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.
Kingdom of Singapura
The Kingdom of Singapura (Malay: "Kerajaan Singapura") was a Malay kingdom thought to have been established during the early history of Singapore upon its main island Pulau Ujong, then also known as Temasek, from 1299 until its fall in 1398. Conventional historical view marks circa 1299 as the founding year of the kingdom by Sang Nila Utama (also known as "Sri Tri Buana"), whose father is Sang Sapurba, who according to legend is the common great ancestor of most of the Malay monarchies in the Malay World. The historicity of this kingdom, based on the account given in the "Malay Annals", is the subject of academic debates, and many historians consider only its last ruler Parameswara (or Sri Iskandar Shah) a historically attested figure. Archaeological evidence from Fort Canning Hill and the nearby banks of the Singapore River has nevertheless demonstrated the existence of a thriving settlement and a trade port in the 14th century.