 The Yakans, an inland pagan tribe, inhabited the Sulu Archipelago together with the indigenous Sama and Bajau before the Malayan Tausug from Sumatra and Borneo gained control of the area starting 300–200BCE.Historians have scant knowledge of the pre-Spanish history of the indigenous Yakans simply because they have had little contact with other ethnic groups.Basilan's nearness to Borneo led to the theory that the Yakan originated from the Dyak.