1.
Bandar Seri Begawan
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Bandar Seri Begawan /ˌbɑːndə sᵻˌriː bᵻˈɡaʊ. ən/ or /ˌbæn-/ BAND-ə sə-REE bə-GOW-ən, formerly known as Brunei Town, is the capital and largest city of the Sultanate of Brunei. Bandar Seri Begawan has an population of 50,000, and including the whole Brunei-Muara District. The original name for city was Bandar Brunei or Brunei Town in English. In 1967, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III abdicated in favour of his eldest son, Hassanal Bolkiah, Omar was then made the defense minister and on 5 October 1970, the city was renamed to honor him. The word Begawan was also used for Bruneian monarchs who have abdicated, besides that, Seri Begawan was known as blessed one in Sanskrit. Seri comes from the honorific Sanskrit word श्री Sri, and Bandar comes from Persian via Indian languages, in Malay, the word bandar means town or a city. Human settlement in Brunei can be traced back as far as 6th and 7th century with Malay trading centre, in 1899, first oil well was drilled at Ayer Bekunchi near Kampung Kasat, Bandar Seri Begawan. Although the oil well was drilled as deep as 259 metres, oil exploration in Brunei later shifted to Seria and Belait District in 1924. Sultan Muhammad Jamalul Alam II established a new palace on the west bank in 1909 after been persuaded by the British, Mosque and government buildings was also built along the western shores in 1920. In the same year, the new settlement was declared as a new capital of Brunei, However, the city prosperity was almost ended when the city was captured by the Japanese in 1941, before been recaptured by the Allied forces in 1945. During the war, most infrastructure was destroyed by Japanese and Allied bombing, the British began reconstructing most of its possessions in Borneo at the end of 1945 with the restoration of the law and order and the reopening of schools. In 1950, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III, upon his ascension to the throne, negotiated with the British for an increase in corporate taxes, growing from 10% to 30% in 1953. A M$1.2 million allotment to Brunei for war damages during the Japanese occupation increased from M$1 million in 1946 to M$100 million in 1952. A five-year development plan with a budget of M$100 million was also implemented in 1953, with infrastructure receiving the largest percentage. On 1 August 2007, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah gave consent for the expansion of the city from 12.87 km2 to 100.36 km2, Istana Nurul Iman is the seat of the Brunei government and is the largest residential palace in the world according to Guinness World Records. There are two prime minister offices in the city, one is located inside Istana Nurul Iman and another one is located at Jalan Kumbang Pasang. The city is administered by the Bandar Seri Begawan Municipal Department, the city obtained city status in 1920. With an area of 100.36 square kilometres, the city is located in the most populous district of Brunei namely Brunei-Muara District
Bandar Seri Begawan
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From top left:
Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque, Sir Muda Omar Ali Saifuddin Park,
Lapau Diraja, Mercu Dirgahayu and Downtown Bandar Seri Begawan.
Bandar Seri Begawan
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Brunei Town under
Allied attack in 1945; the attack was intended to flush out the Japanese.
Bandar Seri Begawan
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Brunei Town in the 1950, with the starting of the redevelopment.
2.
Brunei
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Brunei, officially the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace, is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its coastline with the South China Sea, the country is surrounded by the state of Sarawak. It is separated into two parts by the Sarawak district of Limbang, Brunei is the only sovereign state completely on the island of Borneo, the remainder of the islands territory is divided between the nations of Malaysia and Indonesia. Bruneis population was 408,786 in July 2012, the maritime state was visited by Spains Magellan Expedition in 1521 and fought against Spain in the 1578 Castille War. During the 19th century, the Bruneian Empire began to decline, the Sultanate ceded Sarawak to James Brooke and installed him as the White Rajah, and it ceded Sabah to the British North Borneo Chartered Company. In 1888, Brunei became a British protectorate and was assigned a British resident as colonial manager in 1906, after the Japanese occupation during World War II, in 1959 a new constitution was written. In 1962, an armed rebellion against the monarchy was ended with the help of the British. Brunei gained its independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984, Economic growth during the 1990s and 2000s, with the GDP increasing 56% from 1999 to 2008, transformed Brunei into an industrialised country. It has developed wealth from petroleum and natural gas fields. Brunei has the second-highest Human Development Index among the Southeast Asian nations, after Singapore, according to the International Monetary Fund, Brunei is ranked fifth in the world by gross domestic product per capita at purchasing power parity. The IMF estimated in 2011 that Brunei was one of two countries with a debt at 0% of the national GDP. Forbes also ranks Brunei as the fifth-richest nation out of 182, based on its petroleum, according to legend, Brunei was founded by Awang Alak Betatar, later to be Sultan Muhammad Shah. He moved from Garang, a place in the Temburong District to the Brunei River estuary, according to legend, upon landing he exclaimed, Baru nah, from which the name Brunei was derived. He was the first Muslim ruler of Brunei, before the rise of the Bruneian Empire under the Muslim Bolkiah Dynasty, Brunei is believed to have been under Buddhist rulers. It was renamed Barunai in the 14th century, possibly influenced by the Sanskrit word varuṇ, the word Borneo is of the same origin. In the countrys name, Negara Brunei Darussalam, darussalam means abode of peace. The people are pagans and are men of goodwill and their colour is whiter than that of the other sort. in this island justice is well administered. One of the earliest Chinese records is the 977 AD letter to Chinese emperor from the ruler of Po-ni, which some scholars believe to refer to Borneo
Brunei
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The tomb of a ruler of Po-ni in
Nanjing,
China.
