Malays were the earliest settlers in coastal Province Wellesley. They practised subsistence farming and fishing. Their population increased during the Siam-Kedah conflicts of 1821-1832.

Early Chinese settlers in Batu Kawan included Teochews escaping poverty in China. They practised sugarcane farming as a livelihood.                                

The British acquired Province Wellesley from Kedah and commodified the land for colonial agriculture. In this period, British planters invested in sugarcane planting and mechanized sugar processing to meet the high demand for sugar in Britain.

The old town of Nibong Tebal began around the Nibong Tebal Jetty which was the main collection and dispersal point for agricultural goods on Sungai Kerian.

The British brought in Tamils from British India as indentured labour to work on their plantations. Migrants from other islands in the Malay Archipelago also came as labourers.

The biggest planters in this period were Khaw Boo Aun, a Teochew man who owned sugarcane and tobacco fields, and Ramsden, a British man who owned the Penang Sugar Estates Ltd.

After the border between Perak and Province Wellesley was redrawn following the Pangkor Treaty of 1874, the British launched the ‘Krian Irrigation Scheme’ to support traditional Malay livelihoods and to produce more rice for the growing population.

Sungai Kerian was the main waterway in Nibong Tebal. Raw goods and people were transported by sampan. Later, passenger boats (such as the Tanjung Berembang ferry crossing which cost half a cent) and pontoon bridges provided access from rural areas to the old town.

Plantations switched to rubber and other crops when the price of sugar began to fall. South Indian labourers were recruited to work on rubber plantations for longer terms and provided with housing. Many remained as settlers.

The old town expanded to include Jalan Atas, Lorong Boo Aun, Jalan Baru and Jalan Pintu Sepuluh as businessmen set up offices, warehouses and services such as laundry and barber shops.

After World War II, anti-colonial sentiments motivated the British to sell their plantations to local buyers. Locals were suspected to have murdered the grandson of the British planter, Ramsden, at the large Byram Estate office known as the ‘99-door mansion’.

After independence, the British administration was replaced by a local government. V. Veerappen was elected as the First Member of Parliament for South Seberang Perai. He championed issues such as the resettlement of Tamil estate workers and universal education.

Economic diversification schemes encouraged the establishment of oil palm plantations, inland fisheries and industrial parks. New residential and commercial development expanded the town, and wider roads, flyover bridges and a new electric rail modernized transport.
The transition from traditional to modern life and its impact on the local people is captured in the writings and poems of Muhammad Haji Salleh, one of Malaysia’s most prominent literary scholars, who grew up in Sungai Acheh.