The Sebuku River is a river in

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 eas ...

that flows from Sabah, Malaysia to

Nunukan Nunukan Regency is a regency of North Kalimantan Province in Indonesia. Nunukan Regency shares international borders with the Malaysian states of Sabah to the north and Sarawak to the west, and inter-regency borders with Tana Tidung Regency and Mal ...

, in the province of

North Kalimantan North Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. North Kalimantan borders the Malaysian states of Sabah to the north and Sarawak t ...

, Indonesia.

Geography

The river flows in the northeastern area of

island with predominantly

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 ...

(designated as ''Af'' in the Köppen-Geiger climate classification), and into the

Celebes Sea The Celebes Sea, (; ms, Laut Sulawesi, id, Laut Sulawesi, fil, Dagat Selebes) or Sulawesi Sea, of the western Pacific Ocean is bordered on the north by the Sulu Archipelago and Sulu Sea and Mindanao Island of the Philippines, on the east by ...

. The rivermouth is fronted by a small island called Pulau Senelak. A

tidal bore Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

occurs 3 days before and after spring tides, and its wave are high and rapid and can cause considerable damage to small craft.

History

The river was once taken as the southernmost border of the influence of

Sultanate of Sulu The Sultanate of Sulu (Tausug language, Tausūg: ''Kasultanan sin Sūg'', كاسولتانن سين سوڬ; malay language, Malay: ''Kesultanan Sulu''; fil, Sultanato ng Sulu; Chavacano: ''Sultanato de Sulu/Joló''; ar, سلطنة سولك) ...

on the island of Borneo in the 19th century, and hence is featured in the 1878 grant by Sultan of Sulu to

British North Borneo Company The North Borneo Chartered Company (NBCC), also known as the British North Borneo Company (BNBC) was a British chartered company formed on 1 November 1881 to administer and exploit the resources of North Borneo (present-day Sabah in Malaysia) ...

. At the end of the 19th century, this river again became a point of contention between the British North Borneo and

Dutch Borneo Kalimantan () is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are Brunei and East Malaysia. In Indonesia, "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo. In 2019, ...

, since the British regarded this river as its southernmost border with the Dutch, while the Dutch assumes a further northern boundary at

Batu Tinagat Batu may refer to: Geography *Batu, East Java, a city in Indonesia * Batu Islands, an archipelago of Indonesia * Batu, Iran, a village in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran *Batu, Kuala Lumpur, an area in Malaysia *Batu (town), Ethiopia *Batu Lintang ...

Tawau Tawau (, Jawi: , ), formerly known as Tawao, is the capital of the Tawau District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the third-largest city in Sabah, after Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. It is located on the Semporna Peninsula in the southeast coast of t ...

. The boundary dispute was settled in 1899 with a compromise solution of a border between these two extremities.

References

Rivers of North Kalimantan Rivers of Sabah Sebuku basin {{coord, 4.04638, N, 117.47482, E, display=title

Geography

History

See also

References