Singapore
Stamford Raffles founded colonial Singapore in 1819 as a trading post of the British East India Company. After the company's collapse in 1858, the islands were ceded to the British Raj as a crown colony. During the Second World War, Singapore was occupied by Japan. It gained independence from the UK in 1963 by federating with other former British territories to form Malaysia, but separated two years later over ideological differences, becoming a sovereign nation in 1965. After early years of turbulence and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian Tiger economy, based on external trade and its workforce.
List of High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Singapore
Singapore, previously a British colony, became an internally self-governing state in 1959 and George Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk, was appointed Commissioner (not High Commissioner) for Singapore and South East Asia. In 1963 Singapore declared independence from Britain and joined the new Federation of Malaysia. In 1965 Singapore left Malaysia and became an independent country (as the Republic of Singapore) and a full member of the Commonwealth. As a member of the Commonwealth, the United Kingdom's diplomatic representative is a High Commissioner rather than an Ambassador.