Wulai's Atayal Aborigines are of the Malepa line of the Seqoleq branch of the tribe, and their ancestors originally came from what is now known as Jen-ai Township in Nantou County. They were driven north by population pressures, and had taken up residence in Wulai by the middle of the Qing dynasty.
烏來的泰雅族屬於賽考列克群 (seqoleq）的馬立巴系統 ( Malepa)，他們的祖先原住在今天的南投縣仁愛鄉，因人口增加遂向北遷移，在清朝中葉遷至烏來鄉境。