Rajang River

Rajang
River
The Rajang drainage basin
Country	Malaysia
Source	Iran Mountains
Mouth
- location	South China Sea, Malaysia
- elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Length	563 km (350 mi)

The Rajang River (Malay: Sungai Rajang or Batang Rajang) is a river in Sarawak, Malaysia. The river is located in northwest of Borneo and it originates in the Iran Mountains. The river flows approximately 563 km into Kapit, and then to the South China Sea, making it the longest river in Malaysia.

Some of the important tributaries are the Balui River, Katibas River, Ngemah River, Iran River, Pila River, Balleh River, Bangkit River and the Kanowit River.

Malaysia's largest and tallest (160m) hydro electric project, Bakun Hydro Electric Dam Project, is located on narrow Bakun Fall of Balui River

During the epoch or Mesolithic period about 10,000 years ago, there was a 5 degrees Celsius drop in the global temperature. At mountaintops, rain became snow which accumulated as huge icy sheets (such as on Mount Kinabalu in Borneo), thus making a break in the global hydrological cycle. Due to lack of water discharge into the sea, there was a 120-meter drop of sea levels from the present time. The South China Sea dried up, exposing the Sunda Shelf and previous deep trenches became huge ancient rivers called the North Sunda River.

The Asian mainland, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Java were connected to Borneo via the landbridge of the exposed Sunda Shelf. The North Sunda River provided vital connection to the north, Baram and Rajang rivers in Sarawak to the east and Pahang River and Rompin River to the west of the massive land mass.