1857
87 tin miners, mostly Chinese, came to the area where the rivers Klang and Gombah converge. The miners were searching for tin and found here a rich source of the metal. It is said that around 70% of the settlers died of malaria in the first months.
1862
K.L was a growing village. The place was named Kuala Lumpur which in Malay means “muddy estuary” The village grow rapidly and as all new mining settlements around the world it was a turbulent time. This first period was filled with conflicts and gang wars between local Chinese gangs and sometimes Malay gangs about mining rights and control of drinking water. Among the Chinese tongs were in these days wars going on to control the brothels, gambling booths and opium trade in the settlement.
1869
The legendary Chinese Yap Ah Loy , also known as Yap Tet Loy or Yap Mao Lan became Chinese Kapitan of Kuala Lumpur and succeeded in just a few years to establish law and order in the town and became a sort of Mayor of K.L. until his death in 1885.
1880
Kuala Lumpur became a modern town when the British representative Frank Swettenham developed the first city plan and rich miners built colonial houses. One of the reasons that the town Yap Ah Loy
could expand was that the price of tin raised
dramatically.
1887
Kuala Lumpur became the capital of the state of Selangor one year after the railway to the harbour city Klang was openend.
1896
The Federated Malay States (FMS)is formed by uniting the Sultans of four states under one umbrella and KL was chosen as the capital of FMS. because of its central position. The city became a classic centre of British colonialism.
1946
Kuala Lumpur was the capital in the “Federation of Malaya”
1957
Malaysia became independence August 31 after 151 years of British rule, Kuala Lumpur was appointed the capital of the independent Federation of Malaya.
1963
Kuala Lumpur became the capital of Malaysia in 1963.
1974
Kuala Lumpur formerly detached from its mother state of Selangor and became an autonomy city (Wilayah Persekutuan or Federal Territory) with its own administration.
1999
The federal administrative capital moved to Putrajaya on June 4.
2007
Kuala Lumpur celebrates its 50th year as the capital of Malaysia and Malaysia its 50th year of independence.