Singapore

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Singapore fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. 🇹🇭 Siamese kingdoms1320 to 1340

   In a book completed around 1350, the Chinese traveller Wang Dayuan records that a Siamese fleet had attacked Temasek and besieged it for a month before withdrawing.

2. 🇮🇩 Majapahit1365 to 1398

   A Javanese court poem of 1365 lists Temasek among Majapahit's vassals. The Malay Annals tell that a Majapahit attack destroyed Singapura at the end of the fourteenth century, sending its last ruler fleeing north to found Malacca.

3. 🇵🇹 Portuguese Empire1511 to 1641

   After taking Malacca in 1511, the Portuguese fight Johor for control of the strait. In 1613 they burn the Johor settlement on the Singapore River, leaving the island without a town for two centuries.

4. 🇳🇱 Netherlands1819 to 1824

   The Dutch protest that Raffles' 1819 treaty with a Johor claimant violates their sphere in the Riau islands. The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 settles it: Britain keeps Singapore, and the Dutch keep the islands to the south.

5. 🇯🇵 Empire of Japan1942 to 1945

   Japan captures Singapore in February 1942 after a short campaign, renames it Syonan and rules it until September 1945; tens of thousands of Chinese civilians are killed in the Sook Ching purge.

6. 🇲🇾 Malaysia1963 to 1965

   Inside Malaysia, Lee Kuan Yew's party and the Malay led Alliance in Kuala Lumpur clash over the place of Chinese and Malays. After deadly race riots in 1964, Singapore is separated from the federation in August 1965.

7. 🇮🇩 Indonesia1963 to 1966

   During Indonesia's Konfrontasi against Malaysia, Indonesian saboteurs set off bombs in Singapore; one at MacDonald House in March 1965 kills three people. The confrontation ends in 1966.

8. 🇲🇾 Malaysia (Pedra Branca)1979 to 2008

   Malaysia's 1979 map places Pedra Branca, where Singapore has run a lighthouse since the 1850s, inside Malaysia. The International Court of Justice awards the islet to Singapore in 2008 and nearby Middle Rocks to Malaysia.

Today

Singapore now

A Malay trading port known as Temasek existed on the island of Singapore by the 14th century. The settlement changed hands several times in the ensuing centuries and was eventually burned in the 17th century, falling into obscurity. In 1819, the British founded modern Singapore as a trading colony on the same site and granted it full internal self-government for all matters except defense and foreign affairs in 1959.

Capital

Singapore

Government

parliamentary republic

Head of government

Lawrence Wong

Head of state

Tharman Shanmugaratnam

Languages

Standard Chinese, Malay, Tamil

Area

736 km²

Through time

Then and now

• Population5.8 million2023 · 1.0 million in 1950
• Life expectancy83.7 years2023 · 54.1 years in 1950
• GDP per person$80,3202022 · $3,572 in 1950
• Living in cities100%2025 · 100% in 1950
• Literacy98%2021 · 48% in 1950
• Political regimeElectoral autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
• Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
• Military spending3.1% of GDP2025
• War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 24 October 2026.