the same name that was located along Pasir Panjang Road ...

Mandai Orchid Gardens (MOG) was a commercial entity located at Mandai Lake Road. It was owned by Singapore Orchids Private Limited (SOPL), a worldwide exporter of cut flowers and live plants. Initially meant for growing and cultivating orchids, MOG was later transformed ...

Nathaniel Wallich (b. 28 January 1786, Copenhagen, Denmark–d. 28 April 1854, London, England) was a widely respected Danish surgeon and naturalist. He played a key role in persuading the British government to establish Singapore’s first botanical and experimental ...

Jacob Ballas (b. 21 January 1921, Iraq–d. 18 January 2000, Singapore) was a pillar of the Jewish community in Singapore, a successful stockbroker and well-known philanthropist. The Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden at the Singapore Botanic Gardens was named after ...

Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim, commonly referred to as Vanda Miss Joaquim, is the first recorded orchid hybrid from Singapore, created in the early 1890s. On 15 April 1981, the Agnes variety of the Vanda Miss Joaquim was launched as Singapore’s national flower. The ...

Hoo Ah Kay (also known as Whampoa) (b. approx 1816, Whampoa, Guangdong, China–d. 27 March 1880, Singapore) was a prominent Chinese businessman who ran Whampoa & Co., expanding it after the death of his father. With an uncommon mastery of English, Hoo became the ...

The Singapore Zoo (formerly known as the Singapore Zoological Gardens) was opened in 1973 with a modest collection of about 300 animals from some 70 species. Situated on the promontory of the Seletar Reservoir, the zoo adopts an “open concept” in which the animals ...

Dempsey Road, also known as Dempsey Hill or Tanglin Village, is located across from the Singapore Botanic Gardens, near the Embassy of the United States. It was originally the site of a nutmeg plantation that later became Tanglin Barracks for British troops. The ...

Richard Eric Holttum (b. 20 July 1895, Linton, Cambridgeshire, England–d. 18 September 1990, London) was director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens from 1925 to 1949. He assumed directorship in 1925 when I. H. Burkill retired. Holttum was instrumental in raising ...

Gardens by the Bay comprises three public gardens in Marina Bay occupying a total land area of 1,010,000 sq m (101 ha). Built on reclaimed land, the three gardens – Bay South, Bay East and Bay Central – started out as projects of the National Parks Board (NParks). ...

Edred John Henry Corner (b. 12 January 1906, London, England–d. 14 September 1996, Great Shelford, England) was a renowned botanist and Assistant Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens from 1929 to 1945. His extensive knowledge and research on fungi earned him ...

Humphrey Morrison Burkill (b. 8 December 1914, Singapore—12 July 2006, Plymouth, United Kingdom) was the director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens from 1957 to 1969. He was the son of former Gardens director, Isaac Henry Burkill. In 1992, the Director’s House in ...

Tuberculosis, commonly known as TB, is an infectious disease caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium. It spreads from person to person via airborne respiratory droplets from an infected person, and primarily affects the lungs. In the 19th century, Singapore’s ...

The Serangoon Gardens Country Club (SGCC) was established in 1955 as a sports club for residents of the Serangoon Gardens estate. Many of its original members were British servicemen and their families who left Singapore in the 1970s, and the club was redeveloped ...

The Singapore Chinese Physicians’ Association was founded in 1946 after World War II. Formerly known as the Singapore Chinese Medical Society, it is one of the largest traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) organisations in Singapore. It was established to provide ...

The Singapore Green Plan (SGP) is Singapore's first environmental blueprint. Released in 1992 by the then Ministry of the Environment (now known as the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources or MEWR), its objective is to ensure that Singapore could develop ...

The postwar years ushered in the adoption of radio as a form of mass media and popular entertainment in Singapore. The establishment of Radio Malaya in 1946 and its successor Radio Singapore in 1959 expanded local infrastructure and manpower capabilities in radio ...

Between 1959 and 1965, Singapore’s head of state was known as the Yang di-Pertuan Negara (Malay for “Head of State”).The post was created to replace the governor as head of state when Singapore attained self-governing status under British rule. When Singapore became ...