Singapore before colonisation: from Temasek to Singapura, destruction, and flight to Melaka and Johor

via South China Morning Post, 27 November 2018: A new book Studying Singapore before 1800 explores a less-known area of Singapore’s past.

The history of Singapore before the foundation of the modern version of the city by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819 has been largely ignored.

This volume of 18 articles (with a wide range of original publication dates) looks to rectify this and show that Singapore, because of its strategic location on the shipping route between East and West, was heavily involved in pre-British waves of global trade and colonisation.

Co-editor Kwan Chong Guan explains why this matters: “The challenge for Singapore in the 20th century is to recognise the nature of the post-colonial or postmodern cycle of globalisation it is caught in, and to decide best how to respond to it. Looking at the impact of earlier cycles of globalisation on the maritime history of the Melaka Straits may provide Singaporeans with a better understanding of their city state’s vulnerabilities.”

Source: Singapore before colonisation: from Temasek to Singapura, destruction, and flight to Melaka and Johor | South China Morning Post