103-482: Sentosa Island , known mononymously as Sentosa , is an island located off the southern coast of Singapore 's main island . The island is separated from the main island of Singapore by a channel of water, the Keppel Harbour , and is adjacent to Pulau Brani , a smaller island wedged between Sentosa and the main island. Formerly used as a British military base and afterwards as a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp,
206-451: A "commuting" distance to an island that has enough resources to be sustainable. The presence of an island is marked by seabirds , differences in cloud and weather patterns, as well as changes in the direction of waves. It is also possible for human populations to have gone extinct on islands, evidenced by explorers finding islands that show evidence of habitation but no life. Not all islands were or are inhabited by maritime cultures. In
309-514: A "rafting event". This phenomenon is known as oceanic dispersal . Tropical storms have the capacity to transport species over great distances. Animals like tortoises can live for weeks without food or water, and are able to survive floating on debris in the sea. One case study showed that in 1995, fifteen iguanas survived a 300 km journey to Anguilla in the Caribbean , an island which no iguana had lived on previously. They survived floating on
412-448: A beach patrol lifeguard team who are easily identified by their red and yellow uniforms. The Singapore Civil Defence Force's (SCDF) newest fire station officially commenced operations on the island of Sentosa at 8am on Monday (6 June 2016). Sentosa Fire Station, which is located at 37 Artillery Avenue, has a fleet of five emergency vehicles: two fire engines, a fire bike, an ambulance and an aerial firefighting and rescue support vehicle. It
515-497: A casino was met with extensive opposition from many conservative critics. Nevertheless, the government has constantly reassured the public that there would be stringent measures in place to maintain the social fabric of the nation Singapore, and to prevent problems such as gambling addiction . It is also home to several celebrity chef restaurants, including Joël Robuchon , and the Ocean Restaurant by Cat Cora, which faces
618-426: A detailed review of 1,288 islands found that they were home to 1,189 highly-threatened vertebrate species, which was 41 percent of the global figure. Coral bleaching is expected to occur with more frequency, threatening marine ecosystems, some of which island economies are dependent on. Some islands that are low-lying may cease to exist given high enough amounts of sea level rise. Tuvalu received media attention for
721-614: A few meters high, and are usually temporary. Changes in the flow speed, water level, and sediment content of the river may effect the rate of fluvial island formation and depletion. Permanent river islands also exist, the largest of which (that is completely inland) is Bananal Island in the Tocantins of Brazil, which has a maximum width of 55 kilometers. Lakes form for a variety of reasons, including glaciers , plate tectonics, and volcanism. Lake islands can form as part of these processes. The field of insular biogeography studies
824-402: A higher carrying capacity also have more genetic diversity , which promotes speciation . Oceanic islands, ones that have never been connected to shore, are only populated by life that can cross the sea. This means that any animals present on the island had to have flown there, in the case of birds or bats , were carried by such animals, or were carried in a sea current in what is known as
927-477: A loss of almost all the infrastructure in Dominica. Sea level rise and other climate changes can reduce freshwater reserves, resulting in droughts . These risks are expected to decrease the habitability of islands, especially small ones. Beyond risks to human life, plant and animal life are threatened. It has been estimated that almost 50 percent of land species threatened by extinction live on islands. In 2017,
1030-403: A mass of uprooted trees from a storm. Plant species are thought to be able to travel great distances of ocean. New Zealand and Australia share 200 native plant species, despite being separated by 1500 km. Continental islands, islands that were at one point connected to a continent, are expected to share a common history of plant and animal life up until the point that the island broke away from
1133-837: A minimum. Some islands became host to humans due to a land bridge or a continental island splitting from the mainland. Today, up to 10% of the world's population lives on islands. Islands are popular targets for tourism due to their perceived natural beauty, isolation, and unique cultures. Islands became the target of colonization by Europeans, resulting in the majority of islands in the Pacific being put under European control. Decolonization has resulted in some but not all island nations becoming self-governing , with lasting effects related to industrialisation , invasive species , nuclear weapons testing , and tourism . Islands and island countries are threatened by climate change . Sea level rise threatens to submerge nations such as Maldives ,
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#17327760714731236-743: A minority. Cultural attitudes related to communal ownership of land as well as a lack of individualistic decision-making may make some island cultures less compatible with the global capitalist economy, causing these nations to experience less economic growth. Islands have long been a popular target for tourism , thanks to their unique climates, cultures, and natural beauty. However, islands may suffer from poor transportation connectivity from airplanes and boats and strains on infrastructure from tourist activity. Islands in colder climates often rely on seasonal tourists seeking to enjoy nature or local cultures, and may only be one aspect of an island's economy. In contrast, tourism on tropical islands can often make up
