Sibu was founded by James Brooke in 1862 when he built a fort in the town to fend off attacks by the indigenous Dayak people. Following this, a small group of Chinese Hokkien people settled around the fort to carry out business activities safely in the town. In 1901, Wong Nai Siong led a large scale migration of 1,118 Foochow Chinese people from Fujian, China into Sibu. The first hospital in Sibu, as well as the Sibu bazaars, were built by the Brooke government. The Lau King Howe Hospital and a number of Methodist schools and churches were built in the 1930s. However, the town of Sibu was burnt to the ground twice, in 1889 and in 1928, but it was rebuilt after that. During the Japanese occupation of Sarawak, the Japanese installed a new Resident in Sibu in June 1942 and Sibu was renamed to "Sibu-shu" in August 1942. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, Sarawak was ceded to the British as a Crown Colony. This had caused dissatisfaction amongst young Melanau people in Sibu who were pro-independence. As a result, the second British Governor of Sarawak, Sir Duncan George Stewart, was assassinated by Rosli Dhoby when he visited Sibu in December 1949. Rosli was later hanged to death at Kuching Central Prison in 1950. Sibu and the Rajang basin also became the centre of communist activities from 1950, which continued even after the Sarawak independence in 1963. A Rajang Security Command (RASCOM) was then established to curb communist activities in the area. Communist insurgency in Sarawak was significantly impaired in 1973 and later ended in 1990. Sibu was upgraded to municipality status in 1981. The town received a royal visit in September 2001. The town is also a gateway to the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) since 2008. In 2011, the 110th anniversary of Foochow settlement was celebrated in Sibu.