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SINGAPORE – A GEOGRAPHICAL OVERVIEW
Singapore was founded
as a British trading colony in 1819. It joined the Federation of
Malaysia in 1963 but separated two years later and became an independent
nation.
It subsequently became one of the world's most prosperous
countries with strong international trading links (its port is one of
the world's busiest in terms of tonnage handled) and with per capita GDP
equal to that of the leading nations of
Western Europe.
Singapore is a small,
heavily urbanised, island city-state in
Southeast Asia, located between
Malaysia and Indonesia.
Singapore has a total land area of 692.7 km² and 193 km of coastline. It
is separated from Indonesia by the Singapore Strait and from Malaysia by
the Straits of Johor.
Geographic
coordinates:
1°18'N 103°51'E
Exclusive fishing
zone: within
and beyond territorial sea, as defined in treaties and practice
Territorial sea:
3 nautical miles (5.6 km)
Terrain:
lowland; gently undulating central plateau contains water catchment area
and nature preserve
Elevation extremes:
Natural resources:
fish, deepwater ports
Land use:
-
arable land: 2%
-
permanent crops: 6%
-
permanent pastures:
0%
-
forests and woodland:
5%
-
other: 87% (1993
est.)
Irrigated land:
NA
Natural hazards:
NA
Environment -
current issues:
industrial pollution; limited natural fresh water resources; limited
land availability presents waste disposal problems; seasonal smoke/haze
resulting from forest fires in
Indonesia
Environment -
international agreements:
-
party to:
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Hazardous wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone layer
Protection, Ship Pollution
-
signed, but not
ratified: none of the selected agreements
Physical geography
Singapore’s
main territory is a diamond-shaped island, although her territory
includes surrounding smaller islands.
Singapore
is slightly more than 3.5 times the size of
Washington DC. Of
Singapore's dozens of smaller islands, Jurong Island, Pulau Tekong,
Pulau Ubin and Sentosa are the larger ones. Most of Singapore is no more
than 15 meters above sea level. The highest point of Singapore is Bukit
Timah, with a height of 164 m or 538 feet and made up of igneous rock,
granite. Hills and valleys of sedimentary rock dominate the northwest,
while the eastern region consists of sandy and flatter land.
Singapore
has no natural lakes or rivers, but reservoirs and water catchment areas
have been constructed to store fresh water for
Singapore's
water supply.
Singapore has reclaimed
land with earth obtained from its own hills, the seabed, and
neighbouring countries. As a result,
Singapore's
land area has grown from 581.5 km² in the 1960s to 697.1 km² today, and
may grow by another 100 km² by 2030.
Climate of
Singapore
Climate: equatorial; hot, humid, rainy; monsoons are expected
from mid-november till early march and from mid-june till early
september , heavy downpours are expected to be frequent during this
period ; thunderstorms occur on 40% of all days (67% of days in April)
Singapore is 1 degree north of the equator.
Singapore's climate is
tropical ("tropical rainforest climate" under the Köppen climate
classification), with no true distinct seasons. Owing to its
geographical location and maritime exposure, its climate is
characterised by uniform temperature and pressure, high humidity and
abundant rainfall. The average annual rainfall is around 2,370 mm (93
in). The temperature hovers around a diurnal range of a minimum 23 to 26
ºC and a maximum of 31 to 34 ºC. The highest and lowest recorded
temperature in its maritime history is 37.8 ºC and 18.4 ºC respectively.
Relative humidity has a diurnal range in the high 90's in the early
morning to around 60% in the mid-afternoon. During prolonged heavy rain,
relative humidity often reaches 100%. Generally, there is much more
rainfall on the western side of the island then on the eastern portion
of Singapore, owing to a rain shadow effect, and thus eastern
Singapore
side is much dryer and slightly hotter than western Singapore. This can
cause slight weather contrast between both sides. This is significant to
note, because even a small hill such as Bukit Timah can cause this
phenemonon, and despite its small size, it may be sunny on one side
while there is rain on the other.
Further contrasts that prevent true all-year uniformity are
the monsoon seasons which happen twice each year. The first one is the
Northeast Monsoon which occurs from December to early March. The second
is the Southwest Monsoon season which occurs from June to September.
Periods between monsoon seasons receive less rain and wind. During the
Northeast Monsoon, northeast winds prevail, sometimes reaching 20 km/h.
