Iceland

“I love England. It’s no coincidence it’s the first place I moved to for a more cosmopolitan life, which is the only thing Iceland lacks.” (Björk)

Iceland quick facts

Name: Republic of Iceland (Lýðveldið Ísland)
Language: Icelandic
Area and population: Iceland is approximately the same size as Pennsylvania, but has only 2% of its population: that is 300,000 people. (The population density is extremely low, about the same as that of Australia.)

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Singapore

Singapore Quick Facts

Name: Republic of Singapore
Population: 5 million
Area: 710 km^2
Official languages: English, Malay, Chinese, Tamil

History

The history of today’s Singapore began when the British bought the island in the 19th century in order to use it as a trading post in the Far East. The town quickly became one of the biggest ports in the world (and it’s still one of the busiest ports according to certain criteria), and as the colony developed, a large number of tradesmen and refugees started arriving from various countries — the diverse demographics of the country includes 75% Chinese, 14% Malaysians and 8% Indians. It seceded from the crumbling British Empire in 1959 and, after a short spell as part of the Malayan Union, has been an independent republic since 1965. Since gaining independence the country has invested a lot in improving the quality of education and making English (the main language of international commerce) the primary language (which, along with the ‘mixed’ Singlish, is frequently used by locals to communicate with each other). The effects of these measures are instantly visible: Singapore is now a major financial and business centre, and has one of the highest standards of living in the world.

Ships along the East Coast as far as the eye can see — they’re waiting for entry into Singapore’s port, or refuelling and letting the crew take a few days off:

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Hong Kong

Hong Kong quick facts

Full name: Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (中華人民共和國香港特別行政區 in Cantonese — the last character, which looks like a little blueprint, means ‘region’ or ‘area’)
Official languages: Cantonese, English
Population: 6 million (95% of which Chinese)
Area: 1000 km²

History

The 19th century saw the British Empire expand towards the Far East, but they had a difficult time tackling China — while the Empire needed to import many things from the East, huge and self-sufficient China barely needed anything in return. It became apparent after a while that what the Chinese needed was opium — and the British could provide this in abundance. While its trade wasn’t legal, Chinese authorities turned a blind eye, and so the export of opium became a profitable business, up until the point when a Chinese official unexpectedly attempted to ban it. To show how ‘upset’ they were with the proceedings, the British declared war on China (this was the first Opium War), which ended in a peace in exchange for Hong Kong Island, which seemed a convenient base for Far Eastern trade. Two further conflicts ended in the Brits acquiring two more territories: neighbouring Kowloon Peninsula, and the so-called New Territories (the latter they only leased for 99 years, while the rest they acquired “forever”), which, together with Hong Kong Island, formed the colony of Hong Kong. Under British rule the territory became a blooming centre of trade, and, in the past few decades, a major financial hub too. When the New Territories lease was nearing its end, the British knew (already having lost most of their colonies) that there was little point in trying to keep Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, and they intended to hand the whole territory back to China — this finally happened in in 1997 (“the Handover”). However, Hong Kong is still not completely part of China — I’ll talk about this in more detail in the One Country, Two Systems section.

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