evidence: Although there is evidence of Chinese trade from the 7th century onward, Sabah’s contacts were confined to the Philippines for centuries. It was known to the Sulu pirates as the "Land Below the Wind" because of its position below the typhoon belt. European influence intensified after the Scottish voyager Alexander Dalrymple reached the Sulu Sea (1759). Although the British were active in the area throughout the 19th century, notably on the offshore island of Labuan, which became a crown colony in 1848, the mainland was not occupied until 1877, when a private syndicate (chartered in 1881 as the British North Borneo Company) obtained land grants from the sultans of Brunei and Sulu. The territory acquired its boundaries in 1898. After Japanese occupation during World War II, British crown colony status was granted (1946), and Sabah joined Malaysia in 1963. In the early 1960s the Philippines unsuccessfully revived its long-standing claim to the territory. [...] The Malay, Kadazan, Chinese, Bajau, and Murut are the main ethnic groups. Unlike other Bornean territories, Sabah has only one river—the Kinabatangan—that is navigable far inland. Rivers remain the only means of communication in some districts, but travel is predominantly overland by four-wheel-drive vehicle, pony, or buffalo. There are small road networks and usually airports at the main port towns. A major road extends from Kota Kinabalu to Kudat, and Sabah’s railway stretches for 116 miles (187 km) from the capital to Tenom. Area 28,425 square miles (73,619 square km). Pop. (2000) 2,603,485.