History of Singapore
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According to local legend, a Sumatran prince encountered a lion - then considered a good omen - on Temasek, which was what Singapore was known as back in the 13th Century. This prompted him to found Singapura, or Lion City. Thus it became a minor trading post for the powerful Sumatran Srivijaya empire and as a subsequent vassal state of the Javanese Majapahit empire in the mid-13th century.
In 1819, Sir Stamford Raffles established a British trading station on this island. Singapore gained her independence on 9 August 1965. It was admitted to both the United Nations and the Commonwealth of Nations in the same year.
Post-independence Singapore was a whirl of rapid development. Government-sponsored projects ranged from industrialisation to public housing to general economic restructuring. During this period of political stability, many bold policies were implemented, such as the introduction of computer education in schools, financial incentives for industries and the establishment of a social security savings scheme that enabled Singaporeans to save up for retirement and home ownership.
By the late 1980s, the value of Singapore's international trade was three times the total of its gross domestic product. It was also the world's busiest port, and ranked with Hong Kong as the most important Asian financial center after Tokyo. After several decades of rapid growth, Singapore is now a busy commercial and industrial hub, inexorably linked to the rest of the world by a complex network of business, political and social ties.