Once a small hamlet of Chinese and Malay tin miners, Kuala Lumpur was formally established in 1857, and later developed into a regional capital by British colonial interests. The city grew rapidly in the early twentieth century with the advent of the Selengor rubber boom, and is now the largest city in Malaya.

A major industrial hub and existing under no formal government, Kuala Lumpur has been both a key strategic point and a beating heart of exploitation under twenty years of Japanese military rule.