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The Singapore River - A Social History, 1819-2002 (Paperback)
Loot Price: R814
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The Singapore River - A Social History, 1819-2002 (Paperback)
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For most of its modern history, to speak of Singapore was to speak
of the Singapore River, physical centre of the city and site of the
greater part of the colony's entrepot trade. The river has been
transformed over the last 25 years from a polluted industrial sewer
choked with traffic to a clean, placid waterway that forms the
centrepiece of Singapore's financial, civic and entertainment
districts. This transformation symbolizes the city-state's efforts
to remake itself for the 21st century. Stephen Dobbs sets out the
history of this waterway, and of the people who made it their home
and workplace. He describes the tidal swamp in the early days of
the British settlement, where merchants ignored Raffles
much-vaunted city plan and built their businesses on the limited
high ground along the marshy riverbanks. Later, even as the long
distance shipping moved to new port facilities elsewhere on the
island, the river remained the base for a large regional trade, and
boatmen and businessmen struggled to cope with silting,
over-crowding, and bridges that were too low to be passed at high
tide. Looking at the post-war years, Dobbs zeros in on the boatmen
who carried goods between the ""godowns"" or warehouses along the
river and the freighters lying at anchor in the roads. Despite its
pollution, the river remained home to a vital community of coolies
and tally clerks, and the tumultuous urban life that swirled around
them. Today the waterfront community has been relocated. The
shophouses and warehouses along the river are now chic cafes and
upmarket restaurants, fish have returned to the Singapore River,
and urban dwellers stroll on walks along the river's edge. Blending
social history, geography, economic history and urban studies, this
book will be of interest to anyone wishing to understand
Singapore's many transformations during the past two centuries.
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