Talk:Borneo

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Article merged: See old talk-page here

earlier comments
i inserted some little knowledge on Borneo that i knew but fell very sad to see little information for such a huge tropical island, hope others to put up more stuff. --Darwina 04:24, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

I had to delete references to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific that are thousands of miles away from Borneo. User:Wetman
 * Well...each of the surrounding seas is part of one of the two oceans, but I agree your wording is better. I just wanted to get rid of the ugly phrase, "an island in SE Asia". Mkweise 14:22, 7 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Borneo is an island, the third largest island in the world, (fourth if you count Australia) -- Who considers Australia an island? -- Yath 06:28, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)
 * See the bottom of List of islands by area for detail about Australia. It is normally standard not to count Australia, but there are a few people who call Australia an island, according to what I learned. 66.245.10.68 22:39, 27 Jun 2004 (UTC)

deleted "shopborneo.com" from External links. (Seems to be a useless ads page..) Lots of links to shopborneo were added by 219.93.174.109 on 6 August 2005. Tomtefarbror 13:17, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

Improvement Drive
The article on Brunei is currently listed to be improved on This week's improvement drive. You can support the nomination with your vote there. --Fenice 06:36, 6 August 2005 (UTC) It is unfortunate that they ignore the truth, the ancient India, Kalinga's influence in shaping Borneo history and culture. So remain in darkness to ignore the truth.!!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.207.73.133 (talk) 12:50, 4 July 2015 (UTC)

Naming
People of Indonesia don't call this island by that name (Borneo), instead they call it Kalimantan. Since Indonesia occupies the larger part of this island, don't you think that this article should be moved to 'Kalimantan' or 'Kalimantan (Borneo)'?

--I disagree. Kalimantan refers only to the Indonesian part of Borneo. Malaysian inhabitants on the island actually do use the term "Borneo" a lot. One example is the Borneo Post newspaper. Furthermore, Malaysians intepret the term "Kalimantan" as strictly referring to the Indonesian portion of the island.

Since no consensus has been reached between the governments occupying the island, therefore the only term that has been used to refer to the island as a whole is Borneo. Whodhellknew 05:16, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Just as Sulawesi is also known as Celebes, Kalimantan has a lesser known name Borneo. Bennylin 23:10, 6 January 2006 (UTC)
 * First time I've heard of "Kalimantan". I've known the name "Borneo" for 60 years or more. I suspect the same is true of most English speakers.. Koro Neil (talk) 11:30, 18 July 2020 (UTC)

In the english language wikipedia it should really be whichever name is most commonly used (and so searched for) by English language speakers, which would be Borneo.194.221.212.20 20:06, 21 February 2006 (UTC)Me

I wonder do people in Indonesia really say the state of Brunei on the island of Kalimantan or the city of Kuching on the northwest coast of Kalimantan? Or is this something more political, like finding it silly that the island is divided between different countries. If the inhabitants of the island known to some as Borneo and to others as Kalimantan insist on using a local name for it in a foreign language - I wonder how many countries and places they call by the name those that live there consider correct or rather by a name that has a long historic tradition in their own tongue but might not be anything similar to what the so named call themselves. For an example of two states sharing an island that has its own name consider Haiti and the Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola --T.woelk 11:24, 10 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Hi, I'm from Kalimantan, Indonesia. Yes, we do consider the Island as a whole as "Kalimantan". So, Brunei, Sabah and Serawak are all on the Kalimantan island for us. Borneo is a slave name, a name made by whites who couldn't pronounce "Brunei" right ;D Matahari Pagi 03:03, 17 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Hm, interesting, I had always wondered. I spent some of my childhood in Sarawak and Brunei and it always seemed to me that Kalimantan was a term specific to Indonesia. So the next question would be what name do the inhabitants of the non indonesian parts of "Kalimantan" Island use to refer to the whole island. As far as I can remember the term "Borneo" was used, although the people may have used some sort of "when talking to people of European origin" phrases, while using other words when talking to natives. Yet to add further to a probably already settled discussion. I think "Borneo" is the correct geographic term in most European languages to refer to the Island as a whole without any reference to political issues of today. For example in Malay or Indonesian you use the word id:Belanda, that is of Portuguese origin, to refer to a country that calls itself nl:Nederland. The country I was born in is called dk:Tyskland, fr:Allemagne, pl:Niemcy and id:Jerman of English origin, just to name the main word families and none are related to the name de:Deutschland, that we use to name ourselves. Do you know the Island called "id:Kalaallit Nunaat" by those native to it? You may have to read the id:Greenland article to get a hint. I have seen though that the Indonesian WP has articles called id:München and id:Köln in contrast to the Malaysian WP using the English based variants ms:Munich and ms:Cologne, so maybe the Indonesian language is more willing to use names the way they are used by those living there. - But English is not Indonesian and an encyclopedia is to be designed such that it can be used by anybody that searches for knowledge and cannot rely on a good education of the users. I think I'll consider "slave name" as POV and not further comment on it as you may feel about your countries past and understand it as you personally wish to. For the origin of the word Borneo I totally agree with you and I think some info on the exact origin might be useful for the article. --T.woelk 10:44, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I know that English is a really selfish language and I don't hope to change that in near future ;). It's just a POV of a mere native from Kalimantan such as myself, and it was only meant to answer that specific question. Mindyou, Kalimantan is not a recent name invented by Indonesian government, my ancestors always used that name. In the Dutch Indies time, Prince Tamjidillah of Banjar Kingdom wrote "Island of Kalimantan" and not "Island of Borneo" in his letter to Dutch Resident (1857). And the sentence that Brunei used to owned most of the island is absurd. They only owned the northern part of it (not even all of them, mind you, as part of it was Sulu's). The Indonesian part of Kalimantan was mostly under Banjar Kingdom, from Kingdom of Sambas until Berau. Matahari Pagi 03:21, 25 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I just want to make it simple. Kalimantan is the Indonesian name for Borneo. In Indonesia, Kalimantan is refer to the whole island, while Borneo is very rarely used and is considered as English name for Kalimantan. While in Malaysia (Sarawak & Sabah) and Brunei, they use Borneo to refer to the whole island and Kalimantan to refer to the Indonesian part of Borneo. 09:36, 25 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Agreed (at least on the Indonesian part). Matahari Pagi 08:27, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

