On 21 June 2001, Subah district was cut out from the southern part of Sambas.

In 2004, Sebawi and Sajad districts were split off from the southeast and eastern portions of Sambas, respectively.

Sambas town is located on the south side of the Sambas River between 1°11'20" and 1°24'48" north latitude and between 109°09'16" and 109°26'23" east longitude.

[1] The town district had 57,300 inhabitants at the 2020 Census,[2] and increased to 59,000 at the official estimates for mid 2022.

[3] The following are the boundaries of Sambas town: Sambas has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round.