Labuan
federal territory of Malaysia
Labuan (), officially the Federal Territory of Labuan (Malay: Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan), is an island federal territory of Malaysia. It includes Labuan Island and six smaller islands off the coast of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Labuan's capital is Victoria, which is best known as an offshore financial centre offering international financial and business services via Labuan IBFC since 1990, as well as being an offshore support hub for deepwater oil and gas activities in the region. It is also a tourist destination for people travelling through Sabah, nearby Bruneians, and scuba divers. The name Labuan derives from the Malay word labuhan, which means 'harbour'.
History
For three centuries from the 15th century, the north and west coast of Borneo including the island of Labuan was part of the Sultanate of Brunei. In 1775, Labuan was temporarily occupied by the British East India Company after the failure of the company's station at Balambangan Island. The Sultan of Brunei, Omar Ali Saifuddin I tried to secure the British East India Company's support against the Sulu raiders by offering Labuan as an alternative to Balambangan but, instead the company made a second but failed attempt to set up a station on Balambangan. The Sultan's subsequent reoffering of Labuan to the company did not result in the establishment of a permanent British settlement on the island either.
British policy changed in the 19th century, when Labuan started to attract British interest again.
“Labuan” enters the record as federal territory of Malaysia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Labuan, federal and territory can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Labuan” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Labuan, federal and territory provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q214504. VIAF identifies the subject as 310615236. The Library of Congress control number is n2014052736. Authority coordinates are 5.300, 115.220. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1990 and 1775.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
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- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Labuan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.