Fort Canning Hill

I spent an afternoon tracking down a number of sites in the civic district downtown. My first stop was Fort Canning Hill, which I haven't been to since I was a teenager. The site I was specifically looking for was Keramat Iskandar Shah, believed to be the grave of a pre-colonial king from the 14th century. I also took the opportunity to explore the area, including some old fortifications and cannons.

I was surprised to find an archaeological excavation site in the park, with information about pre-colonial Singapore. When I was in school, our history lessons glossed over what was in place before Sir Stamford Raffles "founded" Singapore. The traditional western-focused narrative was that Singapore was a sleepy fishing village, and that the British transformed it into a thriving port. It was only in recent years that a different narrative has come to light - that Singapore was already a flourishing trading post centuries before the British arrived, and that they built Singapore upon that foundation.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/keramat-isk…

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