KOTA KINABALU

formerly Jesselton, town, East Malaysia, on the northwest coast of Borneo. Although razed by bombing during World War II, the site was chosen in 1946 for the new capital of British North Borneo (later to become Sabah) because of the deepwater anchorage at Gaya Bay of the South China Sea; reconstruction and expansion, including reclamation of the bay's foreshore, followed. Residential and commercial buildings now crowd a narrow strip of land between a string of offshore coral islands and the Crocker Range. The original settlement on nearby Gaya Island was burned in 1897 by Mat Salleh, an anti-British Muslim rebel, which may explain the capital's local name, Api-Api (place of fire); an alternative rendering of the name refers to a kind of mangrove tree found locally. Reestablished on its present site in 1899 as Jesselton (after Sir Charles Jessel, a director of the British North Borneo Company), it was renamed Kota Kinabalu (Fort of Kinabalu) in 1968. Kota Kinabalu is a sprawling town inhabited mainly by Chinese, and government service is a major occupation. A railway line north from Tenom carries coastal rubber for export via the Gaya Bay Harbour, which can accommodate moderate-sized vessels. Light industry includes flour milling, woodworking, and the manufacture of furniture, soap, and plastics. The town has an international airport and forms the hub of Borneo's best road network. Kota Kinabalu has a historical museum and is the site of Gaya College (1963), a teachers' training institute. Kent Teacher Training College is at Tuaran to the north. The satellite town of Kampung Tanjong Aru is a beach resort. Pop. (1980) 55,997.