Discover Selangor

Discover Selangor (7 July, 2016)


B. Melayu

Map of Towns in Selangor

Major Towns in Selangor

For a more comprehensive list, go to Towns in Selangor.

Map of Places of Interest in Selangor

Places of Interest in Selangor

Categories of sights in Selangor

Natural Attractions of Selangor

Districts of Selangor

Schools in Selangor

Introducing Selangor

Selangor is the most developed and most populous state in Malaysia. It is home to some of the biggest cities in the country. Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, is located in the Federal Territory, an area carved out of Selangor in 1974. The administrative capital of Malaysia, Putrajaya, was also created when Selangor ceded the land to the federal government. It became another federal territory in 2001.

Most people exploring Selangor end up making Kuala Lumpur as their base, although it is no longer part of Selangor proper. Kuala Lumpur is certainly well placed in the heart of the state. Even hotels in Petaling Jaya, technically in Selangor, are grouped by Agoda under Kuala Lumpur. The alternative is the state capital, Shah Alam. However, if you plans are to explore the outer reaches of Selangor, you might want to consider any of the smaller towns as your base, bearing in mind that these towns will have more basic infrastructure a distant comparison to Kuala Lumpur.

All about Selangor

Selangor covers an area of 7,956 square kilometers (3,071 square miles). It has a population approaching 5.2 million people (2010 estimate). The capital of Selangor is Shah Alam while the royal capital is Klang. The biggest city in Selangor is Petaling Jaya, which is within the Kuala Lumpur metropolitan area known as the Klang Valley.

After Malacca fell to the Portuguese, Selangor was a no-man's land contested by neighbouring states including the newly established Johor and Perak, as well as by the Portuguese in Malacca, along with the Acehnese and the Siamese. The Minangkabaus that had established themselves in Negri Sembilan had also settled in Selangor. By 1740, 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.

The growth of Selangor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was propelled by the discovery of tin in Kuala Lumpur. By the beginning of the 20th century, large forested areas of Selangor were being developed into rubber and palm oil plantations. Many of these plantations have seen made way for urban development in the form of residential and industrial estates.

Etymology of Selangor

The name "Selangor" is said to have come from the name of a beast called langau¹. A warrior on his way north was attacked by the beast when he was taking a rest by the riverbank. The warrior decided to clear the land and named it Se-Langau, a name which evolved to Selangor. A different theory had it that the name Selangor came from the Mentangau tree which grew along the river. The mouth of the river became known as Kuala Sungai Mentangau, which evolved to become Kuala Selangor.

Getting there

By Plane
There are two airports in Selangor, the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport.

By Road
Selangor can be reached by taking the North South Expressway Northern Route from Perak, the North South Expressway Southern Route and the ELITE Highway from Negeri Sembilan, and the Karak Expresway from Pahang.

Trains serving Selangor

Selangor is served by the KTM Komuter Port Klang Line and Seremban Line, the Express Rail Link, the LRT Ampang Line, Kelana Jaya Line and Sungai Buloh-Kajang MRT Line.


Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, Klang (29 December, 2006)


Sekinchan Fishermen Wharf (1 July, 2016)



Klang, Selangor (29 December, 2006)

References

List of States in Malaysia

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

About this website

Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.