Mindoro (10,041 square kilometers) is the seventh largest island in the Philippines, lies in the Southern Tagalog Region, off the southwest coast of Luzon and separated by only 45 kilometers of sea from the province of Batangas. It is politically subdivided into two provinces Mindoro Oriental and Mindoro Occidental, including Lubang Island in the North. [1]
"Historical Map of Mindoro"
The island is a well known eco region, arguably a center of endemism, it is home to a remarkable number of endemic and near endemic mammal and bird species; more than half of these species are endemic to the island.[2] Foremost of this is the Tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis), the largest endangered mammal in the Philippines, its population as of last count on April 23, 2010 by the Tamaraw Conservation Program was reduced to just 314 from an estimate of 10,000 at the turn of the 20th century.[3]
The recently discovered new species of bat, the Mindoro stripe-faced fruit bat (Styloctenium mindorensis) is also endemic to Mindoro; its distant cousin the Sulawesi Stripe-faced Fruit Bat (Styloctenium Matschie) can only be found in Sulawesi and the nearby Togian Islands in Indonesia some 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) away.[4]
Sadly these natural wonders are constantly under threat of extinction due to heavy deforestation, poaching, hunting and unbridled exploitation of land for commercial purposes. According to the Encyclopedia of Earth “the only remaining intact forests in Mindoro are found along the top of the mountain ridge that divides the island.” [5]
And such devastation had terrible effects on the local wildlife. For instance the Mindoro Post reported on its website that nine animal species endemic to Mindoro are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.[6]
Actually, there are not just nine but ten, the Mindoro Post missed out on the newly discovered Mindoro stripe-faced fruit bat (Styloctenium mindorensis) which is also on the red list.[7] Simply put, ten species of animals that can only be found in Mindoro are considered endangered.
With the exception of the Mindoro stripe-faced fruit bat the report listed four species of birds, three species of rodents, the Tamaraw and a crustacean. The endangered species of birds are Mindoro Imperial Pigeon (Ducula mindorensis), Mindoro Bleeding-heart (Gallicolumba platenae), Mindoro Scops Owl (Otus mindorensis), and Mindoro Hornbill (Penelopides mindorensis) popularly known as Mindoro Tarictic; while the endangered species of rodents are the Mindoro Soft-furred Rat (Rattus mindorensis), Mindoro Climbing Rat (Anonymomys mindorensis), and Large Mindoro Forest Mouse (Apomys gracilirostris). The mysterious crustacean on the other hand goes with the scientific name Parathelphusa Mindoro which according to IUCN “is known only from the type specimen from Agan River, Oriental Mindoro Island of the Philippines (Freitag and Yeo 2004). There have been no records in over 20 years, but this is probably largely due to a lack of collection efforts and long-term taxonomic problems which until recently have made it difficult to identify freshwater crabs species from many parts of the Philippines.”
Mindoro is not only rich in natural resources but in history and culture as well. Anthropologists believe that Mindoro’s original inhabitants are the six ethnic groups namely the Alangan, Iraya, Tadjawan, Buhid, Hanunoo, and Tau-buid collectively known as the Mangyans whose culture can also be consider as endangered.[8] The Ratagnon ethnic group was not included by anthropologists to this original group; it is believed that they came from Cuyo islands because they spoke a language similar to Cuyunon, the Visayan language spoken by the inhabitants of Cuyo islands. But the Mangyan Heritage Center (MHC) included them on their website’s list of Mangyan groups, making them the 8th Mangyan major group. The Bangon Mangyans inclusion to be the 7th Mangyan major group and not just be a sub-tribe of the Tau-buid on the other hand, appeared to be a result of political self determination and consciousness.
According to the Mangyan Heritage Center (MHC):
“The Bangon Mangyans have their own culture and language different from the other 6 major Mangyan tribes in Oriental Mindoro and also their writing system. Hence, the Bangons have asserted that they be considered as the 7th major Mangyan tribe not as a sub-tribe of the Tau-buid Mangyans. On March 28, 1996 in a meeting in Ogom Liguma together with Buhid Mangyans, they decided to accept the word Bangon for their tribe.”
