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International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7 (3.9) (2018) 77-80 International Journal of Engineering & Technology Website: www.sciencepubco.com/index.php/IJET Research paper The Morphology of Early Towns in Malay Peninsula Sharyzee Mohmad Shukri 1 *, Mohammad Hussaini Wahab 2 , Rohayah Che Amat 3 , Idris Taib 4 , Syuhaida Ismail 5 1 Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur 2 Razak School of Engineering & Advanced Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 3 Razak School of Engineering & Advanced Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 4 Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur 5 Razak School of Engineering & Advanced Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia * Corresponding author E-mail: sharyzee@iukl.edu.my Abstract Malay Peninsula has a very compelling socio geographical, cultural history and town setting comprises historical sites, fortress and early towns that has formed an evolution of the urban sprawl. The history of the early towns on the Malay Peninsula goes as far back as the beginning of the ancient Malay kingdom of Lembah Bujang and Langkasuka; and maybe far before that period. Early Malay towns in Malay Peninsula (currently known as Peninsular Malaysia) have unique characteristics in terms of architecture urban form and history. The morphology study of towns in Malay Peninsula have found characteristics of urban form and setting dating from 5000 BC maybe earlier to 19 th century may be classified into four phases of pre-modern settlements cycles. This research employs qualitative approach that encompasses of literature review of scholarly articles and reports, in-depth interview and structured observation. Based on the histor- ical and physical evidences that are still exist, thirteen (13) early town will be selected as a study area. This paper present the finding of urban morphology and characteristic in a chronicle of urban form and setting in the Malay Peninsula dating from 5000 BC up to the 19 th century. Keywords: Early town, morphology, physical characteristics 1. Introduction The attestation of town setting and planning evoked in Kedah around 1 st or before the earlier century. Early research on Lembah Bujang, Kedah has been made extensively by [19, 15, 21, 6] that had define Kedah as an early entrepot with the name ‘the seats of all facilities’. Amid at this century, Kedah was a prosperous port of international exchange. During those days, early settlements commenced from the foot of Gunung Jerai, reverie and towards to coastal routes. Having a wide frontage of the Straits of Melaka, Kedah was well-known as a coastal city. After the downfall of the kingdom of Langkasuka and Kedah Tua, Melaka emerged as the thriving port of international exchange in the early 15 th century and developed its own town planning systems. For instance, town- ship like Melaka, Kuala Terengganu, Kota Bahru and Pekan had been early founded by the Malay Sultane and demonstrate a simi- lar morphology whereby a palace, related government workplaces and other facilities, mosque, the honorability, private quarters, business complex and the bazaars are inside closeness. In the 18 th century, more systematic town planning was introduced by the British colonialists. Major towns and state capitals in the Malay States were implemented with the physical planning concepts with regards in the context of colonial urban organization from Britain. They adopted the ideas of physical planning concept fresh from Britain to the Malay Peninsula specifically on the Straits Settle- ments states. Georgetown was the earliest town that adopted the colonial town planning base on the historical records. During the British colonisation, they have categorised Malay Peninsula to three (3) groups and by implication turned into an additional factor towards the urban settings and structures of early towns during this period. 2. Methodology Early town in Malay Peninsula such as Kota Seputih, Kota Langkasuka, Kota Sungai Mas, Melaka town, Georgetown and others eight (8) early towns was chosen as the contextual analysis zone since it has the qualities of both recorded and social essen- tialness that may help in recognizing from others early towns in Malay Peninsula. The selection is very much related to their sig- nificant qualities mainly due to the fact that they have acted as the former administrative center of the early towns in Malay Peninsu- la [11]. Historical map overlay, non-participant observation and semi-structured interviews were employed in data accumulation to identify the history and characteristics of early towns in Malay Peninsula. The urban form and setting of the early towns were studied based on the physical and social attributes comprising the origin of the town, geographical landscape, architectural and his- torical significances. The pattern and form of the development of the townscape were also derived from the accumulation of struc- tures from various periods, from the underlying improvement of the town until the present time [16]. All the accumulated data using the above methods were then screened, transcribed, exam- ined and analysed to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the findings of this research.