The area defined as Damansara has changed over time. The mukim of Damansara, being part of Klang before 1974, covered the state capitalShah Alam, Subang Jaya, Bandar Sunway, Kelana Jaya, Kota Kemuning and parts of Putra Heights. It was named after the Damansara River which flows through the commune. The mukim of Damansara therefore roughly corresponds to the parliamentary constituencies of Shah Alam, Subang and Kota Raja. Today, the definition of Damansara has moved north, in the northern part of Petaling Jaya's city area, bordered by Kelana Jaya in the south, Kepong/Sungai Buloh in the north and Segambut in the east, covering the constituencies of Damansara, Petaling Jaya and Sungai Buloh.
Origin
Damansara was originally a small harbour-like settlement that was located near the mouth of the Damansara River along the Klang River. In the mid-1870s, it was the final destination for steamboats used by the British to travel to Kuala Lumpur from Klang as the steam boats used cannot go as far as the center of Kuala Lumpur near the junction of Gombak River and Klang River. Travellers would then go from Damansara to Kuala Lumpur via the Damansara Road which finished at Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur. One popular theory suggests that the name is fossilized as a result of spelling mistake, and the place was originally named Damar Sara, as marked in a map of 1882. 'Damar' means resin obtained from any of a number of tropical, chiefly Indo-Malaysian trees, used to make varnish, while 'Sara' means precious or important in Sanskrit. It has been speculated that the then British Resident and land registrar, Sir William Maxwell, had accidentally mistook the ‘r’ for an ‘n’ and merged the words ‘Damar Sara’ into ‘Damansara' when he implements Selangor Registration of Titles Regulation on 1891. Damansara was originally a small river port, and the harbour was known as Labuhan Sara - Labuhan means a place for ships to anchor, while sara can be taken to mean "departure" or "embarkation". However, this theory is unlikely to be true since there exist written and cartographic records which suggest that the Damansara was already in use earlier. The spelling was used by the second Resident of Selangor, William Douglas in his diary entry when he traveled to Kuala Lumpur for the first time; and it can also be found a map sent to Edward Maxwell by Frank Swettenham in March 1883.
Townships
The Damansara area is home to several townships, but most of the subdivision falls under the administration of Petaling Jaya City Council. As of 2004, it includes the following townships:
Damansara has been dubbed the "Golden Triangle" of Petaling Jaya. Commercially, it is positioned to do well, boasting a Tesco outlet, IPC Shopping Centre, One Utama, the largest IKEA outlet in Southeast Asia, as well as The Curveshopping complex, all of them located within a stone's throw of each other. Besides that, the Uptown commercial area, which houses the Malaysian branch of several multi-national companies, is located in Damansara Utama.
