A History of Modern Singapore, 1819-2005

A History of Modern Singapore, 1819-2005

Author: C.M. Turnbull

Publisher: NUS Press

Published: 2009-01-01

Total Pages: 490

ISBN-13: 9971694301

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When C.M. Turnbull's A History of Singapore, 1819-1975 appeared in 1977, it quickly achieved recognition as the definitive history of Singapore. A second edition published in 1989 brought the story up to the elections held in 1988. In this fully revised edition, rewritten to take into account recent scholarship on Singapore, the author has added a chapter on Goh Chok Tong's premiership (1990-2004) and the transition to a government headed by Lee Hsien Loong. The book now ends in 2005, when the Republic of Singapore celebrated its 40th anniversary as an independent nation. Major changes occurred in the 1990s as the generation of leaders that oversaw the transition from a colony to independence stepped aside in favour of a younger generation of leaders. Their task was to shape a course that sustained the economic growth and social stability achieved by their predecessors, and they would be tested towards the end of the decade when Southeast Asia experienced a severe financial crisis. Many modern studies on Singapore focus on current affairs or very recent events and pay a great deal of attention to Singapore's successful transition from the developing to the developed world. However, younger historians are increasingly interested in other aspects of the country's past, particularly social and cultural issues. A History of Modern Singapore, 1819-2005 provides a solid foundation and an overarching framework for this research, surveying Singapore's trajectory from a small British port to a major trading and financial hub within the British Empire and finally to the modern city state that Singapore became after gaining independence in 1965.


Historical Dictionary of Singapore

Historical Dictionary of Singapore

Author: Justin Corfield

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2010-12-02

Total Pages: 397

ISBN-13: 0810873877

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In spite of Singapore's small size, it has long had a major impact on the world because of its geographical location and its wealth. The British initially made the island a major port for the shipping of goods and later as an airline hub for the region. These factors, along with a steady government, have helped to contribute to the country's affluence. This multicultural, multiracial, and multi-religious island-nation is the envy of many countries in the world, which have tried to emulate the economic success of Singapore. The new edition of the Historical Dictionary of Singapore has been completely rewritten since the first edition was released 20 years ago. It relates the history of this country through a chronology, an introductory essay, an expansive bibliography, and over 500 cross-referenced dictionary entries on significant persons, events, places, organizations, and other aspects of Singapore history from the earliest times to the present.


A General History Of The Chinese In Singapore

A General History Of The Chinese In Singapore

Author: Chong Guan Kwa

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2019-06-21

Total Pages: 1002

ISBN-13: 9813277653

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A General History of the Chinese in Singapore documents over 700 years of Chinese history in Singapore, from Chinese presence in the region through the millennium-old Hokkien trading world to the waves of mass migration that came after the establishment of a British settlement, and through to the development and birth of the nation. Across 38 chapters and parts, readers are taken through the complex historical mosaic of Overseas Chinese social, economic and political activity in Singapore and the region, such as the development of maritime junk trade, plantation industries, and coolie labour, the role of different bangs, clan associations and secret societies as well as Chinese leaders, the diverging political allegiances including Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary activities and the National Salvation Movement leading up to the Second World War, the transplanting of traditional Chinese religions, the changing identity of the Overseas Chinese, and the developments in language and education policies, publishing, arts, and more.With 'Pride in our Past, Legacy for our Future' as its key objective, this volume aims to preserve the Singapore Chinese story, history and heritage for future generations, as well as keep our cultures and traditions alive. Therefore, the book aims to serve as a comprehensive guide for Singaporeans, new immigrants and foreigners to have an epitome of the Singapore society. This publication is supported by the National Heritage Board's Heritage Project Grant.Related Link(s)


Singapore in Global History

Singapore in Global History

Author: Derek Thiam Soon Heng

Publisher: Amsterdam University Press

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 9048514371

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This important overview explores the connections between Singapore's past with historical developments worldwide until present day. The contributors analyse Singapore as a city-state seeking to provide an interdisciplinary perspective to the study of the global dimensions contributing to Singapore's growth. The book's global perspective demonstrates that many of the discussions of Singapore as a city-state have relevance and implications beyond Singapore to include Southeast Asia and the world. This vital volume should not be missed by economists, as well as those interested in imperial histor.


Studying Singapore's Past

Studying Singapore's Past

Author: Ping Tjin Thum

Publisher: NUS Press

Published: 2012-07-01

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 9971696460

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C.M. (Mary) Turnbull's contributions to historical writing on Singapore extended from her 1962 thesis, published in 1972 as "The Straits Settlements, 1826-1867: Indian Presidency to Crown Colony", to her magisterial history of Singapore, first published in 1977 and re-issued in 2009 in an updated edition as A History of Singapore, 1819-2005. Her approach to history involved detailed work with documents and published materials, with a particular focus on political and economic history. One contributor to the present volume described the book as an "exercise in endowing a modern 'nation-state' with a coherent past that should explain the present." As styles in history evolved, younger scholars including some of her former students and colleagues began exploring new approaches to historical research that drew on non-English-language souce material and asked fresh questions of the sources. Mary enjoyed controversy and expected debate, and had a deep interest in these accounts, which were in many ways a natural progression from her own publications even when they raised questions about her interpretations and conclusions. Studying Singapore's Past had its origins in a conference organised to discuss her work. The volume includes ten contributions, some from long-established scholars of Singapore's history, others from a new generation of researchers. Their work offers an evaluation of established understandings of Singapore's history, and gives an indication of new directions that researchers are exploring. In publishing the book, the editor not only pays tribute to a distinguished historian but also seeks to make a contribution to the historiography of Singapore and to ongoing debates about Singapore's past.


