Borneo

Borneo

Borneo, island in the extreme southwestern part of the Pacific Ocean. It is the third largest island in the world, surpassed in size by only Greenland and New Guinea.

Borneo is situated southeast of the Malay Peninsula in the Greater Sunda Islands group of the Malay Archipelago. The island is bounded by the South China Sea to the northwest, the Sulu Sea to the northeast, the Celebes Sea to the east, and the Java Sea to the south—the latter separating Borneo from the island of Java. The Makassar Strait separates Borneo from the island of Celebes (Sulawesi) to the east and southeast, and a series of shallow seas and straits lie between Borneo and the island of Sumatra to the west.

Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque

Indonesia constitutes the largest political component of the island (in Indonesian known as Kalimantan), its territory divided into five provinces: Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan. Along the northwest coast and northern tip lie Sarawak and Sabah, two constituent states of Malaysia that are often collectively called East Malaysia, and between them is the Islamic sultanate of Brunei. Area (including adjacent islands), about 292,000 square miles (755,000 square km). Pop. (2015) five provinces of Kalimantan (including adjacent islands), 15,320,017; (2010) Sabah and Sarawak, 5,677,882; (2014 est.) Brunei, 411,900.