Kingdom of Maynila

Seludong
Kota Seludong Maynila کوتا سلودوڠ
Puppet state of the Bruneian Empire
c. 1500–1570
Flag of Bruneian Empire
Capital		Intramuros (Formerly called Selurong in those days.)
Languages		Old Malay, Old Tagalog
Religion		Sunni Islam (Predominantly) Philippine religion
Government		Sultanate (from Bolkiah to Rajah Salalila, c. 1500–1558) Rajahnate (from Rajah Matanda up to Rajah Sulayman from 1558–1575)
History
•	Brunei invasion of Tondo (1500–1558) established by the Kingdom of Brunei under Sultan Bolkiah	c. 1500
•	Conquest by Spain	1570
Preceded by Succeeded by Kingdom of Tondo Bruneian Empire Viceroyalty of New Spain Spanish East Indies Manila (province)
Today part of		Philippines

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History of Brunei
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Bruneian Empire 1368 to 1888
House of Bolkiah (15th century – present)
Sultanate of Sulu 1405 to 1578 Kingdom of Maynila 1500s to 1571 Kingdom of Tondo 1500s to 1571 Castille War 1578 Civil War 1660–1673 Sarawak 15th century to 1841 Labuan 15th century to 1846 Sabah (North Borneo) 15th century to 1865 British protectorate 1888–1984 Japanese occupation 1942–1945 Borneo campaign 1945 British Military Administration 1945–1946 Revolt 1962
Timeline Sultans

The Kingdom of Maynila, also known as Seludong, was a major polity located at present-day Manila in the Philippines in the 16th century.^[1][2][3] A vassal state of the Bruneian Empire, it and Tondo were the two major polities that dominated the area around the mouth of the Pasig River before the arrival of the Spanish.^[4]

Sources

The 16th century map of Manila which was previously called Seludong at the time.

Laura Lee Junker, in her 1998 review of primary sources regarding archaic Philippine polities, lists the primary sources of information regarding the river delta polities of Maynila and Tondo as “Malay texts, Philippine oral traditions, Chinese tributary records and geographies, early Spanish writings, and archaeological evidence.”^[5] Primary sources for the history of Rajah Kalamayin's Namayan, further upriver, include artifacts dug up from archaeological digs (the earliest of which was Robert Fox’s^[6] work for the National Museum in 1977) and Spanish colonial records (most notably those compiled by the 19th century Franciscan Historian Fray Felix Huerta^[7]).

Junker noted the inherent biases^[5] of each of the written sources, emphasizing the need to counter-check their narratives with one another, and with empirical archeological evidence.^[5]

Etymology

Plate depicting the "nila" plant (Scyphiphora hydrophylacea), from Augustinian missionary Fray Francisco Manuel Blanco's botanical reference, "Flora de Filipinas"

Early records claim that Maynila was named after the Yamstick Mangrove^[8] (Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea, formerly named Ixora manila blanco),^[9] whose local name was "nila" or "nilad", by the time the Spanish colonizers arrived in the late 16th century. The name "maynila" itself transliterates as "There is nila (here)",^[10] and an alternative name for the place is "maynilad". Emma Helen Blair, in the multi-volume collection of Philippine documents The Philippine Islands, notes "the name Manila is derived from a Tagalog word, Manilad, meaning 'a place overgrown with Nilad' which is the name of a small tree, bearing white flowers"^[10] - a description that matches Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea/Ixora manila.

Nila or Nilad

However, there is some argument among historians as to which plant the name refers to, and whether the plant was actually called "nila" or "nilad". Other plants suggested as being the origin of the name include the indigo plant (Indigofera tinctoria), and a species of mangrove (Lumnitzera littorea).

