Pahang is the largest state in peninsular malaysia with an area of 35,960sq km and a coastline of 208 km on the east coast. The port of kuantan is the capital and pekan some 45km from kuantan is the royal town. The state has a population of more than a million people. It lays claim to having peninsular malaysia's longest river, the sungai pahang, and its highest peak, the 2,187-metre high gunung tahan.History
The first human settlement in pahang was probably at the tembeling river according to evidence dug up by archaelogists. Chinese records indicated that pahang was a vassal of the buddhist sumatra-based srivijayan empire from the 7th to 13th centuries.
Pahang was ruled by the malacca sultanate in the 15th century. In the course of the next century the wealthy state became a pawn in the four-way struggle between johor, acheh, the dutch and the portuguese and was sacked several times. Johor later claimed pahang and ruled the state for a good parts of 200 years. When the johor sultanate lost its influence, bendahara wan ahmad of pahang became sultan. In 1888, a british reident was appointed for the state and it later became part of the federated malay states untill the japanese invasion. Pahang joined the federation of malaysia in 1963.
