Little Red Dot aka Singapore is fundamentally an immigrant nation, its very existence and prosperity built upon waves of migration that have shaped its unique social fabric since the founding of modern Singapore in 1819. The island was home to only a small indigenous population of a few hundred Malays and Orang Laut people before Sir Stamford Raffles established a British East India Company trading post. The declaration of Singapore as a free port immediately attracted a rapid influx of people seeking economic opportunities.
Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the demand for labour in the burgeoning port and plantations drew tens of thousands of migrants primarily from the Malay Archipelago, China, and India. Early Chinese immigrants largely hailed from the southern provinces of Fujian and Guangdong, comprising various dialect groups like Hokkien, Teochew, and Cantonese. Indian migrants, a diverse group including Tamils, Malayalis, and Sikhs, arrived from different regions such as the Coromandel and Bengal coasts to work as labourers, traders, and administrators; many were initially brought as convict labour to build early infrastructure. These groups were initially transient, mostly male, but over time, more women arrived and families were established, forming the permanent resident population.
Today, the descendants of these early settlers constitute the majority of citizen population, organized under the prominent Chinese-Malay-Indian-Other (CMIO) model. Ethnic Chinese make up approximately majority of the resident population, follow by Malays, Indians and others. The government actively promotes a policy of multiracialism and integration, discouraging ethnic enclaves and fostering a shared, albeit diverse, national identity. This continuous history of immigration remains a cornerstone of the nation's growth, with recent waves of global talent continuing to add to the cosmopolitan nature of the city-state.
Sir Stamford Raffles is widely celebrated as the founder of modern Singapore, an individual whose vision transformed a sleepy fishing village and minor settlement into a pivotal global port and a thriving cosmopolitan city-state. His primary contribution began in 1819 when, acting as Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen (now Bengkulu) under the British East India Company, he recognized the strategic potential of the island at the tip of the Malay Peninsula.
The British were competing with the Dutch for dominance over vital trade routes in Southeast Asia. Raffles sought a new, strategically located harbour to counter Dutch monopolies. On January 28, 1819, he landed in Singapore and quickly negotiated a preliminary treaty with the local Malay ruler, Temenggong Abdul Rahman, and subsequently a formal treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor. These agreements secured British permission to establish a trading post.
Raffles’ most significant policy decision was declaring Singapore a free port. Unlike other regional ports that imposed heavy tariffs, Singapore welcomed all traders without duties. This simple yet revolutionary policy immediately attracted a massive influx of merchants and immigrants from across Asia and beyond, leading to explosive growth. Within just a few years, the population surged from a few hundred to over ten thousand.
Beyond trade, Raffles laid the groundwork for a structured settlement. He commissioned the Jackson Plan in 1822 to organize the burgeoning immigrant communities into distinct ethnic residential areas, which helped manage the rapidly diversifying population and shaped the initial urban landscape of the city. He also implemented reforms such as the abolition of slavery and the establishment of institutions focused on education and research, including the founding of the Singapore Institution (now Raffles Institution).
Raffles’ tenure was brief—he spent only a few months total on the island during his life—but his impact was seismic. He provided the initial political impetus and economic philosophy that ensured Singapore's trajectory toward becoming the vibrant, multiracial hub it is today. His legacy remains central to Singapore’s national identity.
At the reference coordinates, it stands a marble statue of LRD's founder on the spot where Raffles is believed to have landed in 1819.
Further away, you shall find the physical cache for your logging - hope you enjoy this global game.