The town of Maharani was officially opened in 1887 by His Mejesty Maharaja Abu Bakar. It was called town of Maharani meaning Town of the wife of the Maharaja. The opening ceremony was done by Maharaja Abu Bakar by a special ceremony of burying a Azimat at a place later called Tangga Batu (now an area full of seafood restaurants by river Muar at the Muar Bus Station for buses going to Melaka and Batu Pahat).
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Maharaja Abu Bakar, Father of modern Johor and its empire. Here he dressed in traditional royal outfit. |
Maharaja Abu Bakar, dressed up in English Colonial style outfit. |
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Bandar Maharani grew as a small port at the opening of Muar river, supporting the area for economic activities. During this time, Maharani was the capital for the district of Muar.
Towards 1890, Bandar Maharani grew to become the largest and center for administration and commercial activities in the west coast of Johor state. An English tourist, Florence Caddy wrote:
The main commecial goods are the port were gambir, pepper, pinang kering (dried betel nut palm), dried coconuts, coffee, sagu ubi (tapioca flour) and fruits. Gambir and local fruits were the main commodities. According to the Johor Government Annual Report 1911, Muar is the biggest producer or Gambir products in Johor between 1887 and 1911. During the fruit season (1911) about 3.25 million Durian, 29 thousand barrels of Duku (Lansium) and 23 thousand barrels of Manggis (Mangosteen) was exported from the port of Maharani. Every vessel that came out of of Maharani port have about 25 thousand Durians. The number of vessels that came in increase from five to six vessels a day.
Contributed by Hassni Bin Hussin's Web Site (Bahasa Malaysia)
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