Melaka, formerly Malacca, city and seaport, Malaysia, capital of Melaka State, on the southern coast of the Malay Peninsula, on the Strait of Malacca. In the era of the sailing ship, the port was one of the busiest on the peninsula. Shipping is now confined to coastal trade because the harbor is inaccessible to oceangoing vessels. Melaka was seized in 1511 by the Portuguese navigator and statesman Afonso de Albuquerque. The city was captured by the Dutch in 1641, but from 1795 to 1802 and again from 1811 to 1818 it was under British occupation. In 1824, after six years of Dutch rule, the British acquired the city in exchange for Benkulen, Sumatra (now Bengkulu, Indonesia). Population (1996) 75,909.
