66 Facts About Kuala Lumpur

1.

Kuala Lumpur, officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and colloquially referred to as KL, is a federal territory and the ceremonial, legislative and judicial capital city of Malaysia.

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2.

Greater Kuala Lumpur, known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.

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3.

Kuala Lumpur first developed around 1857 as a town serving the tin mines of the region and served as the capital of Selangor from 1880 until 1978.

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4.

Kuala Lumpur was the founding capital of the Federation of Malaya and its successor Malaysia, and the city remained the seat of the executive and judicial branches of the Malaysian federal government until these were relocated to Putrajaya in early 1999.

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5.

Kuala Lumpur is one of the three federal territories of Malaysia, enclaved within the state of Selangor, on the central west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

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6.

Kuala Lumpur has undergone rapid development in recent decades and is home to the tallest twin buildings in the world, the Petronas Towers, which have since become an iconic symbol of Malaysian development.

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7.

Kuala Lumpur is one of the leading cities in the world for tourism and shopping, the 6th most-visited city in the world in 2019.

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8.

Kuala Lumpur means "muddy confluence" in Malay; Kuala is the point where two rivers join or an estuary, and lumpur means "mud".

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9.

Kuala Lumpur was originally a small hamlet of just a few houses and shops at the confluence of the Sungai Gombak and Sungai Klang .

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10.

Kuala Lumpur became established as a town circa 1857, when the Malay Chief of Klang, Raja Abdullah bin Raja Jaafar, aided by his brother Raja Juma'at of Lukut, raised funds from Malaccan Chinese businessmen to hire Chinese miners from Lukut to open new tin mines there.

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11.

The miners landed at Kuala Lumpur and continued on foot to Ampang, where they opened the first mine.

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12.

Kuala Lumpur was the furthest point up the Klang River to which supplies could conveniently be brought by boat, and therefore became a collection and dispersal point serving the tin mines.

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13.

Two traders from Lukut, Hiu Siew and Yap Ah Sze, arrived in Kuala Lumpur and set up shops to sell provisions to miners in exchange for tin.

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14.

Important Malay figures of early Kuala Lumpur included Haji Mohamed Tahir, who became the Dato Dagang .

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15.

Early Kuala Lumpur was a small town that suffered from many social and political problems – the buildings were made of wood and 'atap' .

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16.

Kuala Lumpur stipulated in 1884 that buildings should be constructed of brick and tile so that they would be less flammable, and that the town be rebuilt with wider streets to reduce fire risk.

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17.

In 1896, Kuala Lumpur was chosen as the capital of the newly formed Federated Malay States.

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18.

The commercial activities of Kuala Lumpur had been run to a large extent by Chinese businessmen such as Loke Yew, who was then the richest and most influential Chinese in Kuala Lumpur.

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19.

Kuala Lumpur grew during the war, and continued after the war during the Malayan Emergency, during which Malaya was preoccupied with a communist insurgency and New Villages were established on the outskirts of the city.

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20.

Kuala Lumpur remained the capital after the formation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963.

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21.

Kuala Lumpur had seen a number of civil disturbances over the years.

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22.

Kuala Lumpur achieved city status on 1 February 1972, becoming the first settlement in Malaysia to be granted the status after independence.

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23.

The territory of Kuala Lumpur expanded to 96 square miles by absorbing the surrounding areas.

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24.

Kuala Lumpur ceded from Selangor to be directly controlled by the central government, and it ceased to be capital of Selangor in 1978 after the city of Shah Alam was declared the new state capital.

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25.

Notable projects undertaken within Kuala Lumpur itself include the development of a new Kuala Lumpur City Centre around Jalan Ampang and the Petronas Towers.

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26.

Geography of Kuala Lumpur is characterised by the huge Klang Valley, bordered by the Titiwangsa Mountains in the east, several minor ranges in the north and the south, and the Strait of Malacca in the west.

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27.

Kuala Lumpur is a Malay term that translates to "muddy confluence" and is located at the confluence of the Klang and Gombak rivers.

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28.

In 1974, Kuala Lumpur was split off from Selangor to form the first Federal Territory governed directly by the Malaysian federal government.

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29.

Kuala Lumpur is a centre for finance, insurance, real estate, media and the arts of Malaysia.

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30.

Kuala Lumpur is rated the only global city in Malaysia, according to the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network .

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31.

Kuala Lumpur is poised to become the global Islamic financing hub with an increasing number of financial institutions providing Islamic financing and the strong presence of Gulf financial institutions such as the world's largest Islamic bank, the Al-Rajhi Bank and Kuwait Finance House.

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32.

Kuala Lumpur has advantages stemming from the high concentration of educational institutions that provide a wide-ranging of courses.

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33.

