Ampang, or Ampang Hilir, is a ward and city

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

, in the eastern part of

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

(KL) in the

Titiwangsa Titiwangsa is one of the main areas located on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Kuala Lumpur General Hospital is located south of Titiwangsa. The current member of Parliament of Malaysia, parliament for Titiwangsa is Johari Abdul Gha ...

constituency. Its area in Kuala Lumpur can be identified as being along the Ampang Road and Ampang Hilir.

History

Ampang's history is closely related to the history of Kuala Lumpur. In 1857, Raja Abdullah, a representative of the Selangor Sultanate, opened up the

Klang Valley Klang Valley () is an urban agglomeration in Malaysia that is centered in the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, and including their adjoining cities and towns in the state of Selangor. It is the urban area of the much larger Ku ...

for

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

mining. 87 Chinese miners from

Lukut Lukut is a suburb located to the northeast of Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. It was once part of Selangor, serving as a thriving tin mining town in the early 19th-century before being ceded to Sungai Ujong domain in 1880 to wh ...

went up the river Klang and landed at Kuala Lumpur, then walked for a few miles through a jungle path to Ampang and began prospecting in the Ampang area. However, within a month 69 of the 87 miners had died due to the

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

l conditions of the area, and Raja Abdullah sent another 150 men to continue the work. Eventually the death rate dropped, and the first tin was exported in 1859. The success of

tin mining Tin mining began early in the Bronze Age, as bronze is a copper-tin alloy. Tin is a relatively rare element in the Earth's crust, with approximately 2 ppm (parts per million), compared to iron with 50,000 ppm. History Tin extraction and use ca ...

at Ampang led to the development of Kuala Lumpur. The name "Ampang" means "dam" in Malay and the place was named in reference to the miners' dams. Kuala Lumpur of which Ampang Hilir is part of was made capital of Selangor in 1880, and the capital of

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

in 1963. In 1974, following the declaration of Kuala Lumpur as a Federal Territory, the once-larger Ampang district was divided, with the western part going to the Federal Territory, and the eastern part remaining in Selangor, later to become

Ampang Jaya Ampang Jaya, more commonly known as just Ampang, is a town, a mukim and a parliamentary constituency straddling parts of the Hulu Langat District and Gombak District, in eastern Selangor, Malaysia. It is located just outside the eastern borde ...

. The district of Cheras was also similarly partitioned in 1974.

Architecture

There are many pre-war buildings along Ampang Road. The Eng Choon Assembly Hall on Ampang Road for example was built in 1930. Its inner structure was rebuilt to support a taller building within.

Eu Tong Sen Eu Tong Sen (; 23 July 1877 – 11 May 1941) was a businessman in Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong during the late 19th and early 20th century. He was vice-president of the Anti-Opium Society and a member of the Kinta Sanitary Board.Twent ...

, a leading businessman in the early 1900s, built a villa in 1935 on Ampang Road. The same location was used by the

British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

as a military base. Over time it was renovated and reopened as the National Art Gallery on 27 August 1958 and much later refurbished to become the Malaysia Tourism Centre (MaTiC). Eu Tong Sen also owned a tin mine in Ampang which was the first to install an electricity generator in 1914. Founded in March 1896, the Selangor Turf Club's former

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

venue was one of the most popular landmarks in Ampang until it was demolished on 1 March 1997 to make way for the

Petronas Twin Towers The Petronas Towers (), also known as the Petronas Twin Towers and colloquially the KLCC Twin Towers, are an interlinked pair of 88-storey supertall skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, standing at . From 1996 to 2004, they were the tall ...

project. Many pre-war and British colonial buildings were extensively renovated and modernised. Lack of clear guidelines for

architectural conservation Conservation and restoration of immovable cultural property describes the process through which the material, historical, and design integrity of any immovable cultural property are prolonged through carefully planned interventions. The indivi ...

in the city means unregulated alterations of pre-war buildings are common.

