HISTORY OF BANDAR MAHARANI.

The town of Maharani was officially opened in 1887 by His Mejesty Maharaja Abu Bakar. It was called town of Maharani meaning Town of the wife of the Maharaja. The opening ceremony was done by Maharaja Abu Bakar by a special ceremony of burying a Azimat at a place later called Tangga Batu (now an area full of seafood restaurants by river Muar at the Muar Bus Station for buses going to Melaka and Batu Pahat).

Bandar Maharani grew as a small port at the opening of Muar river, supporting the area for economic activities. During this time, Maharani was the capital for the district of Muar.

Towards 1890, Bandar Maharani grew to become the largest and center for administration and commercial activities in the west coast of Johor state. An English tourist, Florence Caddy wrote:
"The town of Maharani is a beautiful town with a population of around 5,000 people, among them are the Malays who stays around the villages around the town, Chinese and some Indians retailing within the town itself. The town have a few buildings, a saw mill and a small brick manufacturing factory."

The main commecial goods are the port were gambir, pepper, pinang kering (dried betel nut palm), dried coconuts, coffee, sagu ubi (tapioca flour) and fruits. Gambir and local fruits were the main commodities. According to the Johor Government Annual Report 1911, Muar is the biggest producer or Gambir products in Johor between 1887 and 1911. During the fruit season (1911) about 3.25 million Durian, 29 thousand barrels of Duku (Lansium) and 23 thousand barrels of Manggis (Mangosteen) was exported from the port of Maharani. Every vessel that came out of of Maharani port have about 25 thousand Durians. The number of vessels that came in increase from five to six vessels a day.