Historians Ambeth Ocampo and Carmen Guerrero Nakpil^[11] assert that nila is popularly referred to as nilad by modern-day people unfamiliar with the actual name of the plant. On his Facebook page, Ocampo notes that:

"Some idiot added a 'd' to give us: Maynilad, Maharnilad, and Lagusnilad! In Fr. Blanco's Flora de Filipinas circa 1877 we find the Ixora manila. There is no "d" after nila."^[12]

A number of early secondary and tertiary sources disagree, however, suggesting that the plant referred to as "nilad" is the Indigo plant (Indigofera tinctoria), a different plant altogether.^[10]

Julio Nakpil asserted that the dropping of the "d" at the end of the name was probably a mistake on the part of the Spaniards: "Maynilad seems to us reasonable for the following reason: the prefix 'may' means "to have" or "there is" (mayroon); and the prefix 'ma' means abundant (marami); and 'nilad' is a shrub, also called sagasa (Lumnitzera littorea), growing profusely on the banks of Manila, and for that reason it was called Manilad before and after the coming of the Spaniards who, because of their defective pronunciation of our language, dropped the last letter, converting it into Manila."^[13]

Maynila as the Kingdom of Luzon

Detail of an illustration from Jean Mallat's 1846 book "The Philippines: history, geography, customs, agriculture, industry, and commerce of the Spanish colonies in Oceania", showing "a Tagalog couple pounding rice." The mortar depicted is known as a "lusong", a large, cylindrical, deep-mouthed wooden mortal used to de-husk rice.^[14](p44) Linguist Jean Paul Potet explains that the Old Tagalog name of the Pasig River delta,^[15] in which Tondo was located, was derived from this mortar.

Portuguese and Spanish accounts from the early^[16][17] to mid^[2] 1500s state that the Maynila poltiy was the same as the "kingdom" that had been referred to as the "Kingdom of Luzon" (Portuguese: Luçon, locally called "Lusong"), and whose residents had been called "Luções".^{[16][17][2][4][18]}

Magellan expedition member Rodrigo de Aganduru Moriz's account of the events of 1521 specifically describes^[16] how the Magellan expedition, then under the command of Sebastian Elcano after the death of Magellan, captured of one of the Luções:^[2] Prince Ache, who would later be known as Rajah Matanda, who was then serving as a commander of the Naval forces of Brunei.^[16] Aganduru Moriz described the "young prince" as being "the Prince of Luzon - or Manila, which is the same.”^[16] corroborated by fellow expedition member Gines de Mafra^[2] and the account of expedition scribe Antonio Pigaffetta.^[17]

This description of Ache as "King of Luzon" was further confirmed by the Visayan allies of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, who, learning that he wanted to "befriend" the ruler of Luzon, led him to write a letter to Ache, whom he addressed as the "King of Luzon".^[2]

Kapampangan scholar Ian Christopher Alfonso,^[18] however, notes that the demonym Luções was probably expansive enough to include even Kapampangan sailors, such as the sailors from Hagonoy and Macabebe who would later be involved in the 1572 Battle of Bankusay Channel.^[18]

The name Luzon, which French linguist Jean-Paul Potet explains was the name given to the Pasig River delta area,^[15] is thought to derive from the Tagalog word lusong, which is a large wooden mortar used in dehusking rice.^[14] A 2008 PIDS research paper by Eulito Bautista and Evelyn Javier provides an image of a Lusong, and explains that, "Traditional milling was accomplished in the 1900s by pounding the palay with a wooden pestle in a stone or wooden mortar called lusong. The first pounding takes off the hull and further pounding removes the bran but also breaks most grains. Further winnowing with a bamboo tray (bilao) separates the hull from the rice grains. This traditional hand-pounding chore, although very laborious and resulted in a lot of broken rice, required two to three skilled men and women to work harmoniously and was actually a form of socializing among young folks in the villages."^[14]

Austronesian origins of Maynila

A map showing the extent of the Austronesian expansion.

As with virtually all the lowland peoples of Maritime Southeast Asia, the Tagalog people who established the fortified polity of Maynila were Austronesians.^{[2](p12)[19][20]} They had a rich, complex culture, with its own expressions of language and writing, religion, art, and music.^[21][20] This Austronesian culture was already in place before the cultural influences of China, the Indonesian thassalocracies of Srivijaya and Majapahit, and Brunei, and eventually, the western colonial powers.^[20][21] The core elements of this austronesian culture also persisted despite the introduction of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and, later, Christianity.^[20][22] Elements of these belief systems were syncretistically adapted by the Tagalogs to enrich their already-existing worldviews,^[20] elements of which still persist today in the syncretistic forms known as Folk Catholicism and Folk Islam.^[22][23][21]

