The Kingdom of Singapura (Malay: Kerajaan Singapura) was a Malay polity believed to have been founded as a Hindu–Buddhist kingdom during the early history of Singapore on the island of Temasek, lasting from 1299 until its decline and fall between 1396 and 1398. Conventional view marks c. 1299 as the founding year of the kingdom by Sang Nila Utama (also known as "Sri Tri Buana"), whose father is Sang Sapurba, a semi-divine figure who according to legend is the ancestor of several Malay monarchs in the Malay world.
The historicity of this kingdom based on the account given in the Malay Annals is uncertain and many historians only consider its last ruler, the Muslim convert Parameswara (or Sri Iskandar Shah), to be a historically attested figure in his role as the first ruler of the Malacca Sultanate. Archaeological evidence from Fort Canning Hill and the nearby banks of the Singapore River has nevertheless demonstrated the existence of a thriving settlement and a trade port in the 14th century, corroborating the eyewitness testimony of Yuan dynasty sojourner Wang Dayuan concerning the settlements of Long Ya Men and Ban Zu upon Temasek.
The settlement developed in the 13th or 14th century and transformed from a small trading outpost into a bustling center of international commerce, facilitating trade networks that linked the Malay Archipelago, India and the Yuan dynasty. It was however claimed by two regional powers at that time, the Ayuthaya from the north and the Majapahit from the south. As a result, the kingdom's fortified capital was attacked by at least two major foreign invasions before it was finally sacked by Majapahit in 1398 according to the Malay Annals or by the Siamese according to Portuguese sources. The last king, Parameswara, fled to the west coast of the Malay Peninsula to establish the Malacca Sultanate in 1400.
Etymology
The name Singapura is derived from Sanskrit meaning "Lion City". Singa comes from the Sanskrit word siṃha, which means "lion", and pūra means "city" in Sanskrit. According to the Malay Annals, Sang Nila Utama and his men were exploring Tanjong Bemban while in Bintan when he spotted an island with white sandy beach from a high point. On learning that the island was called Temasek, they set sail for the island, but encountered a severe storm on the way. After they managed to land safely on the island, they went to hunt for wild animals. He suddenly saw a strange animal with a red body, black head and a white neck breast. It was a fine-looking animal and moved with great speed as it disappeared into the jungle. He asked his chief minister, Demang Lebar Daun, what animal it was, and was told that it probably was an Asiatic lion. He then decided to stay in Temasek, named the city he founded Singapura or "Lion City".
Some scholars believe that Sang Nila Utama and the story of its founding to be fictional, and a number of alternative suggestions for the origin of the name of Singapore have been given. For example, it has been proposed that the name Singapura was adopted by Parameswara as an indication that he was re-establishing in Temasek the lion throne that he had originally set up in Palembang as a challenge to the Javanese Majapahit Empire. In this version of events, Parameswara had assassinated the local ruler of Temasek and usurped the throne, and changed the name of Temasek to strengthen the legitimacy of his claim over the island. Others linked the name to the Javanese kingdom of Singhasari as well as a Majapahit Buddhist sect whose adherents were referred to as lions. Although it is believed that the name Singapura replaced Temasek some time in the 14th century, the origin of the name cannot be determined with certainty.
Historiography
The only comprehensive account of Singapore's history during the early modern period is the Malay Annals. These were written and compiled during the height of the Malacca Sultanate and re-compiled in 1612 by the court of the Johor Sultanate. It is the basis for accounts of its founding, the succession of rulers and its decline. As no specific date is given in the Malay Annals, the chronology of the history of the Kingdom of Singapura as set out in the Malay Annals is calculated from the date of death of Parameswara given in the Ming Veritable Records. While various aspects of the accounts of the Malacca and Johor sultanates given in the Malay Annals are relatively accurate, the same can not be said for the Kingdom of Singapura for which there is little corroborating evidence for large part of its accounts. Historians are therefore generally in doubt over the historicity of the kingdom as described in the semi-historical Malay Annals, nevertheless some consider Singapura to be a significant polity that existed between the decline of Srivijaya and the rise of Malacca. Some also argued that the author of the Malay Annals, whose purpose is to legitimise the claim of descent from the Palembang ruling house, invented the five kings of Singapura to gloss over an inglorious period of its history. However, Iskandar Shah/Parameswara, the last ruler of Singapura and founder of the Malacca Sultanate, is a figure that could be considered factual.
