Welcome to Warisan Geylang

Insights into Geylang Serai’s existence in the 1700s come primarily from early maps, archival materials, and historical records held by institutions like the National Archives of Singapore. While Geylang Serai as a defined Malay settlement developed mostly in the 19th century, earlier records show the broader Geylang area existed as a natural riverine environment and maritime zone inhabited by Orang Laut and Malay fishermen.

Key sources and records include:

• Early 19th century maps from around 1849 show the area labeled as “Gaylang” or “Gelang,” with mentions of villages and plantations such as coconut plantations near the Kallang and Geylang Rivers. These maps offer the earliest visual documentation of the region preceding its full settlement as Geylang Serai.nlb+1

• Archival documents from the National Archives of Singapore reference Geylang with notes on Malay burial grounds in the mid-1800s near the Geylang River, indicating the presence of a settled Malay community, possibly extending from earlier 18th-century maritime communities.nlb+2

• Historical narratives describe the Orang Laut sea nomads inhabiting the river mouths and coastal zones before British colonial resettlement policies in the 1840s, when they and Malays moved into areas that developed into Geylang Serai.ura+2

• The naming of Geylang may derive from the tribes of the Orang Laut and early industrial or plantation activities like lemongrass (serai) cultivation and coconut plantations recorded in the late 18th to early 19th centuries.roots+2

In summary, direct detailed records specifically from the 1700s are limited, but a combination of early maps, archival references to Malay and Orang Laut communities, and landscape descriptions document Geylang Serai’s precursors as an inhabited coastal area with maritime and agricultural significance that laid the foundations for its 19th-century development.

These sources are preserved and presented in Singapore’s National Archives, the Geylang Serai Heritage Gallery, historical maps, and documented community heritage trails.