Singapore Island, or Mainland Singapore, is the main constituent island of the

sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'. The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...

island

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

and

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

of the

Republic of Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borderi ...

. It is located at the southern tip of

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

, in-between the

Straits of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connec ...

and the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...

. The Singapore Strait lies to the south, while the

Johor Strait The Johore Strait (also known as the Tebrau Strait, Straits of Johor, Selat Johor, Selat Tebrau, and Tebrau Reach) is an international strait in Southeast Asia, between Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia. Geography The strait separates the Ma ...

lies to the north. The island forms the bulk of the country in terms of area, population and prominence, since areas situated on the country's smaller islands consists of military or industrial areas, with the exceptions being Sentosa as well as Ubin Island. As of June 2021, Singapore's population stood at 5.45 million and the mainland has a land area of approximately .

Etymology

Temasek was the early recorded name of a settlement on the site of today's Singapore, although the island itself wasn't specifically defined. Meanwhile, Pulau Ujong was the one of the earliest references to Singapore Island. The 3rd-century Chinese reference to ''Pú Luó Zhōng'' (), corresponds to the local reference known as Pulau Ujong, which directly translates to English as the "Island at the end". Travellers and merchants from around Asia arriving at the Singapore Strait to the South China Sea would have to pass by the island, hence the name Pulau Ujong. At the time, the island was also used by the Orang Laut to mean the "End Island". Ujong Tanah or "Land at the Furthest" or its variants were also used in European sources as a name for Singapore.

Legend

According to a mythical third-century book ''Record of Foreign countries during the Eastern Wu Period'' (呉時外國傳), the island was inhabited by cannibals with five to six-inch tails.

Geography

On a straight line, the island measures approximately from east to west and from north to south – with of coastline. The highest point of Singapore is Bukit Timah Hill, with a height of 165 m (538 ft) and made up of igneous rock, granite. Hills and valleys of sedimentary rock dominate the northwest, while the eastern region consists of sandy and flatter land. Since 1822, there were land reclamation works by the British, who at that time controlled the island as a colony. Since independence, the contemporary government of Singapore has continued to increase the size of the island, having increased the area of the main island from in the 1960s to today. A further of land is also expected to be added to the main island.

Extreme points

The northernmost end of the island is Sembawang. The westernmost and southernmost points are at Tuas. The easternmost point of the island is Changi Bay.

References

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Etymology

Legend

Geography

Extreme points

References

Further reading