Vanuatu

Vanuatu is a group of islands of volcanic origin in the South Pacific. Vanuatu is an independent republic within the United Kingdom commonwealth. Two of the islands (Matthew and Hunter) are also claimed by France.

Vanuatu comprises about 82 small islands of which 65 are lived on.

There is about 800 miles (1,300 km) north to south distance between the outermost islands.

Fourteen of Vanuatu's islands have surface areas of more than 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi).

HISTORY

The islands in this South Pacific archipelago were first reached from Europe in 1606 by a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Fernandes de Queirós. The islands were claimed by Spain which had a short-lived settlement there before they were forgotten again.

The Vanuatu islands were rediscovered in 1768 and in 1774 by Captain James Cook who named them the New Hebrides.

James Cook landing at Tanna island, c. 1774

In the 1880s, France and the United Kingdom claimed parts of the archipelago. The New Hebrides (or Nouvelles Hebrides) were joint-administered by the two countries from 1906.

Half a million or more US troops poured into Vanuatu in preparation for a huge counter-offensive against the Japanese during World War II.  Coconut plantations were cleared, local men were recruited as porters, and the colonial outposts of Port Vila and Luganville were transformed into bustling military hubs. As a result, Vanuatu managed to escape Japanese occupation during World War II.

On July 30, 1980 the New Hebrides became independent, within the Commonwealth, as the Republic of Vanuatu.

The first president was George Kalkoa, who adopted the name Sokomanu (leader of thousands), and the first Prime Minister was Father Walter Lini.

FUN VANUATU FACTS

The name of Vanuatu, from two local words meaning ‘home' and ‘stand' was adopted on independence in 1980.

The constitution dates from independence in 1980. It provides for a president, who is a formal head of state , selected for five year term by electric college consisting of parliament and the presidents of the country's regional council.

Vanuatu has a population of 272,459 people (2016 census).

Their local language is a form of pidgin English known as Bislama. The official languages are Bislama, English and French.

Their national dish ‘laplap' is a root vegetable cake. It comprises vegetable paste, coconut milk and meat cooked in a banana leaf.

Laplap. By Ronoleo -  Wikipedis

The highest point in Vanuatu is Mount Tabwemasana, at 1,879 metres (6,165 ft), on the island of Espiritu Santo.

The Vanuatu national anthem is “Yumi, yumi, yumi,” (We, we, we).

Bungee jumping originated as land diving, a ritual performed by the men of the southern part of Pentecost Island, Vanuatu. The men jump from the top of wooden towers around 20 to 30 meters (66 to 98 ft) high, with two tree vines wrapped around the ankles. It also acts as a coming-of-age ceremony for the youths who leap from lower platforms to demonstrate their courage.

A villager cuts the vines from a diver after a successful jump. By Paul Stein from New Jersey

Residents of one of the Vanuatu islands were devastated to learn of the retirement of Prince Philip in 2017. There's a cult in the small island nation called the Prince Phillip Movement that believes that the British Queen;s consort is a divine being. He once sent a signed picture of himself to them and they sent him a pig killing club. The followers of the cult had been waiting five decades in vain for him to visit — hoping that he would be able to cure all their diseases and fix their food shortages. (Every morning, they pray to the Duke of Edinburgh and ask him to bless their bananas.)

Sources BBC, Daily Express, Daily Mail

Trinidad and Tobago

Twin islands located just off the northern edge of South America, Trinidad and Tobago are the most southern islands in the Caribbean.

Wikipedia

HISTORY

Until 10,000 years ago, Trinidad and Tobago were both part of the South American mainland.

Christopher Columbus became the first European to discover the island of Trinidad on July 31, 1498. 

Trinidad was a Spanish colony from the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1498 until Spanish governor Don José María Chacón surrendered the island to a British fleet under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby in 1797.

A medallion showing the capture of Trinidad and Tobago by the British in 1797.

The island of Tobago got its name from its resemblance to a cigar-shaped tobacco pipe (tavaco) used by local natives.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, Tobago changed hands among Spanish, British, French, Dutch and Courlander colonizers.

Trinidad and Tobago were ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens as separate states and unified in 1889. 

Trinidad and Tobago received independence from the United Kingdom on August 31, 1962.

