Map of Malaysia

Geology

Mount Kinabalu is a massive pluton formed from granodiorite that intruded into sedimentary and ultrabasic rocks, and forms the central part, or core, of the Kinabalu massif. The granodiorite is intrusive into strongly folded strata, probably of Eocene to Miocene age, and associated ultrabasic and basic igneous rocks. It was pushed up from the Earth's crust as molten rock millions of years ago. In geological terms, it is a very young mountain, as the granodiorite cooled and hardened only about 10 million years ago.

The present landform is considered to be a mid-Pliocene peneplain, arched and deeply dissected, through which the Kinabalu granodiorite body has risen in isostatic adjustment. It is still gaining roughly 5 mm (0.20 in) of height per year.

History

British colonial administrator Hugh Low made the first recorded ascent of Mount Kinabalu's summit plateau in March 1851 with local Dusun guide Lemaing of Kampung Kiau. Low did not scale the mountain's highest peak, however, considering it "inaccessible to any but winged animals". In April and July 1858, Low was accompanied on two further ascents by Spenser St. John, the British Consul in Brunei. The highest point of Mount Kinabalu was finally reached in 1888 by zoologist John Whitehead. British botanist Lilian Gibbs became the first woman and the first botanist to summit Mount Kinabalu in February 1910.

Botanist E. J. H. Corner led two important expeditions of the Royal Society of Great Britain to the mountain in 1961 and 1964. Kinabalu National Park was established in 1964.

Climate

The climate of the mountain varies from humid tropical at its base to alpine at its summit. The temperature at the summit of Mount Kinabalu ranges from −4 to 8 °C (25 to 46 °F) from December to January, and 3 to 12 °C (37 to 54 °F) from June to September. Depending on how cold the mountain remains from December to January, there are a few occasions where frost and ice appear at the summit. Snow has been recorded three times in this area, in 1975, 1993, and 2022.

History

Following the 1962 Brunei revolt, Bukit Pagon was a strategic site in the final phase of the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation. In December 1962, Harrison Force, composed of two thousand Iban irregulars, was deployed south of Brunei and succeeded in capturing around 100 of the North Kalimantan National Army (TNKU) and Clandestine Communist Organisation. Later in the month, Lieutenant Rupert van der Horst of 42 Commando led a patrol to investigate intelligence about a TNKU baseon Bukit Pagon. The seven-day operation lasted more than ten days, with the Marines having to rummage around for food. Intelligence eventually discovered that Indonesian Lieutenant Sumbi and his men were moving toward Bukit Pagon, located near the Sungei Pasia river, which would provide a water route to safety.

Geography

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. The oceanic part of the proto-South China Sea was subducted during the Paleogene period and a large accretionary complex formed along the northwestern of the island of Borneo.

In the early Miocene uplift of the accretionary complex occurred as a result of underthrusting of thinned continental crust in northwest. The uplift may have also resulted from shortening due to the counter-clockwise rotation of Borneo between 20 and 10 mega-annum (Ma) as a consequence of Australia–Southeast Asia collision.

History

In the Samang Buat Cave, in Lahad Datu, Sabah, archaeological evidence suggests that human settlement dates back to around 46,000 years ago, confirming Lahad Datu as one of the most important prehistoric centres in Southeast Asia. Intriguingly, tools found in Mansuli Valley, also in Lahad Datu, have been dated as early as 235,000 years ago.

In Tingkayu Valley, Kunak, Sabah, archaeological excavations revealed traces of a Palaeolithic community dating from approximately 28,000–30,000 years ago. The site, once a prehistoric lake basin, yielded Hoabinhian stone tools that indicate human activity in the area.

In Niah Cave, Sarawak, human presence has been dated to around 40,000 years ago.

Demographics

Borneo had 23,053,723 inhabitants (in 2020 Censuses), a population density of 30.8 inhabitants per square kilometre (80 inhabitants per square mile). Most of the population lives in coastal cities, although the hinterland has small towns and villages along the rivers.

