The middle Mahakam with its lakes (Jempang, Semayang and Melintang), Muara Kaman where the Yupa stones of about 400 stand, the delta, the Kutai coast from Bontang to Sangkulirang and the Paser country to the south.
The peoples are later known as Tunjung, Benuaq and other Luangan-speaking groups upriver, Paser to the south and, on the coast, Kutai Malay and Bugis later. Kutai Kartanegara (about 1300 by tradition) and the sultanate are later; nothing is shown for 1200 but the chief of Muara Kaman and the delta.
Who holds it
- Title
- No overall chief: village or longhouse headmen, elders and war leaders, each answering for their own people
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
Nothing is written about the rulers or headmen of this country for 1200. The structure is read from geography and from ethnography of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
What it holds
- The lakes and the middle river
- The delta mouths and the crossing to Sulawesi
- The Kutai coast
- The Paser coast and hinterland
Allies and rivals
The Muara Kaman chief (Muara Kaman chief) holds the middle river and the delta.
How things stand that morning
Not described for 1200; the villages are presumed to be farming, fishing and selling what the rivers and forests give.
Wealth
Forest goods, gold, fish, rice; no figures.
Military
Not known; boats, spears, shields and blowpipes in the later record. No numbers.
Threats
- Feuds and raiding between villages
- Flood, drought or fire
- A change in the trade that comes by sea
Places of note
- Muara Kaman: Find place of the Yupa stones.
- Tenggarong: Mahakam town (a later name).
- Mahakam delta: Delta mouths.
- Bontang: Coast (a later name).
- Tanah Grogot: Paser town (a later name).
Where the sources disagree
- The ethnic names used here (Dayak, Kayan, Kenyah, Iban, Ngaju, Banjar and the rest) are later outsiders' or ethnographic names; the ethnic map of 1200 is not known and differs from the modern one.
Evidence: Geography and later ethnography only; no text of the period describes this country.
On the map: A rough outline of the people's country; the real extent of any village group in 1200 is not known, and nothing here is a border.
Sources and studies
- Background knowledge of Southeast Asian history (Wolters; Hall; Bellwood; Scott; Junker; Reid), recalled and not re-read in this pass
- The OMNIA board (September 2026) note for this place: a lead only, not a source
- The isa regional brief (ISA_BRIEF.md) and assignment ise.txt
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.