1339-613: A permanent caisson , a steel or concrete structure built in a closed loop and then filled with sand. Some modern islands have been constructed by pouring millions of tons of sand into the sea, such as with Pearl Island in Qatar or the Palm Islands in Dubai. These islands are usually created for real estate development , and are sold for private ownership or construction of housing. Offshore oil platforms have also been described as
1442-524: A phenomenon where new oceanic crust is formed, pushing away older crust. Islands sitting on the continental shelf may be called continental islands. Other islands, like those that make up New Zealand , are what remains of continents that shrank and sunk beneath the sea. It was estimated that Zealandia , the continent-like area of crust that New Zealand sits on, has had 93% of its original surface area submerged. Some islands are formed when coral reefs grow on volcanic islands that have submerged beneath
1545-423: A press conference publicizing the ongoing submerging of the island country. Tuvalu signed a cooperation agreement with Australia agreeing to annually allow 280 of its citizens to become permanent residents of Australia. The Marshall Islands, a country of 1,156 islands, have also been identified as a country that may be existentially threatened by rising seas. Increasing intensity of tropical storms also increases
1648-483: A priority target of conservation efforts, to prevent the extinction of these species. Despite high levels of endemism, the total species richness , the total number of unique species in a region, is lower on islands than on mainlands. The level of species richness on islands is proportional to the area of that island, a phenomenon known as the species-area relationship . This is because larger areas have more resources and thus can support more organisms. Populations with
1751-488: A remedy in childbirth , but there is no explanation of how the fort came to be so called, the orang laut of Kampong Kopit only knowing the place by the name of sarang rimau . By the 1930s, the island was heavily fortified and a crucial component of Fortress Singapore, and the base of the Royal Artillery . Fort Connaught , on eastern side of Sentosa island, was earlier called Belakang Mati East Battery which
1854-411: A restricted set of natural resources. However, these nations control some of the largest fisheries in the world, deposits of copper , gold , and nickel , as well as oil deposits . The natural beauty of island nations also makes them a magnet for tourism . Islands also have geopolitical value for naval bases , weapons testing , and general territorial control. One such example is French Polynesia ,
1957-476: A selection pressure for smaller animals that require less food. Having fewer predators would mean these animals did not need not be large to survive. Charles Darwin formulated the theory of natural selection through the study of island ecology. The species he observed on the Galápagos Islands , including tanager birds, contributed to his understanding of how evolution works. He first traveled to
2060-509: A specific property known as adaptive radiation . In this process, a species that arrives on a group of islands rapidly becomes more diverse over time, splitting off into new species or subspecies. A species that reaches an island ecosystem may face little competition for resources, or may find that the resources that they found in their previous habitat are not available. These factors together result in individual evolutionary branches with different means of survival. The classical example of this
2163-540: A suggestion by the public. In March 1971, the government announced plans to develop the island into a holiday resort for local visitors and tourists , and a S$ 124-million plan for developing Sentosa was unveiled in March 1972. The Sentosa Development Corporation was formed and incorporated on 1 September 1972 to oversee the development of the island. Since then, some S$ 420 million of private capital and another S$ 500 million of government funds have been invested to develop
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#17327760714732266-414: A territory that receives substantial military expenditure and aid from France. Since the first discoveries of Polynesian, Micronesian , and other islands by Westerners, these nations have been the subject of colonization. Islands were the target of Christian missionaries . These missionaries faced resistance, but found success when some local chiefs used European support to centralize power. Beginning in
2369-519: A tree that is present in Australia, New Zealand, parts of South American, and New Guinea, places that today are geographically distant. A possible explanation for this phenomenon is that these landmasses were once all part of the continent Gondwana and separated by tectonic drift. However, there are competing theories that suggest this species may have reached faraway places by way of oceanic dispersal. Species that colonize island archipelagos exhibit
2472-616: A type of island. Some atolls have been covered in concrete to create artificial islands for military purposes, such as those created by China in the South China Sea . These atolls were previously low-tide elevations, landmasses that are only above water during low tide . The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea indicates that these islands may not have the same legal status as a naturally occurring island, and as such may not confer
2575-511: A water park and an aquarium. Most of the attractions on Sentosa are located in either Resorts World Sentosa , Imbiah Lookout , or the Sentosa Beachfront. Sentosa has a stretch of sheltered beach of more than 2 km (1.2 mi) on its southern coast, divided into three portions: Palawan Beach, Siloso Beach and Tanjong Beach. These beaches are artificial, reclaimed using sand bought from Indonesia and Malaysia. They are guarded by
