Kuala Lumpur history

Kuala Lumpur's history is surprisingly short – it only came into existence in the late 1850s, when a group of Chinese tin prospectors settled where the Klang and Gombak rivers meet in what was then deep mosquito-ridden jungle.

Indeed, the city's name translates from Malay as 'Muddy Confluence', an unglamorous title for what has grown in a century and a half into one of Southeast Asia's most prosperous and vibrant capital cities.

Its development into modern day 'KL' began under British colonial rule, when the scruffy little settlement started to be expanded, the jungle cleared, and construction of more substantial brick and stone buildings commenced.

Already designated capital of Selangor state, KL was proclaimed national capital of the newly formed Federated Malay States at the end of the 19th century.

Its growth continued apace until capture by the Japanese in 1942, which halted progress for nearly four years. But British administration returned post-war, and preparations for Malaysian independence began in earnest, finally coming to fruition in 1957.

Since independence, KL has steadily grown, particularly during the economic boom years of the 1980s and 1990s, into the ultra-modern (in parts) city it is today. Completion of the Petronas Twin Towers in the late 1990s gave KL an icon of its new-found identity, and prosperity continues to grow as it further establishes itself as a leading Southeast Asian centre of commerce and trade.

The staging of the 1998 Commonwealth Games, and the now well-established Malaysian F1 Grand Prix, have further served to raise the city's international profile.

It is the stated aim of the Malaysian Government that the country will be regarded as 'fully developed' within a few short decades.