Penang - the developement

How Penang was establish...

Before 1786 Penang was covered with jungle. The place was nothing more than a swampy, malaria infected island then. Nobody wanted to live on this impenetrable island.Thanks to the English captain Francis Light of the East India Company the island developed quickly. He had chosen Penang as  harbour for ships on their way to China. On that long trip to China, where they got tea and opium, they could get fresh food and water in Penang. The soldiers of the East India Company, who had to clear the island from its jungle, complained about the site, which Francis Light had chosen to build a settlement. It was hard work to undo the island from its trees and of its thick undergrowth. To clear the place Light loaded the guns of the ship with silver dollars and fired them into the jungle to encourage a faster clearing by the labourers. Now the work was quickly done and in August they could already use Fort Cornwallis. To encourage settlers the port was given a duty free status and new arrivals were allowed to claim as much land as they could clear.

The original four streets of George Town were Beach Street, Light Street, Pitt Street (now Masjid Kapitan Keling Street) and Chulia Street, all of which still form the main street in Penang.