Singapore did not have a native population in the true sense of the word as the population became dominated numerically by three main groups of immigrants after the British founded Singapore as a free port in the 19th century. It was estimated that when Raffles arrived in Singapore in January 1819, Singapore had about 120 Malays, 30 Chinese and some local tribes (the Orang Laut) under the rule of the Temenggung. Around 100 of these Malays had originally moved to Singapore from Johor in 1811 led by the Temenggung. Another estimate put the total population of the whole of Singapore at 1,000, mostly of various local tribes. Early census figures of Singapore show a long period of influx of migrant workers into the country, initially mostly Malays, quickly followed by the Chinese. By 1821, the population was estimated to have increased to 4,724 Malays and 1,150 Chinese. In the first census of 1824, 6,505 out of the 10,683 total were Malays and Bugis, constituting over 60% of the population. Large number of Chinese migrants started to enter Singapore just months after it became a British settlement, and they were predominantly male. In 1826, official census figures give a total population of 13,750, with 6,088 Chinese, 4,790 Malays, 1,242 Bugis, 1,021 Indians from Bengal (244) and the Coromandel Coast (777), smaller number of Javanese people (267), Europeans (87) and other peoples. The population total of Singapore increased to 16,000 in 1829, 26,000 five years later. By 1836, the Chinese at 13,749 had become the most populous ethnic group, overtaking the broad Malay grouping (12,538, including other groups such as the Bugis, Javanese, and Balinese). By the beginning of 1850, the population had reached 60,000, 24,790 of them Chinese.
What was the nationality of Raffles?
British