Accounts of Singapura in its final years are also briefly given in Portuguese sources, such as those by Tomé Pires, Brás de Albuquerque (who published letters by his father Afonso de Albuquerque), Godinho de Erédia, and João de Barros. For example, the Suma Oriental, written shortly after the Portuguese conquest of Malacca, briefly mentions Singapura in relation to the foundation of Malacca. Both the Suma Oriental and the Malay Annals contain similar stories about a fleeing Palembang prince who arrived and lay claim to Singapura, and about the last king of Singapura who fled to the west coast of the Malay Peninsula to found Malacca. However, both accounts differ markedly as the Suma Oriental identifies the fleeing prince and the last king of Singapura as Parameswara. In contrast, the Malay Annals identifies the fleeing prince and the last king as two different people separated by five generations, Sang Nila Utama and Iskandar Shah respectively. The Suma Oriental noted further that the fleeing Palembang prince assassinated the local ruler "Temagi" or "Sang Aji" and usurped the throne of Singapura sometimes around the 1390s, and Parameswara then ruled Singapura for five years with the help of the Çelates or Orang Laut.
Portuguese sources named Iskandar Shah as Parameswara's son, Chinese Ming dynasty sources similar named Iskandar Shah as the second ruler of Malacca. Many modern scholars believe Parameswara to be the same person as Iskandar Shah, and some scholars argued that they were mistaken as two different people due to Parameswara changing his name to Iskandar Shah after he converted to Islam. There are however other opinions, and many now accept Megat Iskandar Shah as the son of Parameswara.
The only known first-hand account of 14th-century Singapore is found in the descriptions of a place called Danmaxi (commonly identified with Temasek in Chinese transliteration) recorded by Wang Dayuan in the Daoyi Zhilüe, a chronicle of his travels. It indicates that Temasek was ruled by a local chief during Wang's visit around 1330, however the word used (酋長, "tribal chief") by Wang indicates that the ruler may not have been independent, rather he was a vassal of another more powerful state. Wang also mentioned that the Siamese attacked the fortified city of Temasek with around 70 ships a few years before he visited, but Temasek successfully resisted the attack which lasted a month. Other settlements on the island recorded by Wang are Long Ya Men (identified with Keppel Harbour) and Ban Zu (possibly a Chinese transliteration of the Malay Pancur, or a sacred spring on Fort Canning Hill); the exact relationship between these settlements is unknown.
Archaeological evidence
Although the existence of the kingdom as described in the Malay Annals is debatable, archaeological excavations on Fort Canning and its vicinity along the banks of the Singapore River since 1984 by John Miksic have confirmed the presence of a thriving settlement and a trade port there during the 14th century. Remnants of a wall of significant size (described by John Crawfurd as around five metres wide and three metres high) and unique to the region were found inland along present day Stamford Road. Excavations also found evidence of structures built on what is now Fort Canning Hill, along with evidence of fruit orchards and terraces. Local lore when the British arrived in the early 1800s associated it with the royalty of ancient Singapura where its last ruler was buried, and the hill was known to them as the Forbidden Hill (Bukit Larangan), as it was the site of spirits. In 1928, a cache of gold ornaments was found by workers excavating the hill for the Fort Canning Reservoir, including a pair of near-identical flexible armlets, a finger ring inscribed with a bird-like motif, three pairs of circular rings (perhaps earrings), an elliptical ornament, and a jewelled clasp with a disc-and-conch motif. Most of these were lost during the Japanese occupation of Singapore in the Second World War, and only one of the armbands and two of the circular rings remain. Numerous fragments of ceramics, porcelain, and other objects have been found at three different locations around the Singapore River and Fort Canning Hill, with those from Fort Canning Hill of a higher quality than the others, offering further evidence that it was the residence of the elites, all of which supports the notion that Singapore was a political and commercial center in the 14th century.