To properly respect the others' on this island, it is better to use Borneo. Just to justify Kalimantan of Indonesia is the general name due to being part of the larger part of the island, it is not fair for Sarawak, Sabah, and Brunei. The name then also misled others. Abenbenji (talk) 09:02, 16 December 2019 (UTC)

veguetacio
It would be silly to call borneo kalimantan since Borneo is an island comprised of three nations. Should we have started calling Europe the Soviet Union in the second half of the twentieth century?

70s show
"In That '70s Show, the foreigner Fez is expected to be from Borneo, as Borneo meets all his criteria's, but the show never tells where fez is from. in one episode he starts to say "their going to send me back to my home, the beautiful island of -" but was interupted by a cop. also, borneo is 10,000 miles away from wisconsin, and fez also says "see hyde steven hyde that is why i keep my sister 10,000 miles away from here in a jungle."

I commented this section out, though I imagine it ought to be deleted and moved to Fez page if it isn't already there. Nilad 03:54, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Population
How many live on Borneo, I saw on Swedish wiki that expected to live 15 million on the island including Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia? RGDS Alexmcfire

Yeap that's a reasonable estimate. About 5 million on the Malaysian side and 10 million on the Indonesian side, while Brunei has a population of about 300k. Whodhellknew 05:24, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Brunei/Borneo
Are these related words? I would think there has to be some common etymology. Chris 03:34, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Hi, I am a Bruneian. In my own opinion, the island is known as Borneo in both Malay and English in Brunei. I think same naming system also is used in Malaysia especially East Malaysia. Regarding the name, I see that Borneo is the 'latinized' version of Brunei. Its quite logical because according to history, the whole island is known as Brunei Island because of the (once) powerful kingdom there. keep88 09:38, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Attempt to gather info on the history of Borneo (or Kalimantan if you prefer that)
I want to try and gather information related to the history of Borneo here. I propose to do this outside of the article as there seem to be some issues that might need discussion beforehand. Please by all means edit the list and add as much info as you can. Adding references would be great but can be left to later. This is just to get a general overview. For the moment I suggest to stop this list at the WW II as the newer history is better covered in the articles of the present states of the region. --T.woelk 14:30, 10 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I'm glad to see this being done! I came to the article to check something on World War II and found only a sentence or two. Now, if someone could include something about B-24s shot down and crashing in Borneo and the treatment of surviving crew who were rescued by Dayak villagers. . . . --Michael K. Smith 14:17, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Prehistory

 * Ca.45 million years ago the main mass of Borneo, at that time most of what is todays Indonesian Kalimantan, was situated on the equator as today, though the main mass was south of the equator line and turned clockwise by about 45 degrees. Collision in the north with other tectonic masses was gradually raising the parts of the sea floor and building mountains on the then northern coast.
 * Ca.23 million years ago the Sahul plate crashes into Sundaland from the south, which rotates counterclockwise as the Philippines press from the east. What is now Sabah and Sarawak is lifted and further enlarged. Erosion builds the plains that spread befor the higher lands in some places on the northern coasts.
 * first homonides, the area's first known human-like inhabitant some 500,000 years ago was "Java Man"
 * 60,000?-40,000 BC, Settlers of Papua and Australia bypass Borneo in the south on their journey to the southeast.
 * first modern humans (Niah Caves), since 40,000 years ago?
 * Orang Asli, Ancestors of settlers of negrito (Semang? Senoi?), papuan, australian aboriginies typ. Any Hoabinhian relicts on Borneo? Orang Asli relicts in the languages of the Bidayuh and Penan (Substrat? Language shift?)?
 * 18,000 BC, Sea level drops some 150 meters below modern levels. Large extants of dry land, swamps and shallow stretches of water exist between the modern islands on the Sunda Shelf. A dry land connection to the Sahul Shelf never exists.
 * ca.8000 BC, Cave paintings in East Kalimantan. (de:Bemalte Höhlen in Ostkalimantan / | National Geographic Article)
 * 8000-5000 BC, The Sunda Shelf is flooded. The modern coastline is established around 4500 BC?
 * Austronesian settlers (several waves? beginning around 2500 BC)(Yunnan migration theory?)
 * Origin of basic cultural elements (Rice cultivation from Yunnan?, water buffalo, Metallurgy, building traditions)
 * 3000 BC - 500 BC the Niah Caves are used as burial grounds by mainly foraging (although rice seems to be known but occurs rarely) neolithic people. The older burials are in log coffins (one is radiocarbon dated to around 2750 BC) while later ones make use of large jars (1500BC-1000AD? ).
 * Before 100 BC the Cham that seem to have originated around Niah in Sarawak on Borneo migrate to central Vietnam, where the iron using Sa Huynh culture is a contempary culture to the bronze age Dong Son culture. (Providing the Sa Huynh culture people were already speaking a malayic language and came from Niah, this would place a malayic speaking, iron using, seafaring people around 500 BC in the region of Niah)
 * Between 100 and 400 AD austronesian settlers speaking an Malayo-Polynesian language related to the Barito languages of South Kalimantan (like Maanyan or Ngaju Dayak) start to settle on the island of Madagascar of the East African coast.
 * From ca. 200 AD onwards the Champa dominate the coast of Vietnam. They seem to have originated from the Sa Huynh culture and the Cham people.