The flag of Trinidad and Tobago was adopted upon independence from the United Kingdom. Red, black and white symbolizes fire (the sun, representing courage), earth (representing dedication) and water (representing purity and equality. 

September 24th is Republic Day in Trinidad and Tobago, a public holiday celebrating their becoming a republic in 1976 and ceasing to be a Commonwealth realm. Actually they did that on August 1, 1976. September 24 was when their first parliament met.

In 1990 The Jamaat al Muslimeen attempted a coup d'état in Trinidad and Tobago, occupying the studios of Trinidad and Tobago Television. They held Prime Minister A. N. R. Robinson and most of his Cabinet as well as the staff at the television station hostage for six days.

FUN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO FACTS

Port of Spain is the capital city of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the third largest city in the country. 

Trinidad and Tobago is the only country whose capital city is named after another country.

The novelist VS Naipaul was born in Trinidad. He is the country's only Nobel Prize winner. 

Pitch Lake in Trinidad is the world's largest natural asphalt deposit covering almost 100 acres. The lake is reported to be 250 feet deep.

In the Americas, only the USA and Canada have a higher GDP per head than Trinidad and Tobago. 

Calypso music is the folk music of Trinidad. It generally has simple melodies and the words are often about persons prominent in current events. 

In Trinidad and Tobago an orchestra of frying pans, oil drums and dustbin lids recalls earlier styles of makeshift percussion music, which eventually evolved into steel pan music. The steel band is Trinidad and Tobago's national instrument. 

Calypso music, steel drum bands and limbo dancing all originated in Trinidad and Tobago. 

Source Daily Express

Tonga

Tonga is a South Pacific kingdom comprising 169 islands of which 36 are inhabited. The sovereign state has a population of 100,651 people of whom 70% reside on the main island of Tongatapu.

A map of Tonga

The first European visitors to Tonga were the Dutch vessel Eendracht, captained by Willem Schouten, who made a short visit to trade in 1616. Later Abel Tasman visited Tongatapu (named "Amsterdam" by Tasman due to its abundance of supplies) and Haʻapai in 1643. 

Page from the ship's log of Abel Tasman with the description of t' Eijlandt Amsterdam

Tonga became known as the Friendly Islands for the reception given to Captain James Cook in 1773. He noted in his journal that he was, "welcomed a shore by acclamations from an immence [sic] crowd of Men and Women not one of which had so much as a stick in their hands".

According to another account, the chiefs in Tonga wanted to kill Cook but could not agree on how to do it.

A tortoise, which was presented by a Tonga chief in 1773 to Captain Cook, died as recently as 1966. 

In 1845 an ambitious young warrior and orator, Tāufaʻāhau united Tonga into a kingdom. He declared Tonga a constitutional monarchy. Over the next 50 years, slavery was stopped.

The flag of Tonga was adopted on November 4, 1875 and has been the flag of the Kingdom of Tonga ever since. The constitution stipulates that the national flag can never be changed. The red field of the flag represents the blood of Christ and the Tongan people, while the white canton represents purity and peace. The red couped cross in the canton represents Christianity, which is the dominant religion in Tonga.

Tonga became a British Protectorate on May 18, 1900. Under the protection of Britain, Tonga maintained its sovereignty, and remained the only Pacific nation to retain its monarchical government (unlike Tahiti and Hawaii). 

Queen Salote Tupou III died in 1965 and was succeeded by her son Prince Tupouto'a Tungi, who as King Tupou IV led the nation to full independence, within the Commonwealth, in 1970.

In 2003, Tonga sued the king's official court jester who was also his financial adviser. 

The capital of Tonga is Nuku'alofa which, according to an old legend, means “abode of love”. 

Downtown Nukuʻalofa

Nuku'alofa is one of five capital cities with an apostrophe in its names. The others are N'Djamena (the capital of Chad), Sana'a (Yemen), St John's (Antigua and Barbuda) and St George's (Grenada). Actually the punctuation mark in Nuku'alofa is more a glottal stop than an apostrophe.

Rugby union is Tonga's national sport and the national team (ʻIkale Tahi, or Sea Eagles) has performed reasonably well on the international stage. Many players of Tongan descent such as Jonah Lomu and Israel Folau have played for either the All Blacks or the Wallabies. 

