Kota Marudu ( ms, Pekan Kota Marudu) is the capital of the

Kota Marudu District The Kota Marudu District ( ms, Daerah Kota Marudu) is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the Kudat Division which includes the districts of Kota Marudu, Kudat and Pitas. The capital of the district is in Kota ...

in the

Kudat Division Kudat Division ( ms, Bahagian Kudat) is an administrative division in the state of Sabah, Malaysia. It occupies the northern tip of Sabah. Its total area of 4,623 square kilometres (6.3% of Sabah's total territory) makes it the smallest of the fi ...

Sabah Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory o ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. Its population was estimated to be around 8,716 in 2010. It is located 130 kilometres north of the state capital,

Kota Kinabalu , image_skyline = , image_caption = From top, left to right, bottom:Kota Kinabalu skyline, Wawasan intersection, Tun Mustapha Tower, Kota Kinabalu Coastal Highway, the Kota Kinabalu City Mosque, the Wism ...

, along the federal highway linking Kota Kinabalu with the town of Kudat, near the northern tip of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

. Places of interest in Kota Marudu include Sorinsim Waterfall, located 40 kilometres from the main town, and Sagabon Park, an agriculture research station on Buyut Lake. Kota Marudu also boasts Southeast Asia's largest solar power station. The town celebrates an annual

Maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

Festival in honour of the agricultural product's contribution to the district's socio-economic development. The line-up of activities includes a variety of exhibitions, competitions, traditional sports and a beauty pageant.

History

It is not very clear when Kota Marudu was established but it is appeared on 15th century map of borneo by Johannes Cloppenburgh (circa 1632) and map by Benjamin Wright (1601) with name of "''Marudo''". It th also referred as "''Malloodoo''" in others old maps.

Etymology

In some other old map it also refer as Bandau. According to the legend, Bandau is a derivative of the word 'Mondou' from the Rungus dialect which means "the head (leader) of all the

beasts Beast most often refers to: * Non-human animal * Monster Beast or Beasts may also refer to: Bible * the Beast (Revelation), Beast (Revelation), two beasts described in the Book of Revelation Computing and gaming * Beast (card game), English n ...

". Mondou was once believed to have been found by Aki Rungsud in the area along the Bandau River. The town was renamed 'Kota Marudu' after a fort (kota) built by local warrior named Sharif Usman at Marudu Bay to protect the area from the

British North Borneo (I persevere and I achieve) , national_anthem = , capital = Kudat (1881–1884);Sandakan (1884–1945);Jesselton (1946) , common_languages = English, Kadazan-Dusun, Bajau, Murut, Sabah Malay, Chinese etc. , go ...

colonial authorities, where he was considered by the latter as a

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

Climate

Kota Marudu has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southea ...

(Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round.

References

External links

Kota Marudu District Towns in Sabah {{Sabah-geo-stub