Penang, 370km from Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia´s northwestern coast, is a confusing amalgam of state and islands. Everything of interest in Penang State is on Penang Island, Pulau Penang, a large island of 285 square kilometres which is connected to the mainland by a bridge and by round-the-clock ferry services from Butterworth. Confusingly, the island´s capital and Malaysia´s second-largest city, Georgetown, is also often referred to as ´Penang´. Most visitor make day-trips out from Georgetown to the island´s north-coast beaches of Batu Ferringhi and Tanjung Bungah, though you can also stay in both these resorts. Until the late 18th century, Pulau Penang was ruled by the sultans of Kedah. In 1771, Sultan Mohammed J´wa Mu´Azzam Shah II took a shine to Captain Francis Light, who worked for a European trading company, and thought it expedient to accept military protection in exchange offering the British the use of densely forested Penang as a port. By 1791, the island, then inhabited by less than a hundred indigenous fishermen, had become the first British settlement in the Malay Peninsula and quickly evolved into a major colonial administrative centre. Francis Light was made superintendent and declared the island a free port, with Georgetown the capital of the newly established Straits Settlement (incorporating Melaka and Singapore). But the founding of Singapore in 1819 was the beginning of the end for Georgetown, and Penang´s fortunes rapidly began to wane. However, the strategic significance of Singapore proved to be Penang´s saving grace, and there was little or no bomb damage to the island during World War II. |