The cultural heritage uncovered by this recent scholarship explains why Filipino cultures, as pointed out by writers such as Nick Joaquin (in his 1988 book, "Culture and History"),^[24] seem even more similar to Micronesian and Polynesian cultures than they are to continental Asian and Maritime Southeast Asian cultures.^[24]

These Austronesian cultures are defined by their languages, and by a number of key technologies including the cultural prominence of boats, the construction of thatched houses on piles, the cultivation of tubers and rice, and a characteristic social organization typically led by a “big man” or “man of power”.^[20][21]

Culture and Society

Social structure

The pre-colonial Tagalog barangays of Manila, Pampanga and Laguna had a more complex social structure than the cultures of the Visayas, enjoying a more extensive commerce through their Bornean political contacts, and engaging in farming wet rice for a living. The Tagalogs were thus described by the Spanish Augustinian friar Martin de Rada as more traders than warriors.^[25]

In his seminal 1994 work "Barangay: Sixteenth Century Philippine Culture and Society" (further simplified in the briefer by the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office in 2015), historian William Henry Scott delineates the three classes of Tagalog society during the 1500s:^[1]

• the Maginoo^[1] (ruling class), which included the Lakan or Rajah and the Datus under him;
• A class described as "Freemen"^[1] consisting of Timawa and Maharlika; and
• Alipin (slaves),^[1] which could further be subcategorized as Aliping Namamahay or Aliping Sa Gigilid.

Clothing and accoutrements

Early Spanish accounts describe the Tagalogs as using local plants to dye their cotton clothing.^[2] This included tayum or tagum, which produced a blue dye, and dilao, which produced a yellow dye.^[2]

Unlike the Visayans to the south, the Tagalogs did not practice tatooing.^[2] In fact, Rajah Sulayman used tatooedness as a pejorative description when the Spanish forces first met him; Sulayman said that Tagalogs were unlike the "painted" Visayans, and thus would not allow themselves to be taken advantage of as easily.^[2]

Foreign cultural influences

Trade and cultural influences from China, India, and Maritime Southeast Asia

The early inhabitants of the present-day Manila engaged in trade relations with its Asian neighbours as well as with the Hindu empires of Java and Sumatra, as confirmed by archaeological findings. Trade ties with China became extensive by the 10th century, while contact with Arab merchants reached its peak in the 12th century.^[26]

Beginnings of Islamization in Luzon (1175 – 1500s)

Archeological findings provide evidence that followers of Islam had reached the Pasig River area by 1175;^[27] among the graves found on the Sta. Ana burial site were a number of Muslim burials.^[27]

Islamization was a slow process which occurred with the steady conversion of the citizenry of Tondo and Manila created Muslim domains. The Bruneians installed the Muslim rajahs, Rajah Salalila and Rajah Matanda in the south (now the Intramuros district) and the Buddhist-Hindu settlement was ruled under Lakan Dula in northern Tundun (now Tondo).^[28] Islamization of Luzon began in the sixteenth century when traders from Brunei settled in the Manila area and married locals while maintaining kinship and trade links with Brunei and thus other Muslim centres in Southeast Asia. The Muslims were called "Moros" by the Spanish who assumed they occupied the whole coast. There is no evidence that Islam had become a major political or religious force in the region, with Father Diego de Herrera recording that the Moros lived only in some villages and were Muslim in name only.^[29]

Economic activities

Historians widely agree that the larger coastal polities which flourished throughout the Philippine archipelago in the period immediately prior to the arrival of the Spanish colonizers (including Tondo and Maynila) were "organizationally complex", demonstrating both economic specialization and a level of social stratification which would have led to a local demand for "prestige goods".^[30]

Specialized industries in the Tagalog and Kapampangan regions, including Tondo and Maynila, included agriculture, textile weaving, basketry, metallurgy, hunting, among others.^[2] The social stratification which gave birth to the Maginoo class created a demand for prestige products including ceramics, textiles, and precious stones.^[31] This demand, in turn, served as the impetus for both internal and external trade.

