This paper considers some of the ways in which travellers, administrat
ors and academics in the colonial period sought to categorise the indi
genous groups of Borneo. It focuses on Sarawak and North Borneo betwee
n about 1850 and 1920, and examines the use of stereotypical images of
exoticism, fear and loathing in constructing different categories of
peoples in the region. The paper argues that such categorisations were
important in structuring the relationships between ruler and ruled, a
nd in the development of particular regional and local identities.