Api Api

Api-Api lies on the northwestern coast of Borneo opposite Gaya Island, with the Crocker Range rising inland. It was a Bajau fishing village on a sheltered bay with deep anchorage, while the Kadazandusun people of the hills behind called the area Dondoung. From the fifteenth century the coast formed part of the wider sphere of the Bruneian Empire, whose rulers controlled ports and rivers along northern Borneo and collected tribute from the peoples of the shore and the interior.