The island nation of Singapore’s history officially dates back its founding in 1819. Prior to the establishment of British port, the island was backwater settlement known to the Chinese as Pu-luo-chung, or "island at the end of a peninsula.” Between the 16th and 19th centuries the Malay Archipelago was colonized by various European powers, beginning with the Portuguese and later the Dutch.
The British arrived at the tip of the Malay Peninsula in January 1819. Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles soon established a British port, and in a few decades the city grew in importance as a center for India to China trade.
Widely considered almost unconquerable Singapore was heavily defended at the outbreak of World War II. However, instead of attacking by sea as when been expected, the Japanese struck down the Malay Peninsula, and Singapore fell in February of 1942. It was occupied by the Japanese until the end of the war in 1945.
After the Second World War the island city reverted back to British control, with increasing levels of self-government. In 1963 Singapore briefly merged with the Federation of Malaya to form the Federation of Malaysia, only to leave the federation and become an independent republic again in 1965. Since that time the island nation has become a high-developed free-market economy with strong international trade links. It has a per capita gross domestic product comparable to that of many leading nations of Western Europe.
