The first settlement in Kajang was established in 1709. In 1807, Kajang was founded after the Klang War. Because of its central location, it was made the district capital of Hulu Langat.
Kajang as a modern town owes its rise in particular to the coffee estates which were opened up around it in the 1890s. One of the famous coffee estates were Inch Kenneth Estate managed by the Kindersley brothers who were among the first to plant rubber in the country on a commercial basis. Another was Perang Besar (Great War) Estate, opened by some British ex-servicemen led by Colonel Henry Gough, who was the pioneer of bud-grafting of rubber trees in the country
