Rajahs and Rebels

Rajahs and Rebels is a scholarly study of the Iban people of Sarawak during the century of rule by the Brooke dynasty from 1841 to 1941. Robert Pringle examines the political, social, and economic transformations experienced by the Ibans under the “White Rajahs”, beginning with James Brooke and continuing through his successors.

The book analyzes how Brooke administration reshaped traditional Iban society, particularly in areas such as warfare, headhunting, leadership structures, land use, and trade. Pringle explores the tensions between indigenous autonomy and colonial governance, highlighting episodes of resistance as well as accommodation. Drawing on archival records and anthropological insight, the study presents the Ibans not merely as subjects of colonial policy but as active participants who negotiated and sometimes resisted external control.

Carefully researched and analytically balanced, the work is considered an important contribution to the history of Borneo and colonial Southeast Asia.