Commentary On Singapore, Volume 3: Culture, Identity And Society

Commentary On Singapore, Volume 3: Culture, Identity And Society

Author: Gillian Koh

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2024-05-03

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 9811287058

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Thought-leaders contributing to this volume include Alvin Tan, Kwa Chong Guan, Yang Razali Kassim, Kishore Mahbubani, Gerard Ee, and more!This volume comprises essays republished from various issues of the annual journal of the National University of Singapore Society called Commentary.The third in a series that provides bite-sized reviews of the history of Singapore's development in a range of areas of public policy, it delves into the most challenging of them all — defining the Singapore nation, a quest that began just under six decades ago.This is an enterprise that the pioneer generation of political leaders recognised would provide collective purpose and the soul to what government and people do to establish the young country — an area that cannot rely on engineered solutions or diktat.The authors have proffered in these essays, their assessments of these attempts at crafting this identity but also the ground's responses be they through the development of the arts, the government's political narratives, economic strategy, visions of urban development, and civic activism. Included are discussions on Singapore's model of multiracialism, its vision of being a global city, the impact of public policy in the redevelopment of housing estates, and an appeal to adopt a model of empowerment in addressing the needs of the poor — incorporating what citizens are saying about who we are and wish to be as a people.There is no single definition of what the Singapore nation is; nor should we wish for easy answers as they have to be created and grasped on the ground. There is no final destination. The authors make us all too aware that it will be an enduring journey into 'being' which is enriched by the freedom to explore ideas, ideals, values, the self and the metaphysical condition of being a community of unity, that is paradoxically, necessarily comfortable with plurality, hybridity, and change. Owning this common journey is probably what distinguishes Singaporeans as a people and the volume reminds readers of that.


Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300_1800

Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300_1800

Author: John N. Miksic

Publisher: NUS Press

Published: 2013-09-30

Total Pages: 507

ISBN-13: 9971695588

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Beneath the modern skyscrapers of Singapore lie the remains of a much older trading port, prosperous and cosmopolitan and a key node in the maritime Silk Road. This book synthesizes 25 years of archaeological research to reconstruct the 14th-century port of Singapore in greater detail than is possible for any other early Southeast Asian city. The picture that emerges is of a port where people processed raw materials, used money, and had specialized occupations. Within its defensive wall, the city was well organized and prosperous, with a cosmopolitan population that included residents from China, other parts of Southeast Asia, and the Indian Ocean. Fully illustrated, with more than 300 maps and colour photos, Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea presents Singapore's history in the context of Asia's long-distance maritime trade in the years between 1300 and 1800: it amounts to a dramatic new understanding of Singapore's pre-colonial past.


History Without Borders

History Without Borders

Author: Geoffrey C. Gunn

Publisher: Hong Kong University Press

Published: 2011-08-01

Total Pages: 446

ISBN-13: 9888083341

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Astride the historical maritime silk routes linking India to China, premodern East and Southeast Asia can be viewed as a global region in the making over a long period. Intense Asian commerce in spices, silks, and ceramics placed the region in the forefront of global economic history prior to the age of imperialism. Alongside the correlated silver trade among Japanese, Europeans, Muslims, and others, China's age-old tributary trade networks provided the essential stability and continuity enabling a brilliant age of commerce. Though national perspectives stubbornly dominate the writing of Asian history, even powerful state-centric narratives have to be re-examined with respect to shifting identities and contested boundaries. This book situates itself in a new genre of writing on borderland zones between nations, especially prior to the emergence of the modern nation-state. It highlights the role of civilization that developed along with global trade in rare and everyday Asian commodities, raising a range of questions regarding unequal development, intraregional knowledge advances, the origins of globalization, and the emergence of new Asian hybridities beyond and within the conventional boundaries of the nation-state. Chapters range over the intra-Asian trade in silver and ceramics, the Chinese junk trade, the rise of European trading companies as well as diasporic communities including the historic Japan-towns of Southeast Asia, and many types of technology exchanges. While some readers will be drawn to thematic elements, this book can be read as the narrative history of the making of a coherent East-Southeast Asian world long before the modem period.


Imperial Alchemy

Imperial Alchemy

Author: Anthony Reid

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 0521872375

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Using Southeast Asia as an example, this book tests theory about the relation between modernity, nationalism, and ethnic identity. The author develops his own typology to better fit the formation of political identities such as the Indonesian, Malay, Chinese, Acehnese, Batak and Kadazan.