12 September 2018

What is the origin of the name 'Bukit Nanas'?

How Malaysian are you #4?

Most commentators on my FB page guessed correctly, Bukit Nanas is so named because it once had a lot of pineapples covering it.

It was once named as Bukit Gombak and historians think that it is one of the oldest settlements in Kuala Lumpur. There was once a fort on top of the hill and pineapples were planted to serve as natural defenses and the place came to be known as Bukit Nanas.

In 1872, during the Klang War or Selangor Civil War, the fort at Bukit Nanas was held by Tengku Kudin's forces including 500 soldiers, various mercenaries including Europeans and Chinese including the famous Kapitan Cina Yap Ah Loy. The pineapples did not help and after a seige by Raja Mahadi and his Mandailing forces, the Bukit was captured. Yap Ah Loy managed to escape to Klang.
This war was quite significant in Malaysian history because, it lead to direct British involvement in the affairs of the Malay states.

Convent Bukit Nanas established in 1899 and it's brother institution,St John's Institution, established in 1904, are among the oldest schools in Malaysia.

The Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve was gazetted in 1906, but its size has shrunk from 17.5ha to 9.3ha.

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