Horizon | Philippine history |
---|---|
Geographical range | Southeast Asia |
Period | c. 900–1560s |
Dates | c. Before 900 CE |
Major sites | Tondo, Maynila, Pangasinan, Limestone tombs, Idjang citadels, Panay, Cebu (historical polity), Butuan (historical polity), Sanmalan, Sultanate of Maguindanao, Sultanate of Sulu, Ma-i, Bo-ol, Gold artifacts, Singhapala |
Characteristics | Indianized kingdoms, Hindu and Buddhist Nations, Malay Sultanates |
Preceded by | Prehistory of the Philippines |
Followed by | Colonial era |
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 (900 CE). 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. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Sources of precolonial history include archeological findings; records from contact with the Song dynasty, the Brunei Sultanate, Korea, Japan, and Muslim traders; the genealogical records of Muslim rulers; accounts written by Spanish chroniclers in the 16th and 17th centuries; and cultural patterns that at the time had not yet been replaced through European influence.
Early Philippine society was composed of such diverse subgroups as e.g., fishermen, farmers and hunter/gatherers, with some living in mountainside swiddens, some on houseboats and some in commercially developed coastal ports. Some subgroups were economically self-sufficient, and others had symbiotic relationships with neighboring subgroups. [5] : 138 Society can be classified into four categories as follows: [5] : 139
The fourth societal category above can be termed the datu class, and was a titled aristocracy. [5] : 150–151
The early polities were typically made up of three-tier social structure: a nobility class, a class of "freemen", and a class of dependent debtor-bondsmen: [6] [7]
The Laguna Copperplate Inscription (LCI) is the earliest record of a Philippine language and the presence of writing in the islands. [10] The document measures around 20 cm by 30 cm and is inscribed with ten lines of writing on one side.
The text of the LCI was mostly written in Old Malay with influences of Sanskrit, Tamil, Old Javanese and Old Tagalog using the Kawi script. Dutch anthropologist Antoon Postma deciphered the text. The date of the inscription is in the "Year of Saka 822, month of Vaisakha", corresponding to April–May in 900 AD.
The text notes the acquittal of all descendants of a certain honorable Namwaran from a debt of 1 kati and 8 suwarna, equivalent to 926.4 grams of gold, granted by the Military Commander of Tundun (Tondo) and witnessed by the leaders of Pailah, Binwangan and Puliran, which are places likely also located in Luzon. The reference to the contemporaneous Medang Kingdom in modern-day Indonesia implies political connections with territories elsewhere in the Maritime Southeast Asia.
Early settlements, referred to as barangays, ranged from 20 to 100 families on the coast, and around 150–200 people in more interior areas. Coastal settlements were connected over water, with much less contact occurring between highland and lowland areas. [11] By the 1300s, a number of the large coastal settlements had emerged as trading centers, and became the focal point of societal changes. [6] Some polities had exchanges with other states across Asia. [7] [12] [13] [14] [15]
Polities founded in the Philippines from the 10th–16th centuries include Maynila, [16] Tondo, Namayan, Kumintang, Pangasinan, Caboloan, Cebu, Butuan, Maguindanao, Buayan, Lanao, Sulu, and Ma-i. [17] Among the nobility were leaders called datus, responsible for ruling autonomous groups called barangay or dulohan. [6] When these barangays banded together, either to form a larger settlement [6] or a geographically looser alliance group, [7] the more esteemed among them would be recognized as a "paramount datu", [6] [18] rajah, or sultan [19] which headed the community state. [20] There is little evidence of large-scale violence in the archipelago prior to the 2nd millennium AD, [21] [ better source needed ] and throughout these periods population density is thought to have been low. [22]
In the Cagayan Valley, the head of the Ilongot city-states was called a benganganat, while for the Gaddang it was called a mingal. [23] [24] [25]
The Ilocano people in northwestern Luzon were originally located in modern-day Ilocos Sur and were led by a babacnang. Their polity was called Samtoy which did not have a royal family but, rather, was a collection of certain barangays (chiefdoms).
The Lumad people from inland Mindanao are known to have been headed by a datu.
The Subanon people in the Zamboanga Peninsula were ruled by a timuay until they were overcame by the Sultanate of Sulu in the 13th century.
