Kuala Lumpur History of Kuala Lumpur Museum
A guide to the History of Kuala Lumpur! Visit Get-Packing.com for Kuala Lumpur History and read up-to-date information, reviews and articles on Kuala Lumpur art and museums...
Malaysia's greatest city was born during the 1860s, when tin prospectors settled at the point where the Kelang and Gombak rivers met. The town was called Kuala Lumpur (literally 'muddy convergence') and quickly grew into a thriving rowdy town.
The local Sultan employed the services of Yap Ah Loy to bring order to the settlement, and quickly, under his influence the town became wealthy and organised so quickly, that it became an upmarket increasingly residential city which attracted people from all over the country, until it attracted the government from Klang, and Kuala Lumpur became the capital of the Federated Malay States in 1896.
The population of the city ballooned during the period of British Control from 1913 and fell dramatically upon the Japanese invasion, when many of the immigrant Chinese and Indian workers were killed or packed off to work on the Death Railway to Burma.
Following the war, the British returned, and the city rebuilt and recovered, and by the time of independence in 1957, Kuala Lumpur was well on its way to being a powerhouse of the South East Asian economy.
The city held the Commonwealth games in 1998, and is by far the most important city in the country, where civic pride is considered to be a virtue. Until ambitious Shanghai built something taller (Shanghai 101), The Petronas Towers, enormous ornate twin skyscrapers that dwarf the rest of the city were the tallest building in the world.
|
