Rajahs and Rebels: The Ibans of Sarawak under Brooke Rule, 1841-1941

Abstract

Across wide areas of Southeast Asia, there was a special quality in the historical
\nrelationship between European colonial regimes and tribal societies. The tribal
\npeople were, as a general rule, warlike hill rice farmers, without traditions of
\nkingship or any written history. Although they frequently inhabited large regions
\nof the interior, they were usually less numerous than the wet-dee-growing
\nlowland or coastal peoples with their courts and chronicles and their heritage of
\nIndian- or Chinese-influenced civilization.