Tondo, Manila

Area codes 2

Tondo is a district located in Manila, Philippines. It is the largest, in terms of area and
population, of Manila's sixteen districts,[2] with a census-estimated 654,220 people in
2020. It consists of two congressional districts. It is also the second most densely
populated district in the city.

Etymology[edit]
The name Tondo can be derived from its Old Tagalog name, Tundun as inscribed in
the Laguna Copperplate Inscription of 900 AD, the earliest native document found within
the Philippines. Dutch anthropologist Antoon Postma, the first to translate the
copperplate, believes the term tundun originated from the old Indian language Tamil
(Thondai naadu-Chola),[3] which was used alongside Malay as a language of politics and
religion in the area at the time.

Before this landmark discovery, several theories (however incorrect now) existed.
Philippine National Artist Nick Joaquin once suggested that it might be a reference to a
high ground ("tundok").[4] On the other hand, French linguist Jean-Paul Potet, supposed
that the Aegiceras corniculatum, which at the time was called "tundok" ("tinduk-
tindukan" today), was the most likely origin of the name.[5]

History[edit]
Main article: Tondo (historical polity)
Laguna Copperplate Inscription (c. 900 AD)
The region of Tondo has been settled by humans for over 1,100 years. Historically,
Tondo already existed in the year 900 AD according to the Laguna Copperplate
Inscription,[6] a legal document that is the earliest document in the Philippines, written
in Kawi script now housed in the National Museum of Anthropology.

According to this document, Tondo was ruled by an unnamed person who held
the Sanskrit title of senapati or the equivalent of an admiral. Tondo also had influence
all the way to the modern-day province of Bulacan particularly around Lihan (Malolos)
and Gatbuca (Calumpit). Tondo was ruled by a line of lakan until the Spanish conquest.

Colonial period[edit]
After the Spaniards conquered Tondo in January 1571 they established the Province of
Tondo which covered many territories in Northern Luzon particularly Pampanga,
Bulacan and Rizal (formerly called Morong), with the city of Manila as its center. In a
census conducted by Miguel de Loarca in 1583, Tondo was reported to have spoken
the same language as the natives of the province of Pampanga.[7]

Institute of National Language commissioner Jose Villa Panganiban also wrote that the
dividing line between Kapampangan and Tagalog was the Pasig River, and that Tondo
therefore originally spoke Kapampangan.[8] However, Fray Isacio Rodriquez's Historia
dela Provincia del Santisimo Nombre de Jesus de Filipinas stated that Provincia de
Tagalos which is Tondo covers all the territories of the future Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Manila. Prior to the establishment of Bulacan in
1578, Malolos and Calumpit were also included in the territory of Tondo as its visitas. In
1800, the Province of Tondo was renamed to Province of Manila.

Tondo was one of the first provinces to declare rebellion against Spain in the year 1896.
In 1911, under the American colonial regime, there was a major reorganization of
political divisions, and the province of Tondo was dissolved, with its towns given to the
provinces of Rizal and Bulacan. Today, Tondo just exists as a district in the City of
Manila.