What is Stamford Raffles?
[[File:StamfordRafflesSmall.jpeg|thumb|250px|Sir Stamford Raffles]] [[File:Raffles Hotel 2012 0076.jpg|thumb|Raffles Hotel in Singapore|250px]] Sir '''Stamford Raffles''' [[FRS]] (Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles 5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826), was the founder of the [[city]] of [[Singapore]]. He is one of the most famous [[United Kingdom|Britons]] who expanded the [[British Empire]].<ref>[http://eresources.nlb.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_715_2004-12-15.html Article on Sir Stamford Raffles]{{Dead link|date=January 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> == Early years == Raffles was born on the ship ''Ann'' to Captain Benjamin Raffles and Anne Raffles. Although his family was in debt, they managed to give him money for his education. When he was 14, he started working as a [[clerk]] in the [[British East India Company]]. The company sent him to [[Southeast Asia]] to look for another [[port]] as the trade between Britain and China was increasing. He married Olivia Mariamne Fancourt. She was the [[widow]] of Jacob Cassivelaun Fancourt, an assistant [[surgeon]] in [[Madras]] who had died in 1800. == Founding of Singapore == When the British East India Company sent Raffles to Southeast Asia, the company already had two ports, [[Penang]] and [[Bencoolen]]. However, these ports were far from the main trading area, the [[Straits of Malacca]]. Dutch ports, [[Malacca]] and [[Java]], were closer to the trading area, which made them able to control the trade. They cut off the trade between Penang and the important trading centres at the [[Malay Archipelago]]. The British East India Company thus needed a new port south of Malacca to protect British ships, and they chose [[Singapore]], which was then a small fishing-port. Singapore had a lot of drinking water and a good location, in the centre of the Straits of Malacca. It was in an area not controlled by the Dutch. The deal was settled by Raffles making an agreement with the traditional rulers of the area to pay them money in return for the right to build, e