Singapore

Singapore was a trading port called Temasek in the fourteenth century, later part of the Johor sultanate. In 1819 Sir Stamford Raffles of the British East India Company set up a trading post here, and the free port grew quickly, drawing migrants from China, India, the Malay world and beyond. It became part of the British Straits Settlements in 1826 and a crown colony in 1867. Japan occupied the island from 1942 to 1945 after the fall of Singapore, a major British defeat. Singapore joined the Federation of Malaysia in 1963 but separated and became independent in 1965. Under Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, it transformed from a port with few resources into one of the richest and most efficient cities in the world.

Singapore's four official languages, English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil, reflect its mix of Chinese, Malay and Indian communities, and locals often switch into Singlish, a colourful local English. Food is a national obsession: hawker culture, cooking and eating in open-air food centres, is recognised by UNESCO. Try Hainanese chicken rice, chilli crab, laksa, roti prata and kaya toast with soft-boiled eggs. The city is famously clean and orderly, with strict rules on littering and chewing gum.