Tonga's only Olympic medal, a silver, was won by superheavyweight boxer Paea Wolfgramm in 1996.

In 1928, Queen Salote Tupou III, who was a member of the church, established the Free Wesleyan Church as the state religion of Tonga. It is the world's only state church in the Methodist tradition of Protestantism, although only 36% of the island's population adheres to it. 

The Free Wesleyan Church. By Tauʻolunga 

According to the Church of Latter Day Saints, Tonga has the highest proportion of Mormons of any country in the world. The Church of Latter Day Saints claims that 57% of Tonga is Mormon....but in a recent census, only 18% of Tongans claimed to follow the religion.

Ninety per cent of the population of Tonga are overweight; 70 per cent of adult women are obese. 

Tonga is the first country to greet the New Year every year.

Daily Express

Tasmania

Tasmania is an island state of Australia. It is located 240 kilometers (150 mi) to the south of the Australian mainland, separated by the Bass Strait. 

Topography of Tasmania. By Zamonin - 

The island was joined to the Australian mainland until the end of the most recent ice age approximately 10,000 years ago.

On November 24, 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman made the first European sighting of Tasmania. He discovered Tasmania and New Zealand on his first Pacific voyage while missing the entire continent of Australia.

Routes taken by Tasman in the Australasian region, on his first and second voyages.

Tasman named the island Anthoonij van Diemenslandt, after his sponsor, the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. The British shortened the name to Van Diemen's Land. It was officially renamed Tasmania on January 1, 1856.

Until late in the 18th century only the south-east of Van Diemen's Land was explored. It was not confirmed to be an island until 1798.

In the 19th century Tasmania was the British Empire's prime penal colony with around 75,000 convicts sent there. The island was permanently settled in 1803 as a penal settlement to prevent claims to the land by the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars.

Mount Wellington and Hobart from Kangaroo Point, c. 1834

In all Tasmania accounted for 40 per cent of all convicts sent to Australia. Transportation ceased in 1853 and the last penal settlement on the island closed in 1877.

The Black War was a period of violent conflict that occurred in Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land) from the early 1800s to the mid-1830s. It was fought between the British colonizers and the Aboriginal Tasmanians, who were the Indigenous inhabitants of the island.

The conflict arose due to the encroachment of European settlers on Aboriginal lands, the seizure of resources, and the destruction of traditional ways of life. It was characterized by a series of clashes, massacres, and reprisals on both sides.

The Aboriginal Tasmanians fought to defend their land, resources, and cultural heritage, while the British colonial forces aimed to expand their settlements and assert control over the region. The conflict escalated as Aboriginal resistance grew and sporadic acts of violence occurred.

As the conflict progressed, the Aboriginal Tasmanian population declined rapidly due to violent encounters, introduced diseases, displacement, and the loss of traditional hunting and gathering grounds. The British colonial authorities implemented policies that aimed to remove or exterminate the Aboriginal population, exacerbating the severity of the conflict.

By the mid-1830s, the Aboriginal Tasmanians had been dispossessed of their lands, their communities were decimated, and their way of life was severely disrupted. The Black War represents a dark chapter in Australian history, highlighting the devastating impact of colonization on Indigenous populations and the lasting consequences of such conflicts.

The last of the Tasmanian aboriginals, Truganini died on May 8, 1876. The daughter of Mangana, Chief of the Bruny Island people, she was born about 1812. Truganini endured the impact of colonization, surviving the violent conflicts of the Black War. After suffering immense displacement and hardships, she became an advocate for her people. Truganini's passing marked a tragic milestone, highlighting the effects of colonization and the need to preserve Indigenous cultures and histories. She remains a symbol of resilience and the ongoing struggle for Indigenous rights.

Truganini in 1870.

Tasmania became part of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. At 68,401 km2 (26,410 sq mi), it is the smallest state in Australia.

The Tasmanian state comprises the main island of Tasmania and the surrounding 334 islands.

The main Tasmania island is the world's 26th largest island. 

The total population of Tasmania is 519,100 as of June 2016, just over forty percent of which resides in the Greater Hobart precinct, which forms the metropolitan area of the state capital and largest city, Hobart. 

