Origin of the Malays and Ibans There is an old theory, still making the rounds, that the Iban arrived here from Java or Sumatra. There is currently no genetic or archaeological evidence to support this idea. From the last essay, we established that the Bidayuh were among the first Austronesians to leave Taiwan, visit the […]
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Long Range Weather Forecast for Borneo June -December 2026 The long range weather forecast for Malaysia will be hot, dry, drought filled, hazy and with water disruptions. This forecast is brought on by the current El Nino forming in the western Pacific. Coupled with the warming caused by climate change, temperatures are expected be the
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All Creatures #83 Sandakan Land Use Change Between 2000 and 2020, land use in Sandakan increased by 17.4% for urbanisation, while vegetation and agricultural land use decreased by 8.5%.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2026.102046 St. James Church, Kampong Quop, Sarawak This church was built in 1865, and this study aimed to investigate the architectural and historical significance of the structure.
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Origin of the Bidayuh There are many different people living in Borneo today. Among these groups is a people with a similar language, the Bidayuh. They migrated south from Taiwan to western Borneo over a period of three thousand years. We are going to try to trace that migration. The early expansion of people into
Information taken from a newspaper article in 1861 about Borneo The schooner Rainbow arrived in Kuching on 11 February 1861 with the Rajah James Brooke aboard. In honor of the event the courts were closed and a weeks holiday was declared. Chiefs from all over came to pay respect to the Rajah. On the 20th,
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The Borneo Writing Boards I have always heard about the Iban writing system and was told they had a written language. I kept trying to find the alphabet to hopefully translate some of the writings on the cliffs on islands in the bays around the area. I finally did a full research effort. There was
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The Death Ceremony of the Berawan People of Sarawak The Berawan people live in longhouses along the Tinjar and Tutoh Rivers both tributaries of the Baram River in Sarawak. They are part of the orang ulu people or up river people. There are two ceremonies which occur. Just after death, the corpse is displayed on
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All Creatures #83 New Species Two new species of plants in the schismatoglottidae family have been made known to science from north Borneo. https://doi.org/10.1002/fedr.70075 Colonial Photography of the Ngepan Iban This article describes the various images housed in museums around the world of these people from Saribas. Go to the article and scroll through to
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Islam comes to Borneo The Arab traders came from India and began commerce in various ports. Settling in the trade ceners, they intermarried with the people of the land, and these heathen wives and the slaves of their households thus formed the nucleus of a Muslim community. The traders and their new wives increased the
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A Sarawak Book While living here, I noticed a lack of books about the history of the Sarawak area pre-1840. I searched all the local libraries and museums, and none were to be found. I began my search by visiting kampong houses searching for people who may have copies of books written in Malay, Arabic
