Crown Colony of Labuan

Crown Colony of Labuan Pulau Labuan
1848–1946
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Anthem: God Save the Queen (1848–1901) God Save the King (1901–1946)
Map of Labuan, 1888
Status	British colony
Capital	Victoria
Common languages	English, Malay and Chinese etc.
Monarch
• 1848–1876	Queen Victoria (first)
• 1936–1946	George VI (last)
Governor
• 1848–1852	James Brooke (first)
• 1945–1946	Shenton Thomas (last)
Historical era	British Empire
• Establishment of the crown colony	1848
• Transferred to North Borneo	1890
• British government rule	1904
• Incorporated into Straits Settlements	1 January 1907
• Japanese invasion	3 January 1942
• Allied liberation	10 June 1945
• Labuan to North Borneo Crown	15 July 1946
Population
• 1864[1]	2,000
• 1890[2]	5,853
• 1911[3]	6,545
• 1941[4]	8,963
Currency	North Borneo dollar (1890–1907) Straits dollar (1907–1939) Malayan dollar (1939–1946)
Preceded by Succeeded by Bruneian Empire North Borneo Straits Settlements North Borneo Straits Settlements Japanese occupation of British Borneo Crown Colony of North Borneo
Today part of	Malaysia  ∟ Labuan

The Crown Colony of Labuan was a Crown colony off the northwestern shore of the island of Borneo established in 1848 after the acquisition of the island of Labuan from the Sultanate of Brunei in 1846. Apart from the main island, Labuan consists of six smaller islands; Burung, Daat, Kuraman, Papan, Rusukan Kecil, and Rusukan Besar.

Labuan was expected by the British to be a second Singapore, but it did not fulfill its promise especially after the failure of its coal production that did not become fruitful, causing investors to withdraw their money, leaving all machinery equipment and Chinese workers that had entered the colony previously. The Chinese workers then began involving themselves in other businesses with many becoming chief traders of the island's produce of edible bird's nest, pearl, sago and camphor, with the main successful production later being the coconut, rubber and sago.

World War II brought the invasion of Japanese forces which abruptly ended British administration. Subsequently, Labuan became the place where the Japanese commander in Borneo surrendered to the Allied forces, with the territory placed under a military administration before merging into the Crown Colony of North Borneo.