early History

 * Soon after 300, Kutai Martadipur, a hindu Kingdomǀ based at East Kalimantan, near Mahakam River exists.
 * 400-1400, Srivijaya, emerged around 400 or earlier on the island of Sumatra. During the seventh century Srivijaya began expanding its influenz towards Java and along the Straits of Malacca. Based on trading and merchant colonies it had at least from the 12.th century onwards control of the west and south coasts of Borneo. It lost control of its Buddhist "sea empire" by 1400, finally succeeded by the Majapahit.
 * 518, 523 and 616, diplomats from the island Poli, southeast of camboja, visit the chinese mainland. The descriptions could point to an north-east borneoan site, most probably Puni, the later Brunei. (1912 Hose & McDougall citing Groeneveldt) The state seems to have been under hinduistic influence with a Buddhist sovereign.
 * 520, Malay formed the Buddhist Kingdom of Tanjungpuri in the present-day Tanjung, Tabalong South Kalimantan.
 * 700?-present, Brunei (the Po-ni of chinese records?), local power since around 500? May have been a subject state to the empire of Sri Vijaya. (was Brunei related to or identical with Vijayapura?)
 * 977, Hianzta, king of Puni, sends envoys to the Sung that controll southern China. The town of this time may have had more than 10,000 inhabitants. It featured a wooden stockade and a royal palace. Among other things he asked for diplomatic protection by the chinese for his ships that might be blown of course to Champa. (1912 Hose & McDougall)
 * 985, in Mataram on Java Dharmavamsa becomes king. He may have founded a settlement in western Kalimantan.
 * 1025, Rajendra Chola, the Chola king from Coromandel in South India, conquered Kedah on the Malay Peninsula from Srivijaya and occupied it for some time. The Cholas continued a series of raids and conquests throughout what is now Indonesia and Malaysia for the next 20 years. Although the Chola invasion was ultimately unsuccessful, it gravely weakened the Srivijayan hegemony and enabled the formation of regional kingdoms based, like Kediri on east Java, on intensive agriculture rather than coastal and long distance trade.
 * 1082, king Sri Maja of Puni send tributes to the chinese.(1912 Hose & McDougall)
 * 1200, Empu Jatmika built the Hindu Kingdom of Negara Dipa by the rivers of Tapin. This was the start of the Javanese-style courts in South Kalimantan.
 * 1292, a chinese south-sea expedition of the mongol emporers may have bypassed the coast of Borneo on its way to fight Java.
 * 1293-1500, Majapahit, a Hindu sea empire centered on Java, again interested basically on controlling the trade routes. Lost control to the Sultanate of Malacca (founded around 1400 by refugees from Srivijaya and Muslim by 1414) in the north and finally defeated by the Sultanate of Demak.
 * late 1320s, one Odoric of Pordonone in Italy, a Franciscan monk, visited Java, Sumatra, and Kalimantan.
 * around 1350 a "Burni" pays tribute to Majapahit.
 * 1363, the west Borneoan Prinz Awang Alak Betatar becomes Raja of Brunei and converts to Islam. Renaming himself "Muhammad Shah" he becomes the first Sultan of Brunei and founds the dynasty that has ruled the sultanate to this day. He is reported to have subdued the people of Igan (who may ancestors to the Melanau), Kalaka, Seribas, Sadong, Semarahan, and Sarawak. The Muruts joined the kingdom on friendly terms.(1912 Hose & McDougall) At some time later in his reign he stopped paying tribute to the Majapahit. He is succeeded by Sultan Abdul Majid Hassan upon his death in 1402.
 * 1368, an javanese army (Majapahit?) relieve Brunei from the Sulu who had sacked the town. (1912 Hose & McDougall)
 * 1374, or little later the king of Brunei pays tribute to Mansur Shah the sultan of Malacca. (1912 Hose & McDougall)
 * 1387, Banjarmasin is founded by Empu Jamatka (or Djamatka; from Hindustan?). and here The city began as subject to the hindu Kingdoms of Negara Dipa.
 * 1400, The Kayan seem to come to Borneo at some time before 1400 and traveled from somewhere between the Kapuas and Banjarmasin to the north. (1912 Hose & McDougall)
 * 1400 Negara Dipa is succeeded by the Hindu Kingdom of Negara Daha in south Kalimantan. (subject to Majapahit?)
 * 1405 Maraja Kali, king of Puni sends tribute to the chinese Ming emporer. (1912 Hose & McDougall)
 * 1408 Maraja Kali, king of Puni, travels to visit the chinese emporer. He dies while in China and is succeeded by his son Hiawang as king of Puni. (1912 Hose & McDougall)
 * 1410-1425, tributes of Hiawang of Puni are recorded six times in China. (1912 Hose & McDougall)
 * 1478, fall of Majapahit?
 * 1500s, refugees from the fall of Majapahit found the city of Sukadana on Kalimantan.
 * From 1511 onwards Brunei becomes a major power on the island of Borneo after the decline of Majapahit and ultimately Malacca, Stretching its power across the Sulu Sea towards the Philippines.
 * 1520, Banjarmasin converts to Islam.
 * 1521, The fleet of Ferdinand Magellan visits the port of Brunei and a description of the city by Antonio Pigafetta has survived. The Sultan at this time was Bolkiah, the fifth muslim Sultan of Brunei. During his reign Brunei had control of what is now Sarawak and Sabah as well as of the Islands in the Sulu Sea and had founded colonies in the Manila Bay on the Philippines.
 * 1526 Pangeran Samudera of Negara Daha creats a Banjar Kingdom with Bandar Masih, the modern Banjarmasin, as its capital.
 * 1565, Kutai becomes islamic.
 * 16th century, Melanau refugees from the Philippines settle along what is today the Sarawak coast. Historic burial places of the Melanau are found by Niah near Miri.