History
The primary source concerning the history of the rulers of Singapura are the Malay Annals, and the rest of this section is mainly built upon reconstructions from its text, although corroborating evidence is scarce and its polemic nature suggests against literal interpretations of this chronicle. Other sources include the Yuan dynasty merchant Wang Dayuan's compendium known as the Daoyi Zhilüe, Trần dynasty annals, Portuguese apothecary Tomé Pires' Suma Oriental and scattered references in the Majapahit Nagarakretagama and the 16th-century Javanase court poem, Pararaton; as well as Ming records such as the Yuanshi.
Sang Nila Utama
According to the Malay Annals, a fleeing Palembang prince named Sang Nila Utama, who claimed to be a descendant of Alexander the Great (via his Islamic interpretation as Iskandar Zulkarnain), took refuge on Bintan Island for several years before he set sail and landed on Temasek in 1299. In this era, Temasek was a small trading outpost and primarily inhabited by Orang Laut seafarers. Historically, these Orang Laut were very loyal to the Malay kings, patrolling adjacent seas and repelling other petty pirates, directing traders to their Malay overlords' ports and maintaining those ports' dominance in the area. These Orang Laut eventually declared him Raja ("king"), and Sang Nila Utama renamed Temasek as Singapura and founded his capital around the mouth of the Singapore River.
The area was suitable for a new settlement due to the nearby presence of a spring and a hill. The fresh water from a spring on the hill's slope served both as a bathing place for royalty and, at the base of a hill, a source of fresh water for the populace. The hill (modern-day Fort Canning Hill) itself represented Mount Meru, the seat of the gods in Hindu-Buddhist mythology, which was associated with kingship and divinity in ancient Southeast Asian culture. Building a palace on a hill would have helped Sang Nila Utama to assert his role as a semi-divine ruler.
The king styled himself as Sri Tri Buana, or "The Lord of Three Worlds", indicating authority over the universe. Within a few decades, the small settlement grew into a thriving cosmopolitan city serving as a port of call for richly laden trade ships traveling through the Malacca Straits region. The Malay Annals mention that supplies of workers, horses and elephants were sent from Bintan by the king's adoptive mother, Permaisuri Iskandar Syah, the Queen of the Kingdom of Bentan on Bintan Island.
It was during this period that contacts with Yuan dynasty China were established. It was recorded that in 1320, Yuan China sent envoys to Long Ya Men (thought by some to stretch from modern-day Keppel Harbour south to the northwestern side of Sentosa and west to what is today the Labrador Nature Reserve) "to obtain tame elephants", and the natives of Long Ya Men returned with tributes and a trade mission to China in 1325.
Long Ya Men was part of Temasek (the Kingdom of Singapura) according to Chinese traveler Wang Dayuan who visited Temasek in the 1330s and wrote an account of his travel in the Daoyi Zhilüe. He describes Temasek as comprising two settlements – "Ban Zu" (after the Malay word "pancur" or fresh-water spring), a peaceful trading port city under the rule of the king. The second settlement he describes as an area surrounding the "Long-ya-men", which was occupied by ferocious pirates who launched frequent attacks on passing merchant ships. He also notes that Chinese traders lived there, "side by side with the natives". He also mentions some of the trade goods bartered in Singapura: red gold, cotton prints, blue satin, lakawood and fine hornbill casques.
The Siamese attempted to subjugate the island kingdom in this period. According to Wang's account, possibly a few years before he visited Temasek in the 1330s, a Siamese fleet consisting of 70 junks descended upon the island kingdom and launched an attack. The moated and heavily fortified city managed to withstand the siege of the Siamese for a month until the Siamese fleet withdrew with the arrival of a Yuan dynasty imperial envoy.