There are cloudy conditions in December and January with frequent
afternoon showers. Spells of widespread moderate to heavy rain occur
lasting from 1
to 3 days at a stretch. It is relatively drier in February till early
March. It is also generally windy with wind speeds sometimes reaching 30
to 40 km/h in the months of January and February. During the Southeast
Monsoon season, southeast/southwest winds prevail. Isolated to scattered
showers occur in the late morning and early afternoon. Early morning "Sumatra" squall lines are common.
Seismic activity
Singapore is relatively
safe from seismic activity in the region, as the nearest fault line is
hundreds of kilometres away in
Indonesia.
However, the population and buildings are prone to being only very
slightly affected by any activity as tremors, which is not uncommon, but
generally does not do any harm and is limited to small amounts of
swaying or vibration of objects. This is a sharp contrast to many of its
seismically active neighbours.
In late 2004, several parts of
Asia and Africa were
struck by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and the resulting tsunami.
Singapore
was fortunate as it was protected by the Sumatra landmass, which bore
the brunt of the tsunami; the effect on Singapore was limited to tremors
felt in some of the common high-rise buildings there. However, as of
February 2005, nine Singaporean tourists who were abroad were confirmed
dead, fifteen missing, with another one uncontactable.
Urban geography
When
Singapore was first colonized by the British, the city of
Singapore
was situated on the southern coast, around the mouth of the Singapore
River. This area remains the Downtown Core of Singapore. The rest of the
island was farmland and primary rainforest. However, since the 1960s the
government has constructed many new towns in other areas, so that today
the island is nearly entirely built-up and urbanised, with only a few
exceptions, such as Bukit Timah Nature Reserve or reclaimed land in the
process of being developed. However, even though Singapore is nearly
totally urban, the Central Area, which contains a high concentration of
financial and commercial districts because this area is closest to
Singapore's port. In order to reduce congestion, Electronic road pricing
(ERP) has been enacted around entrances into the Central Area. The other
parts of Singapore are less dense and busy, and are often filled with
housing estates such as from HDB or condominiums, and commercial
districts are less concentrated. However, to reduce strain on the
Central Area, several regional centres have been developed, each
containing a concentrated commercial district.
Light industry tends to be distributed around the island as
industrial estates and located in flats, similar to the HDB, and only
allows tenants which produce close to nil pollution, whereas heavy
industry tends to be located around Jurong and
Jurong Island. A list
of such estates can be found here.
There are two connections to the state of
Johor, Malaysia. In the
north there is a causeway for both rail and road traffic, which connects
to the city of Johor Bahru. In the west there is a road bridge (Tuas
Second Link), which connects to Johor, for road traffic only. The
connections are an important economic link to Malaysia, which can be
seen as a hinterland.
The causeway (1038 m) was designed by Coode, Fizmaurice,
Wilson and
Mitchell of Westminster and constructed by Topham, Jones & Railton Ltd
of London. It was started in 1909 as a railway link by Johor State
Railway to connect Johor Bahru to Singapore, then the administrative
headquarters of British interests in
Southeast Asia.
Construction of the road section started in 1919 and completed in 1923.
The causeway has caused ecological problems, most notably
accumulation of silt in the
Johore Strait. This has
lead to disagreements with
Malaysia.
Singapore has rejected Malaysia's proposal to replace the causeway with
a bridge, and Malaysia has since proposed the idea of what became known
as "the crooked half-bridge", descending halfway to link up with the
low-level causeway.
Since
Singapore lacks natural
freshwater rivers and lakes, the primary source of domestic water is
rainfall. Demand for fresh water is approximately twice that supplied by
rainfall, so Singapore imports most of its fresh water from
Malaysia
and Indonesia. To lessen its reliance on imports,
Singapore has
built reservoirs to collect rainwater and recycled water facilities. In
addition, Singapore has built a desalination plant on the western coast
of Tuas. This plant is expected to at least meet half of
Singapore's water
demands. Recent plans to produce NEWater-recycled water from treatment
by filtration via reverse osmosis have been very successful as the
government has opened up three plants around the island to help meet the
demand.
Singapore - A Geographical Overview
Singapore - Forest Resource
Singapore Furniture Industry
The demand for furniture
Furniture Associations And
Controlling Bodies
International Furniture
Centre In Singapore
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