Colonial times

 * 1578 The Portuguese attack Brunei city. Reducing its influenze on the Philippines to the north after the spanish had taken Manila in 1571.
 * 1595, Suriansyah makes Banjarmasin a Sultanate.
 * 1606, the Dutch VOC start trading at Banjarmasin (first Dutch on Borneo?).
 * 1616, Nathaniel Courthope is Factor (agent) at Sukadana.
 * 1620, Rahmatullah becomes Sultan of Banjarmasin.
 * 1622 a navy from Mataram attacks Sukadana in West Kalimantan, an ally at that time of Surabaya and sets the city on fire.
 * 1635, the town of Kutai signs a treaty with the Dutch VOC.
 * 1642, Hidayatullah becomes the Sultan of Banjarmasin and is followed by Musta'in Billah in 1650 and Inayatullah in 1678 followed by Sa'dillah in 1685.
 * 1658, the Sultanate of Brunei was purported to have given the north-east portion of Borneo to the Sultan of Sulu as a "gift" in return for the latter's help in settling a civil war in the Brunei Sultanate.
 * 1668, Sulawesi Bugis found Samarinda on Kalimantan.
 * 1669, the dutch traders of the VOC at Banjarmasin are killed.
 * Around 1675, the Iban people (Sea Dayak) spread from the upper Kapuas region in West Kalimantan into the south western part of what is now Sarawak. By around 1800 at the latest they clash with the Kayan on the upper stretches of the Rajang River. They expand further north skirting the Settlements on the coast to the Baram River system.
 * 1701, Tahlilillah the new Sultan of Banjarmasin (since 1700) tries in vain to get rid of the British post by force but succedes by 1707.
 * 1726, Pasir and Kutai in Kalimantan are taken by the Bugis prince Arung Singkang of Wajo.
 * 1733, Banjarmasin is attacked Arung Singkang.
 * 1772, Pontianak is made the capital of the independent sultanate of the same name and was founded around an old trading station some 20 Kilometres inland from the western Borneo coast on the north edge of the delta of the Kapuas River.
 * 1777, Hakka Chinese found the Lanfang Republic in West Kalimantan
 * Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 dividing Borneo between Dutch and English control.
 * By around 1830 Brunei has only control of what is now Sarawak and Brunei itself?
 * 1841-1946, History of Sarawak under the White Rajahs.
 * 1854-1861, The Iban leader Rentap fights the Brookes in Sarawak.
 * 1882-1963, History of Sabah under British rule. (1865 under American private control)
 * 1884, the Dutch occupy West Kalimantan and end the Lanfang Republic.
 * History of Brunei during Colonial times
 * History of Dutch Indonesia regarding Kalimantan

