Malacca (Malay: Melaka), officially the Historic State of Malacca, is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, facing the Strait of Malacca. The state is bordered by Negeri Sembilan to the north and west and Johor to the south. The exclave of Tanjung Tuan also borders Negeri Sembilan to the north. Its capital is Malacca City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 7 July 2008. Malacca City is 148 kilometres (92 miles) southeast of Malaysia’s capital city Kuala Lumpur, 235 kilometres (146 miles) northwest of Johor’s largest city Johor Bahru and 95 km (59 miles) northwest of Johor’s second largest city, Batu Pahat.
Malacca has diverse tropical rainforest and experiences an equatorial climate. Situated immediately south of the Titiwangsa Mountains, the state is mostly level and dotted with inselbergs, with Bukit Gapis as the highest point.
Although it was the location of one of the earliest Malay sultanates, namely the Malacca Sultanate, the local monarchy was abolished when the Portuguese conquered it in 1511. The head of state is the Yang di-Pertua Negeri or Governor, rather than a Sultan. Malacca is noted for its unique history and it is one of the major tourist destinations in Malaysia. With a highly strategic state position for international trade routes, Malacca was once a well-known international trade centre in the East. Many traders anchored in Malacca, especially traders from Arabia, China and India, traded at the port of Malacca and from there were born many of the descendants and tribes that exist in Malacca to this day.
A great diversity of races and ethnicities have long existed among the local community reflecting its history. Malays, Chinese, Indians, Baba Nyonya, Kristang, Chitty and Eurasians are significant ethnic groups living in the State of Malacca in the present day
The state’s name dates to a popular legend surrounding the founding of the Malacca sultanate by Parameswara, who sought a new location to establish a kingdom after fleeing a Majapahit invasion of Singapura. As the story goes, Parameswara was resting under a Malacca tree (Malay: pokok melaka) near a river during a hunt, when one of his dogs cornered a mouse deer. In self-defence, the mouse deer pushed the dog into the river. Impressed by the courage of the deer, and taking it as a propitious omen of the weak overcoming the powerful, Parameswara decided then to found an empire at that spot. He named this empire after the tree where he had just taken shelter. This story shows remarkable similarities with and was probably adapted (as some historians argued) from folk-tales from Kandy, Sri Lanka, and Pasai, Sumatra (both of which pre-date Malacca).
The “Malacca tree” was taken as a basis for the species Phyllanthus emblica named by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 through Latinising its original Sanskrit name amalaka, to which the species have since been planted as ornamentals in various state attractions. However, some researchers like those of the Forestry Research Institute of Malaysia speculate that the legendary name-giving tree may have been the species Phyllanthus pectinatus more endemic to Malay Archipelago forests which does resemble P. emblica superficially. There is no geographical overlap between both species.
Another account on the origin of the naming of Malacca elaborates that during the reign of Muhammad Shah (1424–1444), Arab merchants called the kingdom ‘Malakat’ (Arabic for ‘congregation of merchants’) because it was home to many trading communities. One theory suggests, as mentioned in Suma Oriental by Tomé Pires, that it is derived from the Javanese terms melayu or mlayu (to steadily accelerate or to run), to describe the strong current of a river in Sumatra that today bears the name Sungai Melayu (‘Melayu river’) which was later possibly adopted to be Melaka as denoting a place for the fleeing prince.