Brunei Darussalam is a multiethnic society in which one ethnic group, the Barunay, has a monopoly of political power. Variations in tradition among other ethnic groups are not regional but cultural, social, and linguistic. Indigenous Muslims usually are referred to as Brunei Malays even if they are not native speakers of the Malay language.

Speculations about the etymology include derivations from the Malay ( baru nah ("there!"), a Sanskrit form, and the Kelabit name for the Limbang River.

Location and Geography. The original home of Brunei culture is the area around the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. Settlements of Barunay and Kadayan also are found along the coasts of northern Sarawak and southwestern Sabah in Malaysia; Tutong and Belait settlements are found exclusively in Brunei. Bisaya, Iban, and Penan people also live in Sarawak and Dusun and Murut people in both Sarawak and Sabah.

Brunei Darussalam is 2,226 square miles (5,763 square kilometers), with a coastline of about 100 miles (161 kilometers) on the South China Sea coast of northwestern Borneo and along the western shores of the southernmost portion of Brunei Bay. Brunei is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak. The climate is equatorial with high temperatures, high humidity, and heavy rainfall, although there is no distinct wet season. The country is divided into three contiguous administrative districts—Brunei-Muara, Tutong, and Belait—with a fourth, Temburong, separated by the Limbang Valley of Sarawak. The names of the districts derive from their main rivers.

Approximately 75 percent of the country is forested, although the exportation of whole logs has been banned. The country is covered with a wide range of mangrove, heath, peat swamp, mixed dipterocarp, and montane forests. There are numerous rivers, whose broad valleys contain most of the country's settlements. The southern portion of Temburong is mountainous and sparsely populated.

Demography. The 1998 population estimate was 323,600. Malays constitute about 67 percent of the total; Chinese, 15 percent; other indigenous peoples (Iban, Dayak, and Kelabit, all mainly from Sarawak), 6 percent, and others, 12 percent. In the late 1980s, 24,500 immigrants worked primarily in the petroleum industry. The population has increased more than twelve-fold since the first decade of the twentieth century. The distribution of population is Brunei-Muara, 66 percent; Belait, 20 percent; Tutong, 11 percent; and Temburong, 3 percent.

Linguistic Affiliation. Malay is the official language, but English is widely used in commerce. The Brunei dialect of Malay has many unique lexical items and a distinctive syntax. Malay is in the Western Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian language family, which also includes the other languages spoken in Brunei. Various Chinese languages, English, and Philippine and mainland south Asian languages are spoken by guest workers. Many individuals are multilingual.

Symbolism. The national flag is a yellow field of two trapeziums with a white diagonal parallelogram stripe above a black diagonal parallelogram stripe, representing the offices of the first vizier (a Muslim official), the Pengiran Bendahara, and the third vizier, the Pengiran Pamancha. These were the only vizier offices occupied in 1906, when the first British resident took up occupancy. The flag is emblazoned in the center by the state crest in red, which was added in 1959. The crest is composed of a flag and royal umbrella; four feathers symbolizing the protection of justice, tranquillity, prosperity, and peace; two hands representing the government's pledge to promote welfare, peace, and prosperity; and a crescent symbolizing Islam and inscribed in Arabic "Always in service with God's guidance"; with a scroll inscribed in Arabic letters, Brunei Darussalam ("Brunei the Abode of Peace").