Tanjong Malim is home to the main campus of the Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI).In the early AD 1700, a Bugis settlement was established along the riverbank of Sungai Bernam, as part of Raja Kecil's plan to set up one of its kubu, fort along the river to fend off the northern Perak Sultanate threat.In the early 1900s, the Chinese Hokkien clan built two rows of shop houses which formed the pillar of the town.The British also brought in the Indian community to work in the rubber plantation, which is the town's most important agriculture sector income during the colonial rule.The British colonial government declared Tanjong Malim as a "black town" in an effort to combat the pro-independence guerrillas of the MNLA, led by the Malayan Communist Party.