The second World War on Borneo
Battle of Borneo (1941–42) The first targets on Borneo where the oilfields, refineries and oil harbours such as at Miri, Seria, Taraken, Balikpapan (retrieved from pages at this website.)
 * 1941,Dec.8. the oil fields and airfields at Miri and Seria as well as the refinery at Lutong were destroyed on order by the Brooke Govornment after the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour spread.
 * 1941,Dec.16. The Japanese make their first landing on Borneo in the morning hours at Miri and Seria.
 * 1941,Dec.24. The Japanese take the town of Kuching and secure the airfield on the next day.
 * 1941,Dec.27. The remaining defending forces of Kuching cross the border to Kalimantan and reach Singkawang II airfield on the 31st.
 * 1941,Dec.31. The Japanese advance towards Brunei.
 * 1942,Jan.1. The island of Labuan is taken by the Japanese.
 * 1942,Jan.11.-14. The Japanese take the island of Tarakan with its oilfields of the east coast of Borneo near the town of Tanjungselor.
 * 1942,Jan.18. The Japanese land at Sandakan in Sabah.
 * 1942,Jan.26. Balikpapan on the southeast coast of Borneo Island, south of Samarinda and north of Tanahgrogot is captured by the Japanese. The Anambas Islands were occupied on the same day. The Natuna Islands may have been taken shortly afterwards.
 * 1942,Jan.27. Singkawang is evacuated and falls to the Japanese after suffering heavy attacks. The towns of Ledo, Pemangkat and Sambas are also occupied on this day.
 * 1942,Jan.29. The Japanese take Pontianak.
 * 1942,Jan.31. The town of Ngabang is occupied.
 * 1942,Feb.10. Bandjermasin is captured.
 * 1942,Feb.16. The town of Sintang is occupied.
 * 1942,March 6. The town of Sampit is occupied.
 * 1942,March 9. The Dutch at Kotawarangin airfield near Pangkalanboeoen surrender.
 * 1942,March 19. Samarinda II airfield is occupied by the Japanese.
 * 1942,April 1. The last forces from Kuching surrunder at Kenamboi in Kalimantan after retreating through the jungle for some 800 miles. The Dutch at Kotawaringin airfield may have surrundered on the same day.
 * 1942 March to October, Lieutenant Davijd, of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army from Sintang on the Kapuas river moves to Putussibau refusing to surrunder. With a some others he flees to the the source of the Mahakam River when advanced upon by the Japanese on the last days of June. He and all other white men of his party are killed by local Punans after they returned to the upper Kapuas.


 * Activities by the Z Special Unit in 1945 and its members such as Jack Wong Sue (Sandakan?) and Tom Harrisson (parachuted on March 25, 1945 with others to the Kelabit highlands).


 * Borneo Campaign (1945)
 * 1945-05-01 – 1945-05-25 Battle of Tarakan
 * 1945-06-01 – 1945-06-15 Battle of Brunei
 * 1945-06-01 – 1945-06-22 Battle of Labuan
 * 1945-06-17 – 1945-08-15 Battle of North Borneo
 * 1945-07-01 – 1945-07-21 Battle of Balikpapan

Some Sources

 * History of Southeast Asia
 * History of Brunei
 * History of Indonesia
 * History of Malaysia
 * History of Vietnam
 * At ANU E Press (The Australian National University) There are probably thousands of relevant pages online on this site - a lot to wade through. Some that might contain relevant information are:
 * Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago
 * The Austronesians - Historical and Comparative Perspectives
 * Origins, Ancestry and Alliance - Explorations in Austronesian Ethnography
 * Inside Austronesian Houses - Perspectives on domestic designs for living
 * Some pages and maps from the "Southeast Asia Research Group" at the "Department of Geology, Royal Holloway University of London".
 * On Brudirect.com what seems to be a collection of phrases from different sources about the history of Brunei
 * More, partly mythical, information on the early Sultans of Brunei at [ http://www.4dw.net/royalark/Brunei/brunei3.htm]
 * Information on the Sya’ir Awang Simawn text at www.sil.org (PDF).
 * Some pictures of early ceramics found in East Kalimantan caves on kalimanthrope.com. Anybody any info on what culture these belong to?
 * List of archaeological sites in Sarawak
 * Dayak Kings in West Kalimantan.

Comment on above
Sounds excellent. it's always heartening to see such enthusiasm - and request for gotong royong. One small disagreement though - i think it is better to do the references as we go - ie, presumably when we write it, we have the references to hand and thus easy to add - i think it is much harder to do it later. But, nice work. I will look more closely tomorrow if i can. Merbabu 08:59, 13 April 2007 (UTC)
 * References always to hand? Hm - Lucky you, I quite often read or hear something, then, at home in the middle of the night, trip along an issue in some wp article and add from memory. Later sometimes a lot later I go to the library and copy some reference info (with pencil on paper!) and carry it to the next pc ... considering this is a talk page I'd rather gather as much info as possible and not only when I have the references at hand, admitting of course that would be ideal; thus getting an idea (and giving others hints) at what to consider or search for.- Of course if youre pc sits right in front of youre extensive library, please add as much references as you can to the benefit of all. --T.woelk 09:58, 13 April 2007 (UTC)
 * ha ha - 'from memory'? lucky you ;)  . All my additions I need to research - i don't have that much info in my head. :)  Merbabu 15:00, 13 April 2007 (UTC)
 * ...well you see I have this big wheelbarrow with a nice soft cushion in it just perfect for my enormous h.....oh well - years of training, memorizing lots of useless stuff and forgetting all the things normally considered important like appointments. ;<D --T.woelk 08:23, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

