Singapore's TidbiTs

Fort Canning Hill is one of Singapore’s most historic landmarks. It was originally a cone-shaped mound that stood at a height of 48 metres above sea level. It was very likely that in the 14th century, the royal palace of ancient Malay rulers stood on the summit of this once “Forbidden Hill”. The memory of this was still alive that when the British arrived in 1819, the Malays refused to climb the hill, known as Bukit Larangan in Malay, saying that it was forbidden without the permission of the ancient rulers. In Southeast Asian cultures, hills and mountains were associated with supernatural and divine powers. Major General William Farquhar, the first resident and commandant of Singapore ascended the hill with the Malaccan Malays in 1819, since the locals were unwilling to climb, and atop the hill he fired a salute and erected a pole from which the Union Jack was flown. The hill was renamed Government Hill. Sir Stamford Raffles established a bungalow here, which became a residence for go...

Kampong Glam is one of the oldest settlements in Singapore, whose history dated before Raffles. This area was to become the home of Sultan Hussein Shah, whom Sir Stamford Raffles recognised as a legitimate successor to the Johor empire and, who in 1819 signed a treaty with the British East India Company, to establish a trading post in Singapore. Gazette in 1989, Kampong Glam is now a conservation area near Bugis with art-deco, early, first and second transitional and late-style shophouses. Raffles zoned Kampong Glam as a Malay area, as part of his town plan as one of the ethnic areas or quarters, the other being Chinatown and European town. Bugis was named after the Buginese people from South Sulawesi, Indonesia, who settled there during the 1800s. There were already Buginese living around the palace area, but they moved further up closer to Rochor area once Sultan Hussein Shah with his entourage from Riau settled there. The palace, Istana Kampong Glam, was built by Sultan Ali, his so...