Penang

• Penang is a state in Malaysia, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. Penang is the second smallest state in Malaysia by area after Perlis, and the eighth most populous. A resident of Penang is colloquially known as a Penangite.
• Archaeological evidence shows that Penang (island and its mainland territory) was inhabited by the Semang-Pangan of the Juru and Yen lineage, both now considered extinct cultures. They were hunter-gatherers of the Negrito stock having short stature and dark complexion, and were dispersed by the Malays as far back as 900 years ago. The last recorded aboriginal settlement in Penang was in the 1920s in Kubang Semang.
• The history of modern Penang, originally part of the Malay Sultanate of Kedah, began when the island was leased to Captain Francis Light, an English trader-adventurer working for the Madras-based firm, Jourdain Sullivan and de Souza, in exchange for military protection from Siamese and Burmese armies who were threatening Kedah. On 11 August 1786, Francis Light landed on Penang at what is later called Fort Cornwallis and renamed the island Prince of Wales Island in honour of the heir to the British throne. In Malaysian history, the occasion marked the beginning of more than a century of British involvement in Malaya.
• Unbeknownst to Sultan Abdullah of Kedah, Light had acted without the approval of the company when he promised military protection. When Light reneged on his promise, the Sultan tried to recapture the island in 1790. The attempt was unsuccessful, and the Sultan was forced to cede the island to the company for an honorarium of 6,000 Spanish dollars per annum. Light established Penang as a free port to entice traders away from nearby Dutch trading posts. He also encouraged immigrants by promising them as much land as they could clear. He reportedly fire silver dollars from his ship's cannons deep into the jungle to expedite the process. Many early settlers, including Light himself, succumbed to malaria, earning early Penang the epithet "the white man's grave".
• The cenotaph at the Esplanade, erected after World War I, commemorates fallen soldiers
• After Light's demise, Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Wellesley arrived in Penang to coordinate the defences of the island. In 1800, Lieutenant-Governor Sir George Leith secured a strip of land across the channel as a buffer against attacks and named it Province Wellesley (Seberang Prai). The annual payment to Sultan of Kedah was increased to 10,000 Spanish dollars per annum after the acquisition. Today, the Penang state government still pays RM 18,800.00 to the Sultan of Kedah annually.
• In 1826, Penang, along with Malacca and Singapore, became part of the Straits Settlements under the British administration in India, moving to direct British colonial rule in 1867. During the First World War, in the Battle of Penang, the German cruiser SMS Emden sank two allied warships off the coasts of George Town.
• Penang suffered devastating aerial bombardments during World War II and finally fell to invading Japanese forces on 17 December 1941 as the British withdrew to Singapore after declaring George Town an open city. Penang under Japanese occupation was marked by widespread fear, hunger, and massacres which targeted the local Chinese populace.