Kota Bharu

Kota Bharu is a town in Malaysia that functions as the state capital and royal seat of Kelantan. Situated in the northeastern part of Peninsular Malaysia near the mouth of the Kelantan River, the settlement has a population of 568,900 people and lies at coordinates latitude 6.12361 and longitude 102.24333 in the Asia/Kuala_Lumpur timezone.

The daily movement and regional connectivity of the town are supported by critical transport links across the surrounding area. Keretapi Tanah Melayu operates the East Coast Line, which serves the town via the nearby Wakaf Bharu Terminal Station located across the Kelantan River in the town of Wakaf Bharu. Additionally, Sultan Ismail Petra Airport is situated in Pengkalan Chepa to serve air travel needs.

Originally established in 1844 by Sultan Muhammad II of Kelantan as a royal capital built in his honor, the locality replaced earlier capitals such as Kota Kubang Labu and Kota Pengkalan Datu, having previously been known as Kuala Kelantan. During the 19th century, the broader state functioned as a prosperous entrepot for goods including gold, tin ore, black pepper, areca nut, rice, rattan, bamboo, agarwood, and songket, leveraging its strategic location beside the Kelantan River. Later, on 8 December 1941, the area near Pantai Sabak approximately 10 kilometers away served as the initial landing point for Japanese invasion forces, marking the start of the Battle of Kota Bharu during World War II.

Governance and municipal administration are managed by the Islamic City of Kota Bharu Municipal Council, known formally in Malay as Majlis Perbandaran Kota Bharu Bandar Raya Islam or MPKB-BRI. The local authority traces its administrative lineage through previous designations, including the Kota Bharu Town Council and the Kota Bharu Town Board. Culturally and administratively, the municipality was declared a Cultural City on 25 July 1991 and subsequently rebranded as an Islamic City on 1 October 2005 under the Developing With Islam policy. Demographically, the vast majority of the population consists of ethnically Kelantanese Malay residents who communicate using the Kelantan Malay dialect, alongside a fairly large Chinese community. Religiously, 93 percent of the population identifies as Muslim, while the remaining population comprises Buddhists, Hindus, and Christians, with the urban local Chinese community predominantly practicing Buddhism.