 Raffles arrived in Singapore on 28 January 1819 and soon recognised the island as a natural choice for the new port . It lay at the southern tip of the Malay peninsula , near the Straits of Malacca , and possessed a natural deep harbor , fresh water supplies , and timber for repairing ships . Raffles found a small Malay settlement , with a population of about a thousand , at the mouth of the Singapore River , headed by Temenggong Abdu 'r Rahman . The island was nominally ruled by the Sultan of Johor , who was controlled by the Dutch and the Bugis . However , the Sultanate was weakened by factional division and Temenggong Abdu 'r Rahman and his officials were loyal to Tengku Rahman 's elder brother Tengku Hussein ( or Tengku Long ) who was living in exile in Riau . With the Temenggong 's help , Raffles managed to smuggle Hussein back into Singapore . He offered to recognize Hussein as the rightful Sultan of Johor and provide him with a yearly payment ; in return , Hussein would grant the British the right to establish a trading post on Singapore . A formal treaty was signed on 6 February 1819 and modern Singapore was born . 
