Tawau
A town, division and district in Sabah, Malaysia
Tawau (Malaysian: [ˈta wau]) is the capital of the Tawau District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the third-largest city (or town) in Sabah, after Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. It is located on the Semporna Peninsula in the southeast coast of the state in the administrative centre of Tawau Division, which is bordered by the Sulu Sea to the east, the Celebes Sea to the south at Cowie Bay and shares a border with North Kalimantan, Indonesia. The town had an estimated population as of 2010, of 113,809, while the whole municipality area had a population of 397,673 (including 47,466 in Kalabakan, subsequently split off to form a separate district). The municipal area had a population of 372,615 at the 2020 Census.
Before the founding of Tawau, the region around it was the subject of dispute between the British and Dutch spheres of influence. In 1893, the first British merchant vessel sailed into Tawau, marking the opening of the town's seaport. In 1898, the British set up a settlement in Tawau. The North Borneo Chartered Company (NBCC) accelerated growth of the settlement's population by encouraging the immigration of Chinese. Consequent to the Japanese occupation of North Borneo, the Allied forces bombed the town in mid-1944, razing it to the ground.
“Tawau” enters the record as a town, division and district in Sabah, Malaysia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Tawau, town and division can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Tawau” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Tawau, town and division provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q995163. VIAF identifies the subject as 123143880. The Library of Congress control number is n79077513. Authority coordinates are 4.298, 117.883. 5 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2010, 2020, 1893 and 1898.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Tawau”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Tawau primary sources, Tawau archive and Tawau research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tawau”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Tawau” 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.