The Sama-Bajau people in Sulu who were not Muslims nor affiliated with the Sultanate of Sulu were ruled by a nakurah before the arrival of Islam.
Trade with China is believed to have begun during the Tang dynasty, but grew more extensive during the Song dynasty. [26] By the 2nd millennium CE, some Philippine polities were known to have sent trade delegations which participated in the Tributary system enforced by the Chinese imperial court, trading but without direct political or military control. [27] [ page needed ] [7] The items much prized in the islands included jars, which were a symbol of wealth throughout South Asia, and later metal, salt and tobacco. In exchange were traded feathers, rhino horns, hornbill beaks, beeswax, bird's-nests, resin, and rattan.
Indian cultural traits, such as linguistic terms and religious practices, began to spread within the Philippines during the 10th century, likely via the Hindu Majapahit empire. [14] [6] [28]
Brahmic scripts reached the Philippines in the form of the Kawi script, and later the Baybayin writing system. [29] The Laguna Copperplate Inscription was written using the Kawi script.
By the 13th or 14th century, the baybayin script was used for the Tagalog language. It spread to Luzon, Mindoro, Palawan, Panay and Leyte, but there is no proof it was used in Mindanao.
There were at least three varieties of baybayin in the late 16th century. These are comparable to different variations of Latin which use slightly different sets of letters and spelling systems. [30] [ better source needed ]
In 1521, the chronicler Antonio Pigafetta from the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan noted that the people that they met in Visayas were not literate. However, in the next few decades the Baybayin script seemed to have been introduced to them. In 1567 Miguel López de Legaspi reported that "they [the Visayans] have their letters and characters like those of the Malays, from whom they learned them; they write them on bamboo bark and palm leaves with a pointed tool, but never is any ancient writing found among them nor word of their origin and arrival in these islands, their customs and rites being preserved by traditions handed down from father to son without any other record." [31]
The earliest date suggested for direct Chinese contact with the Philippines was 982. At the time, merchants from "Ma-i" (now thought to be either Bay, Laguna on the shores of Laguna de Bay, [32] or a site called "Mait" in Mindoro [33] [34] ) brought their wares to Guangzhou and Quanzhou. This was mentioned in the History of Song and Wenxian Tongkao by Ma Duanlin which were authored during the Yuan Dynasty. [33]
Muslim traders introduced Islam to the then-Indianized Malayan empires around the time that wars over succession had ended in the Majapahit Empire in 1405. However, by 1380 Makhdum Karim had already brought Islam to the Philippine archipelago, establishing the Sheik Karimal Makdum Mosque in Simunul, Tawi-Tawi, the oldest mosque in the country.[ citation needed ] By the 15th century, Islam was established in the Sulu Archipelago and spread from there. [35] Subsequent visits by Arab, Malay and Javanese missionaries helped spread Islam further in the islands.[ citation needed ]
The Sultanate of Sulu once encompassed parts of modern-day Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Its royal house claims descent from Muhammad.[ citation needed ]
This article or section appears to contradict itself on leaders of the expeditions subsequent to Magellen's expedition in 1521.(September 2020) |
The following table summarizes expeditions made by the Spanish to the Philippine archipelago.
Year | Leader | Ships | Landing |
---|---|---|---|
1521 | / Ferdinand Magellan | Trinidad, San Antonio, Concepcion, Santiago and Victoria | Homonhon, Limasawa, Cebu |
1525 | García Jofre de Loaísa | Santa María de la Victoria, Sancti Spiritus, Anunciada, San Gabriel, Santa María del Parral, San Lesmes, and Santiago | Surigao, Visayas, Mindanao |
1527 | Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón | Florida, Santiago, and Espiritu Santo | Mindanao |
1542 | Ruy López de Villalobos | Santiago, Jorge, San Antonio, San Cristóbal, San Martín, and San Juan | Samar, Leyte, Saranggani |
1564 | Miguel López de Legazpi | San Pedro, San Pablo, San Juan and San Lucas | first landed on Samar, established colonies as part of Spanish Empire |
Although the archipelago may have been visited before by the Portuguese (who conquered Malacca City in 1511 and reached Maluku Islands in 1512),[ citation needed ] the earliest European expedition to the Philippine archipelago was led by the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan in the service of King Charles I of Spain in 1521. [36]
The Magellan expedition sighted the mountains of Samar at dawn on March 17, 1521, making landfall the following day at the small, uninhabited island of Homonhon at the mouth of Leyte Gulf. [37] On Easter Sunday, March 31, 1521, in the island of Mazaua , Magellan planted a cross on the top of a hill overlooking the sea and claimed the islands he had encountered for the King of Spain, naming them Archipelago of Saint Lazarus as stated in "First Voyage Around The World" by his companion, the chronicler Antonio Pigafetta. [38]
Magellan sought alliances among the people in the islands beginning with Datu Zula of Sugbu (Cebu) and took special pride in converting them to Christianity. Magellan got involved in the political conflicts in the islands and took part in a battle against Lapulapu, chief of Mactan and an enemy of Datu Zula.
