Founding of modern Singapore

Modern Singapore was founded as a British trading post, when Stamford Raffles of the East India Company signed an agreement with local Malay rulers to set up a base on the island, which then had only a small population. Its position at the tip of the Malay Peninsula, on the sea route between India and China, helped the port grow rapidly as a free-trade center, attracting Chinese, Malay, Indian and European merchants. It was later joined with Penang and Malacca as the Straits Settlements, under British rule. After the Second World War and a brief union with Malaysia, Singapore became fully independent in 1965 under Lee Kuan Yew. It has since become one of the world's wealthiest city-states.

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