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Penang (in Malay Pulau Pinang) is an island of 113 sq. miles (293 sq. km.) on the north-west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It is also the name of one of the states of Malaysia (state capital: George Town), which consists of the island and a small strip of land on the mainland known as Province Wellesley (also known as Seberang Perai; principal town: Butterworth). The island is named after the Pinang tree.
Penang was part of the Malay state of Kedah before Captain Francis Light successfully negotiated with the Sultan of Kedah to cede the island to the British East India Company on August 12, 1786. Province Wellesley was ceded to the Company in 1790.
The East India Company was attracted to the natural harbour which could serve as an anchorage for their trading ships and as a naval base to counter growing French ambitions in the region. The town on the northeastern tip of the island was named George Town after King George III of Great Britain. Penang island itself was originally named Prince of Wales Island by the Company.
In 1826Events February 11 University College London is founded, under the name University of London''. April 1 Samuel Morey patents the internal combustion engine. June 14- 15 The Auspicious Incident: Mahmud II, sultan of Ottoman Empire, crushes the last mutiny, Penang, along with MalaccaPeninsular Malaysia Malacca (or Melaka in Malay) is a state of Malaysia, located in the southern part of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. The state's capital is also called Melaka or Malacca. Although the first Malay sultanate started in Ma and SingaporeThe Republic of Singapore ( Chinese , pinyin: Xinjiapo Gonghegu Malay Republik Singapura Tamil , Cingkappur Kudiyarasu , is an island city-state in Southeast Asia, at latitude 1°17'35"N longitude 103°51'20"E, situated on the southern tip of Malay Peninsul, became part of the Straits SettlementsThe Straits Settlements were a collection of territories of the British East India Company in Southeast Asia, which were given collective administration in 1826. Initially, the Straits Settlements consisted of Penang, Singapore, and Malacca. The establish, moving to direct British rule in 1867Events January 8 African-American men granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia January 11 Benito Juarez becomes Mexican president again January 30 Emperor Komei of Japan dies. Crown Prince Mutsuhito is expected to become the next Emperor of J. In 1946Events January January 4 Theodore Schurch becomes the last person to be executed for offences committed under the Treachery Act of 1940 January 7 Allied recognize Austrian republic with 1937 borders the country is divided into four occupation zones Januar it became part of the Malayan UnionThe Malayan Union was formed in 1946 by the British. It was a confederation of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements state excluding Singapore of which was placed as a crown colony under direct British rule. It was conceived to simplify the adminis, before becoming in 1948 a state of the Federation of Malaya, which gained independence in 1957. In 1963 it became one of the 13 states of Malaysia.
The island was a free port until 1969. Despite the loss of the island's free port status, from the 1970s to the late 1990s the state built up one of the largest electronics manufacturing bases in Asia, in the Free Trade Zone around the airport in the south of the island.