Kuala Kangsar (town)
The royal town of Kuala Kangsar (population 34,690) is a small town located at the mouth of the Kangsar River, where it flows into the Perak River in Perak, Malaysia. The town is also the main town in the district that goes by the same name.
The sultan of Perak officially resides here and it has been Perak's royal seat since the 18th century. The town is one of four towns that play a role in Perak's complex succession system. It was the location of the first British Resident in the Malay Peninsula, James W.W. Birch, in October 1874 - he was murdered on November 2 1875. Kuala Kangsar has marked its name in the Malaysian history as the site where the first Conference of Rulers, the Durbar, was held in 1897.
The town is also the site of the first rubber tree planted in Malaysia. The person responsible for this was the English botanist Henry Nicholas Ridley. He was the one that helped Malaya and eventually Malaysia becoming the largest rubber producer in the world. The tree still stands till today.
The first Malaysian scout troop was established in Kuala Kansar. Subsequently, the squad number there is 001.
By the 1890s, the growth of the tin mining towns of Ipoh and Taiping had eclipsed Kuala Kangsar, but it remains to this day one of the most attractive of the Malay royal capitals.
A nearby village called Sayong is located on the opposite bank of the Perak River. It is the production center of the famed labu sayong - a traditional earthenware container. A bridge now connects Kuala Kangsar to Sayong. Previously, people had to use small ferry boats, which is still in operation, to cross the river or drive across a bridge located several kilometers away. Small villages in the Sayong vicinity include Kepala Bendang and Kampong Bendang Kering.
Landmarks
- Malay College Kuala Kangsar
- Kenangan Palace (Istana Kenangan)
- Iskandariah Palace (Istana Iskandariah)
- Hulu Palace (Istana Hulu)
- Ubudiah Mosque