About 2,500 kilometres (1,500 ml) south of Tasmania island lies Antarctica, which is nearer than areas in the northern Australian mainland.

Tasmania is said to have the cleanest air in the world.

The Tasmanian Devil, which is only found in Tasmania, is the largest carnivorous marsupial.

The Tasmanian devil has the most powerful bite relative to their body mass of any carnivore on Earth, according to a 2005 study.

Tasmanian devil. By JJ Harrison (jjharrison89@facebook.com)

The actor Errol Flynn was born in Tasmania where his father was a university biology professor.

Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, the wife of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, was born in Hobart, Tasmania. The couple met at the Slip Inn, a pub in Sydney when the prince was visiting Australia during the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Source Daily Express

Taiwan

Taiwan is an island 180 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of the China mainland, south of Japan, and north of the Philippines.

Location map of Taiwan. Wikipedia

HISTORY

Taiwanese aborigines are the indigenous peoples of the island of Taiwan. Although each group holds a variety of creation stories, contemporary research suggests their ancestors may have been living on the islands for approximately 8,000 years before major Han Chinese immigration began in the middle of the last millennium.

In 1517, a Portuguese discovery ship were the first Europeans to view the island.  They named it "Ilha Formosa", or "Beautiful Island" in Portuguese. The name "Formosa" remained in common use among English speakers into the 20th century.

Formosa was occupied by the Dutch from the 1620s, until the Chinese general Koxinga seized the island at the Siege of Fort Zeelandia, which ended on February 1, 1662.

Fort Zeelandia, the Governor's residence in Dutch Formosa

In 1683, following the defeat of Koxinga's grandson by an armada led by Admiral Shi Lang of southern Fujian, the Qing dynasty formally annexed Formosa. Use of the current Chinese name Taiwan was formalized the following year with the establishment of Taiwan Prefecture. Through its rapid development the entire Formosan mainland eventually became known as "Taiwan."

Taiwan was ceded to Japan from Qing China under the terms of the April 17, 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki, following the Sino-Japanese war. Tang Ching-sung was its first president. The island was not regained by China until the Japanese surrender in August 1945.

The Taiwan flag was first used in mainland China as the Navy flag in 1912 and was made the official national flag of the Republic of China (ROC) in 1928 by the Kuomintang (KMT). It was adopted as the official flag of Taiwan on October 25, 1945. The flag is no longer used in mainland China following the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Taiwan flag

In December 1949 Taiwan became the refuge for the Chinese nationalist government forces of Chiang Kai-shek which were compelled to evacuate the mainland after their defeat by the Communist troops of Mao Zedong. Chiang and his nationalist followers, though only a 15 percent minority, dominated the island and maintained an army of 60,0000 in the hope of re conquering the mainland. They continued to be recognized by the USA as the legitimate government of China, and occupied China's United Nations and Security Council seats until October 1971 when they were expelled and replaced by the People's Republic.

Dwight D. Eisenhower visited Taiwan in June 1960 and an estimated 650,000 people packed into the Presidential Plaza to hear the American president. He lauded President Chiang for his courage and tireless effort in leading the nation in the struggle against in­human tyranny.

The picture below shows President Chiang Kai-shek and the US President Dwight D. Eisenhower waving to crowds during his visit to Taiwan's capital Taipei in June 1960.

During the 1970s the Taiwanese government was forced to adjust to rapid external changes as the USA adopted a new policy of detente towards communist China. This culminated in January 1979 in the full normalization of Sino-American relations, and the severing of American-Taiwanese diplomatic contacts. Other Western Nations followed suit and ended diplomatic relations with Taiwan during the 1970s and early 1980s.

As minister of economic affairs from 1969 to 1978 and Premier of the Republic of China from 1978 to 1984, Sun Yun-suan was credited for overseeing the transformation of Taiwan from being a mainly agricultural economy to an export powerhouse. 

When president Chiang Ching-kuo died of a heart attack at age 77 on January 13, 1988, he was succeeded by  Lee Teng-hui who became the first Taiwan native to become president of the Republic of China. 

In March 2004, China's government passed the Anti-Secession Law, which required the Chinese military to invade Taiwan immediately if they declare independence. The law demonstrated China's concern over a growing move towards independence by the government of Taiwan.

