Blood compact (Spanish: Pacto de sangre; Tagalog: Sanduguan) was an ancient ritual in the Philippines intended to seal a friendship or treaty, or to validate an agreement. The contracting parties would cut their hands and pour their blood into a cup filled with liquid, such as wine, and drink the mixture.
A famous example of the blood compact was the 1565 El Pacto de Sangre or Sandugo between Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna, the chieftain of Bohol. An earlier blood compact, the first between natives and Europeans took place in 1521 between navigator Ferdinand Magellan and Rajah Humabon of Cebu. [1]
Another type of blood compact was also described by Antonio Pigafetta during their stopover in Palawan (after the death of Magellan). It was made between the crew of the expedition and a datu of Palawan as a symbol of peaceful intentions. The datu made a small cut on his chest using a knife borrowed from the expedition. The datu then dipped a finger on the blood and touched it to the tip of his tongue and on his forehead. The crew of the expedition did the same to seal the compact. [2]
A similar ritual was practiced by initiates into the 19th century revolutionary group, the Katipunan. Though they did not consume their blood, they used it to sign their membership contracts.
Another relatively recent blood compact was in the 1860s between the close friends Sultan Jamalul Alam of the Sultanate of Sulu and Herman Leopold Schück, a Prussian merchant mariner. Schück eventually settled in Sulu and introduced the Kahawa Sug coffee varietal to the islands. [3]
The military history of the Philippines is characterized by wars between Philippine kingdoms and its neighbors in the precolonial era and then a period of struggle against colonial powers such as Spain and the United States, occupation by the Empire of Japan during World War II and participation in Asian conflicts post-World War II such as the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The Philippines has also battled a communist insurgency and a secessionist movement by Muslims in the southern portion of the country.
The Battle of Mactan was fought on a beach in Mactan Island between Spanish forces led by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan along with local allies, and Lapulapu, the chieftain of the island, on the early morning hours of April 27, 1521. Magellan, a Portuguese-born commander serving the Spanish Empire who led an expedition that ultimately circumnavigated the world for the first time, commanded a small Spanish contingent in an effort to subdue Mactan under the Spanish crown. The sheer number of Lapulapu's forces, compounded with issues associated with the location and the armor, ultimately resulted in a disastrous defeat to the Europeans and the death of Magellan. Surviving members of Magellan's crew continued the expedition under the command of Juan Sebastian de Elcano, who completed the journey in September 1522.
Lapulapu or Lapu-Lapu, whose name was first recorded as Çilapulapu, was a datu (chief) of Mactan, an island now part of the Philippines. Lapulapu is known for the 1521 Battle of Mactan, where he and his men defeated Spanish forces led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his native allies Rajah Humabon and Datu Zula. Magellan's death in battle ended his voyage of circumnavigation and delayed the Spanish occupation of the islands by over forty years until the expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi in 1564.
Tagbilaran, officially the City of Tagbilaran, is a 3rd class component city and capital of the province of Bohol, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 104,976 people making it the most populous in the province.
The Order of Sikatuna is the national order of diplomatic merit of the Republic of the Philippines. It is conferred upon individuals who have rendered exceptional and meritorious services to the Republic of the Philippines, upon diplomats, officials and nationals of foreign states who have rendered conspicuous services in fostering, developing and strengthening relations between their country and the Philippines, or upon personnel of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), both in the Home Office and in the Foreign Service.
Datu Sikatuna was a Datu or chieftain of the Bool Kingdom in the island of Bohol in the Philippines. He made a blood compact (sanduguan) and alliance with the Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi on March 25, 1565 at Hinawanan Bay, barangay Hinawanan, Loay. Their blood compact is the first Treaty of Friendship between Spain and the Philippines. The previous site of the pact was thought to have been at barangay Bool, Tagbilaran City but later a panel of historians concluded that the event actually happened at barangay Hinawanan, Loay, Bohol as ratified through Resolution No. 4, issued by the National Historical Institute in 2005.
The Sandugo Festival is an annual historical celebration that takes place every year in Tagbilaran City on the island of Bohol in the Philippines. This festival commemorates the Treaty of Friendship between Datu Sikatuna, a chieftain in Bohol, and Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi. This 16th-century peace treaty took place at Villalimpia, Hinawanan Bay, Loay on the Spanish boat San Pedro, March 25 1565, and is called a blood compact or "sandugo".
