The district was established in the 1900s by the North Borneo Chartered Company with first district officer named M.C.M. Weedon. The opening of Tenom by the British began with the opening of Sapong Estate and Melalap Estate.[1]
The population is made up of ethnic groups Murut (52%), Kadazan-Dusun (12%), Chinese (8%), Lun Bawang/Lundayeh (5%) and Malay (4%) together with a small proportion of other ethnic groups such as Indonesians and Filipinos. The majority of nearly 5,000 Chinese, descendants of immigrants from Longchuan in Guangdong, come from the ethnic group of Hakka. The population of the district according to the 2010 census is 55,553 inhabitants.[2]
The population is made up of ethnicities as follows: