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Nama Kota Kuching adalah nama kota baru. Kota yang
menggantikan nama Kota Serawak. Jauh sebelum kota Serawak/Kuching terbentuk ada
dua kota lain yang lebih tua di wilayah Serawak yakni Kota Sibu dan Kota
Bintulu. Pada masa ini Kota Sibu seakan berada jauh di pedalaman sementara Kota
Bintulu berada di pantai. Dua kota tua ini dulunya sama-sama di pantai.
Sibu is an inland city in the central region of Sarawak. It is the capital of Sibu District in Sibu Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. The city is located on the island of Borneo and covers an area of 129.5 square kilometres (50.0 sq mi). It is located at the confluence of the Rajang and Igan Rivers, Sibu is mainly populated by people of Chinese descent, mainly from Fuzhou. Other ethnic groups such as Iban, Malay and Melanau are also present, but unlike other regions of Sarawak, they are not as significant. Sibu was founded by James Brooke in 1862 when he built a fort in the town to fend off attacks by the indigenous Dayak people. Before 1873, Sibu was called "Maling", which was named after a bend of the Rajang river called "Tanjung Maling" opposite the present day town of Sibu near the confluence of Igan and Rajang rivers. On 1 June 1873, the third division of Sarawak (present day Sibu Division) was created under the Brooke administration. The division was later named after the native Pulasan fruit which can be found abundantly at the region ("Pulasan" is known as "Buah Sibau" in the Iban language). In the 15th century, the Malays living in southern Sarawak displaced the immigrant Iban people towards the present-day Sibu region. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the Rajang basin was rife with tribal wars between the Ibans and indigenous people in the Rajang basin. The Ibans would occasionally form a loose alliance with the Malays to attack the Kayan tribes and perform raids on Chinese and Indonesian ships passing through the region. Bintulu is a coastal town on the island of Borneo in the central region of Sarawak, Malaysia. Bintulu is located 610 kilometres (380 mi) northeast of Kuching, 216 kilometres (134 mi) northeast of Sibu, and 200 kilometres (120 mi) southwest of Miri. With a population of 114,058 as of 2010, Bintulu is the capital of the Bintulu District of the Bintulu Division of Sarawak, Malaysia. The name of Bintulu was derived from the local native language "Mentu Ulau" (picking heads). Bintulu was a small fishing village when Rajah James Brooke acquired it in 1861. Brooke later built a fort there in 1862. In 1867, the first General Council meeting (now Sarawak State Legislative Assembly) was convened in Bintulu. (Wikipedia)
Lantas bagaimana sejarah geomorfologi wilayah Sibu dan wilayah Bintulu, dua kota lama di Serawak? Seperti disebut di atas, wilayah Sibu dan wilayah Bintulu adalah pusat perdagangan awal dimana kini terbentuk kota besar Sibu dan Bintulu. Lalu bagaimana sejarah geomorfologi wilayah Sibu dan wilayah Bintulu, dua kota lama di Serawak? Seperti kata ahli sejarah tempo doeloe, semuanya ada permulaan. Untuk menambah pengetahuan dan meningkatkan wawasan sejarah nasional, mari kita telusuri sumber-sumber tempo doeloe.





