Many believe they came from either Sumatra or the South Sea Islands. Some think their migration in the first millennium A.D. resulted from expanding Chinese trade. Originally, the Sama Badjao may have been a land-based tribe pushed into the seas by population pressures and by more dominant tribes. Historically, they held no land or other property ashore, except for small burial islands. Through years of oppression, the Sama Badjao have found solace on the seas.
Houseboats are often double dugout canoes.
Typically each boat shelters five or six people a family and maybe one or two other relatives. Two to six families anchor their boats in a cluster while fishing, sharing food and pooling labor and resources. The Human Side Sama Badjao eat fish and vegetables. They regard the meat of land animals as unclean. Their fishing varies with the tides, winds, currents, migrations of fish and the lunar cycle.