SINGAPORE'S mainstream history until recently has been confined largely to a story that commenced in 1819 with the arrival of British colonialism and therefore the modern era, with the implication being that there was only a mere sleepy fishing village before that.

Research over the last two decades has, however, uncovered significant material - both textual and archaeological - that sheds substantial light on Singapore's port-cities between the late 13th and 17th centuries, and the international history of Singapore's waterways between the 16th and early 19th centuries.

These developments have enabled historians of Singapore to reconstruct aspects of Singapore's pre-modern history.

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