The world's then tallest building, the Taipei 101 was built in Tapei, Taiwan in 2004. It held the world record for skyscraper height until 2010.

View of Taipei City, the capital of Taiwan, including the Tapei 101. Wikipedia.

FUN TAIWAN FACTS

While Taiwan still exists, it is not always considered an independent country, despite being self-governing. Taiwan is officially called the Republic of China (ROC) and The People's Republic of China has consistently claimed sovereignty over the island and asserted the ROC is no longer in legitimate existence. However a number of countries maintain official ties with the ROC and many other states maintain unofficial ties through representative offices and institutions that function as de facto embassies and consulates.

Taiwan competes at the Olympic Games as "Chinese Taipei."

Taiwan is the most populous state and largest economy that is not a member of the United Nations.

There is a Hello Kitty-themed hospital in Taiwan.

There is a chain of toilet-themed restaurants in Taiwan serving food in miniature toilet bowls.

Taiwan was the first country to offer free Wi-Fi to all tourists through over 4,000 hotspots all over the island.

Taiwan is mostly mountainous in the east. It's highest point is Yu Shan (Jade Mountain), which is 3,952 meters high (12,966 ft). There are five other peaks over 3,500 meters.

Mandarin is the language of government and education in Taiwan.

Source Hutchinson Encyclopedia 

Sri Lanka

HISTORY

The aboriginal people of Ceylon/Sri Lanka, the Veddas, were conquered about 550 BC by the Sinhalese from north India under their first king, Vijaya.

Hindus on the island started building the first ever purpose built hospitals in the fifth century BC.

In the 3rd century BC the island became a world centre of Buddhism.

Ptolemy's world map of Ceylon, first century AD, in a 1535 publication

The spice trade brought Arabs, who called the island Serendip, and Europeans, who called it Ceylon.

Marco Polo's travels brought him to Ceylon, where his aim was to seize the tooth of Buddha, one of Buddhism’s most holy relics, dating back to 543BC. Though the expedition was unsuccessful, Marco Polo was entranced by the land. He deemed Ceylon “the finest island of its size in all the world”.

Sri Lanka and India were connected by a faint 50 kilometer (31 mi) long sandbar that existed until 1480 when a storm broke it. People used to walk the wispy sandbar from the mainland to the large island in the Indian Ocean, losing sight of the land masses. Scientists still argue as to how it was formed.

Ceylon was subject to waves of European settlement and eventually colonization. The Portuguese were the first to arrive in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Dutch took over in the 17th and 18th centuries, and lastly the British settled there from 1796 to 1948. The island was ceded to Britain in 1802 and it became a crown colony.

 Dutch explorer Joris van Spilbergen meeting with King Vimaladharmasuriya in 1602

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Sri Lanka became a plantation economy, famous for its production and export of cinnamon, rubber and Ceylon tea.

The British developed tea plantations on Ceylon after a fungus destroyed the coffee plantations in 1869. The tea plantations were the basis of the island's prosperity for the next century.

By 1965, Ceylon had become the world's leading exporter of tea, with 200,000 tonnes of tea being shipped internationally annually.

Tea plantation in Haputale, Hill Country. By Adbar 

Under British rule Tamils from South India, Hindus who had been settled in the north and east for centuries, took up English education and progressed rapidly in administrative careers. Many more Tamils emigrated to work on the tea and rubber plantations developed in the Kandy District of Central Sri Lanka.  Conflicts between the Singhalese majority and the Tamils surfaced during the 1920s as nationalist politics developed.

In 1931, universal suffrage was introduced for an elected legislature and executive council in which power was shared with the British. The newly created State Council of Ceylon was the first democracy in Asia.

Ceylon became independent within the British Commonwealth on February 4, 1948.

Formal ceremony marking the start of self-rule - the opening of the first parliament

In 1960 Sirimavo Bandaranaike the first woman to head a government when she was elected Prime Minister of Ceylon on July 21, 1960. She was elected after her husband, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, was assassinated in September 1959. Bandaranaike served as prime minister of Ceylon and later Sri Lanka for three terms, from 1960 to 1965, from 1970 to 1977, and from 1994 to 2000.