Borneo is home to a number of different Indigenous peoples and distinct languages and cultures. Dayak is inconsistently used as a collective term for non-Muslim Austronesian Indigenous peoples from Borneo, encompassing the Iban and Bidayuh in East Malaysia, and the Kayan, Kenyah and Ngaju of Kalimantan. Historically, many Dayaks lived in communal longhouses, lacked class structure and practiced shifting cultivation for subsistence.

Economy

Borneo's economy depends mainly on agriculture, logging and mining, oil and gas, and ecotourism. Brunei's economy is highly dependent on the oil and gas production sector, and the country has become one of the largest oil producers in Southeast Asia. The Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak are both top exporters of timber. Sabah is also known as the agricultural producer of rubber, cacao, and vegetables, and for its fisheries, while Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan export liquefied natural gas (LNG) and petroleum.

History

The earliest evidence of human presence in the nearby region, dating back nearly 50,000 years, has been found in the Tabon Caves on Palawan in the Philippine islands. By 2,000 BC, the maritime jade road, an advanced and extensive sea-based trade network, was established by the animist indigenous Austronesian peoples of the Philippines and Taiwan. The trade network later expanded to include states in what is now Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Between 600 BC to 3 BC there was an east to west migration by members of the seafaring Sa Huỳnh culture, who, like the earlier Austronesians who came before them, may have passed through the Spratly Islands on their way to Vietnam.

Geology

The Spratly Islands consist of islands, reefs, banks and shoals made up of biogenic carbonate. These accumulations of biogenic carbonate lie upon the higher crests of major submarine ridges that are uplifted fault blocks known by geologists as horsts. These horsts are part of a series of half-grabens and rotated fault-blocks which lie parallel and en echelon. The long axes of the horsts, rotated fault blocks and half-grabens form well-defined linear trends that lie parallel to magnetic anomalies exhibited by the oceanic crust of the adjacent South China Sea.

Ecology

In some cays in the Spratly Islands, the sand and pebble sediments form the beaches and spits around the island. Under the influence of the dominant wind direction, which changes seasonally, these sediments move around the island to change the shape and size of the island. For example, Spratly Island is larger during the northeast monsoon (about 700 by 300 metres (2,300 ft × 980 ft)), and smaller during the southwest monsoon (approximately 650 m × 320 m (2,130 ft × 1,050 ft)).

Some islands may contain fresh groundwater fed by rain. Groundwater levels fluctuate during the day with the rhythm of the tides.

Phosphates guano (bird faeces) are mainly concentrated in the beach rocks by the way of exchange-endosmosis.

Geographic and economic overview

In 1939, the Spratly Islands were coral islets mostly inhabited by seabirds. Despite the Spratly Islands naturally consisting of 19 islands (see below), according to a Chinese 1986 source, the Spratly Islands consist of 14 islands or islets, 6 banks, 113 submerged reefs, 35 underwater banks and 21 underwater shoals.

The islands are all of similar nature; they are cays (or keys): sand islands formed on old degraded and submerged coral reefs. The northeast part of the Spratly Islands is known as Dangerous Ground and is characterised by many low islands, sunken reefs, and degraded, sunken atolls with coral often rising abruptly from ocean depths greater than 1,000 m (3,000 ft) — all of which makes the area dangerous for navigation.

Ecology

The Malay Peninsula is covered with tropical moist broadleaf forests. Lowland forests are dominated by dipterocarp trees, while montane forests are home to evergreen trees in the beech family (Fagaceae), Myrtle family (Myrtaceae), laurel family (Lauraceae), tropical conifers, and other plant families.

The peninsula's forests are home to thousands of species of animals and plants. Several large endangered mammals inhabit the peninsula – Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), gaur (Bos gaurus), tiger (Panthera tigris), sun bear (Helarctos malayanus), Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus), clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), and siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus).