The city of Miri, in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, owes its existence to the presence of oil - both onshore which was exploited from 1910, and now off-shore. Before then it was a small village but the nearby Niah Caves have shown evidence of human life from 40,000 BC.
Because of the importance of the oil industry it has always had a sizeable expatriate population. These included the Bettany and the Rhys-Jones families of Sophie, Countess of Wessex. Administered as a part of the Kingdom of Sarawak, it was easily captured by the Japanese in December 1941. Retaken by Australian soldiers in May 1945, the town quickly recovered from having been devastated, and it has been boomed with increased oil exploitation, and close ties with nearby Brunei.
This book is not only the first encyclopedia of Miri, but is the first major work in English on all aspects of the history of the city with much new information on the Rhys-Jones family, and the pre-World War II British expatriate population. It includes around 400 photographs and pictures, some not previously published.
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