13 Facts About Borneo

Borneo ; is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia.

Borneo is home to one of the oldest rainforests in the world.

Internationally it is known as Borneo, derived from European contact with the Brunei kingdom in the 16th century during the Age of Exploration.

Borneo was formed through Mesozoic accretion of microcontinental fragments, ophiolite terranes and island arc crust onto a Paleozoic continental core.

At the beginning of the Cenozoic Borneo formed a promontory of Sundaland which partly separated from Asian mainland by the proto-South China Sea.

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Borneo rainforest is estimated to be around 140 million years old, making it one of the oldest rainforests in the world.

Borneo established a monarchy, and the Brooke dynasty ruled Sarawak for 100 years; the leaders were known as the White Rajahs.

The region of northern Borneo came under the administration of North Borneo Chartered Company following the acquisition of territory from the Sultanates of Brunei and Sulu by a German businessman and adventurer named Baron von Overbeck, before it was passed to the British Dent brothers .

The Dutch who already claimed the whole Borneo were asked by Britain to delimit their boundaries between the two colonial territories to avoid further conflicts.

In 1895, Marcus Samuel received a concession in the Kutei area of east Borneo, and based on oil seepages in the Mahakam River delta, Mark Abrahams struck oil in February 1897.

In May 1945, officials in Tokyo suggested that whether northern Borneo should be included in the proposed new country of Indonesia should be separately determined based on the desires of its indigenous people and following the disposition of Malaya.

Brunei withdrew from being part of the new Federation of Malaysia due to some disagreements on other issues while political leaders in Sarawak and North Borneo continued to favour inclusion in a larger federation.

Borneo's economy depends mainly on agriculture, logging and mining, oil and gas, and ecotourism.