At dawn on April 27, 1521, Magellan with 60 armed men and 1,000 Visayan warriors had great difficulty landing on the rocky shore of Mactan where Lapulapu had an army of 1,500 waiting on land. Magellan waded ashore with his soldiers and attacked Lapulapu's forces, telling Datu Zula and his warriors to remain on the ships and watch. Magellan underestimated the army of Lapulapu, and, grossly outnumbered, Magellan and 14 of his soldiers were killed. The rest managed to reboard the ships.[ citation needed ]
The battle left the expedition with too few crewmen to man three ships, so they abandoned the "Concepción". The remaining ships – "Trinidad" and "Victoria" – sailed to the Spice Islands in present-day Indonesia. From there, the expedition split into two groups. The Trinidad, commanded by Gonzalo Gómez de Espinoza tried to sail eastward across the Pacific Ocean to the Isthmus of Panama. Disease and shipwreck disrupted Espinoza's voyage and most of the crew died. Survivors of the Trinidad returned to the Spice Islands, where the Portuguese imprisoned them. The Victoria continued sailing westward, commanded by Juan Sebastián Elcano, and managed to return to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain in 1522.
After Magellan's expedition, four more expeditions were made to the islands, led by García Jofre de Loaísa in 1525, Sebastian Cabot in 1526, Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón in 1527, and Ruy López de Villalobos in 1542. [39]
In 1543, Villalobos named the islands of Leyte and Samar Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain, at the time Prince of Asturias. [40]
Philip II became King of Spain on January 16, 1556, when his father, Charles V, abdicated both the Spanish and HRE thrones, the latter went to his uncle, Ferdinand I. On his return to Spain in 1559, the king ordered an expedition to the Spice Islands, stating that its purpose was "to discover the islands of the west". [41] In reality its task was to conquer the Philippine islands. [42]
On November 19 or 20, 1564, a Spanish expedition of a mere 500 men led by Miguel López de Legazpi departed Barra de Navidad, New Spain, arriving at Cebu on February 13, 1565. [43] It was this expedition that established the first Spanish settlements. It also resulted in the discovery of the tornaviaje return route to Mexico across the Pacific by Andrés de Urdaneta, [44] heralding the Manila galleon trade, which lasted for two and a half centuries.
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 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 which reached the archipelago in 1565.
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.
Datu is a title which denotes the rulers of numerous Indigenous peoples throughout the Philippine archipelago. The title is still used today, though not as much as early Philippine history. It is a cognate of datuk, dato, and ratu in several other Austronesian languages.
Tondo, erroneously referred to as the Kingdom of Tondo, was a Tagalog settlement which served as a major trade hub located on the northern part of the Pasig River delta on Luzon Island. Together with Maynila, the polity (bayan) that was also situated on the southern part of the Pasig River delta, Tondo had established a shared monopoly on the trade of Chinese goods throughout the rest of the Philippine archipelago, making it an established force in trade throughout Southeast Asia and East Asia.
Ache (c. 1500s - 1572; Old Spanish orthography: Rája Aché or Raxa Ache, also known as Rája Matandâ, was King of Luzon who ruled from the kingdom's capital Maynila now the capital of the Republic of the Philippines.
Maynila, also known commonly as Manila, was a major Islamic Tagalog bayan situated along the modern-day district of Intramuros in the city of Manila, at the southern bank of the Pasig River. It was considered to be 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. At the northern bank of the river lies the separately-led polity of Tondo.
