Kenyah-Kayan-Kajang - History and Cultural Relations

Kenyah and Kayan people consider the head of the Kayan River their point of origin. The Kenyah seem to have inhabited central Borneo for a considerable length of time, whereas the Kayan, a mobile and conquering group, came relatively lately from the south and east. The Kayan enslaved and assimilated the Murut and other groups in the area. In the early twentieth century, the Brooke regime put an end to the headhunting and warfare practiced by these peoples.