Why was Singapore Chosen by the British?

What does this evidence tell us about Singapore?

In groups, look at the source given to you and discuss. Use the information card and the actual source to
gather as much information as possible, and place in the columns below. Think about the two questions
above, and only include information relevant to the questions. When it is time, change pass your source
material to the next group, and collect your new source.
What is the PROVENANCE of
the source?
What do you KNOW about
Singapore from this source?
What can you INFER about
Singapore from this source?
Source A A signed and sealed treaty
between Raffles, Sultan
Hussien, and Temenggong
Abdul Rahman.
Singapore is a good location as
a port, because there was an
excellent harbor and there was
a supply of good drinking
water. There was also trade
between Singapore and other
countries.
I can infer that Singapore was
an advanced country since
1819, because there were
seals, which shows that there
was a form of business. There
was also trade, so it means
Singapore had interaction with
people from other countries.
Source B It is a hand-written letter by Sir
Stamford Raffles.
Sir Stamford Raffles was the
founder of Singapore.
I can infer that Singapore was a
place, which had a good
trading system.
Source C (1)It is a landscape drawing of
Singapore by Lieutenant Philip
Jackson.

(2)An engraving of Singapore
from Fort Canning Hill by
Charles Joseph Hullmandel

(3) An engraving of the right
bank of the Singapore River

(1) I can see that there were
already housings and offices in
Singapore in the early 1800s. I
can also see that there were
different professions

(2) I can see that there was
shelter.

(3) There was trade since there
was a port, and Singapore was
under the British rule
(1) I know that Singapore was
starting to get advanced during
the early 1800s

(2) People were starting to get
advanced because they already
knew how to build houses and
shelters for themselves

(3) Singapore was advanced
because there was trade.


Source D Chinese Coins from the Tang
and Song dynasties which were
found in the Parliament House
There were Chinese coins
found in Singapore
Singapore had interaction with
people from China
Source E An account of Long Va Men,
Singapore, by Wang Dayuan,
early 1300s

The Chinese knew how to
observe and some of them
travelled around the world.
The Chinese were clever and
advanced.
Source F A map of Singapore in the
1800s and another map of
Singapore in 1798
There were people from other
places going to Singapore.
There were also different
districts and places in
Singapore
Singapore was starting to get
more developed.
Source G A photograph of the Javanese-
style statue of a rider on a
horse (dating from the 14th to
the 16th century) found at the
Empress Place site

I know that horses were a form
of transportation. I also know
that there were jobs and
professions since the statue is
carved intricately.
We can infer that Singapore
was rather advanced, because
there were jobs, and
technology was so advanced
that there was pure led
Source H 14th to 15th Century ceramic
shards from archaeological digs
in Singapore

People could carve and there
were Earthenwares,
Stonewares, Green ware and
Porcelain 'blue and white' ware


We can infer that Singapore
was advanced because people
there were professions and
people had different skills,
since the pottery and all the
tools must have been carved
and made by a special group of
skilled people.