Selangor History
On this page, I want to tell you a bit about the history of Selangor, the most vibrant and developed state in Malaysia. Selangor is a state in the central part of West Malaysia. Written in full as Selangor Darul Ehsan, or Selangor Abode of Sincerity, it is a hereditary constitutional monarchy bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east, Negri Sembilan to the south and the Straits of Malacca to the west. The capital of Selangor is Shah Alam while Klang is the royal town.
Selangor is the state with the highest gross domestic product in Malaysia. At US$11,762, the GDP per capita of Selangor is second only to Penang. The Klang Valley is the largest conurbation in the country. Within it are several towns and urban districts including Damansara, Puchong, Cheras, Ampang, Klang, Subang Jaya, and the cities of Shah Alam and Petaling Jaya.
Although a few theories are offered, historians have so far not come to a conclusion as to how Selangor got its name. The present state is a late comer compared to other states that have been established much earlier. The land where Selangor is located was part of the Sultanate of Malacca in the 15th century. After Malacca fell to the Portuguese, it was a no-man's land contested by neighbouring states including the newly established states of Johor and Perak, as well as by the Portuguese in Malacca, by the Acehnese and by the Siamese. The Minangkabaus that had established themselves in Negri Sembilan had also settled in Selangor. By the 18th century, however, they were displaced by the Bugis, from whom the present rulers of Selangor trace their ancestry.
Tin ore was found in abundance in Selangor in the 1850s, in about the same time that the ore was discovered in Larut in Perak. The arrival of Chinese coolies to extract the tin in Ampang, near the confluence of the Klang and the Gombak rivers led to the founding of what was to become the most important city in the country, Kuala Lumpur. As in the case in Perak, the prosperity from tin caused rivalry between the Malay chieftains, who each found allies from rival Chinese secret societies. The warfare that constantly erupt gave the British the excuse to intervene and establish their authority in Selangor.
In 1874, the very same year that the Pangkor Treaty was signed in Perak, the Sultan of Selangor was forced to accept a British Resident. In a sense, Selangor benefited from the ensuing order provided by British rule, and prospered from the wealth brought by tin mining. There was no turning back the tide as Selangor raced ahead of the other states to become the most developed and wealthiest state in the country.
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