Singapore Island, or Mainland Singapore, is the main constituent island of the sovereign island country and city-state of the Republic of Singapore. It is located at the southern tip of Malay Peninsula, in-between the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea. The Singapore Strait lies to the south, while the Johor Strait lies to the north.

Singapore Island

Planning Areas (PA) of Singapore Island, including outlying islands
Geography
Location	Southeast Asia
Archipelago	Malay Archipelago
Adjacent to	Singapore Strait South China Sea Straits of Malacca Straits of Johor
Area	710 km2 (270 sq mi)
Highest point	Bukit Timah Hill — 165 metres (541 ft)
Administration
Singapore
Demographics
Population	5,453,600[1] (2021)
Pop. density	7,704/km2 (19953/sq mi)
Ethnic groups	Chinese Malay Indian Eurasian

The island forms the bulk of the country in terms of area, population and prominence, since areas situated on the country's smaller islands consists of military or industrial areas, with the exceptions being Sentosa as well as Ubin Island.[2] As of June 2021, Singapore's population stood at 5.45 million and the mainland has a land area of approximately 710 square kilometres (270 sq mi).[1]

Etymology

Temasek was the early recorded name of a settlement on the site of today's Singapore, although the island itself wasn't specifically defined. Meanwhile, Pulau Ujong was the one of the earliest references to Singapore Island. The 3rd-century Chinese reference to Pú Luó Zhōng (Chinese: 蒲羅中), corresponds to the local reference known as Pulau Ujong, which directly translates to English as the "Island at the end".[3]

Travellers and merchants from around Asia arriving at the Singapore Strait to the South China Sea would have to pass by the island, hence the name Pulau Ujong. At the time, the island was also used by the Orang Laut to mean the "End Island". Ujong Tanah or "Land at the Furthest" or its variants were also used in European sources as a name for Singapore.[4]

Legend

According to a mythical third-century book Record of Foreign countries during the Eastern Wu Period (呉時外國傳), the island was inhabited by cannibals with five to six-inch tails.[5]

Geography

On a straight line, the island measures approximately 55 kilometres (34 mi) from east to west and 28 kilometres (17 mi) from north to south – with 201 kilometres (125 mi) of coastline.[6] The highest point of Singapore is Bukit Timah Hill, with a height of 165 m (538 ft) and made up of igneous rock, granite. Hills and valleys of sedimentary rock dominate the northwest, while the eastern region consists of sandy and flatter land.

Since 1822, there were land reclamation works by the British, who at that time controlled the island as a colony. Since independence, the contemporary government of Singapore has continued to increase the size of the island, having increased the area of the main island from 580 km² (224 sq mi) in the 1960s to 710 km² (274 sq mi) today.[7] A further 200 km² (77 sq mi) of land is also expected to be added to the main island.[8]

Extreme points

The northernmost end of the island is Sembawang. The westernmost and southernmost points are at Tuas. The easternmost point of the island is Changi Bay.

References

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading

• Kwa Chong Guan; Peter Borschberg (2018). Studying Singapore before 1800. NUS Press. ISBN 978-981-4722-74-2.

На других языках

[de] Pulau Ujong

[fr] Pulau Ujong

[ru] Сингапур (остров)