singapore dates back to 1 A.D.

believe it or not. i was taking a stroll at fort canning park during my lunch break today and was taking the 14th century trail. singapore did not start from the british. the first king of singapore came about in the 1300s. between the first & last king of singapore, or singapura, the island was a very busy interconnecting port. trade thrived with merchants from china doing trade and the indonesian merchants trading their spices here. it was a very important port back then as it was the crossing point of three main shipping lines back then. porcelains, spices, glass, pottery, even elephants. yes, back then, the yuan dynasty emperor of china, sent envoys here to purchase elephants. there was a huge stone slab carved in the 14th century which could have told us more about singapore's history but it was destroyed intentionally back in the 19th century. (hmmm...kind of make you wonder about the coincidental timing eh?)

when the last king fled singapore, he was attacked by soldiers from java for a crime he committed and he later fled to malacca, many citizens moved with him to malacca as well resulting in the population dripping. by the time the british arrived, there were only no more than a couple of hundred people left here.

there was a tiny tidbit of information that i picked up on my walk. apparently, back in 1 A.D., a greek philosopher (can't remember clearly, not sure if it was a philosopher or merchant) mentioned and wrote about a port south of the malay penninsula (not the actual name but i can't remember the actual name) that interconnected the main trade routes. this port was called......, arggg i just cannot remember the name. the location of the port mentioned just so happends to be where our dear singapore is located! which means......we have a much longer history then what discovery channel is showing! our history did not start when the british arrived! our history goes further back.

i also came across the keramat iskandar syah, which supposedly housed the tomb of the first malay king of singapore. while trying to take a photo shot there for my photography project, i kept so still, the pigeons there came up to me and started pecking my shoes and landed on my shoulder. hahahaha. thank goodness no shit. there is so much history out there just waiting to be read if we only bother to take the time to walk around these parks. each time i go to one of this historical landmarks, i always learn something new and have the urge to revisit it again. anybody want to join me?