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Singapore

The Republic of Singapore (Chinese 新加坡共和国, pinyin: Xīnjīapō Gònghéguó; Malay Republik Singapura; Tamil சிங்கப்பூர் குடியரசு, Cingkappūr Kudiyarasu), is an island city-state in Southeast Asia, at latitude 1°17'35"N longitude 103°51'20"E, situated on the southern tip of Malay Peninsula, south of the state of Johor of Peninsular Malaysia and north of the Indonesian islands of Riau.

Singapore geography

Geography

Singapore's main territory is a diamond-shaped island which is connected to the city of Johor Bahru in the state of Johor, Malaysia by a man-made causeway to the north. There is also a bridge (Tuas Second Link) in the western part of Singapore connecting to Johor. Singapore also has dozens of smaller islands, of which Jurong Island, Pulau Tekong, Pulau Ubin and Sentosa are the larger ones. The highest point of Singapore is Bukit Timah, with a height of 164m or 539 feet.

When Singapore was first colonized by the British, the city of Singapore was situated on the southern coast, around the mouth of the Singapore River. This area remains the downtown core of Singapore. The rest of the island was farmland and jungle. However, since the 1960s the government has constructed many new towns in other areas, so that today the island is nearly entirely built-up, with only a few exceptions. In addition, Singapore has reclaimed land with earth obtained from its own hills, the seabed, and neighbouring countries. As a result, Singapore's land area grew from 581.5km² in the 1960s to 697.1km² today, and may grow by another 100km² by 2030.

Since Singapore is basically a city-state, there are no further administrative divisions. Singapore does however have community development councils and town councils that handle local matters.

Climate

Singapore's climate is tropical ("tropical rainforest climate" under Köppen climate classification), with no distinct seasons. Because of its geographical location and maritime exposure, its climate is characterised by uniform temperature and pressure, high humidity and abundant rainfall. Temperature as a diurnal range of a minimum 23-26ºC and a maximum of 31-34ºC. Relative humidity has a diurnal range in the high 90's in the early morning to around 60 % in the mid-afternoon. During prolonged heavy rain, relative humidity often reaches 100 %.

The climate of Singapore can be divided into two main seasons, the Northeast Monsoon (December to early March) and the Southwest Monsoon season (June to September), separated by two relatively short inter-monsoon periods. (These seasons are usually found in more academic contexts and are not generally familiar to laypeople in Singapore.) During the Northeast Monsoon season, northeast winds prevail, sometimes reaching 20 km/h. Cloudy conditions in December and January with frequent afternoon showers. Spells of widespread moderate to heavy rain occur lasting from 1 to 3 days at a stretch. Relatively drier in February till early March. Also generally windy with wind speeds sometimes reaching 30 to 40 km/h in the months of January and February. During the Southeast Monsoon season, southeast/southwest winds prevail. Isolated to scattered showers occur in the late morning and early afternoon. Early morning "Sumatra" line squalls are common.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Singapore".