Emergence of Island Kingdoms

CLASSICAL EPOCH
900-1521
THE COUNTRY OF MAI
The Ma-i was a Prehispanic Philippine
state whose existence was recorded in the
Chinese Imperial annals Chu Fan Chih
and Sung Shih
It is also recorded in the Sultanate of
Brunei's royal records as the nation of
Maidh
This state was said to have been centered
on the island of Mindoro
THE COUNTRY OF MAI
• In 1225, China's Chao Ju-kua, a
superintendent of maritime trade in
Fukien province wrote the book entitled
Chu Fan Chih ("An account of the
various barbarians") in which he
described trade with a country called Mai
which was a prehispanic Philippine state.
• In it he said:
THE COUNTRY OF MAI
• “The method of transacting business is
for the savage traders to come all in a
crowd and immediately transfer the
merchandise into baskets and go off with
it. If at first they can't tell who they are,
gradually they come to know those who
remove the goods so in the end nothing is
actually lost. “
THE COUNTRY OF MAI
• “The savage traders then take the goods
around to the other islands for barter and
generally don't start coming back until
September or October to repay the ship's
merchants with what they have got.
Indeed, there are some who don't come
back even then, so ships trading with Mai
are the last to reach home. “
THE COUNTRY OF MAI
• “The local products are beeswax, cotton,
true pearls, tortoise shell, medicinal betel
nuts and yuta cloth. The merchants use
such things as porcelain, trade gold, iron
pots, lead, colored glass beads and iron
needles in exchange.”
KINGDOM OF TONDO
1st Millennium - 1589
Tondo, also referred to as Tundo, Tundun, Tundok, (
Chinese characters: 東都 ) was a Philippine fortified kingdom whose
capital was located in the Manila Bay area, specifically north of the
Pasig river, on Luzon island. It is one of the settlements mentioned by
the Philippines' earliest historical record, the
Laguna Copperplate Inscription. Originally an Indianized kingdom in
the 10th century, Tondo initiated diplomatic ties with China during the
Ming Dynasty, and thus became a dominant force in regional trade. (See
Luções). Its regional prominence in trade and alliance with Brunei's
Sultan Bolkiah in 1500 led to its peak age as a thalassocratic force in the
northern archipelago. When the Spanish first arrived in Tondo in 1570
and defeated the local rulers in the Manila Bay area in 1591, Tondo
came under the administration of Manila (a Spanish fort built on the
remains of Kota Seludong), ending its existence as an independent state.
This subjugated Tondo continues to exist today as
a district of the city of Manila.
The next historical reference to Ancient Tondo
can be found in the Ming Annals ( 明史 ])[4],
which record the arrival of an envoy from Luzon
to the Ming Dynasty ( 大明朝 ) in 1373 AD.[4]
Her rulers, based in their capital, Tondo (
traditional Chinese: 東都; pinyin: dōngdū) were
acknowledged not as mere chieftains, but as
kings ( 王).[5] This reference places Tondo into
the larger context of Chinese trade with the
peoples of the Philippine archipelago.
Theories such as Wilhelm Solheim's
Nusantao Maritime Trading and Communicat
ion Network
(NMTCN) suggest that cultural links
between what are now China and the nations
of Southeast Asia, including the Philippines,
date back to the peopling of these lands. [6] But
the earliest archeological evidence of trade
between the Philippines and China takes the
form of pottery and porcelain pieces dated to
the Tang and Song Dynasties.[7]
Tondo became so prosperous that around the year
1500 AD, the Kingdom of Brunei under Sultan
Bolkiah merged it by a royal marriage of Gat
Lontok, who later became Rajah of Namayan and
Dayang Kaylangitan to established a city with the
Malay name of Selurong (later to become the city
of Maynila)[10][11] on the opposite bank of
Pasig River. The traditional rulers of Tondo, the
Lakandula, retained their titles and property but
the real political power now resides in the House
of Soliman, the Rajahs of Manila.[12]
CONFEDERATION OF MADYA-AS
1200 - 1569
The Confederation of Madya-as was a pre-Hispanic
Philippine state within the Visayas island region. It was
established in the 13th century by rebel datus (chiefs), led
by Datu Puti, who had fled from Rajah Makatunao of
Borneo. The semi-democratic confederation reached its
peak during the 15th century under the leadership Datu
Padojinog when it warred against the Chinese Empire, the
Rajahnate of Butuan, and the sultanates of Sulu and
Maguindanao. It was also feared by the people of the
Kingdom of Maynila and Tondo.[1] It was conquered after
the Spanish conquest in 1569 by
Miguel Lopez de Legaspi and his grandson
Juan de Salcedo.
According to local oral legends and the book entitled Maragtas[2], early
in the thirteenth century, the datus: Sumakwel, Bangkaya, Paiburong,
Paduhinog, Dumangsol, Dumangsil, Dumaluglog, Balkasusa, and Lubay
who were lead by Datu Puti and their followers, fled to the sea on their
barangays and sailed north to flee from the oppressive rule of Rajah
Makatunaw, of Borneo and the destruction of the Srivijayan Empire.
Until they reached Panay island .They immediately settled in the Aklan
and made a trade treaty with the Negrito hero named, Marikudo and his
wife Maniwantiwan who they wanted to purchase the land from. A
golden salakot was given, as the Negritos relocated to the mountains
while the newcomers occupy the coasts. Datu Bangkaya then
established a settlement at Madyanos, while Datu Paiburog established
his village at Irong-irong (Which is now the city of Iloilo) while Datu
Sumakwel and his people crossed over the Madyaas mountain range into
Hamtik and established their village at Malandong.[3]
KINGDOM OF MANILA
1500 - 1571
The Kingdom of Seludong or Saludung,
which after colonization became Manila,
capital of the Philippines, was one of
three major city-states that dominated the
area around the upper portion of the Pasig
River before the arrival of Spanish
colonizers in the 1500s.
The early inhabitants of the present-day
Manila engaged in trade relations with its
Asian neighbors as well as with the Hindu
empires of Java and Sumatra as confirmed