Geographic Location

The Bajau, Sama, or Badjao, people are primarily settled in the coastal regions, and the surrounding ocean, of Southeast Asia. To understand their geographic roots it it is important to note that political boundaries are less than a century old; meaning that an exact country of origin of these people is not known for sure. Although, it is accepted that they inhabited a number of different countries in the Southeast Asia region, specifically The Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The Bajau people are considered to be from Sabah, Malaysia more specifically. In addition, due to there nomadic lifestyle on the sea, most settlements within this tribe do not stay in one place for very long.

The distinction betweens the subgroups within these peoples, all considered to be Sama people, must be made in order to correctly locate them.

The Sama Dilaut, or Badjao, are classified as the nomadic, ocean-going Sama who spend much of there lives on the ocean, especially traveling across most areas of the Sulu Sea, until just recently as they are beginning to shift to building homes on the coastlines of The Philippines and Malaysia.

While the Sama Dilaya are found to live in more inland areas of Malaysia and Indonesia. With a large portion of their population residing in Sulawesi, an island in Indonesia.

Sources:

Sinama.org
     2013 The Bajau, the Badjao, the Samals, and the Sama People http://sinama.org/about-sama-people/the-bajau-and-sama-people/ accessed April 14, 2013

The Peoples of the World Foundation
     2013 The Bajau People http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Bajau accessed April 15, 2013