Borneo has a relatively high density of people per square mile when compared to other non-metropolitan cities. In a 2020 survey, it was found that Borneo had a population of 23,720,000. Most of the population lives in cities on the coast and also has small towns and villages along the bodies of water. This makes water one of the most important resources for the city as it makes up part of its diet and transportation. The population has many different ethnic groups, which include Malay, Banjar, and even Chinese people. The most predominant ethnic group is the Chinese, which is about 30% of the population. They are descendants of migrants that came from Southeast China, which shapes the culture and appearance of the settlements.
Borneo is the largest island in Asia and is also considered the third-largest island in the world. It is a popular destination and is known as the center of Maritime Southeast Asia, where most commercial and residential activities occur. Using major Indonesian islands as a point of reference, it is located east of the Sumatra region and north of Java. Borneo is a hotspot of culture among southeast Asians, as the island is politically divided into three different jurisdictions. 73% of the island is considered territory that belongs to Indonesia, however, Malaysia lays claim to three different regions of Borneo, which make up more than a quarter of the island's land mass.
Malaysia's federal territory of Labuan is also situated just off the coast of Borneo, which is a small island considered a federal territory. The third country that lays claim to Borneo is Brunei, but only comprises about 1% of the surface area of the land. Brunei and Malaysia are on the northern hemisphere of the island, while Indonesia owns the entire southern hemisphere and parts of the island that are located in the northern hemisphere. The most notable thing about Borneo is that it has one of the oldest rainforests in the world - making it a focal point of natural preservation.
The island of Borneo is known by various other names, as it derives from local languages and widespread global access. For example, it is commonly known as Borneo throughout western civilization as Borneo, which is a misnomer. European explorers' contact with the kingdom of Brunei occurred in the 16th century when most global powers at the time were looking for their transition into the colonial era. In 1601, the map of Brunei was referred to as Borneo, and eventually, the entire island was also labeled Borneo as they assumed the entire kingdom was owned by the sovereign state of Brunei. Borneo derives from a Sanskrit word for water, which is anglicized as "Varuna". This is also the Hindu God of Rain.
The local population refers to the island as Kalimantan, which comes from a Sanskrit word that means "burning weather", a reference to the hot and tropical climate.