Song () is a town, and the capital of the Song District (3,935.2 square kilometers) in Kapit Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. The district population was 20,046 according to the 2010 census. Song is situated by the banks of the Katibas River, a tributary of the Rajang River. It is an important stopover for river traffic going up the Rajang River. Etymology The district was originally named by the Kayan people as long which means river stream. After the Kayan people was defeated by the Iban people, the Ibans decided to rename the place after an Iban warrior named Song who led them to victory against the Kayans. Another version of the origin of the name Song came from the legend of the Melanau people. There was once a Melanau widow named Song who came from Nangka village, Sibu. She went to the present day Song river mouth for agriculture. Her relatives would frequently visit her. When they ask her which place she would like to go, she would said "to Rumah Song " (her own home). Thus the area is called Song since then. History The Kayan people were the first group of settlers inhabited the Song District. At that time, the Kayans were the nomadic people. At the same time, the Iban people migrated from the present day Kalimantan, Indonesia and settled near the banks of the Katibas River (located in the Song District) in order to find land for farming. However, conflict between the Kayan and the Iban people soon grew into a war and the Iban people won. Accepting defeat, the Kayan people then migrated to Belaga District. The Malays and the Chinese first arrived in Song District in the 1800s. They built wooden shophouses with nipah roofs along the river banks and opened floating shops on the river. Initially, the barter system was used, but when Song was acquired by the Kingdom of Sarawak, a monetary system was introduced. The first three Malays to arrive in Song were Mr Haji Tahir, Haji Omar, and Haji Dollah. In 1870, the Brooke government built a fort at Nanga Song (mouth of Song river). The fort also functioned as the first administrative centre for Song and was intended to inhibit Iban uprisings at Katibas river. The Iban people opposed the introduction of the assessment tax by the Brooke government. Such uprisings lasted until the 1900s. In 1873, Sibu Division was