ABSTRACT
Singapore’s economic fortunes have long been bound up with distant places and people. Never simply a story about relations with neighbouring islands or a regional hinterland, modern Singapore even came to be dubbed a ‘global city’ before that term rose to prominence among urban scholars in the social sciences. This chapter focuses on historical interrelations between Singapore and the British port city of Liverpool. Although not featuring prominently among Singapore’s long-distance economic relations today, at independence and for a century before 1965, Liverpool was a maritime commercial centre of worldwide renown and influence. Malay seafaring mobilities are used in the chapter as a way into examining changing Liverpool-Singapore relations across three broadly chronological periods. The first concerns the role of Liverpool in the commercial (re)making of Singapore as a trans-shipment centre after 1819. The second considers Singapore’s growing role in colonial governance and economy from the middle of the nineteenth century in relation to Liverpool’s globe-spanning commercial networks. Finally, Liverpool’s economic demise as an imperial maritime centre from the 1960s in contrasted with Singapore’s rise and consolidation as a global city-state.