Kuala Lumpur has been home for years to important research centres such as the Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia, the Forest Research Institute Malaysia and the Institute of Medical Research.

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34.

Kuala Lumpur is the sixth most visited city in the world, with 8.

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35.

Kuala Lumpur plays host to many cultural festivals such as the Thaipusam procession at the Sri Mahamariamman Temple.

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36.

Kuala Lumpur alone has 66 shopping malls and is the retail and fashion hub of both Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

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37.

Apart from shopping complexes, Kuala Lumpur has designated numerous zones in the city to market locally manufactured products such as textiles, fabrics and handicrafts.

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38.

Kuala Lumpur is the most populous city in Malaysia, with a population of 1.

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39.

Kuala Lumpur is the centre of the wider Klang Valley metropolitan area covering Petaling Jaya, Klang, Subang Jaya, Puchong, Shah Alam, and Gombak, with an estimated metropolitan population of 7.

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40.

Kuala Lumpur'storically Kuala Lumpur was a predominantly Chinese city, although more recently the Bumiputera component of the city has grown substantially and they are now the dominant group.

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41.

The population of Kuala Lumpur had increased to around three thousand in 1880 when it was made the capital of Selangor.

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42.

Kuala Lumpur residents are generally literate in English, with a large proportion adopting it as their first language.

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43.

Architecture of Kuala Lumpur is a mixture of old colonial influences, Asian traditions, Malay Islamic inspirations, modern, and postmodern architecture.

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44.

Kuala Lumpur contains 14 tertiary education institutions, 79 high schools, 155 elementary schools and 136 kindergartens.

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45.

Greater Kuala Lumpur covers an even more extensive selection of universities including several international branches such as Monash University Malaysia Campus, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus and Xiamen University Malaysia.

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46.

Kuala Lumpur is a hub for cultural activities and events in Malaysia.

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47.

Kuala Lumpur has a craft complex coupled with a museum that displays a variety of textile, ceramic, metal craft and weaved products.

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48.

The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre in Sentul West and Damansara Performing Arts Centre in Damansara Perdana are two of the most established centres in the country for the performing arts, notably theatre, plays, music, and film screening.

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49.

Also, Kuala Lumpur was designated as the World Book Capital for 2020 by UNESCO.

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50.

Kuala Lumpur is becoming the centre for new media, innovation and creative industry development in the region and hosts the international creative industry event Kreative.

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51.

Kuala Lumpur is at the forefront of the convergence of media, art, culture and communications.

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52.

Kuala Lumpur has numerous parks, gardens and open spaces for recreational purposes.

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53.

Kuala Lumpur was touted as one of the host cities for the Formula One World Championship from 1999 to 2017.

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54.

Kuala Lumpur is one of the stages of the Tour de Langkawi cycling race.

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55.

Kuala Lumpur has a considerable array of international class sports facilities after hosting the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

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56.

Kuala Lumpur has several golf courses including the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club and the Malaysia Civil Service Golf Club in Kiara and the Berjaya Golf Course at Bukit Jalil.

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57.

Kuala Lumpur is the birthplace of Hashing, which began in December 1938 when a group of British colonial officers and expatriates, some from the Selangor Club, began meeting on Monday evenings to run, in a fashion patterned after the traditional British Paper Chase or "Hare and Hounds".

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58.

Kuala Lumpur hosted the 128th IOC Session in 2015 where the IOC elected Beijing as the host city of the 2022 Winter Olympics and Lausanne as the host city of the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics.

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59.

Kuala Lumpur is the headquarters for Malaysia's state broadcaster Radio Televisyen Malaysia, state news agency Bernama, state religious TV Company Alhijrah Media Corporation, principal telecommunication service provider – Telekom Malaysia, Media Prima Berhad's newspaper division – New Straits Times Press, the country's main pay satellite television service – Astro and newspaper companies such as: China Press, Malaysia Nanban and Makkal Osai.

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60.

Apart from functioning as a telecommunication tower, Kuala Lumpur Tower is an important broadcast centre in the city, transmitting signals of radio and television stations to Kuala Lumpur City and its surrounding area.

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61.

Kuala Lumpur has been featured in aspects of popular culture such as movies, television, music and books.

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62.

Movies set in Kuala Lumpur include Police Story 3: Super Cop and Entrapment, in which the Petronas Towers were depicted in flames for a few seconds.

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63.

Kuala Lumpur was one of the destinations in The Amazing Race Asia and The Amazing Race.

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64.

Video games have been set in Kuala Lumpur, including three levels of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin and two tracks in the racing game Burnout Dominator.

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65.

Kuala Lumpur has a comprehensive road network with more transportation development planned.

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66.

Kuala Lumpur is one of the major ASEAN cities with taxis extensively running on natural gas.

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