2678-515: Is Darwin's finches , a group of up to fifteen tanager species that are endemic to the Galápagos Islands. These birds evolved different beaks in order to eat different kinds of food available on the islands. The large ground finch has a large bill used to crack seeds and eat fruit. The Genovesa cactus finch prefers cacti as a food source, and has a beak adapted for removing pulp and flowers from cacti. The green warbler-finch (in
2781-598: Is actually a cognate of Swedish ö and German Aue , and more distantly related to Latin aqua (water). The spelling of the word was modified in the 15th century because of a false etymology caused by an association with the Old French loanword isle , which itself comes from the Latin word insula . Islands often are found in archipelagos or island chains, which are collections of islands. These chains are thought to form from volcanic hotspots , areas of
2884-544: Is also accessible by the Sentosa Express monorail, which replaced the old Sentosa Monorail that operated from 1982 to 2005. The Sentosa Express has three stations on Sentosa and one on mainland Singapore. The northern terminus of the line, which opened on 15 January 2007, is located at the VivoCity shopping mall on the mainland and the southernmost terminus, Beach Station, is located on Sentosa Island. In Vivocity,
2987-399: Is at Beach Station Bus Terminal , beside Beach Station . Separately, a 3-car tram used to serve Underwater World. An Autonomous Bus Trial was also conducted from mid-2019 to the end of 2019. Sentosa offers a variety of attractions, museums, and other facilities. These include Universal Studios and Madame Tussauds chain of attractions, as well as a Marine Life Park, which consists of
3090-611: Is strategically placed to provide emergency services within the island and the immediate vicinity such as the HarbourFront and Telok Blangah areas. There are several hotels and resorts in Sentosa (excluding Resorts World Sentosa accommodations): In addition, there are six hotels in Resorts World Sentosa : This is a family-oriented Integrated Resort with a casino at its core. A resort developer and operator
3193-503: Is the apple snail , initially introduced to the U.S. by aquarium owners. It has since been transported by hurricanes across the Gulf Coast and neighboring islands. These species compete for resources with native animals, and some may grow so densely that they displace other forms of existing life. For hundreds of years, islands have been created through land reclamation . One of the first recorded instances of this when people of
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3296-634: Is the giant tortoise of the Seychelles , though it is unknown if it grew in size before or after reaching the island. Larger animals such as the hippopotamus tend to become smaller, such as in the case of the pygmy hippopotamus . This is known as insular dwarfism . In the case of smaller animals, it has been hypothesized that animals on islands may have fewer predators and competitors, resulting in selection pressure towards larger animals. Larger animals may exhaust food resources quickly due to their size, causing malnutrition in their young, resulting in
3399-443: Is underway. The island has an area of close to 5 km (1.9 sq mi). It lies just half a kilometre (a quarter of a mile) away from the southern coast of the main island of Singapore . It is Singapore's fourth-largest island (excluding the main island ). 70% of the island was covered by secondary rainforest, the habitat of monitor lizards , monkeys , peacocks , parrots as well as other native fauna and flora, also, when
3502-542: The Atlantic Ocean in search of an alternate route to the East Indies . These historians theorize that successful explorers were rewarded with recognition and wealth, leading others to attempt possibly dangerous expeditions to discover more islands, usually with poor results. About 10% of the world's population lives on islands. The study of the culture of islands is known as island studies . The interest in
3605-635: The Bengal Engineer Group in his report on public works and fortifications had proposed an alternative name for Belakang Mati as the "Island of St George". However, the island was seen as too unhealthy for habitation and his proposed name was never realised. In a 1972 contest organised by the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board , the island was renamed Sentosa , a Malay word meaning " peace and tranquility ", from Sanskrit , Santosha . Pulau Blakang Mati
3708-520: The British Army in Singapore. Ten years later, the 1st SRRA was disbanded and its guns dismantled. The coast artillery was replaced with Gurkha infantry units, first the 2/7th Duke of Edinburgh 's own Gurkha Rifles and later the 2/10th Princess Mary 's own Gurkha Rifles. Fort Siloso and Mount Imbiah became a religious retreat and a Protestant church house respectively. Fort Connaught
3811-556: The Malay villagers on the island. The Malay name for this island is literally translated as "dead back" or "behind the dead"; belakang means "at the back" or "behind" or "after"; mati means "dead". It is also called the "dead island" or the "island of the dead" or perhaps "island of after death". There are a number of different suggestions on how the island came to acquire such an unpropitious name: In 1827, Captain Edward Lake of
3914-577: The Marshall Islands , and Tuvalu completely. Increases in the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones can cause widespread destruction of infrastructure and animal habitats. Species that live exclusively on islands are some of those most threatened by extinction . An island is an area of land surrounded by water on all sides that is distinct from a continent. There is no standard of size that distinguishes islands and continents . Continents have an accepted geological definition – they are
