Bukit Nanas

Bukit Nanas, meaning "Pineapple Hill", is a small hill in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It contains the only virgin tropical rain forest left in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. The Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve is located here, and is open to the public. There are jungle trails, a visitors centre, and a forestry museum.

A number of notable buildings, such as the landmark Kuala Lumpur Tower, are located on Bukit Nanas. The area is served by the Bukit Nanas Monorail station.

Bukit Nanas is known to be one of the earliest Malay settlements in Kuala Lumpur and the center of Malay power there. In around 1857, Raja Abdullah of Klang raised funds to open tin mines in the Ampang area, and in doing so, initiating the development of Kuala Lumpur as a major settlement on banks of the Klang River that would serve the mines further inland. In order to strengthen his authority in the area, Raja Abdullah then sent his Bugis lieutenant Syahbandar Yaseh with some armed men to serve as the garrison for Kuala Lumpur. Yaseh selected Bukit Nanas as the location to build a in the 1860s. A map of Kuala Lumpur sketched by Sir Frank Swettenham in 1875 showed a place marked as "Malay Rajah's house on hill" which is likely to be the Bukit Nanas stockade. According to one story, pineapples ("nanas" in Malay) were grown all around the stockade as a deterrence against attackers. The place, said to be originally called Bukit Gombak by this account, then came to be known as Bukit Nanas meaning "Pineapple Hill".

A member of the Yaseh's garrison at Bukit Nanas however killed someone from the Sumatran Batu Bahara community, an incident that would later help sparked off the Klang War during which Yaseh was killed. The Sumatrans had suggested to Raja Mahdi, who at that time was involved in a dispute with Raja Abdullah, that they would support him should he wish to attack Raja Abdullah, an offer that Raja Mahdi happily accepted, and initiated the Klang War in 1867. In 1872 Raja Asal and Sutan Puasa, leaders of Sumatran Mandailing settlers in Selangor, also switched side to Raja Mahdi. Raja Asal laid siege to Bukit Nanas, where Tengku Kudin's men and various mercenaries including Europeans were stationed. The siege forced Tengku Kudin's men to try to escape, but they were captured at Petaling and killed. Yap Ah Loy, the Kapitan of Kuala Lumpur, however, managed to escape to Klang. Kuala Lumpur was then taken by Raja Mahdi's forces and destroyed. Traces of a tunnel dating to the Klang War period have been found in Bukit Nanas.

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