The Singapore River : A Social History, 1819-2002
For most of its modern history, to speak of Singapore was to speak of the Singapore River, physical centre of the city and site of the greater part of the colony's entrepot trade. The river has been transformed over the last 25 years from a polluted industrial sewer choked with traffic to a clean, placid waterway that forms the centrepiece of Singapore's financial, civic and entertainment districts. This transformation symbolizes the city-state's efforts to remake itself for the 21st century. Stephen Dobbs sets out the history of this waterway, and of the people who made it their home and workplace. He describes the tidal swamp in the early days of the British settlement, where merchants ignored Raffles much-vaunted city plan and built their businesses on the limited high ground along the marshy riverbanks. Later, even as the long distance shipping moved to new port facilities elsewhere on the island, the river remained the base for a large regional trade, and boatmen and businessmen struggled to cope with silting, over-crowding, and bridges that were too low to be passed at high tide.
Product details
- Paperback | 200 pages
- 152 x 248 x 15.24mm | 415g
- 30 Jan 2003
- NUS Press
- Singapore, Singapore
- English
- 9814722251
- 9789814722254
