Pahang

Course

From the upper slopes of the Titiwangsa Mountains near Cameron Highlands, the Jelai River flows in a southeasterly direction, passing through Padang Tengku and Kuala Lipis before merging with the Tembeling River. The Tembeling, which begins at the Pahang–Terengganu border at Ulu Tembeling within the Pantai Timur Mountains, flows in a southwesterly direction passing through Kuala Tahan. From its confluence near Kuala Tembeling, the Pahang River flows in a southerly direction, passing through Jerantut Feri, Kuala Krau, Kerdau and Temerloh. At Mengkarak, the river takes a turn toward northeast, passing through Chenor and then turning east at Lubuk Paku and Lepar into the floodplains of Paloh Hinai, Pekan and Kuala Pahang before draining into the South China Sea.

History

The Pahang River has changed course in the past. There is evidence that in the past it exited via Muar.

The banks of the Pahang River were settled as early as 1400 by warriors and seafarers from around Maritime Southeast Asia including places such as Aceh, Riau, Palembang and Sulawesi. The earliest historical records of the Pahang River, the riverine inhabitants or the people of Pahang were found in the Malay Annals and Hikayat Abdullah.

The Pahang and Muar Rivers were nearly connected at a place called Jempol, in Negeri Sembilan as the Serting River flows into the Bera River, a tributary of the Pahang River. The Jempol River then flows into the Muar River.

Natural history

During the Pleistocene epoch or Mesolithic period about 10,000 years ago, there was a 5 degrees Celsius drop in the global temperature. At mountaintops, snow accumulated as ice caps and glaciers (including Mount Kinabalu), thus disrupting the global hydrological cycle. Due to lack of water discharge into the sea, the sea level was 120 meters lower than it is today. The South China Sea dried up, exposing the Sunda Shelf and previous deep trenches became huge ancient rivers called the North Sunda River.

Mainland Asia, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Java became connected to Borneo via the landbridge of exposed Sunda Shelf.