Sarawak is Malaysia's largest state. Sarawak lies in East Malaysia and shares the island of Borneo with the eastern state of Sabah, which are the separate countries of Brunei and the Indonesian provinces of Kalimantan.
Sarawak had been a free governed territory under the control of the Brunei Sultanate in the early 19th century. James Brooke became the governor of Sarawak on September 24, 1841 and was chosen Rajah by the Sultan of Brunei on August 18, 1842. At first this territory was just the western end of later Sarawak, around Kuching. He ruled Sarawak until his death in 1868. His nephew Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke became Rajah after his death.
Sarawak is recently divided into eleven administrative divisions. The divisions are Kuching Division, Samarahan Division, Sri Aman Division, Betong Division, Sarikei Division, Sibu Division, Mukah Division, Kapit Division, Bintulu Division, Miri Division and Limbang Division.
In Sarawak different tribal handicrafts are the most popular mementos. Chiefly notable are pua kumbu, double weaved fabrics woven by Iban women and demonstrated with mesmerizing, fantastic patterns, wood carvings and bead handicraft by the Kayan and the Kenyah tribes, and Bidayuh baskets and floor mat or kasah, woven from cane.
Sarawak was naturally blessed with vast areas of both lowland and highland rainforest In Sarawak, among the wildlife, saltwater crocodiles are very familiar in certain parts of this region and immense care and caution is taken when entering water, especially brackish areas like Batang Lupar.
Sarawak has more than 40 cultural groups, each with their own separate language, culture and lifestyle. Cities and larger towns are populated mainly by Malays, Melanaus, Chinese, and a smaller percentage of Ibans and Bidayuhs who have traveled from their home villages for service reasons. Sarawak is quite different from the rest of Malaysia as there is only a small group of people of Indians living in the state.
Most of the visitors arrive in Sarawak by plane. The largest gateway is Kuching, which is about 1.5 hours away from both Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu which also has a few direct international flights to Hong Kong and Perth. Other airports with domestic links to peninsular Malaysia on both Malaysian Airlines and Air Asia include Miri, Sibu and Bintulu.
Travel.MapsofWorld.com offers detailed information about Sarawak.
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