Tawau

Tawau is the capital of Tawau District in Sabah, Malaysia, and the third largest city or town in the state after Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. It lies on the Semporna Peninsula on the south-east coast of Sabah, in the administrative centre of Tawau Division, which is bordered by the Sulu Sea to the east and the Celebes Sea to the south at Cowie Bay and shares a border with North Kalimantan in Indonesia. The municipal area had a population of 372,615 at the 2020 census. The first British merchant vessel entered its seaport in 1893, the British set up a settlement there in 1898, and the main economic activities of the town are timber, cocoa, oil palm plantations and prawn farming.