Early Kuala Lumpur
1900s: Two-storey brick shophouses replaced atap sheds after a fire in 1881 destroyed most of the houses in narrow streets of congested Chinatown.
In the course of 80 years, from 1859 to 1939, Kuala Lumpur grew from a small trading post in the remote interior into the largest town in the Malay Peninsula, with a population of more than 120,000. The centre of the town, on the east bank of the Klang River, had roads running outwards, like the spokes of a wheel, to nearby mining areas, a pattern that persisted and caused much congestion as the town grew. From a collection of shanties, Kuala Lumpur changed into a town of shophouses, bungalows and untidy and insanitary areas of working-class settlement sprinkled with a few prestigious government buildings.
- Information in the full article includes
- A face-lift for Kuala Lumpur
- Green spaces
- Development between the wars