Kent Ridge, a corner of Singapore island, has been home to the National University of Singapore (NUS) since the 1980s, but the area entered the historical record centuries earlier. From the white sands of its shoreline marked on navigators’ maps, to the Alexandra Barracks of the Singapore Mutiny, from tiger traps and plantations to kampong and rich men’s seaside bungalows, the rocky ridge running parallel to Singapore’s western seashore has formed one of the most memorable of the island city-state’s landscapes.

Extending from Clementi Road in the west to Alexandra Road in the east, and divided by the “ninety-nine curves” of South Buona Vista Road, Kent Ridge extends its imaginative pull on many Singaporeans and visitors, but especially those who have graduated—or are studying—at the NUS.

This book helps you look beneath the shiny exteriors of today’s institutions, to the area’s geological past, and the wealth of flora and fauna that still can be found here: from indigenous plants such as the tembusu, tiup tiup, and senduduk, to monitor lizards, flying dragons and oriental green snakes. The book guides you through the changing human geography of the region, and tells the inside stories behind the original campus master plan drawn up in the 1970s.

Richly illustrated with photos, historical maps and images, each chapter of this book is written by NUS faculty and staff who are passionate about the Ridge.