50 Fun Facts About Singapore

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

Legend says the Palembang prince Sang Nila Utama saw a strange beast he took for a lion when he landed on the island in the 13th century.

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

Sang Nila Utama landed there on a hunting trip. Temasek is still used as a name for Singapore's sovereign wealth fund.

Roughly how far north of the equator is Singapore?

About 137 kilometres. It sits off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula between the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea.

In which year did Stamford Raffles arrive and negotiate a British trading post on the island?

He landed on 28 January and struck a treaty with Johor. Singapore became a Crown colony in 1867.

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

He founded it in 1825, along with London Zoo. The giant Rafflesia flower is also named after him.

On what date did the British surrender Singapore to the Japanese, on Chinese New Year?

It was Chinese New Year. General Percival surrendered to General Yamashita, and the island was renamed Syonan-to.

How did Winston Churchill describe the fall of Singapore?

About 80,000 troops became prisoners of war, on top of 50,000 already taken in Malaya.

Singapore became fully independent on 9 August 1965 after being expelled from which federation?

The Malaysian parliament voted 126 to 0 to let it go. Lee Kuan Yew and Yusof bin Ishak became first prime minister and president.

For how many years was Lee Kuan Yew prime minister of Singapore?

From 1959 to 1990, then senior minister and 'minister mentor' until 2011. He was born Harry Lee and studied law at Cambridge.

How many official languages does Singapore have?

English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. Malay is the national language and the anthem must be sung in it.

What is the title of Singapore's national anthem?

It means 'Onward Singapore' in Malay. Zubir Said wrote it in 1958 as a theme for the City Council's official functions.

What is the Merlion, Singapore's national symbol?

Alec Fraser-Brunner designed it as the tourism board's logo in 1964. The famous statue at Marina Bay is 8.6 metres tall.

How much does the original Merlion statue weigh?

It stood at the mouth of the Singapore River in Merlion Park before being moved to its current spot facing Marina Bay.

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

Marina Bay Sands was the world's most expensive standalone casino property when it opened in 2010, at S$8 billion.

How long is the infinity pool on top of Marina Bay Sands' Skypark?

It sits on the world's largest public cantilevered platform, which overhangs the north tower by 66.5 metres.

How many Supertrees stand in Gardens by the Bay?

They range from 25 to 50 metres tall. The Flower Dome next to them is the largest glass greenhouse in the world.

What is the Rain Vortex at Jewel Changi Airport?

Jewel drew 50 million visitors in its first year, about 300,000 a day.

How many times had Skytrax named Changi the World's Best Airport by 2025?

Including eight in a row from 2013 to 2020, plus wins in 2023 and 2025. It began operations in 1981.

Which Armenian brothers founded Raffles Hotel in 1887?

It opened with ten rooms on 1 December 1887 and grew into the grande dame of Beach Road.

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

Bartender Ngiam Tong Boon mixed the gin-based drink, originally just called the gin sling.

What is the base spirit of a Singapore Sling?

Cherry liqueur, pineapple juice and grenadine give it the pink colour.

In December 2020, UNESCO added which Singaporean tradition to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list?

UNESCO called hawker centres 'community dining rooms' where people of all backgrounds eat together.

Chilli crab is credited to Cher Yam Tian and her husband, who began selling it from what in 1956?

They stir-fried crabs with bottled chilli and tomato sauce. It is now one of Singapore's signature dishes.

Hainanese chicken rice was adapted from the cuisine of which Chinese island?

Immigrants brought Wenchang chicken with them. It comes with chilli sauce and cucumber slices.

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

It is served with butter, kopi and soft-boiled eggs at kopitiams, a Hainanese coffee-shop tradition.

Since which year has the sale of chewing gum been banned in Singapore?

Gum on the sensors of MRT train doors was one motivation. Since 2004, therapeutic gum can be bought from a pharmacist.

In which year did Singapore's MRT rail system begin running?

It opened with a 6 km stretch of five stations after two decades of planning.

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

The old name means 'island of death behind'; Sentosa means 'peace and tranquility'. It had been a British base and Japanese POW camp.

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

He perfected the tapping technique still used today. The gardens became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.

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

Vanda Miss Joaquim was the first registered plant hybrid from Singapore, picked for its resilience and year-round bloom.

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

Singlish adverts had been banned since 1993 and Lee Kuan Yew spoke out against it in 1999.

Roughly what share of Singapore's resident households live in HDB public housing flats?

Land is scarce, so most people live in subsidised high-rise flats built by the Housing and Development Board, founded in 1960.

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

The arrangement dates from 1967, when the monetary union with Malaysia ended and Singapore issued its own coins and notes.

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 also the 800th world championship race. An earlier Singapore Grand Prix ran at Thomson Road from 1966 to 1973.

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

He beat his childhood idol Michael Phelps, who tied for silver.

Singapore Zoo houses the world's largest captive colony of which animal?

It opened in 1973 with 270 animals. The neighbouring Night Safari, opened in 1994, was the world's first nocturnal zoo.

'Little Red Dot' came from an Indonesian president's remark reported in which newspaper in 1998?

B. J. Habibie had referred to Singapore as a red dot on a map. Singaporeans adopted it with pride.

Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and which other developed country retain the death penalty?

Caning is also retained as a legal punishment. Executions are by hanging.

Singapore Airlines was the launch customer for which giant aircraft, the world's largest passenger plane?

It also launched the Boeing 787-10 and the ultra-long-range A350-900 that flies non-stop to New York.

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

The Las Vegas wheel beat it by just 2.6 metres. The Flyer's 28 air-conditioned capsules each hold 28 passengers.

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 built by the Aw brothers, makers of what?

Haw and Par mean 'tiger' and 'leopard'. In 2021 the park opened Hell's Museum, billed as the world's first museum on death and the afterlife.

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

Born Ashkhen Hovakimian, she was Armenian Singaporean. Only in 2016 did the authorities formally reject claims that her plant was a natural hybrid.

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

Its stone built the Horsburgh Lighthouse and the Singapore-Johor Causeway. A few thousand quarry settlers lived there in the 1960s; about 40 villagers remained by 2012.

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?

It was the first ever meeting between sitting leaders of the United States and North Korea. The island welcomes up to 25 million visitors a year.

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

The first arrival was Singapore Airlines SQ101 from Kuala Lumpur with 140 passengers. Changi handled 12.1 million passengers in its first year.

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.

In the 1990s Singapore's port overtook which Japanese port as busiest by shipping tonnage?

Singapore transships about a fifth of the world's containers. Its new Tuas mega port is planned to be the city-state's only port after 2040.