Labuan
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Labuan
(ləbo͞o`ən, lä'bo͞oän`), island (1991 pop. 54,307), 38 sq mi (98 sq km), a federal territory of Malaysia, off Sabah, N Borneo, in the South China Sea. Coconuts, rubber, and rice are the main products. Victoria, the chief town, has a fine harbor and an airport and is the shipping center for much of N Borneo. Labuan was ceded to Great Britain by the sultan of Brunei in 1846 and became a crown colony in 1848. It was included in the Straits SettlementsStraits Settlements,collective name for certain former British colonies in Southeast Asia. The three British East India Company territories of Pinang, Singapore, and Malacca (see Melaka) were given a unified administration in 1826 and called the Straits Settlements.
..... Click the link for more information. in 1906 and in 1946 was joined to British North Borneo, which became SabahSabah
, state (1991 pop. 1,736,902), 28,417 sq mi (73,600 sq km), Malaysia, N Borneo, on the South China and Sulu seas. It is bordered on the south by Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). The capital is Kota Kinabalu; other significant towns are Sandakan and Victoria.
..... Click the link for more information. in 1963. It was at Labuan that the Japanese surrendered to Australia in 1945.
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Labuan
an island in Malaysia, off the NW coast of Borneo: part of the Straits Settlements until 1946, when transferred to North Borneo. Chief town: Victoria (or Labuan). Area: 98 sq. km (38 sq. miles)
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005