PENANG

also called Penang Island, Malay Pinang, or Pulau Pinang island of Malaysia, lying off the northwest coast of peninsular Malaya, from which it is separated by a strait whose smallest width is 2.5 miles (4 km). Its area is about 113 square miles (293 square km). Penang Island is roughly oval, with a granitic, mountainous interior (highest point 2,428 feet ) and narrow coastal plains, most extensive in the northeast, where Malaysia's chief port, George Town, uses the sheltered harbourage of the strait. Long one of Asia's busiest shipping centres, Penang in the late 20th century became Malaysia's prime tourist centre, with luxury and tourist resort hotels mainly on the north coast at Batu Feringgi. The island's strategic location in the northern part of the Strait of Malacca led Captain Francis Light of Britain's East India Company to found a British colony there in 1786. The British occupation was made legal in 1791 by a treaty with the sultan of Kedah; the adjacent mainland area was added in 1800. In 1826 Penang combined with Malacca and Singapore to form the Straits Settlements (q.v.). In the beginning, the island (called Prince of Wales Island until after 1867) was virtually uninhabited and had excellent shelter and water for sailing vessels plying the India-China run. It quickly attracted a cosmopolitan population of Chinese, Indians, Sumatrans, and Burmans and rapidly surpassed any other trading post in western Malaya. From the mid-19th century Penang became a market and point of transit for the valuable tin and rubber of the mainland. Although the countryside contined to be Malay, Malay influence, tradition, and economic life almost disappeared from the urban and port areas, where Penang became predominantly Chinese by race and European in manner and economic outlook. In 1948 the island became part of the Federation of Malaya, later Malaysia. The island's rural population grows rice, vegetables, and fruit. During the alternating seasons of northeast and southwest winds, the incidence of rain is affected by the shadow of the hilly interior. In George Town the rainfall averages 105 inches (2,700 mm) annually with maxima in October and May, no month having less than 3 inches (76 mm). Mean monthly temperatures at the coast are 80 F (27 C). A coast road encircles the island. From the mainland the island can be reached either by ferry or by a modern bridge, some 5.2 miles (8.4 km) in length, connecting Perai on the mainland to Glugo. There is an international airport in the southeast corner of Penang near the town of Bayan Lepas. Pop. (1980 prelim.) 467,042.