Light Street, or Lebuh Light in Malay, was the first street to be laid on the newly established settlement on George Town. It is said that Captain Francis Light fired a cannon filled with silver coins to induce the locals to clear the humid, mosquito-infested dense jungle. It should be pointed out that Penang Island was not uninhabited when Light landed there - there was already settlements along the Sungai Pinang river bank, at Batu Uban, and Tanjong Tokong.
In the earliest days, Light had his house built on Light Street. His friend and trading partner James Scott also had his home on Light Street. Fort Cornwallis as we know it today had not yet existed, but Light had a crude palisaded fortress built of nibong trunks at the tip of the cape. It was not the most ideal site for a fort, and Light, with no military experience, did not know it. He was however successful in repelling an attack mounted by Sultan Abdullah in 1791.
