Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign country as well as a city-state. It is an island state at the southern end of the Malay Peninsula in Asia, between the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea. Singapore is about one degree of latitude (137 kilometres or 85 mi) north of the equator. About 5.70 million people live in Singapore. About 3.31 million are citizens. Most of them are ethnically Chinese, Malay, or Indian, as well as a smaller number of other Asians and Europeans.
Present-day Singapore was founded in 1819 by Stamford Raffles as a trading post of the British Empire. During the Second World War, Singapore was taken over by Japan in 1942, but returned to British control after Japan surrendered in 1945. Singapore started to govern itself in 1959, and in 1963 became part of the new federation of Malaysia, together with Malaya, North Borneo, and Sarawak. Political and social differences led to Singapore being removed from the federation two years later, then becoming an independent country on its own.