Castilian War

Last updated

Castilian War
Castilian War.jpg
Bruneian forces fighting Spanish forces
Date16 April – 26 June 1578
Location
Result Status quo ante bellum
Belligerents
Old Flag of Brunei.svg Bruneian Empire
18th Century Flag of Sulu.svg Sulu Sultanate
Flag of Maguindanao.svg Maguindanao
Supported by:
Flag of the Ottoman Empire (1453-1844).svg Ottoman Empire
Flag of Portugal (1830-1910).svg Portuguese Empire

Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg  Spanish Empire

Commanders and leaders
Old Flag of Brunei.svg Sultan Saiful Rijal
Old Flag of Brunei.svg Bendahara Sakam
Flag of Portugal (1830-1910).svg Pengiran Kestani
Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg Francisco de Sande
Old Flag of Brunei.svg Pengiran Seri Lela   Skull and Crossbones.svg or  
Old Flag of Brunei.svg Pengiran Seri Ratna 
Strength
1,000 men (royal guards)
an unknown number of indigenous warriors
62 guns
50 ships

2,200 men:

  • 200 Spaniards
  • 200 Mexicans
  • 1,500 Filipinos
  • 300 Bruneians
40 ships
Casualties and losses

Unknown

170 artillery pieces; 27 ships and galleys captured [1]
Unknown; presumably heavy [2]
17 men dead (by dysentery) [3]

The Castilian War, also called the Spanish Expedition to Borneo, was a conflict between the Spanish Empire and several Muslim states in Southeast Asia, including the Sultanates of Brunei, Sulu, and Maguindanao. It is also considered as part of the Ottoman-Habsburg War, and that war is the beginning of relations between the Ottoman state and Brunei in 1560 to 1578.

Contents

Spanish arrival in the Philippines

The Spanish settlements soon began to encroach on the aspirations that Brunei had in the Philippines. Between 1485 and 1521, Sultan Bolkiah of Brunei had established the puppet state of Kota Serudong (also called the Kingdom of Maynila) to oppose the indigenous Kingdom of Tondo on the island of Luzon. [4] The Islamic presence in the region was also strengthened by the arrival of traders and missionaries from the areas of Malaysia and Indonesia. [5]

Despite Bruneian influence, Spanish colonization continued in the archipelago. In 1571, Miguel López launched an expedition from his capital in Cebu to conquer and Christianize the city of Manila, which became the new capital for the Spanish administration. Furthermore, the Visayan peoples of Madja-as and Cebu (who historically fought against Brunei's allies of Sulu and Maynila) aligned themselves with the Spaniards against Brunei. In 1576, Governor-General Francisco de Sande sent a request to meet with Sultan Saiful Rijal, expressing a desire for good relations with Brunei. However, In 1573, the Governor-General De Sande demanded both permission to proselytize Christianity in the region, and an end to Brunei's proselytizing of Islam. De Sande regarded Brunei as a threat to Spanish presence and religious efforts in the region, stating that "the Moros from Borneo preach the doctrine of Mohammed, converting all the Moros of the islands". [6] [7]

War

Governor-General Francisco de Sande officially declared war against Brunei in 1578, and began preparations for an expedition to Borneo. De Sande assumed the title of Capitán-General and assembled a fleet carrying 200 Spaniards, 200 Mexicans, 1,500 native Filipinos (Luzones), and 300 Borneans. [8] The racial composition of the Spanish force was shown to be diverse by later documents that stated the infantry was made up of mestizos, mulattoes, and "Indians" (from Peru and Mexico), led by Spanish officers who had previously fought with native Filipinos in military campaigns across Southeast Asia. [9] The expedition began their journey in March, and the Bruneian campaign was one of several that was undertaken at the time, including action in Mindanao and Sulu. [10] [11]

In addition to native Malay warriors, Bruneian forces were supported by the Ottomans who had been sent in several expeditions to the nearby Sultanate of Aceh and were composed of Turks, Egyptians, Swahilis, Somalis, Sindhis, Gujaratis, and Malabars. [12] These expeditionary forces spread to nearby Sultanates and taught local mujahideen new fighting tactics and techniques to forge cannons. [13]

Aftermath

While the Spanish were unable to immediately subjugate Brunei, they did manage to prevent it from regaining a foothold in Luzon. [14] Relations between the two nations later improved and trade resumed, as evidenced by a 1599 letter from Governor-General Francisco de Tello de Guzmán in which he asked for a return to a normal relationship. [15]

As a result of the conflict, Brunei ceased to be an empire at sea. It gradually set aside its policies of territorial expansion and developed into a city-state, surviving to the modern day as the oldest continuously Islamic political entity. [16]

