Tarakan Island lies in front to Kayan River, near the boarder to Sabah on a mean position of 03N21, 117E36. The island is gentile hilly and rises to about 100 meters in its northern part. It was the site of a bloody fighting between Australians and Japanese at the WW II. The fight was about 6 weeks and 235 Australian soldiers lost here life on the island. After the end of the battle, the Australian troups build up one of the largest airfields on Kalimantans shores, but it was never used during the war. In July 1945 the Japanese were run out from the island. Till today several reliques from this time are visible on the island, all abandoned now. Today the island growed up to a tourist resort, and it is connected to Kalimantan twice a week by airplane. The largest village on the island is Linkas, and Tarakan Settlement is the second largest village. Most of its coastline is mangrove swamp, but the south side is well coultivated. The inhabitans lifed today by the crab-fishing.