The area in which they live is mainly in the basin of the Sarawak River and hilly to mountainous forest, traditionally worked by rotational agriculture and hunting based around farms populated from parent villages situated on the hills for protection.
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They constitute one of the main indigenous groups in Sarawak & West Kalimantan and live in towns and villages around Kuching and Samarahan in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, while in West Kalimantan they are mainly concentrated in the northern Sanggau Regency.
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Originally from the western part of Borneo, the collective name Land Dayak was first used during the period of Rajah James Brooke, the White Rajah of Sarawak.
Bidayuh |
During that time, the Ibans were also engaged in conflict with the Orang Ulu of northern Sarawak, the Bidayuh of southern Sarawak, the Kantu and other Indonesian ethnic tribes from eastern Sarawak; the Iban successfully controlled the western coastline of Sarawak.
An ethnic Bianah/ Biatah Bidayuh, he is the first Bishop of the diocese to emerge from the Bidayuh Dayak community.
They make up the 5th largest ethnic group in Sarawak, after the Ibans, Chinese, Malays and Bidayuh.