The meaning and brief history of Kuala Lumpur
If you’ve heard about Malaysia before, maybe you know that the capital of this country is Kuala Lumpur. But did you know how this city got its present day name today? The Kuala Lumpur history started in the year 1857 when a Malay chieftain, Raja Abdullah was looking for a new tin mining area.
The tin mining area was finally found in the present day Ampang and that place was a jungle area. Before this mining area was found, the coolies sent by Raja Abbdullah found the confluence of Klang and Gombak rivers. You can still see this confluence today when you visit Masjid Jamek or Sultan Abdul Samad building.
The estuary of Gombak and Klang Rivers
The location of this confluence is just behind the Sultan Abdul Samad building. Because the estuary was the muddy one Raja Abdullah named that place as Kuala Lumpur which means ‘muddy estuary’.
Kuala Lumpur was still a part of Selangor untill 1974 when the Malaysia Federal government decided to make it as a Federal Territory. Kuala Lumpur is officially called Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur and celebrates the Federal Territory’s day on 1st of February each and every year.
Now Kuala Lumpur is no longer governed by Selangor but Kuala Lumpur depends a lot from Selangor and for example the fresh water supply.
At this location, now there is also one of the historic buildings in Kuala Lumpur and that is Masjid Jamek which is an old mosque. The architecture of this mosque seems to influenced by indian architecture.
The view of Masjid Jamek from HSBC bank in Kuala Lumpur
This mosque is a bit hidden by the Masjid Jamek LRT station and just a short walk away from puduraya. The next time when you want to visit Kuala Lumpur, I recommend you to visit this Masjid Jamek and also Sultan Abdul Samad building where you can see the history of the city from the closer view.
Related Posts
Filed under KL Info by on Aug 4th, 2009. 
Leave a Comment