Sabah’s economy depends on agriculture, forestry, manufacturing and tourism. Exports include palm oil, cocoa beans, rubber, logs, sawn timber and crude petroleum.

In the 9th century A. D., Sabah was ruled by various tribal chieftains who generally maintained power over their individual territories. There were some trade links with China and later with the Spanish and Portuguese. By the 15th century, Sabah had become a vassal of the Sultan of Brunei. In 1704, the Sultan of Brunei ceded the land east of Marudu Bay to the Sultan of Sulu. In the early 1880’s, Moses, an American trader, obtained a lease over Sabah from Brunei. The lease was eventually passed to Alfred Dent, an Englishman. Dent founded the North Borneo Chartered Company and in 1881, he signed a treaty with Brunei and Sulu, converting the lease into a cession. The British North Borneo Chartered Company had control until the Japanese Occupation. After World War II, Sabah became a British Crown Colony. In 1963, it gained independence and joined Malaysia.

Murut weddings are elaborate affairs accompanied by extensive merrymaking. The Bajaus who make up the second largest indigenous group live mainly on the east and west coasts. East coast Bajaus are sea nomads, coming ashore only to bury their dead. West-coast Bajaus are farmers and noted for their skilled horsemanship. T h e s e h a n d s o m e l y  a t t i r e d ‘Cowboys of the East’, add a distinctively Sabahan touch to local festivities.