Jurong River Singapore ~ Year 1854

A canoe with an American flag on its stern drawing near the huts at the kangkar (river base) of the Sungei Jurong (Jurong River) in Singapore. Gambier and pepper plantations are shown in the background. The artist, Peter Heine, had been on board Commodore Matthew Perry's 1854 expedition to Japan to demand that it open its ports to world trade.

Perhaps no other region in Singapore has seen the type of seismic change that can be observed in Jurong. Early accounts of Jurong show that it consisted of dense freshwater mangrove swamps hugging the coastline of Sungei Jurong (Jurong River) and dipterocarp forests further inland. An early account of Jurong comes from one of the most infamous expeditions in world history. Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry might be well known for his attempts at forcibly opening isolationist Japan to the world, but his first expedition also made a stop in Singapore, where the crew surveyed the Jurong River’s flora and fauna. The expedition’s official artists also produced this stunning illustration of the Jurong River.

While the inland forests were denuded due to uncontrolled timber logging and Gambier plantations in the early 20thCentury, the mangrove swamps remained fairly intact till the 1950s. The river has been dammed in 1971 to create a lake – thereby making it easier for factories to collect water, and for the authorities to build attractions like the Chinese and Japanese Gardens.

• Size 37 by 28 cm.

• Quality Recycled Art Paper

• Mounted with Thick Art Cardboard

• Description on the Back

• Transparent Protection Wrapper

Our mounted art prints are printed on recycled uncoated speckled art paper.