Singapore - Discovering cultures, customs and conventions around the world.
I`m Valarie Tan. Welcome to a World of our own.
Did you know that Singapore was more than just a sleepy fishing village before Sir Stamford Raffles came along in 1819?
According to archaeological research, Singapore was a thriving sea port during the 14th century, long before Raffles founded the island.
The name Singapore was derived from the Sanskrit word, Singapura which means Lion City. It was coined by Prince Sang Nila Utama around the 13th century when he landed on the island and saw a lion-like creature.
The name Temasek on the other hand is Javanese. The general meaning of it is Sea Town and it was probably used to call a city settlement on the island of Singapore at that time.
But the name Singapura was not just unique to this island.
It was also found in ancient Chinese records
That`s according to John Miksic Associate Professor in the Southeast Asian Studies Program and the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS)
He recently gave a lecture organized by the Department of History at NUS, as part of the Benjamin Batson Memorial Lecture Series
After excavating over a dozen sites on Singapore, 7 of which of lies within the bounds of a busy trading port, over a period of 20 years, Professor Miksic says there`s enough evidence to show that Singapore went through a hundred years of a golden age in the 14th century.
If anything, Singapore was more than just a sleepy fishing village.
Besides trade, Singapore also had diplomatic ties with the 2 major empires of that time – Majapahit in Java and after 1351, Ayudhya in Thailand.
Ancient records talked about how both empires were interested to conquer Singapore.
An ancient Chinese trader Wang Da Yuan recorded that the then Siam had attacked Singapore.
The Malay Annals, or Sejarah Melayu, a historical Malay volume that files 600 years of history of the Malay Pennisula, stated that Java attacked Singapore twice.
Find out more from Professor Miksic by listening to A World of Our Own.
Source: www.rsi.sg (9 April 2008)
