A Brief History
On August 9, 1965, the city/state of Singapore was evicted from the country of Malaysia and became the only country that became independent against their own will.
Digging Deeper
Established as the British Crown Colony of Singapore in 1946, Singapore, a strategically positioned island near the Straits of Malacca, possesses a fine harbor and had a strong British presence since 1819. An important Far East British possession, Singapore was fortified to the point where it was called “The Gibraltar of the Pacific.”
After World War II, the world saw the gradual independence of many formerly colonized countries, and Singapore became part of Malaysia in 1963, a country formed of some previously colonized lands in the area. The government of Singapore had many disagreements with the central government of Malaysia, and by August of 1965, Malaysia had had enough of Singapore’s impertinence and expelled the island from the federation.
Singapore was reformed as The Republic of Singapore and has been a wealthy and successful country on its own ever since. With an area of only 283 square miles and a population of 5.5 million, Singapore is a smallish country, though a particularly wealthy one that boasts the second highest GDP (of the PPP variety) in the world.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Perry, John. Singapore: Unlikely Power. Oxford University Press, 2017.
Yew, Lee Kuan. From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000. Harper, 200.
The featured image in this article, a map by Ranking Update showing the location of Malaysia and Singapore. with Malaysia in green while Singapore is the tiny red dot surround by a circle off the southern coast of Peninsular Malaysia (West Malaysia), is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
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