The area located in the south of Singapore River which was mainly marsh and changed after the land reclamation in the mid 1820s to make it suitable for building. Within a few years, Commercial Square in this place has become a colony’s thriving business address of a developing trading port. The square is the main shopping center of Singapore until being substituted by Orchard Road at the end of 1960; Today the square, now called Raffles Place, formed the key part of the Singapore Financial District (also known as the CBD, or Central Business District).
