Kuala Lumpur is well connected with neighbouring urban metro regions such as Petaling Jaya via the rapidly expanding Klang Valley Integrated Transit System.

[26] Chinese miners were known to be involved in tin mining up the Selangor River in the 1840s about 16 kilometres (10 miles) north of present-day Kuala Lumpur,[27] and Mandailing Sumatrans led by Raja Asal [ms] and Sutan Puasa were also involved in tin mining and trade in the Ulu Klang region before 1860, and Sumatrans may have settled in the upper reaches of Klang River in the first quarter of the 19th century, or possibly earlier.

Two traders from Lukut, Hiu Siew and Yap Ah Sze, arrived in Kuala Lumpur and set up shops to sell provisions to miners in exchange for tin.

[41] Notable Minangkabaus included their headman, Dato' Sati, Utsman Abdullah,[42] and Haji Mohamed Taib, who was involved in the early development of Kampung Baru.

[45] Early Kuala Lumpur was a small town that suffered from many social and political problems – the buildings were made of wood and 'atap' (palm frond thatching).

In 1880, the colonial administration moved the state capital of Selangor from Klang to the more strategically advantageous Kuala Lumpur, and British Resident William Bloomfield Douglas decided to locate the government buildings and living quarters to the west of the river.

[49][51] Kapitan Yap Ah Loy bought a sprawling piece of real estate to set up a brick factory for the rebuilding of Kuala Lumpur, the eponymous Brickfields.

Yap Ah Loy also built Kuala Lumpur's first school and a major tapioca mill in Petaling Street, in which the Selangor's Sultan Abdul Samad held an interest.

[60] The development of a rubber industry in Selangor fuelled by the demand for car tyres in the early 20th century led to a boom, and the population of Kuala Lumpur increased from 30,000 in 1900 to 80,000 in 1920.

[62] They occupied the city until 15 August 1945, when the commander in chief of the Japanese Seventh Area Army in Singapore and Malaysia, Seishirō Itagaki, surrendered to the British administration following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[84] The geography of Kuala Lumpur is characterised by the huge Klang Valley, bordered by the Titiwangsa Mountains in the east, several minor ranges in the north and the south, and the Strait of Malacca in the west.

[86] The municipality covers an area of 243 km2 (94 sq mi),[2] with an average elevation of 81.95 m (268 ft 10 in) highest point being Bukit Nanas at 94 meters above sea level.

[90] Smoke from forest fires in nearby Sumatra and Kalimantan sometimes casts a haze over the region, and is a major source of pollution, along with open burning, motor vehicle emissions, and construction.

[91] Kuala Lumpur was administered by a corporation sole called the Federal Capital Commissioner from 1 April 1961, until it was awarded city status in 1972, after which executive power transferred to the Lord Mayor (Datuk Bandar).

[96] It is responsible for public health and sanitation, waste removal and management, town planning, environmental protection and building control, social and economic development, and general maintenance functions of urban infrastructure.

[112] The city has a large number of foreign corporations and is also host to many multi national companies' regional offices or support centres, particularly for finance and accounting, and information technology functions.

[113] There has been growing emphasis on expanding the economic scope of the city in other service activities, such as research and development, which support the rest of the economy of Malaysia.

MICE tourism, which mainly encompasses conventions— has expanded in recent years to become a vital component of the industry, and is expected to grow further once the Malaysian government's Economic Transformation Programme kicks in, and with the completion of a new 93,000 square meter-size MATRADE Centre in 2014.

Every year during the Thaipusam celebration, a silver chariot carrying the statue of Lord Muruga together with his consort Valli and Teivayanni would be paraded through the city beginning at the temple all the way to Batu Caves in the neighbouring Gombak, Selangor.

Apart from shopping complexes, Kuala Lumpur has designated numerous zones in the city to market locally manufactured products such as textiles, fabrics and handicrafts especially at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman.

The Kuala Lumpur of 1872 beside the Klang River was described by Frank Swettenham as a "purely Chinese village", although a Malay stockade already existed at Bukit Nanas at that time.

[140] Kuala Lumpur's rapid development has triggered a huge influx of low-skilled foreign workers from Indonesia, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia into Malaysia, many of whom enter the country illegally or without proper permits.

[150] A relatively young city compared with other Southeast Asian capitals such as Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila, most of Kuala Lumpur's notable colonial-era buildings were built toward the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

A significant architect of the early period is Arthur Benison Hubback who designed a number of the colonial-era buildings including the Kuala Lumpur Railway Station and Jamek Mosque.

Before the Second World War, many shophouses, usually two stories with functional shops on the ground floor and separate residential spaces upstairs, were built around the old city centre.

The Malaysian Parliament building is located close by, and Carcosa Seri Negara, which was once the official residence of the British colonial administration, is also sited here.

Transfers between the two main lines can be made at any of the four stations on the central core: KL Sentral, Kuala Lumpur, Bank Negara and Putra.

It connects the KL Sentral transport hub in the south and Titiwangsa in the north with the "Golden Triangle", a commercial, shopping, and entertainment area comprising Bukit Bintang, Imbi, Sultan Ismail, and Raja Chulan.

These bus hubs also serve as rail interchanges, with the exception of Medan Pasar, although it is at a walking distance from Masjid Jamek LRT station.

[206][207][208][209] Effective 10 April 2019, all RapidKL buses are implementing a fully cashless journey for all routes by stages, in which the bus accepts Touch n Go cards only for user convenience.