Founded some 600 years ago, Melaka (or Malacca as it used to be known) is where the history of Malaysia began. The city is rich with historical and cultural attractions and is easy to get to, being located on the main highway that bisects Peninsular Malaysia, only 120 km south-east of Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur and 250 km north-west of Singapore.

A visit to Melaka is a must for foreign and local tourists. Places of interest include mausoleum of the legendary Malay warrior, Hang Tuah, Hang Tuah's Well, the mausoleum of Tun Teja ( a princess at the centre of the Hang Tuah legend), the replica of the Melaka Sultan's Palace, A Famosa (the remains of the Portuguese fort), The Stadthuys (the Dutch administrative complex), St. Francis Xavier's Church and a variety of Museums.

Chinese who came to Melaka and adopted Malay customs and language were known as Baba and Nyonya and traces of their heritage (known as Peranakan) can be seen in Chinatown as well as at the Baba and Nyonya Heritage museum. The adventurous may visit the well of Hang Li Poh (a princess from China who married the fifth ruler of Melaka) and then walk-up Bukit China (Chinese Hill) to get a panoramic view of the historic city.

Another main attraction of Melaka is the variety of food including Nyonya, Thai, Chinese, Indian, Chitty and Portuguese cuisine, in addition to the always delightful Malay cuisine.

To experience heavenly holiday bliss, travelers can also enjoy a tropical island getaway at Pulau Besar and Pulau Upeh by taking the frequent boat services to the islands.

The history of the state of Melaka (originally spelled Malacca) is largely the story of the city for which it is named. It begins with the fascinating and partly legendary tale of the Hindu prince Parameswara.

The Malay Annals relate that Parameswara was a fourteenth-century Palembang (Sumatra) prince who, fleeing from a Javanese enemy, escaped to the island of Temasik (present-day Singapore) where he quickly established himself as its king. Shortly afterward, however, Parameswara was driven out of Temasik by a Siamese invasion, and with a small band of followers, he set out along the west coast of the Malay peninsula in search of a new refuge.

The refugees settled first at Muar, Johor, but were quickly driven away by a huge number of monitor lizards which refused to move. The second spot chosen seemed equally unfavourable, as the fortress that the refugees began to build, collapsed immediately.

Parameswara and his followers moved on. Soon afterward, during a hunt near the mouth of a river called Bertam, he saw a white mouse-deer or pelanduk, kick one of his hunting dogs. So impressed was he by the mouse-deer's brave gesture that he decided immediately to build a city on the spot. He asked one of his servants the name of the tree under which he was resting and, being informed that the tree was called a Malaka, gave that name to the city. The year was 1400.

Although its origin is as much romance as history, the fact is that Parameswara's new city was situated at a point of tremendous strategic importance. Midway along the straits that linked China to India and the Near East, Melaka was perfectly positioned as a centre for maritime trade. The city grew rapidly, and within fifty years it had become a wealthy and powerful hub of international commerce, with a population of over 50,000.

It was during this period of Melaka's history that Islam was introduced to the Malay world, arriving along with Gujarati traders from western India. By the first decade of the sixteenth century Melaka was a bustling, cosmopolitan port, attracting hundreds of ships each year. The city was known worldwide as a centre for the trade of silk and porcelain from China; textiles from Gujarat and Coromandel in India; camphor from Borneo; sandalwood from Timor; nutmeg, mace, and cloves from the Moluccas, gold and pepper from Sumatra; and tin from western Malaya.

Unfortunately, this fame arrived at just the moment when Europe began to extend its power into the East, and Melaka was one of the very first cities to attract its covetous eye. The Portuguese under the command of Alfonso de Albuquerque arrived first, taking the city after a sustained bombardment in 1511.

The Sultan Mahmud, who was then the ruler of Melaka, fled to Johor, from where the Malays counter-attacked the Portuguese repeatedly though without success. One reason for the strength of the Portuguese defence was the construction of the massive fortification of A Famosa or Porta De Santiago, only a small portion of which survives today.

A Famosa ensured Portuguese control of the city for the next one hundred and fifty years, until, in 1641, the Dutch after an eight-month siege and a fierce battle in 1641, captured Melaka. The city was almost completely ruined but over the next century and a half, the Dutch rebuilt it and occupied it largely as a military base, using its strategic location to control the Straits of Malacca.

In 1795, when the Netherlands was captured by French Revolutionary armies, Melaka was handed over to the British by the Dutch to avoid its capture by the French. Although the British returned the city to the Dutch in 1808, it was soon given back to the British once again in a trade for Bencoleen in Sumatra.

From 1826, the English East India Company in Calcutta ruled the city until 1867, when the Straits Settlements ( Melaka, Penang and Singapore ) became a British Crown colony. The British continued their control until the Second World War and the Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945.

Following the defeat of the Japanese, the British resumed their control until 31st. August 1957, when anti-colonial sentiment culminated in a proclamation of independence by His Highness Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, Malaysia's first Prime Minister.