Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, largest city and seat of Malaysia's parliament. (Administrative government offices lie outside the city, at Putrajaya.) Kuala Lumpur sits at the confluence of the Ketang and Gombak rivers in Peninsular Malaysia, about 20 miles (30 km) from the Strait of Malacca. Kuala Lumpur is Malaysia's chief manufacturing, transportation, and financial center.

The city is noted for its wide variety of buildings, which include Moorish-style mosques, British colonial structures, Buddhist pagodas, and modern office buildings. One of Kuala Lumpur's major landmarks is a Moorish-style clocktower. Another landmark is the Petronas Twin Towers building, which has a height of 1,483 feet (452 m). Museums in the city include the National Art Gallery and the National Museum (history and archeology). The University of Malaya, the nation's largest university, is in the city.

Kuala Lumpur was only a village when the area became a British protectorate in 1874, but then grew rapidly. In 1896 it became the capital of the Federated Malay States and in 1963, the capital of Malaysia. Large-scale construction projects were undertaken throughout the 1980's and 1990's.

Population: 1,379,310.