The Rumanau are an

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

residing in

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

, eastern

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

on the island of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

. They are known as the Lobu in the

Keningau Keningau ( ms, Pekan Keningau) is the capital of the Keningau District in the Interior Division of Sabah, Malaysia. It is the fifth-largest town in Sabah, as well one of the oldest. Keningau is between Tambunan and Tenom. The town had an es ...

District near Lanas, and the Rumanau in the Masaum, Mangkawagu, Minusu areas of the Kinabatangan District along the

Kinabatangan River The Kinabatangan River ( ms, Sungai Kinabatangan) is a river in Sandakan Division, in northeastern Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second longest river in Malaysia, with a length of from its headwaters in the mountains of southwest Sabah, to its ou ...

, in

Sandakan Division Sandakan Division ( ms, Bahagian Sandakan) is an administrative division of Sabah, Malaysia. It stretches diagonally from the northeastern coast of Sabah to the state's central region. With an area of 28,205 square kilometres, it occupies 38.3% o ...

. Their population was estimated at 2,800 in the year 1991. They are a sub-group of the

Kadazan-Dusun Kadazan-Dusun (also written as Kadazandusun or Mamasok Kadazan-Dusun) also less-known as "Mamasok Sabah" are two indigenous peoples of Sabah, Malaysia—the ethnic groups Kadazan and Dusun. The Kadazandusun is the largest native group of Bumip ...

, although their language (

ISO 639-3 ISO 639-3:2007, ''Codes for the representation of names of languages – Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages'', is an international standard for language codes in the ISO 639 series. It defines three-letter codes for i ...

ruu) belongs to the Paitanic branch of the Austronesian language family.

Etymology

The Rumanau people derived their name from two words "ru" and "ranah". The word ru is equivalent to the English phrase "to be with" or "to work with", and ranah refers to "wet earth" or "muddy soil". Thus the named Rumanau people means people who work with muddy soil. Wet paddy cultivation is the only known occupation among Kadazan-Dusun which involves "working with muddy soil". The Rumanau were the first ethnic group migrating out from Nunuk Ragang to acquire the skill of wet paddy cultivation. The paddy cultivation phase in

Momolianism Momolianism is a belief system of the Kadazan-Dusun people of Sabah. Momolianism states that land is a gift from the creator, the earth is a centre of the universe and that the land connects them to the past, present and future. This system ...

evolution had a big impact on the Rumanau people.

References

{{Asia-ethno-group-stub Ethnic groups in Sabah Indigenous peoples of Southeast Asia Kadazan-Dusun people