Bandaranaike was a controversial figure, but she was also a popular one. She was known for her strong leadership and her commitment to social justice. She was also a champion of women's rights.

On May 22, 1972, Ceylon changed its name to Sri Lanka, adopted a new constitution, and officially became a republic. The name change was a result of a growing Sinhalese nationalism in the country, and the new constitution established a unitary state with Buddhism as the state religion. The change in status was met with mixed reactions, with some people welcoming it as a sign of Sri Lanka's independence, while others saw it as a step towards Sinhalese dominance.

The name "Ceylon" was derived from the Portuguese name "Ceilão", which was in turn derived from the Sinhalese name "Sinhaloka". The name "Sri Lanka" is a combination of the Sanskrit words "Sri" (meaning "blessed") and "Lanka" (meaning "island"). The name was chosen because it was believed to be more reflective of the country's ancient history and culture.

The new constitution of Sri Lanka established a unitary state with a president as head of state. The president was elected by the people for a six-year term. The constitution also established a unicameral parliament, which was elected by the people for a five-year term.

The current Sri Lankan flag was adopted on May 22, 1972. The lion is holding a sword in its right paw representing bravery. There is a crimson background with four leaves in each corner representing Karuna, Meththa, Muditha and Upeksha. The orange stripe represents the Sri Lankan Tamils and the green stripe represents the Sri Lankan Moors.

Beginning on July 23, 1983, there was an intermittent insurgency against the Sri Lanka government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (also known as the Tamil Tigers), which fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the north and the east of the island. This prompted legislation outlawing separatist organisations. The ensuing civil war cost thousands of lives and blighted the country's economy. The tourist industry collapsed and foreign investment dried up.

The civil war was decisively ended when the Sri Lanka Armed Forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009. Since then tourism has rapidly grown as a source of foreign investment and currency.

Protesters stormed the President's House in the city of Colombo, on July 9, 2022. They forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to agree to resign. The government had been criticized for mismanaging the Sri Lankan economy, leading to a subsequent economic crisis and severe inflation, daily blackouts, and a shortage of fuel, domestic gas, and other essential goods. 

Sri Lanka suffered the  world's worst post-pandemic slump in Sri Lanka.  The World Bank placed Sri Lanka at the bottom of its list of 148 countries in terms of the ease of doing business in 2023. This was a significant drop from Sri Lanka's ranking of 99 in 2022.

FUN SRI LANKA FACTS

The total population of Sri Lanka is roughly 21,444,000 people, with an annual population growth rate of 1.14%.

The capital of Sri Lanka is Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte while the largest city is Colombo.

Sri Lanka has three main ethnic groups. The largest of the three groups is the Sinhalese people, most of whom are Buddhist, and who have their own language, Sinhala. They make up about 75% of the population. The second largest group is the Tamil people, who are Hindu. There are about 2,271,000 Tamils in Sri Lanka. The third largest group is the Sri Lankan Moors, who are Muslim. There are over one and a half million people in this group and they use Tamil as their language today.

Sri Lanka has 103 rivers. The longest of these is the Mahaweli River, extending 335 kilometres (208 mi). These waterways give rise to 51 natural waterfalls of 10 meters or more.

Although Sri Lanka is relatively small in size, it has the highest biodiversity density in Asia. A remarkably high proportion of the species among its flora and fauna, 27% of the 3,210 flowering plants and 22% of the mammals, are endemic.

Source Hutchinson Encyclopedia

Singapore

Singapore is a city-state in South East Asia, off the tip of the Malay peninsular.

Singapore By Chensiyuan

HISTORY

British official, Sir Stamford Raffles first stepped on an island known locally as ‘Singapura’ on January 29, 1819. A week later, on February 6, 1819, he signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor , which established Singapore as a trading post for the British East India Company.

1825 survey map of Singapore.

The name of Singapore comes from the Sanskrit for "Lion City" after Sang Nila Utama, the Srivijayan prince said to have founded and named the island Singapura thought he saw a lion there in 1299. It is unlikely that lions ever lived on the island; the Srivijayan prince perhaps saw a Malayan tiger.

Singapore's Fort Tanjong Katong, one of the oldest military forts built by the British colonial government, never saw combat action and was nicknamed the "Wash-out Fort".

