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History. The mouth of the Singapore River saw the beginnings of an ancient fishing village called Temasek, which was later renamed Singapura (“Lion City” in Sanskrit) by Sang Nila Utama, a Palembang prince from Srivijaya, sometime in 1299 .
- Source of the Singapore River
Background. The Singapore River is about 2.95 km long,...
- Source of the Singapore River
- Collyer Quay
- Clifford Pier and Customs House
- Boat Quay
- Raffles Place, Change Alley and Market Street
- A Multi-Faceted Walk
Collyer Quay in the 1900s. Collection of National Museum of Singapore. In early colonial Singapore, the Collyer Quay area was something of an afterthought. The city centre was further up at the Singapore River and Raffles Place where trading houses, godowns and merchants clustered around the diverse goods ferried in by visiting vessels. Defined in ...
Clifford Pier, c. 1970. Collection of National Museum of Singapore. As a gateway for travellers and sailors, Clifford Pier was as colourful a place as you’d expect. Opened in 1933 to replace Johnston’s Pier (constructed in 1856), Clifford Pier continued the tradition of being lit with red beacons, as was the case with the previous pier. This earned...
Aerial view of bumboats along Boat Quay, c. 1960s. Collection of National Museum of Singapore. Boat Quay was the vital artery that kept the famed entrepot trade of early Singapore owing, but things could have turned out very differently if the first British Resident William Farquhar had had his way. Farquhar favoured Kampong Glam for the location o...
Raffles Place stands today as the heart of Singapore’s financial district, a towering sweep of steel and glass monuments to the power of commerce. Known as Commercial Square before its renaming to honour Raffles in 1858, the area quickly assumed its role as a business hub, where merchants and ship captains flocked to for news, business intelligence...
These storied sites are just a taste of the many locations to explore around the Singapore River. Included in the river walk are others like Clarke Quay with its former canneries, ice houses and godowns owned by towkays (wealthy businessmen) like Tan Tye and “Whampoa” Hoo Ah Kay. The trail also features the River House, one of only two traditional ...
In and around the river, sources of pollution — contributing to garbage, sewage, and industrial waste — were removed. Over 10 years, more than 46,000 squatters in the Singapore River and Kallang Basin were relocated to public housing, and nearly 5,000 hawkers were asked to move to hawker centres.
The Singapore River is a story about change; of how a river, as a lifeline to generations of Singaporeans over the years, contributed to the success of Singapore. Here, five objects from our National Collection bring you more stories to remember about the Singapore River.
Background. The Singapore River is about 2.95 km long, starting from Kim Seng Bridge to its mouth at the Esplanade, where it empties into the Marina Reservoir. A comparison of the old map of the river with a current one seems to show more sources and the river seems longer in the past.1.
History. The mouth of the Singapore River was the old Port of Singapore, being naturally sheltered by the southern islands. Historically, the city of Singapore initially grew around the port so the river mouth became the centre of trade, commerce and finance.
The river has been transformed over the last 25 years from a polluted industrial sewer choked with traffic to a clean, placid waterway that forms the centrepiece of Singapore’s financial, civic and entertainment districts. This transformation symbolises the independent city-state’s effort to remake itself for the 21st century.
