It lies in the southeast on the Buaya Strait that separates the smaller island of Komoran from Dolak.

The island was first sighted by Europeans in about January 1606 when Willem Jansz and his crew on the ship Duyfken rounded it on their way to and returning from their discovery of Australia.

Jansz's map of the expedition describes the island as lowland and muddy land and with the name "Tiuri".

[3] It was considered to be a part of mainland New Guinea until 1835, when between April 26 and May 9 that year the Dutch captains Langenberg, Kool and Banse sailed their schooners Postillon and Sireen through the narrow channels.

After the handover of Western New Guinea to Indonesia in May 1963, the Indonesian government renamed the island after the Indonesian naval officer Yos Sudarso, who was in charge of a raid on the New Guinea coastline 700 km (430 mi) to the northwest in January 1962, but was killed in the process.