Kuala Lumpur (Malaya)

Its area is 50,000 square miles or 129,000 sq km. Since 1957, Malaya has been an independent federated nation within the British Commonwealth. The dense tropical jungle that covers most of Malaya has been cleared in the north and along the west coast. Here, the land is used to grow rice, which meets only one-third of the country's food needs. Agriculture is chiefly devoted to export crops, particularly rubber, copra, palm oil and pineapples. Rubber plantations cover 65 per cent of the total area under cultivation and support one-third of the working population. Malaya is one of the world's largest rubber producers. Next to rubber, tin is Malaya's leading product. Iron ore and bauxite are also exported. Singapore handles most of Malaya's foreign trade. The largest centres within Malaya itself are Kuala Lumpur and the port of George Town (on Penang Island).

The first Europeans to establish trade centres in Malaya were the Portuguese in the 16th century, followed by the Dutch in the 17th, and, finally, by the British after 1786. Under British rule, Malaya was divided into the British crown colony of the Straits Settlements (Singapore, Penang and Malacca) and the Malay States, under British protection. After the Second World War, Britain combined all Malayan areas (except Singapore) into a union, or federation, that gradually rose from being a colony (in 1946) to independence (in 1957). It now forms the nucleus of the Federation of Malaysia, formed in 1963, which contains Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah. Formerly a member of the Federation, Singapore seceded in 1965, to become an entirely independent State.