4017-507: The Polynesians . Many of the previous island settlements required traveling distances of less than 100 km (62 mi), whereas Polynesians may have traveled 2,000–3,200 km (1,200–2,000 mi) to settle islands such as Tahiti . They would send navigators to sail the ocean without the aid of navigational instruments to discover new islands for settlement. Between 1100 and 800 BC, Polynesians sailed East from New Guinea and
4120-891: The Solomon Islands and reached the islands that make up the modern-day Fiji and Samoa . The furthest extent of this migration would be Easter Island in the East, and New Zealand in the South, with New Zealand's first settlements between 1250 and 1300. Historians have sought to understand why some remote islands have always been uninhabited, while others, especially in the Pacific Ocean , have long been populated by humans. Generally, larger islands are more likely to be able to sustain humans and thus are more likely to have been settled. Small islands that cannot sustain populations on their own can still be habitable if they are within
4223-499: The Solomon Islands created eighty such islands by piling coral and rock in the Lau Lagoon . One traditional way of constructing islands is with the use of a revetment . Sandbags or stones are dropped with a barge into the sea to bring the land level slightly out of the water. The island area is then filled with sand or gravel, followed by a construction of this revetment to hold it together. Islands have also been constructed with
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4326-617: The Universal Studios Singapore theme park and one of Singapore's two casinos, the other being in Marina Bay Sands . Sentosa is also widely known as being the location of the 2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit , where North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump met at the Capella Singapore located on the island. This was the first-ever meeting between
4429-626: The base for the Singapore Naval Volunteer Force, which relocated there from its old base at Telok Ayer Basin. The School of Maritime Training was also set up there, as was the first Naval Medical Centre. It became part of the Republic of Singapore Navy. Also in 1967, Pulau Belakang Mati became the military base for the School of Field Engineers, which relocated there from Pasir Leba Camp. The Field Engineer School trained
4532-414: The lithosphere where the mantle is hotter than the surrounding area. These hotspots would give rise to volcanoes whose lava would form the rock the islands are made of. For some islands, the movement of tectonic plates above stationary hotspots would form islands in a linear chain, with the islands further away from the hotspot being progressively older and more eroded , before disappearing under
4635-411: The mainland . The Sentosa Monorail system was opened in 1982 to transport visitors across seven stations located around the western side of the island. The former political prisoner and Nobel prize nominee Chia Thye Poh spent three-and-a-half years in internal exile on Sentosa after he was freed from 23 years in jail in 1989. On 16 March 2005, the monorail service was discontinued to make way for
4738-450: The sea as a natural barrier to the introduction of new species, causing the species that do reach the island to evolve in isolation. Continental islands share animal and plant life with the continent they split from. Depending on how long ago the continental island formed, the life on that island may have diverged greatly from the mainland due to natural selection . Humans have lived on and traveled between islands for thousands of years at
4841-537: The 16th century, European states placed most of Oceania in under colonial administration . Pohnpei was colonized by Spain as early as 1526. It changed hands from Germany to Japan to the United States before joining the Federated States of Micronesia in 1982, maintaining a "free association" status with the U.S. Guam was a Spanish territory until 1898, and now is a unincorporated territory of
4944-484: The 1880s, when the rapid growth of the harbour led to concern over the protection of coal stocks against enemy attack. The four forts built on the island were Fort Siloso , Fort Serapong, Fort Connaught and the Mount Imbiah Battery. The western end of Pulau Blakang Mati, the place where Fort Siloso is now, used to be called sarang rimau (the tiger 's den). Selusuh is a kind of herb used as
5047-403: The 1st Batch of Combat Engineer Commanders who in turn trained the 1st batch of Full Time National Servicemen who were enlisted in 1968. The 1st operational Combat Engineer Battalion was also raised here. The Engineer Headquarters (EHQ) was established here 1970 before moving to Gillman Camp in 1971. By 1967, the Singapore government had reached an agreement with Esso to build an oil refinery on
5150-798: The Alexandra Schools at Gillman Barracks, then after 1964 either Bourne (in the Gillman buildings) or the brand new St John's Comprehensive in what is now the United World College in Dover Road. After Singapore's independence, Brani Naval Base was built on Pulau Brani. In the year 2000, the Navy later moved from their base on Pulau Brani to Changi and Tuas Naval Bases , and the Police Coast Guard (PCG) took over
5253-646: The Brani Naval Base in the late 1960s. The British army had their maritime (water transport) base here, first with the RASC and then the RCT . Many families lived in the married quarters on the island. Primary children attended the British army school located near Buller Jetty, as did the children from army families on Blakang Mati (now Sentosa). Secondary age children had to go to the mainland by ferry, attending
