• Whiteaway Laidlaw

      Founded in Calcutta, India by Robert Laidlaw in 1882, Whiteaway Laidlaw was a department store that opened a premier branch in Singapore in 1900. Offering products that appealed to the Europeans and wealthy locals, the outlet in Singapore was located on D’Almeida ...

    • Gambling farms in the 19th century

      Gambling activities, also known as gaming, in colonial Singapore attracted different opinions from the British administrators. Stamford Raffles abhorred it and set out to ban gambling, while Residents William Farquhar and John Crawfurd saw gambling as critical ...

    • 17th century Singapore Straits

      The Singapore Straits is among the most geographically strategic sites in the maritime world. Ships sailing between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean had to, and still have to, sail around the southern coast of Singapore. Over the centuries, control over ...

    • Parsi Community

      The Parsis (or Parsees) are descendants of Zoroastrian Persians who settled in India in the 10th century. They first arrived in Singapore in the 19th century. As of 2017, an estimated 350 Parsis live in Singapore. Parsi Road and Parsi Cemetery are named after ...

    • Guthrie & Co.

      Guthrie & Co.’s history began in 1823 when a partnership was established between Alexander Guthrie and Thomas Talbot Harrington, a family friend. First located in a rented godown on Hill Street, the company sold British goods to the European and Chinese communities ...

    • Iskandar Shah

      Iskandar Shah, also spelt as Iskandar Syah, is closely associated with Singapore and Melaka during the 14th and 15th century. He is also associated with other names in Singapore history such as Parameswara and Sri Tri Buana. His identity remains an enigma – he ...

    • Yio Chu Kang Road

      Yio Chu Kang Road is a major road in the north of Singapore that connects Upper Thomson Road to Upper Serangoon Road. Asociated with gambier and pepper plantations and kampongs in the 19th century, the road today reflects the urban development of 20th-century Singapore. ...

    • Travelling hawkers

      Travelling hawkers or itinerant hawkers were a common sight in Singapore during the 19th century to mid-20th century. They were frequently found along busy streets and intersections, peddling food, drinks, vegetables, poultry and sundries. Street hawking was a ...

    • Singapore Poh Leung Kuk

      The Singapore Poh Leung Kuk (保良局), or “office to protect virtue”, was established by the Chinese Protectorate in 1888. It grew out of one aspect of the protectorate’s work: controlling prostitution through registration and inspection to prevent the spread of venereal ...

    • Portuguese trade empire in Asia

      The arrival of Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in India in 1498 meant that the Portuguese were the first Europeans to discover a direct sea route to Asia via the Cape of Good Hope and, subsequently, Southeast Asia. Their main motive in seeking out the maritime ...

    • Tuberculosis in Singapore

      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 ...

    • St John’s Island quarantine station

      The influx of immigrants to Singapore in the 19th century brought various communicable diseases, such as smallpox, leprosy and cholera to the island. Health inspections and regulations became increasingly important in order to control the spread of such diseases ...

    • Technical and vocational education

      For much of the early 19th to mid-20th century, technical and vocational education in Singapore was underdeveloped due to the nature of the economy and the colonial government’s noninterference in education. Technical and vocational education gained importance ...

    • Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals)

      Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals) is one of the most important Malay historical works, and one of the finest literary works written in Malay, that has been handed down in various versions. There were at least seven versions of this text. Sejarah Melayu is also one ...

    • Tan Teck Soon

      Tan Teck Soon (b. 1859, Singapore–d. 25 November 1922, Singapore) was a Chinese scholar and writer active in Singapore at the turn of the 20th century. He was a founding member of the influential gentlemen’s debating club known as the Straits Philosophical Society ...

    • Caledonian Hotel

      Caledonian Hotel, established in 1904, was one of the principal hotels in Singapore during the early 20th century. It was also said to be “the only British hotel in Singapore” at the time.

    • Vernacular education

      In Singapore, vernacular education refers to education conducted in the native languages of the main resident communities, namely Malay, Chinese and Tamil. From the early 19th to the mid-20th centuries, formal vernacular education was started by philanthropists, ...

    • Ulu Pandan

      Ulu Pandan is an area situated in the central region of Singapore. As a subzone within the Bukit Timah planning area, Ulu Pandan is bounded by Ulu Pandan Road and Holland Road in the north, Ulu Pandan River in the south, and North Buona Vista Road in the east. ...

    • Marina Bay

      Marina Bay is a waterfront site located in Singapore’s central region. The bay area was created by reclaiming land around the body of water in front of Collyer Quay to form Marina Centre, Marina East and Marina South. The Marina Bay area has been developed over ...

    • Jalan Kubor Cemetery

      The Jalan Kubor Cemetery is the oldest Muslim cemetery in Singapore. Located off Victoria Street, it contains the graves of many prominent Malays and Muslims from the 19th and 20th centuries. The cemetery is made up of three sections: one plot reserved for Malay ...

       

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