Singapore

Singapore, Republic of Singapore long form, in English and Singapore Republic of Singapore, Mandarin Xīnjiāpō, and Xīnjiāpō gongheguo 新加坡, 新加坡 共和国, Malay Republik Singapura and Singapura, Tamil Ciṅkappūr, சிங்கப்பூர் and Ciŋkappūr Kudiyarasu, சிங்கப்பூர் குடியரசு is a city-state in Southeast Asia. Its area is 647.8 km2. It consists of 64 islands, of which the main one is Pulau Ujong (584.8 km2). This island is densely urbanized, but lush vegetation even downtown Singapore earned the nickname Garden City. This abundance of green stems in part from an equatorial climate, hot and stormy evenly throughout the year.

This city-state is located on an island at the southern tip of the Malay peninsula and is separated from the north by the Straits of Johor and south borders the Strait of Singapore. She is known throughout the world and often cited as a model for its extraordinary economic success. After independence in 1965, Singapore has managed to become, with very few natural resources and major socio-economic problems (such as riots, unemployment, housing difficulties and access to water), one of the countries most developed and most successful in the world in terms of economy, education, health, transparency, security and planning. The sovereign city, is a Chinese wedge in heart of the Malay world: the population is mostly composed of Chinese (76.8%). This ethnic confrontation in part the troubles that have accelerated its withdrawal from Malaysia, 9 August 19654.

In the 1980s, the country is one of the Four Asian Dragons, transition states and unbridled economic development. In 2011, Singapore is the third country in the world in terms of PPP per capita after Qatar and Luxembourg5. Trade and finance between the Pacific and Europe hub, the city owes its growth to its unique maritime location at the eastern end of the Straits of Malacca: This is the business city on the borders of the East, the second port the world (after Shanghai) in terms of exports and shipping. Singapore's population has a very high standard of living and the city-state is often called the "Switzerland of Asia" 6. In 2009, Singapore and had the highest concentration of millionaires based on the total population ahead of Hong Kong, Switzerland, Qatar and Koweït7. With remarkable political stability, Singapore is now considered an authoritarian democracy, with the same family in power since independence. The city-state is considered as a country practicing economic liberalism without political liberalism.

The center is located south of the island, at the mouth of the Singapore River (Singapore River). It features a business center that has made ​​the city the fourth financial center in the world, as well as different ethnic neighborhoods (Chinese, Malay, and Indian) and a large shopping area around Orchard Road.

Temasek ("the city of the sea" in Javanese), the former name of the island where Singapore is attested in the fourteenth century. The Nagarakertagama, an epic poem written in 1365 in the Javanese kingdom of Majapahit, mentions "Tumasik" ​​among a few hundred "dependent regions" of the kingdom. In reality, the territory controlled by Majapahit extended only over part of the eastern and central Java. The "dependent countries" were actually counters forming a sales network which was the center of Majapahit. Majapahit was sending dignitaries whose role was to ensure that these counters do not engage in private business that falls outside the realm.

The island was named Singapura ("Lion City" in Sanskrit) in the fourteenth century by Parameswara (also known as Sang Nila Utama), a prince from Palembang in South Sumatra Indonesia would have exiled for refusing suzerainty of Majapahit after an attack of it in 1377.

In fact, there has never been a lion on the island but tigers (there is however a well Asiatic lion, Panthera leo persica). The explorers were probably hit a fawn of the jungle and have likened to a lion. The symbolic animal of Singapore is a lion-tailed fish, the Merlion.

The island of Singapore, almost empty of inhabitants, entered the Dutch colonial area around 1685 (Dutch East Indies). But the land is not developed, the Dutch cluster in Malacca. In 1810-1811, when the Kingdom of the Netherlands falls under Napoleonic rule, Singapore, Malaysia today, and parts of Indonesia (these last for a very short period) with Java and especially the west coast of Sumatra are occupied by Britain.

After the Treaty of Vienna in 1815, regions south of Singapore (future Dutch East Indies and Indonesia) are returned to the Netherlands (confirmed by the Treaty of London in 1824), while the northern regions (Singapore and Malaysia future ) came under British control, which is effective from 1817 island then passes nominally under the control of the Sultan of Johor. The British military plans to build a port, Foundations of the future city that is Singapore.

Singapore's climate is equatorial, characterized by damp heat throughout the year and high rainfall, often in the form of thunderstorms. Temperatures usually range from 24 ° C in the morning and 32 ° C in the afternoon. The record temperatures are 19 ° C and 36 ° C. The weather is very changeable: bright sunshine gives way to a heavy downpour in a matter of minutes and vice versa. July and February are the sunniest months in December as cover.

From November to January raging monsoon northeast, when moisture-laden winds bring heavy rainfall, and therefore somewhat lower temperatures (just below 30 ° C in December) and more overcast . The southwest monsoon, June to September, is much more insignificant in terms of rainfall, although it sometimes makes some violent morning storms called "Hits Sumatra." Temperatures are slightly lower then that from February to May, the hottest period of the year when temperatures frequently exceed 32 ° C, sometimes up to 36 ° C as it has happened in March.

Day length is practically constant during the year, with 12-hour days in December as in June. Therefore, there is no Singapore summer time, but the time zone is chosen in practice as a permanent summer time the sun rises and sets every day at about 7:00 and 19 hours respectively.