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#17327760714735356-761: The Confrontation took place. A significant parade took place on the island during the Confrontation to announce the award of the Victoria Cross to Rambahadur Limbu for an action in Borneo. With the end of the Confrontation in 1966 and the withdrawal of the Gurkha battalion from the island, the British handed over Sentosa to the Singapore Armed Forces of the newly independent Government of Singapore in 1967. In 1967, Pulau Belakang Mati became
5459-511: The Hawaiian islands being home to irrigated fields of taro, whereas in some islands, like Tahiti, breadfruit was more widely cultivated and fermented in order to preserve it. There is archeological evidence that Canary Islanders would chew the roots of ferns for sustenance, a practice that wore heavily on their molars . These islanders would also grow barley and raised livestock such as goats . Many island nations have little land and
5562-682: The Origin of Species . The first evidence of humans colonizing islands probably occurred in the Paleolithic era, 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. Reaching the Indonesian islands of Flores and Timor would have required crossing distances of water of at least 29 km (18 mi). Some islands, such as Honshu , were probably connected to the mainland with a land bridge that allowed humans to colonize it before it became an island. The first people to colonize distant oceanic islands were
5665-481: The U.S. The decolonization era saw many island states achieve independence or some form of self-governance . Nuclear weapons testing on the Marshall Islands left many atolls destroyed or uninhabitable, causing the forced displacement of people from their home islands as well as increases in cancer rates due to radiation . Colonization has resulted in a decline of observance of traditional cultural practices in places such as Hawaii, where Native Hawaiians are now
5768-400: The adjacent island of Pulau Brani , so it is uncertain to which island the seventeenth century place names referred. The island has changed name several times. Up to 1830, it was called Pulau Panjang ("long island"). In an 1828 sketch of Singapore Island, the island is referred to as Po. Panjang . According to Bennett (1834), the name Blakang Mati was only given to the hill on the island by
5871-536: The area that was to be cleared for the construction of the resorts were replanted elsewhere on the island to minimize negative environmental impact. In 2009, construction of a new footbridge began. The S$ 70 million Sentosa Boardwalk includes themed gardens , shops and eateries . There are covered walkways and travellators along the boardwalk for rainy days. The Boardwalk, officially opened by Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on 29 January 2011, provides visitors with an alternative mode of travel to reach
5974-532: The beach of Pulau Belakang Mati, and were buried by the British prisoners. After the Japanese surrender in 1945 and the return of Singapore to British rule, the island became the base of the locally enlisted First Singapore Regiment of the Royal Artillery (1st SRRA) in 1947. Other locally enlisted men from Singapore were sent to the island for basic military training before being sent to other units of
6077-432: The construction of Resorts World Sentosa commenced; environmental impact was kept at a minimum when over two hundred trees in the designated area were replanted elsewhere on the island. Further development has significantly impacted the biodiversity of the island, resulting in the loss of much of the native fauna and flora . The island also has a 3.2 km (2.0 mi) stretch of white sand beach, which has impacted
6180-406: The continent. For example, the presence of freshwater fish on an island surrounded by ocean would indicate that it once was attached to a continent, since these fish cannot traverse the ocean on their own. Over the course of time, evolution and extinction changes the nature of animal life on a continental island, but only once it splits from the mainland. An example is that of the southern beech ,
6283-451: The deposition of sediment by waves . These islands erode and grow as the wind and waves shift. Barrier islands have the effect of protecting coastal areas from severe weather because they absorb some of the energy of large waves before they can reach the shore. A fluvial island is an island that forms from the erosion and sedimentation of debris in rivers; almost all rivers have some form of fluvial islands. These islands may only be
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#17327760714736386-426: The distances and frequency with which invasive species may be transported to islands. Floodwaters from these storms may also wash plants further inland than they would travel on their own, introducing them to new habitats. Agriculture and trade also have introduced non-native life to islands. These processes result in an introduction of invasive species to ecosystems that are especially small and fragile. One example
6489-400: The ecological processes that take place on islands, with a focus on what factors effect the evolution , extinction , and richness of species. Scientists often study islands as an isolated model of how the process of natural selection takes place. Island ecology studies organisms on islands and their environment. It has yielded important insights for its parent field of ecology since
6592-465: The end of SG50 celebrations. The Sentosa Boardwalk hosts frequent bazaars on weekends. Sentosa Beach Tram is a free-to-ride tram that serves Palawan Beach, Siloso Beach, and Tanjong Beach, using four vehicles including 2 Volvo B12BLEAs, in which the second carriage is an open-top and another one with green and blue liveries. The Volvo B12BLEAs were manufactured by ComfortDelGro Engineering bodywork, which has since been taken out of service. The connection
