Sibu

Sibu is a city in the central region of Sarawak, Malaysia, on the island of Borneo, and the capital of Sibu District within Sibu Division. It covers 129.5 square kilometres and stands at the confluence of the Rajang and Igan Rivers, about 60 kilometres from the South China Sea and 191.5 kilometres north-east of the state capital Kuching. Before 1873 it was known as Maling, a name derived from a bend in the Rajang River called Tanjung Maling, and the name Sibu comes from the pulasan fruit, called buah sibau in Iban. The Sibu region was incorporated into Sarawak in 1853, and in 1862 Rajah Brooke oversaw the construction of Sibu Fort, which served as the Brooke government's administrative centre there until it was demolished in 1936.