Kuala Lumpur

KL is the capital city of Malaysia. Located in the hills of the southern Malay Peninsula, it is the nation's prinicipal economic, administrative, and cultural center. Manufactures include tin, rubber, and machinery and food products.

Kuala Lumpur was founded by Chinese settlers in 1857 as a tin-mining camp. It expanded under British rule from 1873 to 1957 as a center of tin and rubber production. In 1895 it became the capital of the British-protected Federated Malay States. In 1957 it became the capital of the newly independent Federation of Malaya and remained the national capital when Malaysia was founded in 1963. Today that little tin-mining camp is home to the world's second (and third) tallest buildings, the Petronas Towers.