6695-579: The former site of the naval base in 2006, forming it into today's PCG Brani Regional Base. The rest of Pulau Brani was developed as Brani Container Terminal (see Port of Singapore ). Pulau Brani is intended to be re-developed to host a resort and other tourist attractions as part of the Greater Southern Waterfront project. Brani Container Terminal will be consolidated at the Tuas Mega Port for this to occur. Pulau Brani
6798-495: The fort can still be seen in the extreme east corner of the Tanjong Golf Course, namely observation tower in the northeast corner of golf course near Allenbrooke road, then to the south of it are gun number 3, gun number 2 and engine room, and finally gun number 1 - all short distance from each other. Fort Serapong , Fort Siloso, Fort Connaught and Imbiah Battery were constructed on Sentosa island in 1870 to form
6901-502: The habit of true warbler species) consumes spiders and insects that live on plants. Other examples of this phenomenon exist worldwide, including in Hawaii and Madagascar, and are not limited to island ecosystems. Species endemic to islands show a common evolutionary trajectory. Foster's rule (also known as the island rule), states that small mammals such as rodents evolve to become larger, known as island gigantism . One such example
7004-517: The island into a tourism destination, and shift the planned Esso refinery to Jurong Island instead. In the late 1960s, the government began to set out proposals for developing the island, and a contest to find a new name for the island was held in November 1969. The island was renamed "Sentosa" in September 1970, which means peace and tranquility in Malay (from Sanskrit , Santosha ), from
7107-402: The island was renamed Sentosa in the 1970s to become a popular tourist destination. It is now home to a popular resort that receives up to 25 million visitors per year. Attractions include a 2.5 km (1.6 mi) long sheltered beach, Madame Tussauds Singapore , an extensive cable car network, Fort Siloso , two golf courses , 14 hotels as well as the Resorts World Sentosa , which features
7210-565: The island with the intent to eventually turn the island into a petrochemical complex. However, the then-chief of the Urban Renewal Unit (the forerunner of the Urban Redevelopment Authority ), Alan Choe , wanted to somehow preserve the greenery of the island. With the support of Dr Albert Winsemius , he managed to convince then-Finance Minister Goh Keng Swee and then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong to turn
7313-566: The island. In 1974 the Singapore Cable Car system was built, linking Sentosa to Mount Faber . Finally, in 1975, the Republic of Singapore Navy had moved out from the Sentosa to Pulau Brani Island. A series of attractions were subsequently opened for visitors including Fort Siloso , Surrender Chamber wax museum, Musical Fountain , and the Underwater World . The causeway bridge was opened in 1992 connecting Sentosa to
7416-544: The island. Visitors can also access the island via the Sentosa Boardwalk which is parallel to the causeway (which opened on 29 January 2011). The first two days of its opening were marked with free entry into Sentosa for visitors who walk, and subsequently, an SGD 1 admission fee into Sentosa is charged. From 7 June 2014 to 4 January 2015, walk-in entry into Sentosa via the Sentosa Boardwalk is free on weekends and public holidays. Walk-in has been free of charge since
7519-527: The island. Dubbed the "Sky Network", the Cable Car has 3 stations, in Siloso, Imbiah, and near the now-closed Merlion, and is not linked to the original Cable Car. Public bus services are available to connect Sentosa Island to the mainland. Tong Tar Transport service RWS8 operates between VivoCity/ HarbourFront station to Resorts World Sentosa during peak hours only. On 30 July 2017, SBS Transit Bus Service 123
7622-554: The island. Sentosa Boardwalk, designed by Aedas, was named Best Leisure Architecture in Asia Pacific and 5* Best Leisure Architecture in Singapore, at the 2014 Asia Pacific Property Awards. The island hosted the 2018 North Korea–United States summit between the United States President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un of North Korea on 12 June 2018, at the Capella Singapore . Sentosa island
7725-457: The islands as a naturalist on HMS Beagle in 1835, as part of a five-year circumnavigation of Earth. He wrote that "the different islands to a considerable extent are inhabited by a different set of beings". Through the study of the finches and other animals he realized that organisms survive by changing to adapt to their habitat. It would be over twenty years before he published his theories in On
7828-643: The largest landmass of a particular tectonic plate . Islands can occur in any body of water, including lakes , rivers , seas . Low-tide elevations , areas of land that are not above the surface during a high tide , are generally not considered islands. Islands that have been bridged or otherwise joined to a mainland with land reclamation are sometimes considered "de-islanded", but not in every case. The word island derives from Middle English iland , from Old English igland (from ig or ieg , similarly meaning 'island' when used independently, and -land carrying its contemporary meaning. Old English ieg
7931-544: The leaders of North Korea and the United States . As an island geared towards recreation and tourism with its casino and resorts under a tropical climate, as well as residences for the wealthy, Sentosa is more than twice the size of Monaco . The name Sentosa translates to "peace and tranquility" in Malay , which was in turn derived from the Sanskrit term Santosha , meaning "contentment, satisfaction". Sentosa
8034-613: The mainland MRT is in turn served by the HarbourFront of the North East Line and the Circle Line . The Beach Station Bus Terminal within Sentosa serves both residents and tourists access to various amenities around Sentosa. There are two bus services serving the terminal, identified as Bus A and Bus B. SBS Transit Bus Service 123 also serves this terminal. Since 1998, passenger cars have been allowed to enter