If your sure that the above is correct, then go ahead and enter it into Timeline of Indonesian History - and put the references in the bottom. For other articles that you put this info into (and it is certainly relevant to more than just this one), it would be very nice to have in-line citations against each point if you can. regards Merbabu 02:00, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Noticed all the question marks? No I'm not sure of much of the above, thats why I started the timeline on the talk page. Most of it uses Wikipedia as source, so its self reference. I'd rather have more sources from other places outside of Wikipedia. I have the two books I added as sources to the longhouse article but they are old and only focus on Sarawak. Once I'm home again I might be able to add more to the history of Sarawak and the Iban people but that may be some weeks from now. The references I added to this timeline are online books, some in html some as PDF only. I haven't read them all yet and have just overflown some for spezific information, so I might have missed other relevant stuff. This is after all a sort of call for help, especially as I know rather little of the history of the Kalimantan part of Borneo.--T.woelk 21:28, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

Good job! Made minor changes. I will try to contribute more in the future. Cheers! Matahari Pagi 04:40, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

Map messed the layout
I tried to add this map to the relevant section, but ended up messing the layout - the edit buttons didn't want to stay where they should have been. I'll put it here instead - perhaps some wiki-wise person can figure out how to add it without causing major mess. Maybe it will have to wait for fatter geography section. – Sadalmelik 21:10, 3 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Removed the map from this talk page, it's [[Media:Borneo Topography.png|Topographical map of Borneo.]] – Sadalmelik 09:22, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Only island divided into three countries
This is true as far as internationally recognized countries are concerned, but Cyprus is also de facto divided into the Republic of Cyprus, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and UK sovereign base areas. Should this be mentioned -- and if so, how to do it without stepping on any toes? 65.78.5.10 19:08, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

This USED to be a GOOD Article
Unfortunately, for the casual reader, there are so many issues with what has been written. First, it's an Island with a NAME. It's known by that name - who cares about colloquial terms or the etymology of the name??? Must everyone know that it is supposedly a slave name??? Where is the research on that??? Did some dutch mispronounciation contribute to this, in the end I, as a reader don't particularly care.

Let's take for example Britain. The term originates from the Roman Derivative "Pritain" or however you wish to pronounce it. So, according to that line of thinking, Britain is a slave name, allegedly of sorts. This type of thinking is wrong and erroneous to say the least. We are asked by some misinformed editor, as readers to accept this type of ignorance.

Please - Some consistency.

Tuai 20:59, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

Point of View writing - Edited below - Suggest removal or rewriting.

Borneo is a Western reference; The Island was known as Borneo by the Dutch during the colonial period. In Indonesia, the island is referred to as Kalimantan. East Malaysia or Malaysian Borneo)refers to the States of Sabah and Sarawak.


 * Dear Tuai sir. If you haven't noticed, this is an encyclopedia. All of the information you find in the article are on the right places. Nobody is denying the name "Borneo" in the language of English, but all the additional information added are also important for explaining the background of the island.


 * It is a fact that we Indonesians call the entire island as Kalimantan to this very day. It's also a fact that we've always been using the term even before the colonialists came to our island, and we continue on using the term through the colonial time until the independence of Indonesia, and we have the prove of that (in form of correspondence between the Colonialist Dutch and local King).


 * So no, it's not a POV. But I'm not denying the name of "Borneo" either. It's up to the English-speaking people to call it that way, and since this is an Encyclopedia in English, it's only natural to list it that way. But it's our right too to call it our own way, not the way the westerners mistakenly call it when they want to pronounce Brunei.


 * And let it be the reader's decision whether s/he wants to be a casual reader or not. Good day to you, sir.

Matahari Pagi 10:03, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

Merge Result
The Result of a discussion was that the article Kalimantan be merge into this article. Most of the content was sufficiently identical that no new content was added. The only portion that need to be considered is the theories over the name Kalimantan the article listed 6 theories but none were supported with referencing. Gnangarra 14:35, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Reopen discussion for Kalimantan?
I am aware that there was a discussion, but i still think that a separate article may be needed. The discussion also seem to be that Rigadoun, Satusuro, HoneyBee, and an Anon, opposed the merger (or leaned in favour of not having a merger) vs Merbabu, Matahari Pagi, and Bendtz supporting the merger. Thats 4 (oppose) - 3 (support). Supporters say "Kalimantan" means "Borneo". Is this the historical meaning? Is it still valid today?

From the article West Kalimantan: From East Kalimantan: See also Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan. They all seem to suggest that "Kalimantan" refers to the Indonesia portion of Borneo. Similarly there is the article East Malaysia aka Malaysian Borneo. I think the region deserves its own article imo. kawaputra torque 04:26, 3 February 2008 (UTC)
 * It is one of four Indonesian provinces in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo..
 * Kaltim) is the second largest Indonesian province, located on the Kalimantan region on the east of Borneo island.

