History begins for this city, Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia almost 200 years ago. Long before the grand buildings were designed and the Kuala Lumpur Malaysia hotels and resorts came to exist and provide economic security, the main source of financial viability were in the tin mines of an area not yet much explored. Many traveled from Sumatra, crossing the Straits of Melaka, cutting with machetes their path through jungles virgin to human presence, and paddling boats along the river Klang to create settlements. Early camps are in the regions of Petaling , a well known street name in the Chinatown sector of the city today, were populated with those planting paddy fields and mining tin. With simple measures these early settlers managed to extract tin from the earth and supplemented their earnings with this hard work. The word spread throughout Malaysia and SE Asia about the riches to be found here, the tin riches, and many began to travel here in hopes of discovering wealth, much like the days of the California Gold Rush.
One such chief, Raja Abdullah, became interested in the opportunity of profiting from the mining of tin and sent miners from China up to the valley in 1857. These 87 men spent days on a boat, battling wild animals with the threat of various tropical diseases including Malaria just over their shoulders. Once docked, the journey was continued on foot through the untraveled jungle ‘paths’ that led to the mines which sat along two rivers, the Klang and the Gombak. Spirits of the jungle were on the minds of those making this journey and often a shaman or ‘Pawang ‘ accompanied trips of this nature, to ensure that the spirits of the jungle would not be disturbed. These medicine men were also hired to be present at the mine sites as well. Chinese immigrants put their lives on the line, searching for adventure most certainly, but searching also for a new life, with new opportunities. This is the way the city of Kuala Lumpur was founded and continues to be the way it is lived today, in the modern world.
