Kuching

Sister cities

• Zhenjiang
• Rotterdam
• Alexandria
• Pontianak
• Kōchi-shi

History

Sarawak was part of the Bruneian Empire since the reign of the first Sultan of Brunei, Sultan Muhammad Shah. Kuching was the third capital of Sarawak, founded in 1827 by the representative of the Sultan of Brunei, Pengiran Indera Mahkota. Prior to the founding of Kuching, the two past capitals of Sarawak were Santubong, founded by Sultan Pengiran Tengah in 1599, and Lidah Tanah, founded by Datu Patinggi Ali in the early 1820s. The arrival of Mahkota was not popular with the local Malay chiefs, whose autonomy was restricted by Mahkota's increasing tax and labour demands. The chiefs moved upriver, allied with Dayaks, and rebelled against Brunei. Neither side could gain an edge over the other until 1840 when Pengiran Raja Muda Hashim, the Bruneian Prime Minister, offered to hand over the governorship of Sarawak to British adventurer James Brooke to acquire his help to defeat the rebel chiefs. The rebellion was crushed in November 1840, and on 24 September 1841, Brooke was appointed as the Governor of Sarawak with the title of Rajah. The administration was later continued by his nephew, Charles Brooke. As an administrative capital, it became the centre of attention and development. Improvements included a sanitation system.|Margaret Brooke, wife of Charles Brooke.}} The Astana (Palace), which is now the official residence of the governor of Sarawak, was constructed next to Brooke's first residence. He had it built in 1869 as a wedding gift to his wife. Kuching continued to prosper under Charles Vyner Brooke, who succeeded his father as the Third Rajah of Sarawak. A few months later, the Brooke administration came to a close when the Japanese occupied Sarawak. The Regiment defended Kuching and Bukit Stabar airfield from being the destroyed by the Japanese. From March…

Geography

Kuching is located on the banks of the Sarawak River in the northwestern part of the island of Borneo. The limits of the City of Kuching include all that area in Kuching District containing an area approximately bounded from Gunung Lasak (Mount Lasak) in Muara Tebas to Batu Buaya (Crocodile Rock) in the Santubong peninsula following a series of survey marks as stated in the First Schedule of the City of Kuching Ordinance, 1988. Rapid urbanisation has occurred in Greater Kuching and the urban sprawl extends to Penrissen, Kota Sentosa, Kota Padawan, Batu Kawah, Matang, Samariang, Siburan, Tarat, Kota Samarahan, Asajaya as well as Serian which is located about 65 km from Kuching. Kuching has a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen climate classification Af), moderately hot but very humid at times and receives substantial rainfall. The average annual rainfall is approximately . Kuching is the wettest populated area (on average) in Malaysia with an average of 247 rainy days per year. Kuching receives only 5 hours of sunshine per day on average and an average of only 3.7 hours of sunshine per day in the month of January (wettest month of the year). The wettest times are during the North-East Monsoon months of November to February and the city's driest months are June through August. The temperature in Kuching ranges from to but the average temperature is around in the early hours of the morning and rises to around during mid afternoon. This temperature stays almost constant throughout the year if it is not affected by the heavy rain and strong winds during the early hours of the morning which can bring the temperature down to , but this is very rare.

Most-observed species

• Asian Glossy Starling

  Aplonis panayensis (Scopoli, 1786) · Aves
  682
• Yellow-vented Bulbul

  Pycnonotus goiavier (Scopoli, 1786) · Aves
  516
• Spotted Dove

  Spilopelia chinensis (Scopoli, 1786) · Aves
  490
• Eurasian Tree Sparrow

  Passer montanus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  485
• Zebra Dove

  Geopelia striata (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  446
• Pacific Swallow

  Hirundo javanica Sparrman, 1789 · Aves
  428
• Collared Kingfisher

  Todiramphus chloris (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  379
• Javan Myna

  Acridotheres javanicus Cabanis, 1851 · Aves
  352