JALAN Kapitan Keling is now home to rows of money changers, most of whom are of Indian-Muslim descent. View slideshow below.

“The Indian Muslims were among the earliest settlers in Penang; their numbers until the mid-19th century were almost as high as that of the Chinese. The Captain of the Kelings founded the Kapitan Keling Mosque in Chulia* Street, which initially had 18 acres of waqf land around the mosque. Chulia Street boasts a number of Indian Muslim mosques and keramats representing the different groups of Indian Muslims, such as the Nagore shrine (early 1800s) and the Noordin tomb (1870s). The Captain of the Kelings himself had his house in Kampong Kolam, where his tomb is located. The Kapitan Keling Mosque, enlarged several times, remained the focus of the Indian Muslim trading community of jewellers, shippers, textile merchants and petty traders.”  (The Urban Legacy of Penang’s Early Settlers)

*The name Chulia denotes the people from the Coromandel Coast of South India.

Reference

Nasution, K.S, 1997, The Urban Legacy of Penang’s Early Settlers: Historical Background of the Cultural Heritage Area, E-Malabari Network

Click through pictures for slideshow.

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