Malacca City is the capital city of Malaysia’s Malacca state. It has a population of 484,885 people in 2010. It is one of the oldest Malaysian towns in the Malacca Strait, having flourished as a profitable entrepôt throughout the Malacca Sultanate’s reign. The current city was built by Parameswara, a Sumatran prince who fled to the Malay Peninsula after Srivijaya was defeated by the Majapahit. Following the foundation of the Malacca Sultanate, the city attracted merchants from the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia, as well as the Portuguese, who wished to control the Asian trade route. After Portugal seized Malacca, the city became a flashpoint as the sultanates of Aceh and Johor sought to seize power from the Portuguese.
Following a series of conflicts between these regions, Aceh’s authority waned, but Johor survived and increased its control over area previously lost to Aceh in Sumatra when Johor collaborated with the Dutch who came to establish dominion over Java and the Maluku Islands. The Johor-Riau Empire, however, was separated into the sultanates of Johor and Riau-Lingga owing to royal internal warfare between the Malay and Bugis. When the British arrived to establish their foothold on the Malay Peninsula, this split became permanent. The Dutch, who already felt threatened with the presence of the British, started conquering the Riau-Lingga Sultanate along with the rest of Sumatra, while Johor fell under British control after the signing of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty in 1824.
When the British succeeded in expanding their authority over the Malay Peninsula, the city quickly became a development region under the British Empire’s Straits Settlements. The Japanese invaded in World War II and controlled the region from 1942 to 1945, halting growth and rising affluence. Many of the city’s population were seized and forced to build the Death Railway in Burma during the occupation (present-day Myanmar). Following the battle, the city was restored to the British and continued to serve as Malacca’s capital. The city-position state’s as a capital endured until Malaysia’s creation in 1963, and it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008, along with George Town in Penang, for its lengthy history.
The city of Malacca’s economy is heavily focused on tourism. As the state’s economic center, it also hosts a number of international conferences and trade fairs. The settlement is situated along the Maritime Silk Road, which China proposed in 2013. A Famosa, Jonker Walk, Little India, Portuguese Settlement, Stadthuys, Maritime Museum, Christ Church, Malacca Sultanate Palace Museum, Malacca Zoo, and Taming Sari Tower are among the tourist attractions in and around Malacca.
