Mouth of the Singapore River
After modern Singapore was founded, ships called at the harbour off the mouth of the Singapore River for many years. This harbour was known as the 'Old Harbour'. Soon the Singapore River became the focal point of trading activities as ships brought traders and merchants from around the world especially the Malay Archipelago, China, Europe and India. Their ships anchored in the harbour off the mouth of the Singapore River while the tongkangs carried the cargoes along the Singapore River to Boat Quay and from Boat Quay back to the ships in the harbour. As the trading activities grew, the 'Old Harbour' could not handle the large volume of trade nor could it provide suitable shipping facilities to meet the needs of the new steamships. Thus, a new harbour was built along the strait between Singapore Island and two smaller islands - Oulau Brani and Pulau Blakang Mati (now called Sentosa). This new harbour was later known as Keppel harbour which was expanded in the later years. Today, it is managed by the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) and renamed Keppel Terminal.
The Merlion Statue
The Merlion is an imaginary creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. The Merlion is a fitting symbol of Singapore as lengend has it that the 'Singa', or lion, which Prince Sang Nila Utama first caught sight of on the island, was seen near this very spot. Integrating the lion head with the body of a fish was a means of paying tribute to Singapore's history as 'Temasek' - the ancient sea town. The Merlion has been the emblem of the Singapore Tourist promotion Board since 1964 and is generally used as a symbol of Singapore.