Melaka is located on the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia facing the Straits of Melaka, about 150 kilometres from Kuala Lumpur between the states of Negeri Sembilan and Johor. It covers an area of 660 square kilometres and is divided into three namely Alor Gajah, Central Melaka and Jasin. Few Cities in Southeast Asia can match Melake in history or antiquity. For hundreds of years, the Portuguese, Dutch, and British fought for Melaka's strategic position on the Straits of Melaka and its incalculable wealth generated from the Asian silk and spice trades. Melaka is also something of a paradox. Although six centuries of colonization, warfare, and political intrigue left behind a rich historical legacy, few impressive monuments remain aside from some colorful Dutch architecture. This is the legacy of conquerors who successively demolished their predecessors' heritage. The Portuguese dismantled Islamic mosques and royal palaces to build their military forts and churches. Then, nearly all Portuguese architecture was destroyed during subsequent Dutch assaults or pulled down when the British finally took Melaka. Still, the handful of surviving European buildings, Chinese temples, and old Melaka terrace houses makes this city on of Malaysia's leading destinations.

About 580 years ago, an exiled prince from Sumatra, Parameswara, sought refuge in a fishing village and decreed that a city be built where he stood. He named it Melaka from the Melaka tree. Melaka rose to become a prosperous and powerful nerve centre of trade between the East and the West, and eventually became an empire. Here, gold, silk, tea, opium, tobacco, perfumes and countless other items from nearby countries and from as far away as Europe and South America changed hands. The fame of this celebrated city spread far and wide and attracted conquerors who coveted monopoly of the spice trade. From 1511, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the English respectively took control of the empire until Malaysia obtained her independence in 1957 and Melaka was handed over to its first local Governor. Each rule left its mark behind and today this charming town is filled with relics too big to be housed by any museum. Every street, every monument tells its own story of conquest and valour, avarice and victory. Stop awhile in Melaka and listen hard. In the midst of its thriving new town centre, resorts and golf courses, you might just be able to hear the pounding of cannons and war cries at the A Famosa or the babble of foreign tongues raised high in the market place in Melaka.