About Borneo

Borneo Island

With an area of 748,168 km2, Borneo is the third-largest island in the world, which is divided into similar parts by the equator, so sunset and sunrise are almost at the same time throughout the year. There are no seasons here, but only the rainy season and the hot sun season.

Where does the name Borneo come from, which is used internationally? There is no answer. But the island has different names and many people know it as Kalimantan, as the Indonesians call the island. From Sanskrit, the word ķalamanthana means ‘island of burning time’ (to describe the hot tropical climate). In the 16th century, Europeans called the island Brunei from the Sanskrit word varuņá – ‘water’ or Varuna, who is the god of the sea and rain in the Vedas. Perhaps due to a misunderstanding, I started calling the island Borneo.

Even in ancient times, the island was known by other names. In 977, the Chinese called the island Bo-ni, in 1225, the Javanese called it Tanjungnagara, which translates as the Kingdom of Tanjunpur, because the Javanese settled on the shores of the island and claimed it as their own.

Three countries are located on the island of Borneo, the population is around 22 million and it is growing rapidly due to the proportion of Muslims on the island.

Indonēzija aizņem 73% salas teritorijas, un tajā dzīvo ap 16 miljoniem cilvēku, kuru lielākā daļa ir pārcēlusies no Indonēzijas salām Javas (40% iedzīvotāju), Sumatras, Papua, Malaizijas, Sulavesi, Bali un Lombokas, kas arī izskaidro Kalimantānas galveno reliģiju – islāmu. Tikai apmēram 2% iedzīvotāju ir Borneo iezemeši.

Indonesia occupies 73% of the island’s territory and is home to about 16 million people, most of whom have moved from the Indonesian islands of Java (40% of the population), Sumatra, Papua, Malaysia, Sulawesi, Bali and Lombok, which also explains the main religion of Kalimantan – Islam . Only about 2% of the population are Borneo natives.

Malaysia occupies 26% of the territory of Borneo and is home to two of its states.

The largest by area is the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with a total area of 124,451 km2, which is 38% of the country’s total area, although the population of the state is 2.79 million, or only 8.8% of the country’s population. In the state of Sarawak, 50.5% of the population are natives who arrived in Borneo 40 thousand years ago, then Malays 24.4%, Chinese 24.2% (most were invited from China in the 19th century as labor) and others. Due to the small number of Malays in the state, Muslims are only 32.2%, the majority of the population (42.6%) are Christians, 13.5% are Buddhists.

The total area of the state of Sabah is 73,631 km2 (22% of the country’s territory), with a population of 3.207 million (9.5%), of which 55.8% are indigenous (including Filipinos who moved to Borneo from the southern Philippines, e.g. the Bajau group, and even natives from Easter Island), 11% Chinese and 5.7% Malay. Back in 1960, Muslims made up 37.9% of the state’s population, but today 65% of the population are Muslims and only 27% are Christians.

The states of Sabah and Sarawak together occupy 60% of the territory of Malaysia, but only 18.3% of the population lives on Borneo.

TOP 5 MUST SEE

1. Rainforests. They are the second oldest forests in the world and are 130-140 million years old (first is Australia with 100-180 million year old forests). Nature has been preserved since the time of the dinosaurs, so there are completely unique plants here, such as tree ferns, insectivorous plants, rafflesias and hundreds of different wild orchids.
2. Exotic Animals and Birds. Such is the Bornean orangutan (another species of orangutan found on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia), a proboscis monkey, an endemic species of the island of Borneo that has survived to the present day (old world monkeys have downward-pointing noses, no antennae or no tails, large, sharp fangs, usually do not form long-term pair relationships, most live on land, but New World monkeys have lateral nostrils, broad noses and a snout), crocodile, dwarf elephant or pygmy elephant, gibbon, tarsier, loris, sun bear or Malayan bear, bearded wild boar, reptiles , snakes (pythons, vipers, etc.), amphibians, Sumatran rhinoceros, leopard cat, smoky leopard, pangolin and more than 300 types of different birds. Most of these beasts, reptiles and birds we have seen ourselves in nature.
3. Diving. Not just diving, but some of the best diving in the world, located on the east coast of Borneo. It is the island of Sipadan, which is recognized as the world’s top 5 diving site. Even if you just snorkel, you’ll see green turtles, coral gardens, sharks (hammerheads and whitetips), barracudas, and tons of coral fish. Macrodiving fans will not be left indifferent either, as there is a great variety of frogfish, leaffish, small seahorses, etc.
4. Get to know the natives of Borneo, their culture and traditions. There are 32 ethnic groups in the state of Sabah alone, 57 in the state of Sarawak, and hundreds of them in the Indonesian part of the country that call their territory Kalimantan. Today they are very hospitable and friendly, but even during the Second World War, when the territory was conquered by the Japanese, the natives cut off the heads of the Japanese and took them home as trophies. In the island of Borneo, many tribes such as Murut, Iban, Djak, Kadazan Dusun were famous as head hunters.
5. Beautiful Beaches. Resting on the coast of the South China Sea, walking along the white sand beaches and the bright sun all year round will allow you to relax both body and soul.

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