Butuan, sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of Butuan, was a precolonial Bisaya Hindu polity (lungsod) centered around northeastern Mindanao island in present-day Butuan, Philippines. It was known for its gold mining, gold jewelry and other wares, and its extensive trade network across maritime Southeast Asia and elsewhere. Over its long history the lungsod had direct trading relationships with the ancient civilizations of China, Champa, Đại Việt, Pon-i (Brunei), Srivijaya, Majapahit, Kambuja, and even Persia as well as areas now comprised in Thailand.
In early Philippine history, barangay is the term historically used by scholars to describe the complex sociopolitical units that were the dominant organizational pattern among the various peoples of the Philippine archipelago in the period immediately before the arrival of European colonizers. Academics refer to these settlements using the technical term "polity", but they are usually simply called "barangays".
The 1570 Battle of Manila was fought in Manila between Luzonians, led by Prince Sulayman, and Spaniards, led by field marshal Martin de Goiti, on 24 May 1570. Goiti's forces eventually besieged the fort of Manila, destroyed Manila, and won the battle, with the site of the fort falling to the Kingdom of the Spains and the Indies. The Spaniards then founded a Spanish city of Manila making it the capital of the Spanish East Indies.
Cebu, also called Sugbu, informally referred to as the Rajahnate of Cebu, was an Indianized mandala (polity) monarchy 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 half-Malay and half-Tamil from Sumatra. The capital of Cebu was Singhapala which is Tamil-Sanskrit for "Lion City", the same root words with the modern city-state of Singapore.
Malay spoken by a minority of Filipinos, particularly in the Palawan, Sulu Archipelago and parts of Mindanao, mostly in the form of trade and creole languages, such as Sabah Malay.
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.
In the Philippine languages, a system of titles and honorifics was used extensively during the throughout its history. In the pre-colonial era, It was mostly used by the Tagalogs and Visayans. These were borrowed from the Malay system of honorifics obtained from the Moro peoples of Mindanao, which in turn was based on the Indianized Sanskrit honorifics system and the Chinese's used in areas like Ma-i (Mindoro) and Pangasinan. The titles of historical figures such as Rajah Sulayman, Lakandula and Dayang Kalangitan evidence Indian influence. Malay titles are still used by the royal houses of Sulu, Maguindanao, Maranao and Iranun on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. In the Spanish colonial era, Philip II of Spain decreed that the nobility in the Philippine islands should retain their pre-hispanic honours and privileges. In the modern times, these are retained on a traditional basis as the 1987 Constitution explicitly reaffirms the abolition of royal and noble titles in the republic.
The term Paramount Ruler, or sometimes Paramount Datu, is a term used by historians to describe the highest ranking political authorities in the largest lowland polities or inter-polity alliance groups in early Philippine history, most notably those in Maynila, Tondo, Pangasinan, Cebu, Bohol, Butuan, Cotabato, and Sulu.
Singhapala was an ancient fortified city or a region, the capital of the Indianized kingdom of Cebu. The location of this ancient city is what is now the modern Barangay Mabolo in the northern district of Cebu City. It was founded by Sri Lumay or Raja Muda Lumaya, a half-Tamil and half-Malay from Sumatra.
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ignored (help)[ page needed ]Each boat carried a large family group, and the master of the boat retained power as leader, or datu, of the village established by his family. This form of village social organization can be found as early as the 13th century in Panay, Bohol, Cebu, Samar and Leyte in the Visayas, and in Batangas, Pampanga and Tondo in Luzon. Evidence suggests a considerable degree of independence as small city-states with their heads known as datu, rajah or sultan.
Given the significance of the size and distribution of the population to the spread of diseases and their ability to become endemic, it is worth commenting briefly on the physical and human geography of the Philippines. The hot and humid tropical climate would have generally favored the propagation of many diseases, especially water-borne infections, though there might be regional or seasonal variations in climate that might affect the incidence of some diseases. In general, however, the fact that the Philippines comprise some seven thousand islands, some of which are uninhabited even today, would have discouraged the spread of infections, as would the low population density.
'Tienen sus letras y caracteres como los malayos, de quien los aprendieron; con ellos escriben con unos punzones en cortezas de caña y hojas de palmas, pero nunca se les halló escritura antinua alguna ni luz de su orgen y venida a estas islas, conservando sus costumbres y ritos por tradición de padres a hijos din otra noticia alguna.'