Singapore was a small commercial centre in the powerful Srivijaya empire of Sumatra and later, towards the middle of the 13th century, a puppet state of the Majapahit empire in Java, while in the 15th and 16th century it became part of the sultanate of Johor. Singapore’s more recent history is inextricably linked to the figure of Sir Stamford Raffles, an official in the East India Company. With a treaty stipulated with the sultan of Johor in 1819, he established a British settlement in Singapore. He then made the city a resting point to restock the ships of the British Empire and to halt the Dutch expansionist policy.

Hong Kong is a “Special Administrative Region of China”. It comprises the island of the same name, 259 other islands in the South China Sea, as well as areas of the mainland around the Kowloon Peninsula and in the so-called “New Territories”. Although it was occupied by Chinese settlers as early as the 2nd millennium B.C., the region remained untouched by Chinese imperialism up until the 17th century when it was the setting for a conflict between the Ming and the Manchu dynasties. However it only acquired international interest in the 19th century with the Portuguese being the first Europeans to develop colonies and trade here, silk and tea being the most sought-after goods in Europe