Notes

  1. Saunders, Graham E. (1994). A History of Brunei. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 55. ISBN   967-65-3049-2.
  2. Saunders, Graham E. (1994). A History of Brunei. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 57. ISBN   967-65-3049-2.
  3. Bala, Bilcher (2005). Thalassocracy: A History of the Medieval Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam. p. 160. ISBN   9789832643746.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  4. "Pusat Sejarah Brunei" (in Malay). Government of Brunei Darussalam. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
  5. Agoncillo 1990 , p. 22
  6. McAmis 2002, p. 35.
  7. Nicholl, Robert (1975). European sources for the history of the Sultanate of Brunei in the Sixteenth Century. Muzium Brunei. OCLC   4777019.
  8. United States. War Dept (1903). Annual reports. Vol. 3. Government Printing Office. p. 379.
  9. Letter from Fajardo to Felipe III From Manila, August 15 1620 (From the Spanish Archives of the Indies): "The infantry does not amount to two hundred men, in three companies. If these men were that number, and Spaniards, it would not be so bad; but, although I have not seen them, because they have not yet arrived here, I am told that they are, as at other times, for the most part boys, mestizos, and mulattoes, with some Indians (Native Americans). There is no little cause for regret in the great sums that reënforcements of such men waste for, and cost, your Majesty. I cannot see what betterment there will be until your Majesty shall provide it, since I do not think, that more can be done in Nueva Spaña, although the viceroy must be endeavoring to do so, as he is ordered."
  10. McAmis 2002 , p. 33
  11. "Letter from Francisco de Sande to Felipe II, 1578". Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  12. The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia by Nicholas Tarling p.39
  13. Cambridge illustrated atlas, warfare: Renaissance to revolution, 1492–1792 by Jeremy Black p.16
  14. Oxford Business Group 2009 , p. 9
  15. "The era of Sultan Muhammad Hassan". The Brunei Times . 1 March 2009. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  16. Donoso, Isaac (Autumn 2014). "Manila y la empresa imperial del Sultanato de Brunei en el siglo XVI". Revista Filipina, Segunda Etapa. Revista semestral de lengua y literatura hispanofilipina. (in Spanish). 2 (1): 23. Retrieved 29 December 2015.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brunei</span> Country in Southeast Asia

Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with its territory bifurcated by the Sarawak district of Limbang. Brunei is the only sovereign state entirely on Borneo; the remainder of the island is divided between its multi-landmass neighbours of Malaysia and Indonesia. As of 2023, the country had a population of 455,858, of whom approximately 180,000 resided in the capital and largest city of Bandar Seri Begawan. Its official language is Malay and Islam is the state religion of the country, although other religions are nominally tolerated. The government of Brunei is a constitutional absolute monarchy ruled by the Sultan, and it implements a fusion of English common law and jurisprudence inspired by Islam, including sharia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Philippines</span>

The history of the Philippines dates from the earliest hominin activity in the archipelago at least by 709,000 years ago. Homo luzonensis, a species of archaic humans, was present on the island of Luzon at least by 134,000 years ago.

The history of Brunei concerns the settlements and societies located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, which has been under the influence of Indianised kingdoms and empires for much of its history. Local scholars assume that the Islamisation of Brunei started in the fifteenth century with the formation of the Bruneian Empire, a thalassocracy that covered the northern part of Borneo and Sulu. At the end of the 17th century, Brunei subsequently entered a period of decline brought on by the Brunei Civil War, piracy, and European colonial expansion. Later, there was a brief war with Spain, in which Brunei evacuated its capital for a brief period until the Spanish withdrew. The empire lost much of its territory with the arrival of the Western powers, such as the Spanish in Luzon and Visayas and the British in Labuan, Sarawak, and North Borneo. The decline of the Bruneian Empire accelerated in the nineteenth century when Brunei gave much of its territory to the White Rajahs of Sarawak, resulting in its current small landmass and separation into two parts. Sultan Hashim Jalilul Alam Aqamaddin later appealed to the British to stop further annexation in 1888. In the same year, the British signed a "Treaty of Protection" and made Brunei a British protectorate until 1984 when it gained independence and prospered due to the discovery of oil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sulu Archipelago</span> Islands in the Philippines

The Sulu Archipelago is a chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean, in the southwestern Philippines. The archipelago forms the northern limit of the Celebes Sea and southern limit of the Sulu Sea. The Sulu Archipelago islands are within the Mindanao island group, consisting of the provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi; hence the archipelago is sometimes referred to as Basulta, derived from the first syllables of the three provinces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military history of the Philippines</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sultanate of Sulu</span> 1405–1915 state in Southeast Asia

The Sultanate of Sulu was a Sunni Muslim state that ruled the Sulu Archipelago, coastal areas of Zamboanga City and certain portions of Palawan in the today's Philippines, alongside parts of present-day Sabah and North Kalimantan in north-eastern Borneo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in the Philippines</span>