Japanese forces led by General Tomoyuki Yamashita captured Singapore on February 15, 1942. About 80,000 Indian, United Kingdom and Australian soldiers become prisoners of war, the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history.

The national flag of Singapore was adopted on December 3, 1959, the year Singapore became self-governing within the British Empire. The five stars on Singapore’s flag represent democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality. The crescent moon is a rising, young nation.

Singapore gained independence from the UK in 1963 by federating with other former British territories to form Malaysia, but was forced to separate two years later over ideological differences, becoming a sovereign nation in 1965.

When Singapore was expelled from Malaysia on August 9, 1965, it became the first and only country to date to gain independence unwillingly.

Singapore's first Mass Rapid Transit line was opened on November 7, 1987, starting with train services between Yio Chu Kang and Toa Payoh stations.

In 2012, Singapore, a country of over 5 million people, experienced 80 days in which no robberies or thefts were reported.

GEOGRAPHY

Singapore consists of 63 islands, including the main island, Pulau Ujong.

An outline of Singapore and the surrounding islands and waterways

Singapore is an island, a city and a sovereign state. It is held to be one of only three modern city-states together with Monaco and Vatican City.

Singapore is situated only 85 miles north of the equator.

All the land in Singapore is owned by the government.

The highest natural point is Bukit Timah Hill at 163.63 m (537 ft).

FUN SINGAPORE FACTS

The national symbol of Singapore is the merlion, a mythical creature, half lion and half fish, which was created in 1964.

The merlion by Erwin Soo from Singapore

Worldwide, the average woman gives birth to an estimated 6.89 children. The lowest fertility rate is in Singapore, where women give birth to an average of 0.8 children.

Everyone in Singapore above the age of 21 is automatically registered as an organ donor. Opting out from this Act will result in you being put at the very bottom of the organ priority list, should you need an organ transplantation.

Due to a shortage of space, burials in cemeteries are limited in Singapore to a maximum of 15 years, after which the deceased must be dug up and cremated.

World Toilet Day became an official United Nations day in 2013 thanks to a proposal to its General Assembly from Singapore. It was the first time Singapore had ever put a resolution to the General Assembly.

Singapore's crime rate is so low that many shops do not even bother to close the door when they close at night.

It's illegal to import chewing gum into Singapore except for medical use, because it's not clean to have it on the streets.

Singapore’s street food is so good that some street vendors are awarded Michelin stars for their food.

Spitting in a coffee shop or urinating in a public toilet without flushing it are also illegal in Singapore.

The Port of Singapore is the world's busiest for transshipment traffic and the world's biggest ship refueling center,

Buildings in Singapore must not be higher than 280 metres. Three buildings are exactly that high.

In 2002, the Great Singapore Duck Race set a world record of 123,000 rubber ducks taking part in the same event. The last such race was in 2007.

The words of the Singapore national anthem are printed in micro-text on the back of their $1,000 bank note.

Singapore won their first Olympic gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics when swimmer Joseph Schooling came first in the Men's 100 metre butterfly. It was also the first ever gold Olympic medal by a Southeast Asian male swimmer.

Source Daily Express

Seychelles

The Republic of Seychelles is an archipelago comprising around 115 islands and islets, mostly uninhabited, in the Indian Ocean.

Map of Seychelles

HISTORY

The earliest recorded sighting of the Seychelles by Europeans took place in 1502 by the Portuguese Admiral Vasco da Gama, who passed through the Amirantes and named them after himself (islands of the Admiral).

The earliest recorded landing on The Seychelles was in January 1609, by the crew of The Ascension under Captain Alexander Sharpeigh during the fourth voyage of the British East India Company.

The islands were mainly used by pirates until they became a French colony in 1744. They were then named after Jean Moreau de Séchelles, Minister of Finance under Louis XV.

The Seychelles was ceded to Britain by France in 1814 and was ruled as part of Mauritius until it became a crown colony in 1903.

Victoria, capital of Seychelles 1903

In the 1960s political parties were formed, campaigning for independence, the most significant in the Seychelles Democratic Party (SDP), led by James Mancham, and the Seychelles People's United Party (SPUP), led by France-Albert René (born November 16, 1934). René demanded complete independence while Mancham favored integration with Britain.

