Selangor

Selangor (/səˈlæŋər/ sə-LANG-ər; Malay: [s(ə)ˈlaŋo(r)]), also known by the Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east, Negeri Sembilan to the south, and the Strait of Malacca to the west. Selangor surrounds the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, both of which were previously part of it. Selangor has diverse tropical rainforests and an equatorial climate. The state's mountain ranges belong to the Titiwangsa Mountains, which is part of the Tenasserim Hills that covers southern Myanmar, southern Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia, with Mount Semangkok as the highest point in the state.

The state capital of Selangor is Shah Alam, and its royal capital is Klang, Kajang is the largest municipality by total metropolitan population and Petaling Jaya is the largest municipality by total population within the city. Petaling Jaya and Subang Jaya received city status in 2006 and 2019, respectively. Selangor is one of four Malaysian states that contain more than one city with official city status; the others are Sarawak, Johor, and Penang.

The state of Selangor has the largest economy in Malaysia in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), with RM 384 billion (roughly $82 billion) in 2022, comprising 25.6% of the country's GDP. It is the most developed state in Malaysia; it has good infrastructure, such as highways and transport, and has the largest population in Malaysia. It also has a high standard of living and the lowest poverty rate in the country.

The origin of the name Selangor is uncertain. A common suggestion is that the name refers to the Malay word langau, a large fly or blowfly that is found in the marshes along the Selangor River (Sungai Selangor) in the state's north-west. According to local lore, a warrior who escaped from Malacca after the Portuguese conquest, took a break from his journey north and rested under a tree here. However, he was disturbed by a persistent fly, whereupon he decided to explore the area. When he found the place to his liking and chose to settle there, he named the place "satu (se) langau" meaning "a large blowfly".

In the absence of a firm etymological explanation, alternative theories abound. One suggestion is that the name may have originated from a kind of tree found in Kuala Selangor and along Selangor River named mentangau. Another theory claims the state's name is derived from the term Salang Ur where ur means "town" or "village" in Tamil, meaning village of the Salang people. It has also been proposed that the name is derived from a combination of salang (stabbing) and jemur (dry in the sun), indicating that it was once a place where traitors were stabbed (salang) then left to roast in the sun (jemur).

The most important settlement of the area in the ancient period may have been Klang. Ancient artefacts including Bronze Age axes and a bronze bell dating from the 2nd century BC, and iron tools called "tulang mawas" ("ape bones") have been found in or near Klang. The Mao Kun map dating to the Ming dynasty and used by the Admiral Zheng He during his expeditions between 1405 and 1433 refers to places in Selangor such as the Klang River estuary (吉令港) and perhaps a hilly area. The Malay Annals indicate that the Selangor area was under the control of the Sultanate of Malacca in the 15th century; however, Selangor at that time was not a unified domain—separate river states such as Klang and Jeram existed in the region. According to the Malay Annals, Tun Perak was appointed the chief of Klang during the reign of Muzaffar Shah. Later, Paduka Sri Cina, the son of Mansur Shah and Hang Li Po was made raja of Jeram near Langat, which may be due to the presence of Chinese miners there.

After the fall of Malacca to the Portuguese in 1511, the area came under the control of Johor Sultanate and was later governed by Sri Agar Diraja, son of the Bendahara family of Johor. In the 17th century, Johor was involved in a war against Jambi, and the Sultan of Johor engaged the help of Bugis mercenaries from Sulawesi to fight against Jambi. After Johor won, the Bugis stayed and started to gain power in the region. Initially there were only a few hundred Bugis who settled in the estuaries of the Selangor and Klang rivers as well as Linggi further south in the early 17th century, later when the Bugis had gained position of influence in Johor (the Bugis were given the position of Yam Tuan Muda having helped repel an attack from Siak), much larger number settled in Selangor by 1723. The most prominent of the Bugis were a group of five brothers. Some Minangkabaus, who mainly settled in Negeri Sembilan, may have also settled in Selangor by the 17th century, perhaps earlier. The Bugis and the Minangkabaus from Sumatra struggled for control of Johor; Raja Kecil, backed by the Minangkabaus, invaded but were driven off by the Bugis. In order to establish a power base, Raja Salehuddin, the son of Daeng Cellak (one of the five Bugis brothers) became Tengku Raja Selangor and founded the present hereditary Selangor Sultanate with its capital at Kuala Selangor in 1766. Selangor is unique as the only state on the Malay Peninsula that was founded by the Bugis.

In the 19th century, the economy of Selangor boomed due to the exploitation of its tin reserves; mining occurred in various parts of Selangor, for example in Ampang, that led to the growth of Kuala Lumpur. In 1854, the Sultan of Selangor granted Raja Abdullah control of Klang, passing over Raja Mahdi, the son of the chief who previously ruled Klang, which led to the Selangor Civil War fought between 1867 and 1874. The war between the Malay factions was also partly a struggle for control of the tin revenue. Tin mining had attracted a large number of Chinese migrant labourers, and Chinese clans allied with Selangor chiefs also joined the civil war. The conflicts between Malay and Chinese factions in Perak and Selangor, as well as concerns over piracy that affected coastal trade, led to increasing British involvement in the affairs of the Malay states.