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.
Malaysia–Singapore border
The border changed from being an international border to a sub-national boundary (boundary of a division within a country) and vice versa several times. It became an international border after the cession of Singapore to the East India Company by Johor in 1824 as Johor was "de jure" a sovereign state. In 1914, the border became that of between two British-ruled territories when Johor became a British protectorate while Singapore remained a British crown colony.