The Tagbanwa people are an indigenous peoples and one of the oldest ethnic groups in the Philippines, mainly found in central and northern Palawan. Research has shown that the Tagbanwa are possible descendants of the Tabon Man, thus making them one of the original inhabitants of the Philippines. They are a brown-skinned, slim, and straight-haired ethnic group.
The Legazpi-Sikatuna Blood Compact or Sandugo was a blood compact, performed in the island of Bohol in the Philippines, between the Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna, chieftain of Bohol, on March 16, 1565, to seal their friendship following tribal tradition. This is considered the first treaty of friendship between the Spaniards and Filipinos. "Sandugo" is a Visayan word which means "one blood".
A blood compact is a ritual where two people drink a small amount of each other's blood.
The Magellan expedition, sometimes termed the Magellan–Elcano expedition, was a 16th-century Spanish expedition planned and led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. One of the most important voyages in the Age of Discovery—and in the history of exploration—its purpose was to cross the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to open a trade route with the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, in present-day Indonesia. The expedition departed Spain in 1519 and returned there in 1522 led by Spanish navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano, who crossed the Indian Ocean after Magellan's death in the Philippines. Totaling 60,440 km, or 37,560 mi, the nearly three-year voyage achieved the first circumnavigation of Earth in history. It also revealed the vast scale of the Pacific Ocean and proved that ships could sail around the world on a western sea route.
Rajah Humabon later baptized as Don Carlos Valderrama, was one of the recorded chiefs in Cebu who encountered Ferdinand Magellan in the 16th century. Humabon ruled at the time of the arrival of Portuguese-born Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan in the Philippines in 1521. Humabon, his wife, and his subjects were the first known Christian converts in the Philippines. However, since there were no Catholic priests in Cebu from 1521 to 1565, this Christianity was not practised until the return of the Spaniards to Cebu. There is no official record of Humabon's existence before the Spanish contact. The existing information was written by Magellan's Italian voyage chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta on Humabon and the indigenous Philippine peoples that existed prior to Spanish colonization. Rajah Humabon is cited as the reason for why Magellan fought in the Battle of Mactan, as the latter wanted to earn the trust of Humabon by helping him subdue his opponent Lapulapu, one of the chiefs of Mactan. Despite being referred to as "king" in the journal of Antonio Pigafetta, he was not one like in the manner of a monarch in centralized societies, it is plausible that the title was mistakenly applied because according to succeeding chroniclers, there were no kingdoms in the pre-colonial Philippines.
Akí, also known as Rája Matandâ, was King of Luzon who ruled from the kingdom's capital Manila, now the capital of the Republic of the Philippines.
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer best known for having planned and led the 1519–22 Spanish expedition to the East Indies, which achieved the first circumnavigation of Earth in history. During this expedition, he also discovered the Strait of Magellan, allowing his fleet to pass from the Atlantic into the Pacific Ocean and perform the first European navigation to Asia via the Pacific. Magellan died in the Philippines during his voyage, and his crew completed the return trip to Spain in 1522.
The recorded history of the Philippines between 900 and 1565 begins with the creation of the Laguna Copperplate Inscription in 900 and ends with the beginning of Spanish colonization in 1565. The inscription records its date of creation in 822 Saka. The discovery of this document marks the end of the prehistory of the Philippines at 900 AD. During this historical time period, the Philippine archipelago was home to numerous kingdoms and sultanates and was a part of the Indosphere and Sinosphere.
The Rajahnate of Cebu or Cebu also called as Sugbu, was an Indianized Raja monarchy Mandala (polity) on the island of Cebu in the Philippines prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. It is known in ancient Chinese records as the nation of Sokbu (束務) (Hokkien) or Suwu (Mandarin). According to Visayan oral legend, it was founded by Sri Lumay or Rajamuda Lumaya, a minor prince of the Tamil Chola dynasty. He was sent by the Chola emperor from southern India to establish a base for expeditionary forces, but he rebelled and established his own independent polity. The capital of the nation was Singhapala which is Tamil-Sanskrit for "Lion City", the same root words with the modern city-state of Singapore.
The Blood Compact is an 1886 historical painting by the Filipino painter Juan Luna. It was a gift to the Manila city council.
Pacto de Sangre is a Spanish phrase meaning "blood compact". It may refer to:
The first documented Catholic Mass in the Philippines was held on March 31, 1521, Easter Sunday. It was conducted by Father Pedro de Valderrama of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition along the shores of what was referred to in the journals of Antonio Pigafetta as "Mazaua".