Singapore’s first name was Temasek which means ‘sea town’. Prior to 1299, the island was home to a village of Orang Luat, which translates from Malay as ‘People of the Sea’. It is in these waters that they would cast out their nets and lines to catch fish for their sustenance. These people typically lived around the coastline, as Singapore was once heavily forested and would have been difficult to trek into. This history is represented in the tale of the Merlion Statue, while the lion head speaks to the island’s naming as the ‘Lion City’. Designed by Kwan Sai Kheong, the statue stands at 8.6 metres tall and weighs 70 tonnes. It looks out from the mouth of Singapore River as a symbol of the river’s ancient importance.