Kuantan

Kuantan (中文： 关丹) is the state capital of Pahang, the largest state in Peninsular Malaysia. It is situated near the mouth of the Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. The population of Kuantan is 32% Chinese, 4% Indian and 7% other races. If one measures the distance along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is located roughly halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu. Kuantan's population is approximately 568,600 and it is the 9th largest city in Malaysia.

The Pahang state government shifted the administrative centre of Pahang from Kuala Lipis to Kuantan in 1955.

Recently, the National Physical Plan 2005 identified Kuantan as one of the future growth centres and a hub for trade, commerce, transportation and tourism. Kuantan is also considered as the social, economic and commercial hub for East Coast Peninsular Malaysia due to its strategic location. Rapid development since early 21st century has transformed and modernized Kuantan. Since 2005, Kuantan has had many development projects across the city, including Putra Square, Mahkota Square, Bukit Gambang Water Resort, Kuantan Sentral and Kuantan Port City under the Kuantan District Locality Plan 2004-2015.

Kuantan in the first century was actually a part of Chih-Tu empire where most of the native people were Chinese-Siamese. In the 11th century, this piece of land was conquered by another small empire called Pheng-Kheng before being taken over by the Siamese during 12th century. The aborigines and native speak a special language, a combination of Cantonese, Hokkien, and Fu Zhou. During the 15th century, Kuantan was ruled by the Malacca Empire.
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Kuantan is said to have been founded in the 1850s. The word "Kuantan" was mentioned by Abdullah Abdul Kadir (Munshi Abdullah) circa 1851/2 as below:

"On Thursday night came a boat from KUANTAN. Then they told the ship's crew there's a pirate ship at Tanjung Tujuh, forty of them and at Pulau Kapas, and as well at Pulau Redang; it was spotted by two Kuantan boats and they set off...."

In its early days, it was known as Kampung Teruntum (Teruntum Village). The village was situated at the mouth of Teruntum River which is in front of the current hospital and it was established by Haji Senik and his followers in the 1850s. Early primary economic activities included fishing and small businesses. The main evidence of the establishment of the village is the cemetery that is situated near Taman Esplanade in front of the current Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan.

Towards the late 19th century, arrival of Chinese miners and traders saw the establishment of a township in Kuantan and also nearby tin mining areas such as Gambang and Sungai Lembing. Similar to what occurred in other states in Peninsular Malaysia, rubber plantations attracted Indian settlers as well.

The sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse took place off the coast of Kuantan on 10 December 1941.