The Sarawak river hinterland and the country of the Sadong, Samarahan, Lupar and Saribas: the limestone hills behind Santubong and Bau (gold, by the campaign board), and the river basins that run to the coast.
The hill people are later called Bidayuh (Land Dayak, an outsiders' label), and the lower rivers have Malay-speaking villages. The Iban of the Batang Lupar, Saribas and Rajang arrived by later tradition between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries; who lived on the Lupar and Saribas in 1200 is not known.
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
- Hill villages and swiddens
- Gold washings at Bau (board)
- River passage to the coast at Santubong
Allies and rivals
The chief of Santubong (Santubong chief) takes the trade of the river mouth.
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
Gold, forest goods, iron-bartered goods; 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
- Kuching (Sarawak river): Modern city on the Sarawak river (a later name).
- Bau: Gold hills.
- Lundu: Western coast 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.
- The Iban arrival dates are the later tradition as we recall it (not re-read).
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.