Tanjong Pagar Road is a main road in the southern part of the Central Business District of Singapore. It is the main road in the Tanjong Pagar area, within the Outram Planning Area of downtown.
The exact date when Tanjong Pagar Road was built is uncertain. It may have dated back to 1864, when the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company was formed, or possibly earlier. There are a number of theories over the etymology of the name Tanjong Pagar. According to one, it may have evolved from Tanjong Passar, a name which appeared in the 1836 Coleman map.
The name Tanjong Pagar means "palisaded cape." Although the road is nowhere near a cape today, that cape or headland probably has existed on the southern part of Singapore in the 19th century, but was erased by successive land reclamation which extended the shoreline creating the wharves between the Tanjong Pagar and Teluk Blangah area. After all, Keppel Terminal and Tanjong Pagar Terminal are both sitting on land that was originally sea.
The Malay Annals provides a fanciful account of how Tanjong Pagar got its name. According to the story, there was a fishing village at the area which was regularly menaced by shoals of swordfish. Many villagers were injured whenever the swordfish leap out of the sea. The problem was solved when a young boy suggested that a palisade of banana stems be erected along the shore. This proved successful in protecting the village from the swordfish attacks, and thereafter the village was called Tanjong Pagar.