Islam in the Philippines is the second largest religion in the country, and the faith was the first-recorded monotheistic religion in the Philippines. Historically, Islam reached the Philippine archipelago in the 14th century, through contact with Muslim Malay and Arab merchants along Southeast Asian trade networks, in addition to Yemeni missionaries from the tribe of Alawi of Yemen from the Persian Gulf, southern India, and their followers from several sultanates in the wider Malay Archipelago. The first missionaries then followed in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. They facilitated the formation of sultanates and conquests in mainland Mindanao and Sulu. Those who converted to Islam came to be known as the Moros, with Muslim conquest reaching as far as Tondo that was later supplanted by Bruneian Empire vassal-state of Maynila.

Bolkiah ibni Sulaiman, also known for his title as Nakhoda Ragam, was the sixth Sultan of Brunei; reigning from 1485 until his death in 1524, he ascended the throne upon the abdication of his father, Sultan Sulaiman. His reign was known as the "Golden Age of Brunei" due to its dominance throughout Borneo and the southern Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruneian Sultanate (1368–1888)</span> Malay sultanate centred in Brunei from 1368 to 1888

The Sultanate of Brunei or simply Brunei, also known as the Brunei Empire, was a Malay sultanate, centered around Brunei on the northern coast of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Brunei became a sovereign state around the 15th century, when it substantially expanded after the fall of Malacca to the Portuguese, extending throughout coastal areas of Borneo and the Philippines, before it declined in the 17th and 18th centuries. It became a British protectorate in the 19th century.

Saiful Rijal ibni Abdul Kahar, also spelled Saiful Rehal and Saiful Rizal, was the eighth Sultan of Brunei and reigned from 1533 to 1581. He was succeeded by his eldest son Shah Berunai.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottoman–Habsburg wars</span> 1526–1791 series of wars in Europe

The Ottoman–Habsburg wars were fought from the 16th to the 18th centuries between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy, which was at times supported by the Kingdom of Hungary, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Habsburg Spain. The wars were dominated by land campaigns in Hungary, including Transylvania and Vojvodina, Croatia, and central Serbia.

Muhammad Hasan ibni Saiful Rijal Nurul Alam, posthumously known as Marhum di Tanjung, was the tenth Sultan of Brunei from 1582 to 1598. During him reign, the Bruneian Empire had full control of the island of Borneo and Northern Philippines, including Sulu.

Shariff Muhammed Kabungsuwan was the first Sultan of Maguindanao in the Philippines. A native of Johore in Maritime Southeast Asia, Kabungsuwan re-settled in Mindanao in the Philippines where he preached Islam to the native tribes around the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luzones</span> Ethnic group of the Philippines

Luzones was a demonym used by Portuguese sailors in Malaysia during the early 1500s, referring to the Kapampangan and Tagalog people who lived in Manila Bay, which was then called Lusong. The term was also used for Tagalog settlers in Southern Tagalog region, where they created intensive contact with the Kapampangans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maynila (historical polity)</span> Major historical polity in Luzon

In Philippine history, the Tagalog bayan of Maynila was one of the most cosmopolitan of the early historic settlements on the Philippine archipelago. Fortified with a wooden palisade which was appropriate for the predominant battle tactics of its time, it lay on the southern part of the Pasig River delta, where the district of Intramuros in Manila currently stands, and across the river from the separately-led Tondo polity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Filipinos of Malay descent</span> Ethnic group

Malays played a significant role in pre-Hispanic Philippine history. Malay involvement in Philippine history goes back to the Classical Era with the establishment of Rajahnates as well as the Islamic era, in which various sultanates and Islamic states were formed in Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, and around Manila.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lupah Sug</span> Predecessor state of the Sultanate of Sulu (12th century c.e. –1405 c.e.)

In the Philippine history, the Lupah Sug was a predecessor state before the establishment of Sultanate of Sulu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruneian Navy (1368-1888)</span> Historic maritime warfare of Brunei

The Bruneian Navy also known as the Bruneian Fleet and the Royal Bruneian Navy. The Bruneian Navy, was the naval counterpart of the Bruneian Army, the main force of the Sultanate of Brunei. It lasted from 1408 to 1888.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military of the Bruneian Sultanate</span> Former army of the Bruneian Sultanate

The Military of the Bruneian Sultanate was the land force of the Bruneian Sultanate from 1368 to 1888.

The Bruneian–Tundun War, also called the Bruneian Expedition to Luzon and the Bruneian invasion of Tondo, was a military invasion and later occupation of Tondo in Luzon by the Bruneian Sultanate in the 15th century. The invasion resulted in the formation of the Kingdom of Selurong, the Brunei Sultanate chose to end the Dynasty of Tondo's monopoly in the China trade.

References