Top 9 Essential Experiences in George Town & Penan, George Town, Malaysia

Sailing for the British East India Company (EIC), Captain Francis Light landed on the mostly uninhabited Penang Island in 1786, then a hideaway for pirates. At that time, in the Strait of Malacca, only Malacca was occupied by Europeans (the Portuguese since 1511, displaced by the Dutch in 1641). In exchange for protection from the Siamese and Burmese, the owner of the island of Penang, the Sultan of Kedah, gave it to Francis Light for the EIC. However, Light did not get the support he needed from the British administration in India to honour his promise as it was afraid of the powerful Siamese. The sultan of Kedah tried to retake the island, eventually being defeated by the British. In 1791 Penang was sold to the British, and today Penang still pays a yearly tribute to the sultanate of Kedha (of about USD 100,000).

The legend says that Light fired silver dollars from the canons of his ship to motivate his men to clear the rainforest to make room for the settlement, the oldest British trading post in the Far East. To attract settlers, the port was turned into a duty free zone, and as much land that could be cleared could be claimed by the newcomers. The settlement became the city of George Town counting 10,000 souls by 1800. If European settlers gave a shot to spices such as clove and nutmeg, trading also involved tin, rubber and china. By the mid-1800s many became involved in the Chinese opium trade and Penang toughened up with brothels and gambling dens run by Chinese secret societies. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).