OPENING UP THE LAND
Until about 1880, Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak were covered by dense rainforest interspersed with small settlements along the coastline and rivers and intermittent clearances of slash-and-burn agriculture. Although the faces of Sabah and Sarawak were to change very little until the exploitation of timber began in the 1970s, from the middle of the 19th century two factors were responsible for swift and dramatic changes to the landscape of the Peninsula: tin mining and the rise of large-scale estate agriculture. Although tin had been mined manually by Malays for centuries, it was the discovery in Perak, in 1848 and from 1870 onwards, of major tin deposits that propelled Straits Chinese entrepreneurs and, later, European capitalists to invest in new techniques. By the turn of the century, Malaysia was the world's largest tin producer.
The British colonial administrators were quick to spot the benefits of building an infrastructure of roads and railways linking mining areas to the west coast of the Peninsula. Recognizing, too, that tin was a non-renewable resource and keen on long-term investment, they experimented with various agricultural crops, eventually establishing vast plantations, especially of rubber, in the early 20th century for commercial exploitation. The infrastructure established for the tin industry also benefited the rubber industry. Close on the heels of economic growth came demographic change—large-scale migration of Chinese coolies into the tin districts and recruitment of Tamil labourers into the plantations—and geographical concentration, especially in the tin-mining areas.
Opening up the land contributed greatly to the building boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and involved the construction of railway stations, utilitarian housing for plantation workers, bungalows for expatriate estate managers and other colonial officers, places of worship, shophouses, and imposing colonial-style administration buildings.The towns in Perak and Selangor, including Kuala Lumpur, which served the tin mines and growing rural communities, grew from ramshackle settlements of wood and thatched-roof houses into neat, colonial towns featuring a central padang (a large field) set amidst imposing administrative buildings, residences for the chief officers of the government, a market, rows of one- or two-storey shophouses, and separate areas of simpler housing for the local population.
In pursuit of rest and recreation—and a refuge from the perceived health hazards of the lowlands—the British colonial administrators also turned their attention to Malaysia's highland areas, establishing small, isolated hill stations on Penang Island and, principally, at Maxwell's Hill, Fraser's Hill and Cameron Highlands along the ridges and flanks of the rugged Main Range.