Furthermore, from Britannica: Emphasis on having a world-wide view. kawaputra torque 04:32, 3 February 2008 (UTC)
 *  southern three-quarters of the island of Borneo (q.v.) that is politically part of Indonesia. Indonesians, however, use the word as a geographic term for the entire island.
 * Perhaps an aritcle, "Kalimantan", be re-created, but be strictly limited to discussion of the terms "Kalimantan" and "Borneo", a list of the Indonesian provinces, and that's it, without regurgitating the list of info on Borneo. I'm not sure on this, so I'd be happy to hear other opinion. --Merbabu (talk) 04:35, 3 February 2008 (UTC)
 * PS, it seems that Kalimantan to Indonesians refers to the whole island, while to westerners it means the Indonesian part. Also, isn't Borneo a relic from colonial days now resurrected by travel agents? An (actually intelligent) colleague of mine recently went to "Sabah" on holidays - a few days before he left, he didn't even know that it was part of Malaysia. --Merbabu (talk) 04:38, 3 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Yea, im not really a supporter or retaining colonial names. Im not sure whether the travel agents "resurected" the term. I thought thats the name of the island all the while? Yes ive seen this as well: Sabah, Borneo. The name seems to be a useful selling point ;p. Anyhow, since the use of that name appears to be widespread and common (worldwide), then is should be retained. Yes, the Kalimantan article should just explain the meaning as understood by foregners and Indonesian. And perhaps a short history about how the island became partitioned. kawaputra torque 04:55, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

I don't understand the need to look on to the matter as if it was a nuclear science. "Kalimantan" is simply how we Indonesians call the whole island which is better known internationally as "Borneo". As simple as that! Just like we call banana as "pisang", rose as "mawar", etc. We even have the proof on our case;

Record says that in his correspondence with the Dutch Resident, Prince Tamjidillah refer to the island as "Kalimantan island" and not "Borneo island". Colonial Dutch indeed called the island as Borneo, a name they took from their fellow colonialist.

By all means, use any term that suits you the most. But you can't force us to use "Borneo" to call the whole island, just like you can call the island "Greenland as you wish, but you can't force the people there to erase their own name Kalaallit Nunaat. Matahari Pagi (talk) 09:02, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I understand your concerns Matahari Pagi - I myself was not so sure on my position initially. However, this is the English encyclopedia and Kalimantan links to a nice short article that explains the various interpretations (ie, the English and Indonesian). --Merbabu (talk) 09:16, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, I do understand the fact that this is an English encyclopedia, that's why I already said that I don't expect them to change the way they call the island. What they need to understand is that for Indonesians, the name "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island, that's it. Matahari Pagi (talk) 06:38, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * That's fine - but don't the first few sentences of both Kalimantan and Borneo already mention the Indonesian usage of "Kalimantan"? --Merbabu (talk) 05:11, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The whole world seems to think that "Kalimantan" means the Indonesian portion of Borneo, as proven by these two encyclopedic link: and  (and not to mention articles relating to Kalimantan and Borneo in Wikipedia). I dont think its wrong that ppl outside Indo adopted the word and used it to refer only to the Indonesian part. Plus WP:NCGN seems to suggest that there should be a separate article for Kalimantan, emphasis on commonly used term.  ќמшמφטтгמ torque 10:50, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

The whole world also seems to think that "America" refers to USA, which is actually a country located in northern America. As a popular source of reference, I think Wikipedia should give only the fact, and I think we're going the right way to redirect "Kalimantan" to "Borneo", as the article in "Borneo" has already explained that "Kalimantan" is the term used by Indonesians to refer to the whole island although most people out of Indonesia use the term in a different way. Matahari Pagi (talk) 03:11, 22 September 2008 (UTC)


 * So do u propose that wikipedia should not have any article to refer to the Indonesian part of the island (kaltim, kalsel, kalbar, kalteng collectively)? Or use another name? ќמшמφטтгמ torque 05:13, 22 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Just call it Indonesian Borneo perhaps? Gombang (talk) 18:14, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

Sabah Origin (Borneo)
Does anybody found the origin of Sabahan or people who lives in Sabah (East Malaysia)? Please publish here because I really want to know my root especially for the "Kadazandusun" ethnic. Sabah is located at North Borneo and it consist of 32 ethnics. Ricella —Preceding unsigned cjhbguyyutfyfggugtbggggggomment added by 60.52.86.62 (talk) 06:39, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Citations, please
''Indonesians erroneously refer to the entire island as Kalimantan, not just the Indonesian portion. However, the proper term in both Indonesia and abroad is Borneo Indonesian/Malay:Pulau Borneo. This discrepancy is rooted in Indonesian claims to the entire island, during the Konfrontasi days''

First of all, it's not an error from Indonesians's side, it's just a local term. Second of all, whoever said that the proper term in Indonesia is Pulau Borneo? Third of all, the so-called "disrepancy" got nothing to do with Konfrontasi or Indonesia's claim to the whole island. This is such a big accusation, and there's no doubt about the nationality of the editor who wrote this. All in all, citations and references please. Matahari Pagi (talk) 07:58, 18 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Just fix it then - no need to ask permission. :-) --Merbabu (talk) 08:03, 18 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Okay. I was just trying to be polite. I'm from Indonesia, you see ;) Matahari Pagi (talk) 08:38, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

References in the Media
I propose this section addition for a couple of different reasons I do not believe these references should be sumbsumed by the heading 'other links', because they share the characteristic of being part of the media, and are therefore a distinct category of references. Also, the addition of a section under the above topic would open up the article to be expanded upon by other known media references to Borneo.--Russot1 (talk) 19:19, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * 1) A section with a similar title is part of other Wikipedia articles and will add to the uniformity of wikipedia.
 * 2) The BBC TV series/dvd set "Planet Earth"'s chapter 'Caves' extensively covers Burneo's cave system, and would be interesting to readers and tv viewers.
 * 3) A previous talk comment by another user on the orgin's of Fez from "that 70s show" (see above)relations to Borneo, a trivial but interesting factoid.

