45 Fun Facts About Singapore

The name Singapura, from which Singapore comes, means what in Sanskrit?

Lion city: in the Malay Annals, prince Sang Nila Utama saw a strange beast on the island, was told it was a lion, and founded his city there.

What was the island called before it became Singapura, according to the Malay Annals?

Temasek: in the Annals, a storm nearly sank Sang Nila Utama's ship on the way there, and it calmed only when his crown was thrown overboard.

Roughly how far north of the equator is Singapore?

One degree: that puts Singapore so close to the equator that its temperatures stay high and nearly uniform all year round.

Raffles set up Singapore's 1819 trading post for which company?

The East India Company: its treaty paid Sultan Hussein and the Temenggong in return for the right to set up the post.

Besides founding modern Singapore, Stamford Raffles was the first president of which institution?

The Zoological Society of London: Raffles died suddenly in July 1826, only months after its founding and nearly two years before its zoo opened.

How did Winston Churchill describe the fall of Singapore?

The worst disaster in British military history: trying to defend the island's entire coastline, Percival had spread his troops too thinly.

Singapore became independent on 9 August 1965 by separating from which country?

Malaysia: its prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman had decided Singapore must leave, and Singapore's own Goh Keng Swee had also proposed a separation.

Who became Singapore's prime minister in 2004?

Lee Hsien Loong: Lee Kuan Yew's eldest son was diagnosed with lymphoma in 1992, but chemotherapy sent the cancer into remission.

What is the title of Singapore's national anthem?

Majulah Singapura: it may be sung only with its original lyrics, never a translation, even though authorised translations exist.

Singapore's Merlion was first designed in 1964 as the emblem of which organisation?

The tourism board: the Merlion's fish body was meant to recall Singapore's beginnings as a fishing village.

What is Singapore's ultra-clean NEWater made from?

Treated wastewater: its biggest users are wafer fabrication plants, which need water even purer than drinking water.

Which architect designed both Marina Bay Sands and Jewel Changi Airport?

Moshe Safdie: he first made his name with Habitat 67, a Montreal housing complex that began as his student thesis at McGill.

Some of Singapore's Supertrees carry what for power?

Solar panels: the energy they harvest powers some of the Supertrees' own functions, such as their lighting.

What is the Rain Vortex at Jewel Changi Airport?

An indoor waterfall: the world's tallest, it turns into a screen for a 360-degree light and sound show every evening.

Which Armenian brothers opened a luxury hotel on Singapore's Beach Road in 1887?

The Sarkies: when the last of the brothers died in 1931, huge debts came to light, and the family lost control of their hotels.

The Singapore Sling was reputedly created in 1915 at which bar?

The Long Bar at Raffles Hotel: guests there brush peanut shells onto the floor, perhaps the only place in Singapore where littering is encouraged.

What is the base spirit of a Singapore Sling?

Gin: the drink was reputedly disguised as fruit juice so that women, barred by etiquette from drinking alcohol in public, could order it.

In December 2020, UNESCO added which Singaporean tradition to its intangible heritage list?

Hawker culture: the Hawker Chan stall once held a Michelin star, only to lose it in 2021.

Singapore's chilli crab is credited to Cher Yam Tian, who stir-fried crabs with chilli sauce and which other sauce?

Tomato sauce: her improvised stir-fry caught on, and selling it grew into a successful seafood business.

Hainanese chicken rice was adapted from which dish from Hainan?

Wenchang chicken: Hainanese cooks boiled rice in the leftover chicken stock, a habit Singapore's chicken rice kept.

What is kaya, spread on the classic Singaporean breakfast toast?

Coconut jam: kaya toast is traced to Hainanese immigrants, who swapped the fruit jam of Western breakfasts for kaya.

What did Singapore famously ban from sale in 1992?

Chewing gum: vandals had been sticking gum on the door sensors of MRT trains, stopping the doors from working.

Singapore's MRT won approval after a debate over which alternative?

Buses only: an all-bus system was judged impractical for Singapore, so the rail network got the green light in 1982.

