Singapore is a small island state in Southeast Asia that is situated along the strategic Straits of Malacca, key to the shipping trade between Europe and East Asia. Situated between Malaysia and Indonesia, two large predominantly Muslim states, Singapore has a history that has been dominated by its geography and framed by the twin themes of vulnerability and survival. Singapore's total land area, including the surrounding tiny islands, is 697 square kilometers (269 square miles).

Singapore's population in 2003 was 4.2 million. Because of low fertility rates Singapore has a strategy of attracting foreign talent. Of the total population, about three-quarter million are not citizens. The ethnic composition, which has been stable, is approximately 77 percent Chinese, 14 percent Malay, and 8 percent Indian. This makes Singapore the only Chinese majority state in a region noted for harboring resentments against minority Chinese communities.

In 1819 sparsely populated Singapore was secured by treaty for the British East...