Capital of Borneo
I'm removing the entry for Capital of Borneo in the state/province table in the article. As of the moment, Kuching is listed there, with a footnote saying that the argument of putting it there is due to it being the largest city in the island. Contrast this to Ireland or New Guinea, other island with multiple sovereign nations inhabiting them, and it could be seen that none of them define the capital of the multinational island as the largest city. --Xathria (talk) 03:15, 19 November 2010 (UTC)
 * That's the stupidity of infoboxes. Ie, info tends to be moulded to fit the boxes, rather than the boxes being moulded to fit the info. --Merbabu (talk) 03:34, 19 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Done. p/s Xanthria was talking about the table below, not the infobox. I think the infobox is fine. ќמшמφטтгמ torque 08:28, 19 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes, I was referring to the table, not the infobox. Apparently I posted in this discussion section, and then my laptop crashed before I had the chance to commit the article edit. And then I simply forgot about the edit until now, thanks for editing it out Kawaputra. :) Xathria (talk) 11:52, 30 November 2010 (UTC)

Is it worth making state/province capital notes, similar to the (national capital) on Bandar Seri Bagawan? Chipmunkdavis (talk) 12:01, 30 November 2010 (UTC)

Why is the population density so low?
Most islands in this region are densely populated, but Borneo is not. Why? The climate must be much the same as the other islands. Is the main cause physical (e.g. low soil fertility), or is it simply that dense agricultural settlement didn't develop for historical reasons? Luwilt (talk) 19:56, 16 February 2011 (UTC)
 * It's less densely populated because there are less people per sq km than other islands. DOes that help? ;-) --Merbabu (talk) 20:16, 16 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Could be low soil fertility: other islands is mostly active volcanic islands, there is only one volcano in Kalimantan/Borneo: Bombalai Hill --Isnuwardana (talk) 14:47, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
 * I may be wrong but in my opinion the reason is quite clear: the large size of Borneo, making only a small part of the territory littoral. Australia and Papua, also being large islands, are also poorly populated. СЛУЖБА (talk) 15:31, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Updating ecology section
I removed a bit of text about the researchers in Sandakan - as it was irrelevent to the discussion about the ecology of Borneo. Industrial tree plantation actually only cover a small part of Sabah (i.e. the Safoda area around the Bengkoka Peninsular, the SFI area in the Sipitang FR and a few other small areas). I will edit other bits of this section when I have timeSepilok2007 (talk) 07:56, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

The whole of this section needs editing and some decent references - much of it unsourced. Sepilok2007 (talk) 08:05, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Free images
Free images from old books on borneo.

http://books.google.com/books?id=phTSAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=SBYWAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=hhcOAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=aaETAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=-i7XAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=dG8cAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=wVUoAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=O9M7AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=S5sBAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=hvBWAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=HV9CAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=Yu1GAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=mjVWAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Rajmaan (talk) 21:12, 13 January 2013 (UTC)

Homologous Maps
While the topographical map we currently have is fine, I really like the map in the Java sidebar below their topographical map. Would it be possible to get one for Borneo? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.43.124.241 (talk) 12:09, 2 June 2013 (UTC)

Need map showing relation to others
A map showing relation to Malayasia and Indonesia would be useful.Parkwells (talk) 17:36, 24 June 2014 (UTC)

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Kutai basin
Just to point someone at the Kutai basin article which was an orphan (now slightly less so) - it seems to have a good chunk of 'geology of borneo' in it - and this article seems to be missing that as a section. Not sure if some of that should be merged into here ? EdwardLane (talk) 06:03, 16 November 2015 (UTC)

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Disambiguation
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Biodiversity
the article must have Biodiversity — Preceding unsigned comment added by Adobomanokio (talk • contribs) 05:25, 22 April 2018 (UTC)

Population
What's the population?

Very serious omission.
Why does the article say nothing at all about the languages spoken on Borneo? It's one of the most important facts about any place, and should have a large section of its own. Koro Neil (talk) 11:34, 18 July 2020 (UTC)

For true issues.
For me true issues make a suggestion and voice concern with take it off all fake issues for malaysia country and uk. 113.210.48.130 (talk) 08:36, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Needs a subsection on largest cities and towns
This article lacks information on largest cities and towns. Perhaps a description could be added to the Demographics section. cm&#610;&#671;ee&#9094;&#964;a&#671;&#954; 10:13, 24 August 2022 (UTC)

Lundayeh on the demographics section
The Demographics subsection has provided a section for the major ethnic groups in the respected territories. With more than 200 ethnic groups residing in Borneo, it is rather impossible to list all of the tribes of Borneo,.

However, the Lun Bawang/Lundayeh are already represented in the subsection, based on the Kalimantan definition - the group categorised under Dayak people, a similar classification in Sarawak where they are officially defined under the Orang Ulu group. Their population in Sabah is numbered around 6,941 (which only constituted 0.2% of the 3,418,785 Sabahan people), while in Brunei they are numbered around 1110 (0.2% of the 460,345 Bruneians). Ping @Lunday boi Native99girl (talk) 11:37, 25 June 2023 (UTC)