a brief history

Once part of the Malay Sultanate of Kedah, Penang was turned over to the British East India Company in 1786 in an agreement between the Sultan of Kedah and Captain Francis Light, credited by western historians as the ‘founder’ of Penang. The first British trading post in the Far East, Penang soon became one of the foremost ports in Asia. Its strategic location between east and west ensured that goods and influences flowed in from Suffolk to Sumatra, Cairo to Cochin, Bombay to Bristol. ►