The Dayak or Dyak are the peoples indigenous to Borneo. It is a loose term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic subgroups, located principally in the interior of Borneo, each with its own dialect, customs, laws, territory and culture, although common distinguishing traits are readily identifiable.
Dayaks are categorised as part of wider Austronesian-speaking populations in Asia. Physically, many Dayak tend to resemble Occidental rather than Oriental peoples. Clear anthropological groupings are difficult, if not impossible, to determine because of the long admixture of Chinese, Malay, and Negrito stock. The Ibans, known as Sea Dayak and famous as pirates and conquerors, were probably the latest of the Dayak to arrive in Borneo; they alone of the Dayak groups inhabit the coastal region.
They bear strong ethnological similarities to the Malays, who came to Borneo in the 12th century. The Dayak were animist in belief; however many converted to Christianity, and some to Islam more recently. Estimates for the Dayak population range from 2 to 4 million.
Common interpretations in modern anthropology agree that nearly all indigenous peoples of South East Asia, including the Dayaks, are descendants of a larger more common Austronesian migration from Asia, regarded to have settled in the South East Asian Archipelago some 3,000 years ago. The first populations spoke various languages and dialects now termed under the collective Austronesian Lingua, from which Dayak languages are traced. About 2,450 years ago, metallurgy was introduced and subsequently became widespread.
The main ethnic groups of Dayaks are the Bakumpai and Dayak Bukit of South Kalimantan, The Ngajus, Baritos, Benuaqs of East Kalimantan, the Kayan and Kenyah groups and their subtribes in Central Borneo and the Ibans, Embaloh (Maloh), Kayan, Kenyah, Penan, Kelabit, Lun Bawang and Taman populations in the Kapuas and Sarawak regions. Other populations include the Ahe, Jagoi, Selakau, Bidayuh, and Kutais.
The Dayak people of Borneo possess an indigenous account of their history, partly in writing and partly in common cultural customary practices. In addition, colonial accounts and reports of Dayak activity in Borneo detail carefully cultivated economic and political relationships with other communities as well as an ample body of research and study considering historical Dayak migrations. In particular, the Iban or the Sea Dayak exploits in the South China Seas are documented, owing to their ferocity and aggressive culture of war against sea dwelling groups and emerging Western trade interests in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Coastal populations in Borneo are largely Muslim in belief, however these groups (Ilanun, Melanau, Kadayan, Bakumpai, Bisayah) are generally considered to be Islamized Dayaks, native to Borneo, and governed by the relatively high cultural influences of the Javanese Majapahit Kingdoms and Islamic Malay Sultanates, periodically covering South East Asian history.
Borneo is island, third largest in the world (after Greenland and New Guinea), South-East Asia, in the Malay Archipelago. It is bounded on the east by the Sulu Sea, the Celebes Sea, and the Strait of Makassar; on the South by the Java Sea; and on the Wwest and North by the South China Sea. Politically, Borneo is divided into Sabah and Sarawak, which are states of Malaysia; Brunei, an independent sultanate; and Kalimantan, part of Indonesia. The area is about 743,325 sq km (287,000 sq mi).
