The Republic of Singapore is an island country and a city-state. It is at the southern end of the Malay Peninsula in Asia. Singapore is about one degree of latitude (137 kilometres or 85 miles) north of the equator. Its closest neighbors are Malaysia and Indonesia. About 5.40 million people live in Singapore. About 3.31 million are citizens. Most of them (76 percent) are ethnically Chinese. In Sanskrit, an old Indian language, “Singaporean”, from which Singapore got its name, means “Lion City” commonly ruled by Sultans.
Singapore is also commonly known as a “Garden City” or a “City in a Garden”. It is because there are plants everywhere, making it look like a garden.
It is also sometimes jokingly called a “fine” city. Not only does the city have a very high standard of living, but it is also known for having many strict rules and punishments, including fines.
The national language of Singapore is Malay. Other official languages of Singapore are English, Mandarin and Tamil. English is the language of choice because it is the language that almost everyone in Singapore knows. It is the first language taught in schools and the language used by the government. Students are also taught their first language. This means that the Chinese will learn Mandarin, Malays will learn Malay, and so on. Students can also choose to learn a third language in secondary school.
Singapore is made up of 63 islands, including the main island, which is known as Singapore Island to most people, but is also known as Pulau Ujong. There are two man-made connections to Johor, Malaysia: the Johor–Singapore Causeway in the north, and the Tuas Second Link in the west. Jurong Island, Pulau Tekong, Pulau Ubin and Sentosa are the largest of Singapore’s smaller islands. The highest natural point is Bukit Timah Hill at 166 m (545 ft).
About 23 percent of Singapore’s land area are forest and nature reserves. Urbanisation has removed most primary rainforest, with Bukit Timah Nature Reserve the only significant remaining forest. Even though there is very little primary rainforest left, there are more than 300 parks and four nature reserves in Singapore. There are also many trees planted all over Singapore and almost fifty per cent of the country is covered by trees and plants. Because of this, Singapore is also commonly known as the ‘Garden City’.
Singapore, being a small country, has been reclaiming land from the sea around the island. The first time Singapore started to reclaim land was in the 1960s. The total land area of Singapore at that time was 581.5 km2 and it has increased to 633 km2 in the 1990s, which is an increase of about 9 percent in total land area. It is now 704 km2 (272 sq mi), and may grow by another 100 km2 (40 sq mi) by 2030. Some land reclamation projects involve joining together smaller islands to make larger islands with more uses, like Jurong Island. Singapore uses the landfill method to reclaim the sea at the south of the country. The country’s rapid reclamation projects has made disputes with its neighbouring countries, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Singapore is hot and wet all year round. It has a tropical rainforest climate (Af in the Köppen climate classification), which means there are no seasons (spring, summer, autumn and winter) in Singapore. There is the most rain at the end of the year, and the temperature is usually around 20 °C to 35 °C.
Although Singapore does not experience the four seasons, the period from May to June is usually warmer, while the period from November to January is cooler because of the more frequent rains and monsoonal winds in Singapore during the year-end.
Singapore has diplomatic relations with 175 other Sovereign states. Singapore’s foreign policy is to maintain a secure environment in Southeast Asia as well as the countries near Southeast Asia. A basic rule is the political and economic stability in Southeast Asia.
[Taken from Simple English Wikipedia]
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