Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in Southeast Asia's maritime region. It is located about one degree north of the equator (137 kilometers or 85 miles) off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bordering the Malacca Strait to the west, the Singapore Strait to the south, the South China Sea to the east, and the Johor Straits to the north. The country's territory is made up of one main island, 63 satellite islands, and islets, and one outlying islet, the aggregate size of which has grown by 25% since independence due to massive land reclamation initiatives. It boasts the world's third greatest population density. Singapore has four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil, in recognition of the need to respect the cultural identities of the nation's major ethnic communities. Here are the most important historical figures in Singapore that you should know, look at the list to discover a little more information about them.