News of a flourishing port spread and attracted both unskilled and skilled workers to Singapore, all of whom hoped that they could earn a good living in the new British settlement. The Malays came from various parts of the Malay Archipelago and worked as traders, boat-builders, construction workers, government workers and so on. The Indians, on the other hand, were split into two groups, those who came from North India and those who came from the South. The Southern Indians made up the bulk of the Indian immigrants to Singapore and they worked as dhobis, coolies, moneylenders or ‘chettiars’.
