The Straits Trading Company Limited (STC) was incorporated as a tin-smelting company on 8 November 1887. Its smelter on Pulau Brani was famed for its production of “Straits Tin”, which by the 1900s had become internationally recognised as the purest quality of ...

The Straits Steamship Company (SSC) was formed as The Straits Navigation Company in Singapore on 20 January 1890. It was the brainchild of Dutchman Theodore Cornelius Bogaardt, who was one of the company’s seven directors. Before the establishment of SSC, European ...

Boustead and Co., which was set up by Edward Boustead, one of Singapore’s earliest merchants, is almost as old as modern Singapore itself. Established as a small trading house less than 10 years after the founding of Singapore by Stamford Raffles, the company expanded ...

Sze Hai Tong Banking & Insurance Company Limited, one of Singapore’s earliest banks, was established on 7 January 1907. It was founded by members of the Teochew community, including Tan Teck Joon (managing director), Ng Song Teng (assistant manager), Na Kim Seng, ...

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 ...

With a history dating back to 1845, The Straits Times is the most widely read newspaper in Singapore with a reported combined print and digital readership of 1.34 million in 2014. It is currently the flagship English-language daily newspaper of Singapore Press ...

Goodyear Orient Company (Private) Limited (GOCPL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company (GTRC), one of the largest tyre companies in the world. It was established in Singapore in 1917 to ensure continual access to rubber plantations and ...

The Straits Times strike arose from a dispute over the terms of reinstatement of a dismissed worker. The strike was considered illegal as no prior notice was given as required by law. The Straits Times management subsequently dismissed the workers who took part ...

Prima Limited is a Singapore-based company founded in 1961, and has its beginnings in flour milling. The company is now involved in a variety of businesses, such as restaurant management, food manufacturing, information technology and real estate. Prima is known ...

The Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society was founded in November 1877 to research and document information relating to the Malay Peninsula and archipelago. It was formed by a group of colonial administrators in Singapore, and started with 150 members. Its ...

Founded on 1 April 1906 as C. F. F. Wearne & Company, the firm was renamed Wearne Brothers Limited (WBL) on 26 November 1912 when it became a public listed company. It had initially specialised in automobile trade, but later diversified into heavy machinery and ...

The Straits Settlements Association was founded in London by a group of ex-Straits Settlements residents on 31 January 1868. The association, which mainly comprised members from the mercantile community, aimed to safeguard the commercial and political interests ...

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 ...

The Straits Medical Association was established in 1890 by a group of medical officers who saw a need to form a professional body for medical practitioners in Singapore to discuss and research local diseases and other medical subjects. The pioneering batch of office-bearers ...

Sandilands Buttery and Co. Ltd. was one of the earliest British trading firms established in Malaya. Established in Penang in 1854–55, it was founded by Scottish merchant adventurers George MacFarlane Sandilands and Francis Currie Lorrain, and originally named ...

Firestone Tire and Rubber Company was founded in the United States by Harvey S. Firestone in 1900. It was one of the largest producers, purchasers and users of natural rubber. Besides producing tyres for almost every type of vehicle, the company also manufactured ...

The Straits of Singapore lies between Singapore and the Riau Archipelago, Indonesia, and links the Straits of Malacca to the South China Sea. It is approximately 113 km long and 5 to 12 km wide, although its narrowest navigable width is 2.9 km. It is on the shipping ...

The Straits Settlements, comprising Penang, Malacca and Singapore, was an administrative unit of the East India Company (1826–1867) and later the British Colonial Office (1867–1946). It was formed in 1826 as a presidency under the administration of the East India ...

Leung Kai Fook Medical Company (Pte) Ltd is the maker of Axe Brand Universal Oil (also known as Axe Brand Medicated Oil), a popular brand of medicated oil recognised by its logo, which features an arm holding an axe. Axe Brand Medicated Oil is colourless, and contains ...

The early Straits Chinese associations and clubs were not only meeting places for the Peranakan (Straits Chinese) community, but had also served as educational platforms and the political mouthpiece of the community.