Bajau Laut Nomads Of The Sea

The earliest mention of peoples identifiable as bajau goes back to the 16th century sather 1997.

Bajau laut nomads of the sea. Due to the increasing threat to. The origins lifestyle and story of an ethnic group in sipadan islands who lives on open water. Last of the sea nomads an ethnic group of malay origin the bajau laut have lived almost entirely at sea for centuries. At this moment there are about 100 000 bajau people but this is very difficult to estimate because this tribe does not have identification papers.

Historically all bajau have been sea nomads. They are based on the sea line of malaysia indonesia and the philippines. Sama bajau have sometimes been called the sea gypsies or sea nomads terms that have also been used for non related ethnic groups with similar traditional lifestyles such as the moken of the burmese thai mergui archipelago and the orang laut of southeastern sumatra and the riau islands of indonesia. They are some of the last true nomads of the ocean.

There are several myths surrounding the origin of the bajau laut and their lifestyle. Photography by james morgan. Directed by matthew malpelli. Sea nomads are first known humans genetically adapted to diving for hundreds of years the bajau have lived at sea and natural selection may have made them genetically stronger divers.

The bajau people have long lived on the waters of southeast asia where they ve evolved into sea dwelling beings with bodies like no other humans on planet earth. Claudio sieber barcroft images barcroft media via getty images bajau people at sea near semporna malaysia in 2017. Among the sea nomads there are three different groups. Origin of the bajau laut.

Living their entire lives on the sea this group of sea nomads floating around the south western indonesian and filipino waters have inhabited amazing villages built on stilts in the middle of the ocean for centuries. For a long time they were employed as navigators and divers in the sulu sultanate which was a tausug kingdom in the south western part of philippines for several centuries. The bajau laut people are perhaps the most remarkable community in south east asia. They are from southeast asia.

The largest group of these sea nomads are the bajau. History of bajau laut.