Melaka and George Town, Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca

Trade winds built two cities on the Straits of Malacca and filled them with the world. Melaka carries the older layers — the 15th-century Malay sultanate, then Portuguese and Dutch rule with their forts, squares and churches — while George Town on Penang preserves shophouse streets, clan houses and temples of the British era begun in the late 18th century. UNESCO inscribed the pair in 2008 as Southeast Asia's most complete multicultural trading townscape.