Old maps might explain origin of Singapore’s name
Maps made 500 years ago offer an alternative thesis for how Singapore got its name. Starting in 1502, maps of the Malaysian peninsula south of Malacca bear variations of the name “Barxingapara”. By the 1550s the part of Malaysia east of Changi was called
The first known example of a name on the island comes from a late-17th-century Dutch chart, where we see “T Lang Isyl” (Long Island), while the waterway to the south is called “Straat Sincapura” (Singapore Strait). In 1755 French mapmaker Jacques-Nicolas Bellin published a detailed map of the region on which the island was marked “Pulo ou Isle Panjang” (Long Island) and the neighbouring waterways the “Old” and “New Strait of Sincapour”.
A 1787 gives the island three names – “Paulau Panjang”, “Iatana” and “Sincapour”.
Why “Barxingapara”? Dr Peter Borschberg of the National University of Singapore has speculated that “bar” means a coastal kingdom, “xin” means China, and “gapara” is the Javanese word for “gateway”.
Since Singapore sits between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, “The Kingdom of the Gateway to China” has the history of printed maps to support its claim as the real origin of the name.
Eric Rosenkranz
(From the Straits Times/ANN)
