Sabah

Sabah is one of the two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Situated on the north-east of the island, Sabah is smaller than its sister state, Sarawak. The state capital is Kota Kinabalu.

It was taken over by the British North Borneo Company in 1881, and became a protectorate of the British Empire with internal affairs still administered by the company in 1888. In 1946 the Company's rule ended and it became the colony of British North Borneo until it was admitted into the Malaysian federation in 1963.

See Demographics of Malaysia for some details about the population.

Tourism

Sabah is a frequent tourist destination. Its most popular tourist destinations are:

• several huge caves, populated with millions of swallows and/or bats
• Southeast Asia's highest mountain, Kinabalu.
• a large number of excellent locations for scuba diving, including the famous island of Sipadan.

Philippine Claim

The Philippines claims the whole of Sabah as part of the country's territory. This claim is legally based upon a gift bestowed by the Sultanate of Brunei to the Sultanate of Sulu in 1704, because of military assitance given by the latter to the former. The Sultanate of Sulu then granted to the Philippine Government the title of sovereignty to the territory in 1962.