8137-404: The mainland, they had no need for boats. The motivation for island exploration has been the subject of research and debate. Some early historians previously argued that early island colonization was unintentional, perhaps by a raft being swept out to sea. Others compare the motivations of Polynesian and similar explorers with those of Christopher Columbus , the explorer who sailed westward over
8240-589: The majority of the local economy and built environment . These islands sometimes also require consistent foreign aid on top of tourism in order to ensure economic growth. This reliance can result in social inequality and environmental degradation . During tourism downturns, these economies struggle to make up the lost inflow of cash with other industries. Climate change threatens human development on islands due to sea level rise , more dangerous tropical cyclones , coral bleaching , and an increase in invasive species . For example, in 2017 Hurricane Maria caused
8343-525: The meaning of Pulau Brani is “isle of the brave”. The bulk of the island was occupied by the Malayan Command Ordnance Depot until 1937 when a new purpose built depot was constructed at Alexandra on the mainland. The Straits Trading Co. built a tin smelting factory on Pulau Brani in 1890 to process the tin ores mined in mainland Malaya. The factory was on the island for more than 70 years before it had to move out to make way for
8446-424: The motion was ultimately vetoed. On 14 June 2024 at about 2.20pm, a dredger hit a stationary bunker vessel stationed at Pasir Panjang Terminal, causing an oil spill that spread across several Southern Islands through East Coast Park , including Palawan, Siloso and Tanjong beaches. Sentosa announced that the beaches are still available, but any water-related activities are suspended until 3 August while cleaning
8549-439: The new Sentosa Express , which commenced operations on 15 January 2007. An environmental assessment conducted by the government of Singapore concluded that the construction of an integrated resort on Sentosa would result in a high likelihood of high scale biodiversity loss , habitat destruction, soil erosion and climate change, as well as several other destructive ecological impacts. Therefore, over two hundred trees and plants from
8652-817: The open ocean display of the S.E.A. Aquarium. Island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics , and oceanic islands, which have never been part of a continent. Oceanic islands can be formed from volcanic activity, grow into atolls from coral reefs , and form from sediment along shorelines, creating barrier islands . River islands can also form from sediment and debris in rivers. Artificial islands are those made by humans, including small rocky outcroppings built out of lagoons and large-scale land reclamation projects used for development. Islands are host to diverse plant and animal life. Oceanic islands have
8755-529: The past, some societies were found to have lost their seafaring ability over time, such as the case of the Canary Islands , which were occupied by an indigenous people since the island's first discovery in the first century until being conquered by the Spanish Empire in 1496. It has been hypothesized that since the inhabitants had little incentive for trade and had little to any contact with
8858-467: The reef. Significantly large portions of land are currently being added to Sentosa due to land reclamation . Sentosa can be reached from the Singapore mainland via a short causeway or Cable Car , which originates from Mount Faber and passes through HarbourFront en route to its final destination at Imbiah Lookout . In 2015, Sentosa opened an intra-island Cable Car to facilitate travelling within
8961-415: The same legal rights. Pulau Brani Pulau Brani is an island located off the southern coast of Singapore, near Keppel Harbour . The island is situated between the main island of Singapore and the resort island of Sentosa , and is linked to the mainland via Brani Terminal Avenue. The area of Pulau Brani is 1.22 square kilometres (0.47 square miles). Used to be home for Orang Laut , and in malay,
9064-741: The same to Malaya (now known as West or Peninsular Malaysia ). Following the surrender of the Allied Forces on 15 February 1942, Fort Siloso became a prisoner of war camp, housing Australian and British prisoners of the Japanese. During the Japanese Occupation , under the Sook Ching Operation , Chinese men who were suspected, often arbitrarily, of being involved in anti-Japanese activities were brutally killed. 300 bodies, riddled with bullet wounds, washed up on
9167-789: The sea entirely. An example is the Hawaiian Islands , with the oldest island being 25 million years old, and the youngest, Hawaii , still being an active volcano . However, not all island chains are formed this way. Some may be formed all at once by fractures in the tectonic plates themselves, simultaneously creating multiple islands. One supporting piece of evidence is that of the Line Islands , which are all estimated to be 8 million years old, rather than being different ages. Other island chains form due to being separated from existing continents. The Japanese archipelago may have been separated from Eurasia due to seafloor spreading ,
9270-460: The south, facing the sea in expectation of a seaward Japanese assault. The myth that the guns were incapable of pointing north developed after the War but this was wrong, they could swivel to point north but they were only equipped with armour-piercing shells for ships which made the shells ineffective against land based forces. The Japanese invaded and captured Singapore from the north, after having done