In 1975 internal self-government was agreed. The two parties then formed a coalition government with Mancham as prime minister.

On June 29, 1976 Seychelles became an independent Republic within the Commonwealth, with Mancham as president and René as prime minister. June 29th is celebrated each year as Independence Day.

The following year René staged an armed coup while Mancham was attending a commonwealth conference in London, and declared himself president. After a brief suspension of the constitution, a new one was adopted, creating a one party state, with the SPUP being renamed the Seychelles People's Progressive Front. René, as the only candidate, was formally elected president in 1979 and then re-elected in 1984.

Seychelles former President France-Albert René By Joe Laurence / Seychelles News Agency

In the 1980s there were a series of coup attempts against President René, some of which were supported by South Africa.

René ruled as sole leader under a socialist one-party system until 1993, when he was forced to introduce a multi-party system.

The current flag of Seychelles was adopted on January 8, 1996. The current flag, with five oblique bands of blue, yellow, red, white, and green, was adopted to represent the diversity of the country's political landscape and natural beauty. The colors used in the current flag are the official colors of the nation's two major political parties–SPUP and the SDP.

René stepped down in 2004 in favour of his vice-president, James Michel, who was re-elected in 2006 and again in 2011.

FUN SEYCHELLES FACTS

Seychelles is the smallest African country.

The population of the Seychelles is an estimated 94,228. It is the smallest population of any African state.

90% of the population is a mix of freed slaves from the African continent and Madagascar plus European settlers.

The people of Seychelles are called Seychellois.

Seychelles is the only United Nations member whose name has no letters in common with ‘Britain’.

Victoria is the capital city of Seychelles and is situated on the north-eastern side of Mahé island, the archipelago's main island. The city was first established as the seat of the British colonial government. In 2010, the population of Greater Victoria (including the suburbs) was 26,450.

Victoria By Esskay at the German language Wikipedia, 

Seychelles has a higher proportion of its population in jail than any other country.

Seychelles has competed at every summer Olympics since 1980, except Seoul 1988. To date, no Seychellois athlete has ever won an Olympic medal.

The islands are the only home of the endangered Seychelles black parrot, which is actually brown. It is the national bird of the Seychelles.

The Aldabra Giant Tortoise lives on many of the islands of the Seychelles. The Aldabra population is the largest in the world. These unique reptiles can be found even in captive herds.

An Aldabra giant tortoise. By Bjørn Christian Tørrissen

Bird Island in the Seychelles is home to Esmeralda, the world’s heaviest tortoise at 363 kg (800 lb).

Seychelles is also home to the world’s largest land crab, the 3ft-long coconut crab. There are a further 26 species of crabs and 5 species of hermit crabs that live on the islands.

The extremely rare jellyfish tree, whose fruits look like jellyfish, is found on the island of Mahé. This strange and ancient plant is in a genus of its own (Medusagynaceae).

One delicacy of Seychellois cuisine is shark chutney, which typically consists of boiled skinned shark, finely mashed, and cooked with squeezed bilimbi juice and lime. It is mixed with onion and spices, and the onion is fried and it is cooked in oil.

Shark chutney (right), with lentils and shredded green papaya. By IGTaylor 

In the 1960s, about 33% of the Seychelles working population worked at plantations, and 20% worked in the public or government sector. During the plantation era, cinnamon, vanilla, and copra were the main exports.

Today manufacturing, construction, and industrial fishing, notably tuna fishing, account for about 28.8% of the GDP.

Since the use of spearguns and dynamite for fishing was banned in the 1960s, the wildlife is unafraid of snorkelers and divers.

In 1971, with the opening of Seychelles International Airport, tourism became a serious industry.

Beach of Anse Source d'Argent on the island of La Digue. Tobias Alt, Tobi 87 

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge spent their honeymoon in the Seychelles in May 2011.

Seychelles boasts the highest nominal per capita GDP in Africa, excluding the French regions.

Despite the country's newfound economic prosperity, poverty remains widespread due to a high level of income inequality, one of the highest in the world, and unequal wealth distribution.

Sources Hutchinson Encyclopedia, Daily Express