Review | Singapore before colonisation: from Temasek to Singapura, destruction, and flight to Melaka and Johor
- Pre-Raffles history involves the Srivijayan and Majapahit empires, Portuguese and Dutch colonists, Acehnese, Bugis and Orang Laut
- New book Studying Singapore Before 1800 gauges the impact of early globalisation and ponders whether a lion gave Singapore its nickname
Studying Singapore Before 1800, edited by Kwa Chong Guan and Peter Borschberg (National University of Singapore Press). 3.5 stars
The history of Singapore before the foundation of the modern version of the city by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819 has been largely ignored.
This volume of 18 articles (with a wide range of original publication dates) looks to rectify this and show that Singapore, because of its strategic location on the shipping route between East and West, was heavily involved in pre-British waves of global trade and colonisation.
Co-editor Kwan Chong Guan explains why this matters: “The challenge for Singapore in the 20th century is to recognise the nature of the post-colonial or postmodern cycle of globalisation it is caught in, and to decide best how to respond to it. Looking at the impact of earlier cycles of globalisation on the maritime history of the Melaka Straits may provide Singaporeans with a better understanding of their city state’s vulnerabilities.”
The sources regarding this early history are not easy to interpret. The Malay Annals (Sejarah Melayu), for example, are a mix of history and myth, and need to be compared with accounts of Chinese traders in the region.
Understanding the history of the region, with a focus on Singapore, is no mean feat, but over the course of these 18 articles the reader can begin to put it together.
Key to the narrative is the establishment of the kingdom Singapura in the 14th century by a Srivijayan prince from Sumatra.
