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National Library Board
Story Maps

Little India

15 December 2021

Explore the history of Little India

Colorful floral street decorations with text "LITTLE INDIA" and "START YOUR JOURNEY" on a grey background.

Unlike its sister conservation precincts of Chinatown and Kampong Gelam, Little India was never intended by Sir Stamford Raffles to be an area designated for Singapore’s Indian community. Instead, it developed its identity organically over the years, establishing itself as a melting pot of diverse communities and cultures, as well as an enclave for the Indian community.

In this story map, learn more about the history of Little India told through its iconic landmarks.

View the story map in full screen (opens in new tab) or on your mobile device by scanning the QR code below.

QR code with a logo in the center showing interlocking letter 'G' shapes and the text "GO.gov.sg" below it.
Notes

  1. This story map does not show a comprehensive coverage of the historic landmarks found in Little India.

  2. The base map used in this story map is the Singapore Land Authority's OneMap (opens in new tab).

  3. This story map used related Infopedia articles and other NLB digitised resources in NL Online (opens in new tab), BiblioAsia (opens in new tab), and Roots (opens in new tab) as references. It also consulted the following books: Singapore Street Names: A Study of Toponymics (opens in new tab) (2013), Little India: Heritage Trail (opens in new tab) (2017), What’s in the Name?: How the Streets and Villages in Singapore Got Their Names (opens in new tab) (2018), Ray Tyers’ Singapore: Then & Now (opens in new tab) (2018), Singapore: A Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places (opens in new tab) (1988), In Granite and Chunam: The National Monuments of Singapore (opens in new tab) (1996), and Singapore: A Pictorial History 1819-2000 (opens in new tab) (1999).

Image Credit

Photo by Zairon via Wikicommons (opens in new tab) (CC BY 4.0)