Brunei
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Flag
Brunei
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Ahmad Tajuddin, the
27th Sultan of Brunei with members of his court in April 1941, eight months before the Japanese invaded Brunei.
Brunei
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Japanese battleships at Brunei in October 1944.
3.
Sultan of Brunei
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The Sultan of Brunei is the head of state and absolute monarch of Brunei. He is also head of government in his capacity as Prime Minister, since independence from the British in 1984, only one Sultan has reigned, though the royal institution dates back to the 14th century. It is not clear when the became known as the House of Bolkiah. The Sultans full title is, His Majesty The Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, the earliest historical record of the Sultans of Brunei is not clearly known due to the poor early documentation of Bruneis history. Many elder members of the House of Bolkiah claim that their ancestors were the BaHassan and BaAlawi Saadah from Tarim, in addition there has been an effort to Islamise the history, with the official history not matching up with verifiable foreign sources. The Batu Tarsilah, the record of the kings of Brunei, was not started until 1807 CE. Therefore, much of the intepretation on history relied on earlier Chinese sources and it seems that the early Sultanate of Brunei was dependent on Chinese support, and perhaps early Sultans were of Chinese origin. Furthermore the earliest Sultans may have been practising the Hindu or Buddhist religions, House of Bolkiah Line of succession to the Bruneian throne Malay styles and titles
Sultan of Brunei
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Hassanal Bolkiah in 2009
Sultan of Brunei
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Arms of His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei
4.
Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah
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Hassanal Bolkiah, GCB GCMG is the 29th and current Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei. He is also the first and incumbent Prime Minister of Brunei, the eldest son of Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III and Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Damit, he succeeded to the throne as the Sultan of Brunei, following the abdication of his father on 4 October 1967. The Sultan has been ranked among the wealthiest individuals in the world, the Sultan was born on 15 July 1946 in Brunei Town as Pengiran Muda Hassanal Bolkiah. The Sultan received high school education at Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur, after which he attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United Kingdom and he became the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam on 5 October 1967, after his father abdicated. His coronation was held on 1 August 1968, and made him the Yang di-Pertuan of Brunei, like his father, he has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, of which Brunei was a protectorate until 1984. Under Bruneis 1959 constitution, the Sultan is the head of state with full executive authority, on 9 March 2006, the Sultan was reported to have amended Bruneis constitution to make himself infallible under Bruneian law. Bolkiah, as Prime Minister, is also the head of government, in addition, he holds the portfolios both of Minister of Defense and Minister of Finance. He appointed himself as Inspector General of Police of the Royal Brunei Police Force, Bolkiah addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Brunei Darussalams admission to the United Nations in September 1984. In 1991, he introduced a conservative ideology to Brunei called Melayu Islam Beraja and he has recently favoured Brunei government democratisation and declared himself Prime Minister and President. In 2004, the Legislative Council, which had been dissolved since 1962, was reopened and his designated successor is his eldest son, Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah. The Sultans official residence is the Istana Nurul Iman, with 1,788 rooms,257 bathrooms, parts of the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Finance are also located at the palace. The Crown Prince, who is the Senior Minister, works from offices at the Istana, hyatt Borneo Management Services and HM The Sultans flight maintain offices there. The University of Brunei Darussalam and Sultan Sharif Ali Islamic University were established, Technical and vocational institutions were also built, such as the Brunei Technological University, Sultan Saiful Rijal Technical College, and vocational schools. The religious Institute Tahfiz Al-Quran Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah was established, scholarships for study in the country and abroad were provided. The Royal Brunei Armed Forces were expanded with the establishment of three branches of the Royal Brunei Land Forces, Royal Brunei Navy and Royal Brunei Air Force. Medicines and medical treatment are free of charge to children, policemen and members of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces in hospitals and government clinics, there is one doctor per 949 patients. The life expectancy of the people and the population is 74.2 years for men and 77.3 years for women. Hassanal Bolkiah established the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Foundation, in January 2013, the Royal College of General Practitioners created the honour of ‘Companion of the College’ to mark its 60th anniversary
Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah
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His Majesty Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Wad'daulah The
29th Sultan and
Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei
Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah
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Hassanal Bolkiah
Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah
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Hassanal Bolkiah during a parade for his 69th birthday
Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah
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Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah with the former
President of the People's Republic of China,
Hu Jintao.
5.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
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Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
