Major Cities of the World

Singapore-Malaysia

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore , is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It lies 137 kilometers (85 miles) north of the Equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands. At 704.0 km² (272 square miles), it is the smallest country in Southeast Asia.
The main island was a fishing village sparsely populated by indigenous Malays and Orang Lauts when it was colonized by the British East India Company in 1819. The British used the position as a tactical trading outpost along the spice route. Occupied by the Japanese Empire during World War II, it reverted to British rule in 1945 and was later part of the merger which established Malaysia in 1963. Two years later, it was expelled due to ideological differences.
Since gaining independence, Singapore has seen its standard of living rise dramatically. Foreign investment and government-led island-wide industrialization have created a modern economy based on electronics and manufacturing, featuring entrepôt and financial trade centering around the country's strategic location. In terms of GDP per capita, Singapore is the 18th wealthiest country in the world. The geographically small nation has a foreign reserve of S$212 billion (US$139 billion). In terms of quality of life, The Economist (2005) ranked Singapore highest in Asia and 11th in the world. Despite wealth and a high standard of living, Singapore also has the highest per capita execution rate in the world at 13.57 per 1,000,000 residents, compared to just 4.65 in Saudi Arabia and 2.01 in China.
The Constitution of the Republic of Singapore established the city-state's political system as a representative democracy while the country has official United Nations' recognition as a parliamentary republic. The People's Action Party has won control of Parliament in every election since self-government in 1959.

Geography and climate
Singapore consists of 63 islands, including the main island itself. There are two connections to Johor — the man-made Johor-Singapore Causeway in the north, and the Tuas Second Link in the west. Jurong Island, Pulau Tekong, Pulau Ubin and Sentosa are the largest of Singapore's many smaller islands. The highest natural point of Singapore is Bukit Timah Hill (166 metres, 538 ft).
The urban area used to only be concentrated on the south of Singapore, around the mouth of the Singapore River and what is now the Downtown Core, while the rest of the land was undeveloped tropical rainforest or used for agriculture. Since the 1960s, the government has constructed new residential towns in outlying areas, resulting in an entirely built-up urban landscape. The Urban Redevelopment Authority is the government agency responsible for urban planning.
Singapore has an on-going land reclamation project with earth obtained from its own hills, the sea-bed, and neighbouring countries. As a result, Singapore's land area grew from 581.5 square kilometres (224.5 sq mi) in the 1960s to 699.3 square kilometres (269.1 sq mi) today, and may grow by another 100 square kilometres (38.6 sq mi) by 2030.[21] Many of the smaller islands have been expanded and joined together through land reclamation in order to form larger, more functional islands, such as in the case of Jurong Island.
Under the Köppen climate classification system, Singapore has a tropical rainforest climate with no distinct seasons. Its climate is characterised by uniform temperature and pressure, high humidity, and abundant rainfall. Temperatures range from 22°C to 34 °C (72°–93°F). On average, the relative humidity is around 90% in the morning and 60% in the afternoon. During prolonged heavy rain, relative humidity often reaches 100%.The lowest and highest temperatures recorded in its maritime history are 18.4 °C (65.1 °F) and 37.8 °C (100.0 °F) respectively. The highest wind speed recorded is 150 km/h on 26 May 2007. June and July are the hottest months, while November and December make up the wetter monsoon season. From August to October, there is often haze, sometimes severe enough to prompt public health warnings, due to bushfires in neighbouring Indonesia. Singapore does not observe daylight savings time or a summer time zone change. The length of the day is nearly constant year round due to the country's location near the equator.
About 23% of Singapore's land area consists of forest and nature reserves. Urbanization has eliminated many areas of former primary rainforest, with the only remaining area of primary rainforest being Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. A variety of parks are maintained with human intervention, such as the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
Without natural freshwater rivers and lakes, the primary domestic source of water supply in Singapore is rainfall, collected in reservoirs or catchment areas. Rainfall supplies approximately 50% of Singapore's water; the remainder is imported from Malaysia or obtained from recycled water facilities and desalination plants. More NEWater and desalination plants are being built or proposed to reduce reliance on foreign supply.


Culture
Singapore is a mixture of an indigenous Malay population with a third generation Chinese majority, as well as Indian and Arab immigrants with some intermarriages. (Note: In reality, there are very few people in Singapore who can claim to be truly indigenous to the island of Singapore. Other than people who can trace their ancestry to the small number of Orang Laut and Malay fisherfolk living on the island then, the peoples of Singapore {including the Malays} are basically descendants of immigrants who came to Singapore to take advantage of the economic opportunities made available by the founding of modern Singapore by Raffles.) There also exist significant Eurasian and Peranakan (known also as 'Straits Chinese') communities. Singapore has also achieved a significant degree of cultural diffusion. One example is in Singaporean cuisine.
Since the 1990s, the government has been striving to promote Singapore as a centre for arts and culture, and to transform the country into a cosmopolitan 'gateway between the East and West'.
The highlight of these efforts was the construction of Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, a centre for performing arts that opened on October 12, 2002.