Geography

At , Ampang Hilir is situated to the east of the Kuala Lumpur city centre, bordering KLCC (Petronas Towers) and

Bukit Bintang Bukit Bintang (; stylised as Bintang Walk or Starhill, the latter being a translation of the Malay language, Malay name) is the shopping and entertainment district of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It encompasses Jalan Bukit Bintang (''Bukit Bintang ...

to the west, Dato' Keramat to the north,

and Pandan Jaya (

Selangor Selangor ( ; ), also known by the Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the e ...

) to the east, and

Maluri Maluri is a suburb in the constituency of Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, situated near the border of the constituency of Titiwangsa. It is located along Cheras Road Federal Route 1 and can be accessed through Maluri station served by the LRT Ampang ...

to the south. Ampang has several large lakes due to its

history.

Transportation

Car

Ampang Road (from Leboh Ampang in KL to the main road in front of

Ampang LRT station Ampang LRT station is a light rapid transit station operated by rapidKL serving the Ampang Line in Ampang, Selangor, Malaysia, just outside the eastern boundary of Kuala Lumpur. It is the eastern terminus for passenger services on the line. T ...

) is the main road to

and is easily accessible from

Jalan Tun Razak Like all other historical urban centres, the capital city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, contains a number of current and old roads and streets across the city. This article contains an alphabetical list of notable roads within ...

or Jalan Ulu Kelang from the Hulu Kelang or Setapak direction. It is also accessible from Cheras through Jalan Shamelin, from Jalan Tun Razak through Jalan Kampung Pandan via Taman Cempaka, from Kampung Pandan through Jalan Kampung Pandan Dalam via Taman Nirwana, from the

Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 2 Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 2 (MRR2 or Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 2 Scheme), Federal Route 28, is a ring road built by the Malaysian Public Works Department (JKR) to connect neighborhoods near the boundary of Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur ...

via Pandan Indah & Taman Kencana and from Hulu Langat town through the mountain pass. Wangsa Maju, Setapak, central Kuala Lumpur, Ampang Park and Salak South surround Ampang.

Public transportation

Ampang Park LRT station Ampang Park LRT station is a light rapid transit (LRT) station in Kuala Lumpur that is served by RapidKL's LRT Kelana Jaya Line. The LRT station is the last underground station on the Kelana Jaya Line along Jalan Ampang, near the Jalan Tun ...

is the principal metro/rail station in Ampang Hilir. It is also a major bus node for rapidKL buses (routes 300, 302, 303, 402, GO KL Green) Other nearby stations are LRT KLCC and MRT TRX .

Embassies

Many

embassies A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes a ...

are located in the Ampang area, and still remain there despite the

Malaysian government The Government of Malaysia, officially the Federal Government of Malaysia (; Jawi: ), is based in the Federal Territory of Putrajaya, with the exception of the legislative branch, which is located in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia is a federation comp ...

's relocation to the new administrative centre in

Putrajaya Putrajaya (), officially the Federal Territory of Putrajaya (), is the administrative centre of Malaysia. The Seat of government, seat of the Government of Malaysia, federal government of Malaysia was moved in 1999 from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajay ...

. The embassies are located along Ampang Road, including those of the United Kingdom, France, China, Russian Federation, Indonesia, Ireland and Thailand. The Singapore High Commission and the US embassy are also located near Ampang at the corner of Jalan Tun Razak and Jalan

U Thant Thant ( ; 22 January 1909 – 25 November 1974), known honorifically as U Thant (), was a Burmese diplomat and the third secretary-general of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971, the first non-Scandinavian as well as Asian to hold the positio ...

Art and culture

The National Art Gallery is in the direction of Kuala Lumpur's downtown area. It displays creative and contemporary art pieces and sculptures. Located just next to the National Art Gallery is the Istana Budaya, Malaysia's cultural centre where performances and theatres are held.

Other attractions

Ampang Hilir is notable for being home to the Ampang Park Shopping Complex, Malaysia's first shopping complex, which was demolished in 2018 to make way for the Sungai Buloh-Putrajaya metro line.

Sister cities

Bekasi Bekasi (, ) is the List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of West Java, Indonesia, located on the eastern border of Jakarta. It serves as a commuter town, commuter city within the Jakarta m ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

References

{{Greater Kuala Lumpur Suburbs in Kuala Lumpur Mukims of Kuala Lumpur