90 Silverstein, Shel BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Singapore
Singapore is a small, wealthy island
country in Southeast Asia. The capital
city, also called Singapore, is so large and
important that the country is often
called a city-state.
The island of Singapore lies south of the
mainland part of Malaysia. A narrow
body of water separates the countries.
Singapore’s land is mostly low and flat.
Its weather is hot, humid, and often
rainy.
Some rain forests grow in the center of
the island. Shrubs and grasses are more
common. The animals of Singapore
include the long-tailed macaque (a type
of monkey) and the slow loris (a tailless
primate).
Most people in Singapore are Chinese,
Malay, or Indian. The Chinese make up
about three quarters of the population.
Most of the Chinese are Buddhist, Daoist,
or Christian. The Malays and some
Indians follow Islam. Most Indians practice
Hinduism. Singapore has four
national languages: Malay, English, Chinese,
and Tamil (a language of India).
Banking, communications, and other
services are very important to the
economy. Singapore also produces electronics,
chemicals, machinery, petroleum
(oil) products, and other goods.
There is little space for farming. Singapore
buys most of its food from other
countries.
In early times traders traveling between
India and China often passed through
Singapore. The British took control in
the 1800s. By 1959 Singapore had its
own government. In 1963 Singapore
joined Malaysia. Two years later Singapore
separated from Malaysia to
become fully independent.
..More to explore
City-State
A statue of a merlion serves as a symbol of
Singapore. A merlion is an imaginary creature
that is half lion and half fish.
Facts About
SINGAPORE
Population
(2008 estimate)
4,839,000
Area
269 sq mi (697
sq km)
Capital
Singapore
Form of
government
Republic
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Singapore 91
Sioux
The Sioux are a group of Native American
peoples who speak similar languages.
There are three main divisions of
the Sioux: the Dakota (or Santee), the
Nakota (or Yankton), and the Lakota (or
Teton).
The Sioux originally lived near Lake
Superior in what is now Minnesota.
They hunted, fished, farmed, and gathered
wild rice and beans.
In the middle of the 1700s wars with
the Ojibwa drove the Sioux westward.
The Dakota settled in southern and
western Minnesota. They kept living as
they had before.
The Nakota and the Lakota moved
onto the Great Plains. The Nakota
settled in what are now North and
South Dakota. The Lakota went farther
west, to the Black Hills region of
western South Dakota and eastern
Wyoming and Montana. The move
changed their lifestyles. The Nakota
and the Lakota started hunting bison
(buffalo) on the plains. While on the
hunt they lived in portable, coneshaped
tents called tepees. They ate
bison meat and used bison skins to
make tepees and clothes.
By the middle of the 1800s white settlers
were moving westward into Sioux
territory. The Sioux fought for many
years to stop invasions of their land.
Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were
famous Sioux chiefs who led the fight.
In 1890 U.S. troops killed more than
200 Sioux at a place called Wounded
Knee in South Dakota. The massacre
ended the Sioux fight against the whites.
By the end of the 1800s most Sioux had
moved to reservations.
At the end of the 20th century there
were about 108,000 Sioux in the United
States. Many lived on reservations in
Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and
South Dakota. About 10,000 more
Sioux lived in Canada.
#More to explore
Black Hills • Crazy Horse • Native
Americans • Sitting Bull •Wounded
Knee
Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull was a Native American who
tried to keep U.S. settlers from taking
over Indian lands. He is known for his
role in the battle of the Little Bighorn.
A photograph from the 1890s shows a
Sioux holding a bow and arrows.
92 Sioux BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
In that battle he defeated a group of
soldiers led by Lieutenant Colonel
George Armstrong Custer.
Sitting Bull was a member of the
Lakota, or Teton Sioux. He was born in
about 1831 near the Grand River in
what is now South Dakota. His Sioux
name was Tatanka Iyotake. He was
named chief of the entire Sioux nation
in about 1867.
Sitting Bull spent many years battling
U.S. soldiers. Tensions increased when
gold was found on Sioux lands. The
U.S. government soon ordered the
Sioux to move to reservations. Sitting
Bull, however, prepared to fight the
move. On June 25, 1876, U.S. soldiers
led by Custer attacked the Indians. The
battle took place in the valley of the
Little Bighorn River. When the fighting
ended, Custer and all of his soldiers
were dead.
Sitting Bull won many more battles. But
he and his people were eventually forced
to surrender.
Sitting Bull toured for a time with Buffalo
Bill’sWildWest Show. He later
settled on a reservation but remained
outspoken. Soldiers arrested him
because they were afraid he would stir
up trouble. He was killed on December
15, 1890, as his warriors were trying to
rescue him.
#More to explore
Sioux
Skateboarding
A skateboard is a small board with
wheels on the bottom. A skateboarder
stands on the board as it rolls. The skateboarder