Junker notes that significant work still needs to be done in analyzing the internal/local supply and demand dynamics in pre-Spanish era polities, because much of the prior research has tended to focus on their external trading activities.^[31] Scott notes that early Spanish lexicons are particularly useful for this analysis, because these early dictionaries captured many words which demonstrate the varied nuances of these local economic activities.^[2]

Trade

Junker describes coastal polities of Tondo and Maynila's size as "administrative and commercial centers functioning as important nodes in networks of external and internal trade."^[31] While the basic model for the movement of trade goods in early Philippine history saw coastal settlements at the mouth of large rivers (in this case, the Pasig river delta) controlling the flow of goods to and from settlements further upriver (in this case, the upland polities on the Laguna Lake coast),^[31] Tondo and Maynila had trade arrangements which allowed them to control trade throughout the rest of the archipelago.^[2] Scott observes that while the port of Tondo had the monopoly on arriving Chinese merchant ships, it was Manila's fleet of trading vessels which in turn retailed them to settlements throughout the rest of the archipelago, so much so that Manyila's ships came to be known as "Chinese" (sinina).^[2]

Redistribution of Chinese goods

The most lucrative of Tondo's economic activities involved the redistribution of Chinese goods, which would arrive in Manila bay through Tondo's port and be distributed throughout the rest of the archipelago, mostly through Maynila's extensive shipping activities.^[32]

The Chinese migrations to Malaya and the Philippines shore began in the 7th century and reached their peak after 1644 owing to the Manchu conquest of China. These Chinese immigrants settled in Manila, Pasig included, and in the other ports, which were annually visited by their trade junks, they have cargoes of silk, tea, ceramics, and their precious jade stones.^[33]

According to William Henry Scott (1982), when ships from China came to Manila bay, Lakandula would remove the sails and rudders of their ships until they paid him duties and anchorage fees, and then he would then buy up all their goods himself, paying half its value immediately and then paying the other half upon their return the following year. In the interim, these goods would be traded throughout the rest of the archipelago. The end result was that other locals were not able to buy anything from the Chinese directly, but from Tondo^[34] and Maynila,^[32] who made a tidy profit as a result.

Augustinian Fray Martin de Rada Legaspi says that the Tagalogs were "more traders than warriors",^[34] and Scott notes in a later book (1994)^[32] that Maynila's ships got their goods from Tondo and then dominated trade through the rest of the archipelago. People in other parts of the archipelago often referred to Maynila's boats as "Chinese" (Sina or Sinina) because they came bearing Chinese goods.

Agriculture

The people of Tondo engaged in agriculture.^[2] A report during the time of Miguel López de Legazpi noted of the great abundance of rice, fowls, wine as well as great numbers of carabaos, deer, wild boar and goat husbandry in Luzon. In addition, there were also great quantities of cotton and colored clothes, wax, wine, honey and date palms produced by the native peoples, rice, cotton, swine, fowls, wax and honey abound.

Crop production

Rice was the staple food of the Tagalog and Kapampangan polities, and its ready availability in Luzon despite variations in annual rainfall was one of the reasons Legaspi wanted to locate his colonial headquarters on Manila bay.^[2] Scott's study of early Tagalog lexicons revealed that the Tagalogs had words for at least 22 different varieties of rice.^[2]

In most other places in the archipelago, rootcrops served as an alternate staple in seasons when rice was not readily available.^[2] These were also available in Luzon, but they were desired more as vegetables, rather than as a staple.^[2] Ubi, Tugi, Gabi and a local root crop which the Spanish called Kamoti (apparently not the same as the sweet potato, sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas) were farmed in swiddens, while "Laksa" and "Nami" grew wild.^[2] Sweet potatoes (now called Camote) were later introduced by the Spanish.^[2]

Millet was common enough that the Tagalogs had a word which meant "milletlike": "dawa-dawa".

