Singapore in the Cycles of the Longue Durée

• Published in: Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol. 90; no. 1 (312); pp. 29 - 60
• Main Author: Borschberg, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: THE MALAYSIAN BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY 01-06-2017; Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
• ISSN: 0126-7353; 0128-5483; 2180-4338; 2180-4338
• DOI: 10.1353/ras.2017.0002

This article examines the history of Singapore over the course of about five centuries from the founding of Temasek-Singapura at the end of the thirteenth century until the establishment of a British trading post in 1819. Contrary to the dominant historiographical tradition during the period of British imperialism, Singapore not was not an obscure place devoid of history before Raffles created a British base on the island. An attack in the late 1300s destroyed the existing settlement, but Singapore subsequently passed through at least three long-term up- and down-cycles, each lasting for a century or more. In the early nineteenth century a new economic up-cycle was underway, and the link to the British Empire provided a significant stimulus.