Kampong Glam

Kampong Glam is the traditional heart of Singaporean Muslim life. Since early colonial days the area has attracted Muslims from diverse ethnic backgrounds, fusing them into one community by their common faith and lifestyle. The name Kampong Gelam comes from the Malay word kampong, meaning village, and gelam, a particular kind of tree that at one time grew abundantly in the area.

In 1819, the British made a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah, then sultan of Singapore, to cede the island to the British East India Trading Company. As part of the agreement, the sultan was offered a stipend and given Kampong Gelam as settlement for his palace and subjects. Sultan Hussein built his palace, Istana Kampong Gelam, and sold off parcels of land for burial grounds, schools, mosques, and farms. Trade grew in the area, as a wave of merchants and tradesmen moved in to serve and provision the large numbers of pilgrims who debarked from here on their journey to Mecca each year.

Although the ethnic Arab population in Singapore has never reached large proportions, their influence is immediately obvious through such street names as Bussorah, Muscat, Baghdad, and of course, Arab Street, the center of modern Kampong Gelam -- a neat little shopping enclave for textiles and regional handicrafts. Note that the shops along Arab Street close on Sundays.

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