Borneo has the distinction of being the only island in the world that is shared by three countries: Malaysia , Indonesia , and Brunei. The Malaysian part of the island contains two states, called Sabah and Sarawak. The Indonesian part of Borneo, which is also the largest part of the island, is known as Kalimantan and is composed of five provinces. Borneo is located in Southeast Asia, in the Indonesian archipelago.
To its north is the South China Sea. The Philippines is situated northeast of Borneo, across the Sulu Sea. East of Borneo, across the Makassar Strait is the island of Sulawesi. The Celebes Sea is also situated east of Borneo. Only Greenland and New Guinea are larger. Its land area is approximately , sq. Borneo has one significant mountain range, which runs from the southwest to the northeast. The mountainous areas of the island are located mostly in the interior.
Land elevations on the island are lowest in the south, rarely surpassing a height of 1, meters. Further to the north, near the Indonesian-Malaysian border, however, elevations are much higher, and can reach more than 2, meters. Among the mountains of Borneo is the tallest mountain in Southeast Asia, Mt.
Kinabalu, which reaches a height of 4, meters. Borneo was once covered in rainforests, but this began to change in the s and 90s, as many of the forests were torn down at a rapid pace. Today, the island still contains forests, though they make up a fraction of what used to be present.
Nevertheless, the forests of Borneo are still among the most biodiverse on the planet. There are also peat swamp forests, located in the lowlands of the island. Another type of forest, called Montane forests, are mostly found at elevations between and 3, meters. They are characterized by trees that are shorter than those found in the lowland forests. Heath forests, also called kerangas, contain tree species that can tolerate poor, acidic soil conditions, as it is nutrient-poor soil that the heath forests grow in.
The most biodiverse forests on the island of Borneo are called Lowland Dipterocarp forests, which feature tall trees that can reach more than 45 meters in height. The island of Borneo is home to an estimated 18 million people. The interior of the island is much less populated than the coasts and floodplains of major rivers, as it is quite inaccessible.
The Malaysian state of Sabah is the most densely populated jurisdiction in Borneo, though the most populous city on the island, Samarinda, is located in the East Kalimantan province of Indonesia. It has a population of , people. Other large cities on the island of Borneo include Banjarmasin, Kuching, Balikpapan, and Pontianak, all of which have populations of between , and , people. This is not the name of an ethnic group, however, but the name ascribed to the indigenous farming population on the island.
The Dayaks are actually composed of more than 50 different ethnic groups. They were originally hunter-gatherers, who engaged in headhunting and observed animist rituals.
During the period of European colonization, Dutch missionaries managed to convert many of the Dayaks to Christianity. The much larger coastal population of Borneo is composed mainly of ethnic Malays who practice Islam. It is the Malays who historically and currently have dominated Borneo both politically and militarily.
Another Muslim people, the Madurese, inhabit the lowlands of Borneo. They began migrating from their native island of Madura, south of Borneo, in the s. Violent clashes between the indigenous Dayak and the Muslim Malay and Madurese populations occur on occasion. In , there was a particularly violent period in which Dayaks slaughtered thousands of Madurese. It has an area of , square miles , square kilometers.
From neighboring islands, Borneo is north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and east of Sumatra. The island is bisected by the equator, with approximately half of its land area in the northern hemisphere and half in the southern hemisphere. The Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak make up the northwestern part of the island. Brunei is a sovereign state located almost entirely on Borneo. It consists of two coastal tracts within the Malaysian state of Sarawak, and also includes several small adjacent islands.
The island of Borneo is rich in natural resources. Known metal deposits include: gold , silver , copper , tin, aluminum as bauxite , and iron ore. Most of the island is covered by tropical forests that produce tropical timber and other forest products. The coastal and offshore areas are underlain by deposits of coal , peat, oil , and natural gas. More Maps Map of the Oceans U.
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