9373-475: The southern defence of Singapore. Presently only 20% of the original fort has been discovered. Ruins are reachable via Fort Serapong Road, then walking on a forested ridge which has several "Danger: keep out" type of signs. During the Second World War , the island was a British military fortress. The British set up large-calibre gun fortifications at various points along the island that were aligned to
9476-549: The study of islands is due to their unique cultures and natural environments that differ from mainland cultures. This is for a few reasons: First, the obvious political and geographic isolation from mainland cultures. Second, unique restraints on resources and ecology creating marine-focused cultures with a focus on fishing and sailing. Third, a lasting historical and political significance of islands. The Polynesian diet got most of its protein from fishing. Polynesians were known to fish close to shore, as well as in deep water. It
9579-450: The surface. When these coral islands encircle a central lagoon , the island is known as an atoll . The formation of reefs and islands related to those reefs is aided by the buildup of sediment in shallow patches of water. In some cases, tectonic movements lifting a reef out of the water by as little as 1 meter can cause sediment to accumulate and an island to form. Barrier islands are long, sandy bars that form along shorelines due to
9682-438: The time of Charles Darwin . In biology, endemism is defined as the phenomenon where species or genus is only found in a certain geographical area. Islands isolate land organisms from others with water, and isolate aquatic organisms living on them with land. Island ecosystems have the highest rates of endemism globally. This means that islands contribute heavily to global biodiversity . Areas with high lives of biodiversity are
9785-466: Was chosen on 8 December 2006. The winning proposal was the Genting / Star Cruises consortium in their bid for Resorts World Sentosa . It has a Universal Studios Theme Park (known as Universal Studios Singapore ) which occupies nearly half of the resort space. Development of the resort was financed privately at a cost of $ SGD5.75 billion and it does not receive any government subsidies. The proposal for
9888-509: Was constructed in 1878. It had ammunition similar to Fort Siloso, with three Mark I 7 Inch RML Guns of 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 tons and two RML 64-pounder 64 cwt guns . In 1890 it was renamed the Fort Connaught to mark the visit of Duke of Connaught . In 1930s, fort was rebuilt and three Mark X 9·2-Inch Guns on 30° Mark VII Mountings with better range replaced the older firepower. On Mount Serapong, an underground Battery Plotting Room
9991-438: Was constructed on the northern side and a Battery Observation Post on top of the hill. In 1942, during WWII, British forces at this fort exhausted their ammunition, and guns were tempered and disabled before the British surrendered to Japanese forces. A significant part of Mount Serapong was removed and it made way for the present day Tanjong Golf Course , due to which a major part of the fort was destroyed. Presently few remains of
10094-414: Was extended to enhance connectivity to Resorts World Sentosa, Merlion Tower (now closed), and Beach Station Bus Terminal . Prior to COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore , SMRT had operated Express Bus Services 188R and 963R between Choa Chu Kang and Woodlands towards Resorts World Sentosa respectively on weekends and public holidays. These bus routes were withdrawn on 7 April 2020 due to low demand. The island
10197-614: Was formerly known as Pulau Blakang Mati which in Malay means the "Island of Death Behind". The name Blakang Mati is old; an island was identified as Blacan Mati in Manuel Godinho de Erédia 's 1604 map of Singapore. Other early references to the island of Belakang Mati include Burne Beard Island in Wilde's 1780 MS map, Pulau Niry , Nirifa from 1690 to 1700, and the nineteenth century reference as Pulau Panjang (J.H. Moor). However, early maps did not separate Blakang Mati from
10300-619: Was gazetted as a 'special event area' by the Singapore Government and the Capella Singapore was chosen as the venue by the White House , a week prior to the summit. In his 2018 autobiography, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong revealed that, when the tourism sector was suffering, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew made an attempt to allow a nudist resort to be built on Sentosa in order to attract tourists, but
10403-546: Was left in ruins. Fort Serapong became a secure communications and listening station. In the early 1960s, during the Indonesian Confrontation , the 2/10th occupied the island. Even though Indonesia was in close proximity there were few amateurish attempts of direct action by the Indonesians against Singapore. The Gurkha battalion rotated on a six monthly basis to Borneo where most military action during
10506-490: Was once home to the native Malays who were relocated to the mainland, together with the Pulau Brani villagers, due to urban redevelopment in the late 1970s. In the nineteenth century, the island was considered important because it protected the passage into Keppel Harbour . Plans to fortify the island as part of the defence plan for Singapore were drawn up as early as 1827, but few fortifications actually materialised until
10609-470: Was reported that Rapa Nui people were known to fish as far as 500 km (310 mi) from shore at coral reefs. Spear , line , and net fishing were all used, to catch tuna as well as sharks and stingrays . Island cultures also cultivate native and non-native crops. Polynesians grew the native yam , taro , breadfruit , banana , coconut and other fruits and vegetables. Different island climates made different resources more important, such as
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