Historical events

Pre-hispanic History of the Philippines
Barangay government
Ten datus of Borneo
States in Luzon
Caboloan (Pangasinan)
Ma-i
Kingdom of Maynila
Namayan
Kingdom of Tondo
States in the Visayas
Kedatuan of Madja-as
Kedatuan of Dapitan
Rajahnate of Cebu
States in Mindanao
Rajahnate of Butuan
Sultanate of Sulu
Sultanate of Maguindanao
Sultanate of Lanao
Key figures
Sulaiman II · Lakan Dula · Sulaiman III · Katuna
Tarik Sulayman · Tupas · Kabungsuwan · Kudarat
Humabon · Lapu-Lapu · Alimuddin I · Muedzul Lail Tan Kiram
History of the Philippines
Portal: Philippines

Austronesian migrations (c. 3,500 years ago)

There is some debate^[19] about whether the Austronesian culture first came to the island of Luzon from continental Asia as proposed by Peter Bellwood and Robert Blust,^[19] or from Maritime Southeast Asia as proposed by Wilhelm Solheim and William Meacham.^[19] But whichever route these Austronesians first used to get to the Philippine archipelago, the general consensus among scholars^[19] is that they settled on what is now the island of Luzon during the earliest stages of their migratory dispersal no later than about 3,500 years ago,^[19] and later waves of migration spread from the Philippine archipelago to reach as far east as Easter Island,^[35][36] and as far west as Madagascar.^[37][38]

Theories and legends regarding the establishment of Manila (c. mid-13th century – c. early 16th century )

Establishment through defeat of Rajah Avirjirkaya by Rajah Ahmad of Brunei (c. 1258)

According to Mariano A. Henson's genealogical research^[39] (later brought up by Majul in 1973,^[40] and by Santiago in 1990)^[41] a settlement in the Maynila area already existed by the year 1258. This settlement was ruled by "Rajah Avirjirkaya" whom Henson described as a "Majapahit Suzerain".

According to Henson, this settlement was attacked by a Bruneian commander named Rajah Ahmad, who defeated Avirjirkaya and established Maynila as a "Muslim principality".^[39]

Early references to Selurong (1360s)

In mid 14th century, the Majapahit empire mentioned in its manuscript Nagarakretagama Canto 14, written by Prapanca in 1365, that the area of Saludung (Selurong) and Solot (Sulu) were parts of the empire.^[42][43] Nagarakretagama was composed as a eulogy for their emperor Hayam Wuruk.^[44] Chinese source mentioned that in 1369, the pirates of Sulus attacked Po-ni (Brunei), looting it of treasure and gold. A fleet from Majapahit succeeded in driving away the Sulus, but Po-ni was left weaker after the attack.^[45]

Establishment by Sultan Bolkiah and the Sultanate of Brunei (c. 1500)

According to Bruneian oral tradition,^[2] a city with the Malay name of Selurong,^[46] which would later become the city of Maynila)^[46][47] was formed around the year 1500.^[2] This oral tradition claims that Sultan Bolkiah (1485–1521)^[46] of the Sultanate of Brunei decided to break Tondo's monopoly in the Chinese trade by attacking Tondo and establishing the polity of Seludong (Maynila) as a satellite state of the Sultanate of Brunei.^[46] This is narrated through Tausug and Malay royal histories, where the names Seludong, Saludong or Selurong are used to denote Manila prior to colonisation.

The traditional Rajahs of Tondo,^[41] the Lakandula, retained their titles and property^[41] but the real political power^[41] came to reside in the House of Soliman, the Rajahs of Maynila.

Lusung and the Luzones (1511 – early 1570s)

During the early 16th century, Portuguese sailors in Malaysia^[2] referred to the Tagalog people who lived in Manila Bay ("Lusong", Portuguese: Luçon)^{[48][49][50][2]} using the demonym^[18] Luções (Portuguese pronunciation: [luˈsõjʃ], Spanish: Luzones).

Surviving primary documents referring to these Luções include the accounts of Fernão Mendes Pinto (1614);^[2] Tomé Pires (whose written documents were published in 1944);^[2] and the survivors of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, including expedition members Gines de Mafra^[2] and Rodrigo de Aganduru Moriz^[16][2] and the Italian scholar Antonio Pigafetta^[17] who served as the expedition's primary scribe, and published his account in 1524.^[51]

Territorial conflicts with Tondo (before 1521)

