My trip to Melaka

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History

Melaka is and old town on the Strait of Melaka (The span of water that seperates pensular Malaysia with Sumatra.) It was founded in 1400 A.D by a Sumatran Prince that fled Sumatra (Though there was a fishing village there inhabited by the Orang Luat.) The popular myth is that the prince (named Parameswara) was resting under a tree and one of his hunting dogs was kicked by a mouse deer. The Prince took as a good omen to build a city in that spot, he then named the city Melaka after the Melaka tree he was sitting under. The City managed to make ships come there by paying_____ to neigboring kingdoms and establishing warehouses. After a while, Melaka grew into a major port due to its location on the Straits of Melaka. Melaka also grew into a kingdom of it's own, controlling almost all trade in the Straits of Melaka and owning a few places in Sumatra and pensular Malaysia. The Arabs came eventually and converted the majority of the population into muslims.

Colonial Era

In the 1500's Melaka was such a major player in trade that the Portoguese decided to conquer it. They sent Afonso de Alberque with some 1,200 men and they managed to capture Melaka. The Sultanes escaped to nearby Johor and founded Johor Bahru. When the Portoguese captured Melaka, they stopped trade so Melaka didn't become as big of a port anymore and pirates plagued the Straits of Melaka. The Dutch, with the help of the of the Sultanes in Johor, conquered Melaka in 1641. The Dutch did not make Melaka a trade center, perfering Bativia (now called Jakarta) but they did make a landmark building, the Stadthuys or red building as there admidistrive center. The 1824 Anglo-Dutch treaty let England have Melaka and surounding teritory in exchange for other teritories. The English developed Penang and Singapore instead of Melaka due to it's small hinterland. So Melaka became a Ghostly hallow wth only 20,000 people.

In 1950's, Melaka joined the Federation of Malaysia with Penang, and then its population and economy started climbing slowly upward.

Day 1

When we turned off the Tollway at the exit to Melaka, we got almost immedetly stuck in traffic, so for about an hour, we were stuck in traffic, then when we got to the old town, we got lost but we (after ending up in the same place twice) eventually made it to our hotel, the Hotel Puri . After we got unpacked, we went on a walk through the streets and we bought some delicous pineapple tarts at the night market.

Day 2

On Day 2 we first went and

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