What was Sentosa island called before it was renamed in the 1970s?

Pulau Blakang Mati: in 1942 the guns of its Fort Siloso, built to face attackers from the sea, were swung round to fire inland at Japanese troops.

Singapore Botanic Gardens' first scientific director, Henry Ridley, drove the regional boom in which crop?

Rubber: he perfected a way to tap latex without killing the trees, and by 1920 Malaya was producing half the world's latex.

What kind of plant is Singapore's national flower, chosen in 1981?

An orchid: officials picked this hybrid for its hardiness and resilience, qualities meant to reflect the Singapore spirit.

What government campaign was launched in 2000 to discourage Singlish, the local creole?

Speak Good English: the year before, the prime minister singled out sitcom hero Phua Chu Kang's Singlish, and the show cut back on it.

Singapore's HDB limits each public housing block's share of flats for each what?

Ethnic group: the Ethnic Integration Policy, begun in 1989, is meant to stop any one race clustering in an area and forming an enclave.

Which other country's dollar is accepted in Singapore under an interchangeability agreement?

Brunei: a third country's currency also traded at par under the same pact, until that country pulled out in 1973.

What is the highest natural point in Singapore?

It rises just 164 metres above sea level.

What was novel about the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay for Formula One?

It was held at night: a year later it emerged that Renault had ordered Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash, helping teammate Fernando Alonso win.

Who won Singapore's inaugural Olympic gold medal, in the 100m butterfly at Rio 2016?

Joseph Schooling: he beat Michael Phelps, who shared silver in a three-way tie, and broke Phelps' Olympic record doing it.

Ah Meng, the most famous star of Singapore Zoo, was which kind of animal?

An orangutan: she had been kept illegally as a pet until a vet recovered her in 1971, and went on to become a tourism icon.

Singapore's nickname 'the little red dot' began with a 1998 remark by which country's president?

Indonesia: President B. J. Habibie reportedly pointed to a map where Indonesia was green and said that red dot was Singapore.

Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and which other developed country carried out executions in 2025?

The United States: Japan's June 2025 execution ended a nearly three-year pause in its executions.

Singapore Airlines was the launch customer for which aircraft, putting it into service in 2007?

The Airbus A380: it ended the Boeing 747's nearly four-decade reign as the biggest airliner, and seats on its first flight went in a charity auction.

The 165-metre Singapore Flyer was the tallest Ferris wheel until which opened in 2014?

The High Roller: it took the record from a wheel that, in December 2008, trapped 173 riders for about six hours after a control-room fire.

In August 2008 the Singapore Flyer reversed its direction of rotation on whose advice?

Its corporate 'inaugural flights' that February had sold out at S$8,888 a ticket, an auspicious number in Chinese culture.

Haw Par Villa, a park of over 1,000 statues, was created by the family behind which product?

Tiger Balm: Aw Boon Haw built it as a home in 1937, then filled it with folklore statues to keep Chinese culture alive.

Singapore's national flower, a hybrid, is named after which horticulturist who bred it?

Agnes Joaquim: only in 2016 did Singapore's authorities formally credit her with cross-breeding it, after decades of claims it was a natural hybrid.

What does the name of Pulau Ubin, one of Singapore's last rural islands, mean in Malay?

Granite Island: its quarried stone helped build the Horsburgh Lighthouse and the Causeway linking Singapore to Johor.

What does Sentosa, the resort island's name chosen in a 1972 contest, mean in Malay?

It derives from the Sanskrit 'santosha', contentment. The island had served as a British military base and then a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp.

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un met on Sentosa in 2018 at which hotel?

Capella Singapore: for the summit, the government declared the whole of Sentosa a special event area under tight security for five days.

Changi Airport opened for business on 1 July 1981, taking over from which airport?

Paya Lebar: the old airport became an air force base, and moving that base out will free about 800 hectares for new homes and offices.

Which bartender is credited with creating the Singapore Sling in around 1915?

One story says he made it look like fruit juice so that women could drink it in public. The original recipe was lost after the 1930s.