According to the account of Rajah Matanda as recalled by Magellan expedition members Gines de Mafra, Rodrigo de Aganduru Moriz, and expedition scribe Antonio Pigafetta,^[2] Rajah Matanda's father (whose name was not mentioned in the accounts)^[2] died when he was still very young.^[52] Rajah Matanda's mother (also unnamed in the Spanish accounts) then became the paramount ruler of the Maynila polity.^[52] In the meantime, Rajah Matanda, then simply known as the "Young Prince" Ache,^[4] was raised alongside his cousin,^[4] who was ruler of Tondo^[52] - presumed by some^[4] to be a young Bunao Lakandula, although not specifically named in the Spanish accounts.^[2]

During this time, Ache realized that his cousin, who was ruler of Tondo, was "slyly"^[52] taking advantage of Ache's mother, by taking over territory belonging to Maynila. When Ache asked his mother for permission to address the matter, his mother refused, encouraging the young prince to keep his peace instead.^[52]

Prince Ache could not accept this and thus left Maynila with some of his father's trusted men, to go to his "grandfather", the Sultan of Brunei, to ask for assistance. The Sultan responded by giving Ache a position as commander of his naval force.^[52]

Pigaffetta noted that Ache was "much feared in these parts", but especially the non-muslim locals, who considered the Sultan of Brunei an enemy.^[17]

Capture of Prince Ache by the Elcano (Magellan) expedition (1521)

In 1521, Ache was coming fresh from a military victory at the helm of the Bruneian navy and was supposedly on his way to Maynila with the intent of confronting his cousin when he came upon and attacked the remnants of the Magellan expedition, then under the command of Sebastian Elcano. Some historians^[4][53][2] suggest that Ache's decision to attack must have been influenced by a desire to expand his fleet even further as he made his way back to Lusong and Maynila,^[4] where he could use the size of his fleet as leverage against his cousin, the ruler of Tondo.^[4]

Ache was eventually released,^[52][2] supposedly after the payment of a large ransom.^[2] One of Ache's slaves, who was not included in the ransom payment, then became a translator for the Elcano expedition.^[52]

Beginning of the Spanish colonial era (1570s)

In the mid-16th century, the areas of present-day Manila were governed by native rajahs. Rajah Matanda (whose real name was recorded by the Legaspi expedition as Ache) and his nephew, Rajah Sulayman "Rajah Mura" or "Rajah Muda" (a Sanskrit title for a Prince), ruled the Muslim communities south of the Pasig River, including Maynila while Lakan Dula ruled non-Muslim Tondo north of the river.^[54][2][4] These settlements held ties with the sultanates of Brunei, Sulu, and Ternate, Indonesia (not to be confused with Ternate in present-day Cavite). Maynila was centered on a fortress at the mouth of the Pasig river (Kota means fortress or city in Malay). When the Spanish came and invaded Manila they described, Kota Selurong, "The City of Selurong" of Maynila, as a settlement with a fortress of rammed earth with stockades and in between battlements there are cannons.^[55] The cannons were native-made and forged by Panday Piray and these were locally called lantakas. When the Spanish invaded and burned Manila's Kota Selurong to the ground, they built up the Christian walled city of Intramuros on the ruins of Islamic Manila.

Notable rulers of Maynila

Historical rulers of Maynila

A number of rulers of Tondo are specifically identified in historical documents, which include:

• the epistolary firsthand accounts of the members of the Magellan and Legaspi expeditions, referred to in Spanish as "relaciones";^[51] These include the Sulu and Maguindanao Tarsilas, and the Batu Tarsila of Brunei.^[51] and
• various notarized genealogical records kept by the early Spanish colonial government,^[2] mostly in the form of last wills and testaments of descendants of said rulers;^[4]

Legendary rulers

A number of rulers of Tondo are known only through oral histories, which in turn have been recorded by various documentary sources, ranging from historical documents describing oral histories, to contemporary descriptions of modern (post-colonial/national-era) oral accounts. These include:

• orally transmitted genealogical traditions, such as the Batu Tarsila, which have since been recorded and cited by scholarly accounts;
• legends and folk traditions documented by anthropologists, local government units, the National Historical Institute of the Philippines, and other official sources; and
• recently published genealogical accounts based on contemporary research.

Academic acceptance of the details recounted in these accounts vary from case to case, and are subject to scholarly peer review.

See also

References

Additional reading

• Nick Joaquin's Almanac for Manileños
• The River Dwellers by Grace P. Odal