Early history of Singapore

The early history of Singapore refers to its pre-colonial era before 1819, when the British East India Company led by Sir Stamford Raffles established a trading settlement on the island and set in motion the history of Singapore.

Prior to 1819, the island was known by several names; an early reference may be in the 2nd century work by Ptolemy which identified a coastal port at the southernmost tip of the Malayan peninsula, called Sabana. However, historians generally attribute a 3rd-century Chinese traveller's record describing an island at the same location called Pu Luo Chung - a transliteration of Singapura's early Malay name Pulau Ujong, as the first recording of its existence. Subsequently, the island was controlled by different kingdoms in Southeast Asia including the Siamese, Javanese, and Sultanate of Malacca from the 14th century and the Sultanate of Johor from the 16th century.

The first possible mention of early Singapore dates to 2nd century CE cartographic references in the Greco-Roman astronomer Ptolemy's Geographia. A place called Sabana or Sabara was marked on the 11th Map of Asia at the southern tip of the Golden Khersonese (meaning the Malay Peninsula) where Singapore may lie. It was identified as a nominon emporion or designated foreign trading port, as part of a chain of similar trading centres that linked Southeast Asia with India and the Mediterranean. Identification of Sabana or Sabara however varies, with various authors proposing it to be in Selangor or near Klang, or just south of Malacca, or south Johor, as well as Singapore island itself. No archaeological evidence from this period has yet been found in Singapore.

...
Wikipedia