In addition to these original inhabitants, a heavy influx of migrants came into the island after the Second World War. Using the Census of Population and Housing, Schult breakdown the ethnic origin of Mindoro’s inhabitants in 1980 into the following 77 % are Tagalogs who mostly settled in the north and northeast, 10 % are Visayans who mostly settled in the south, and 7 % are Ilocanos who mostly settled in the west.[9]
Interestingly it was not mentioned by Schult at what point in history did the Tagalog and Visayan migrants started migrating into the island. These ethnic groups are likely candidate to have migrated after the Mangyans due to Mindoro’s proximity to Luzon and Lubang Island to the north, and Panay Island to the south.
It is hard to imagine that the Tagalogs who are the original inhabitants of Lubang Island and the islets near it, there are no Mangyans in Lubang, didn’t make it all the way to Mindoro during the pre-Hispanic times.[10] The same can be said about the Tagalogs who are now inhabitants of Batangas who is just 45 kilometers away by sea. Our pre-Hispanic ancestors being Austronesians were a maritime people, when the wind is behind their sails a sea voyage from Batangas to Minolo for them is like a tourist motorboat ride from Batangas City to Puerto Galera.
At the time of Spanish contact the coastal settlements on the northern part of the island are more populous and advanced than those on the southern part.[11] Because of the location of these settlements and since the Spaniards called them Moros not Pintados, it was more likely that these settlements were inhabited by Tagalogs than Mangyans or Visayans. So why not consider the Mangyans as possible inhabitants of these settlements? I did of course, but besides the inhabitants being Muslims, the Spanish accounts painted a different picture; a culture different from the Mangyans.
And from these Spanish accounts are evidences that the Mangyans on the northern part at least, already inhabit the inner parts of the island. The coastal settlements meanwhile were inhabited by an unknown ethnic group not belonging to the Mangyans. One of these evidences is a curios entry in Volker Schult’s book titled Mindoro: A Social History of a Philippine Island in the 20th Century page 24 note number 8, it quoted a work of Antoon Postma, which gave a hint that Mindoro’s coastal population’s ethnic origin is different from those living inland.
Postma wrote:
“There [in Baco] the Spaniards first received the message that people roaming the forests differed in clothing and language from the coastal population. That was the first hint concerning the existence of different ethnic tribes, which we now call Mangyans. The first to mention the word “Mangyan” was P. Martin de Rada, who in 1577 wrote in a letter “los manguianes en la isla de Mindoro”.[12]
More revealing accounts came from "Relation of the voyage to Luzon" written by an unknown author sometime in 1570 believe by other scholars to be Hernand Riquel, Legazpi’s chief notary which appeared in the gargantuan volume of books researched from the archives of Seville in Spain titled The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, translated from the originals, edited and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson, with historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord Bourne. Cleveland, Ohio: A.H. Clark Company, 1903-9. Vol. 3, 1569-1576. Pp. 73-104.
The unknown author wrote:
“From the island of Banton to that of Bindoro there is a distance of about twelve leagues. The master-of-camp reached this latter place, and anchored there with all the vessels in his charge. Mindoro is also called "the lesser Luçon." All its ports and maritime towns are inhabited by Moros. We hear that inland live naked people called Chichimecos. As far as could be seen, this island lacks provisions.”
Such revealing entries give weight to the premise that the Mangyans, at least at the northern part of the island, are already living inland when the Spanish arrived. But more importantly the account mentioned the existence of ports and maritime towns in Mindoro. Which according to the accounts are all inhabited by Moros, and how many ports and maritime towns does Mindoro have at that time? The two main Spanish accounts regarding Mindoro mentioned only five place names that can still be identified today. These are Ilin Island, Mamburao, Lubang Island, Baco and Minolo. Are all these places inhabited by Muslims at the time of Spanish advent? Or more importantly, are these the ports and maritime towns of pre-Hispanic Mindoro? All these places mentioned except for Ilin Island are located north of Mindoro.
In the account only two places whose inhabitants were specifically called Moros by the Spaniards, these were Minolo and Lubang Island. The accounts regarding these two places were long enough that in the case of Lubang it was not until the middle of the account that they called the inhabitants Moros, using first the terms “natives” and “Indians” interchangeably to depict its inhabitants. In comparison the accounts regarding Ilin Island and Mamburao were perhaps too brief to have mentioned the religion of its inhabitants. Also in Ilin Island the inhabitants are too peaceful, this led Antoon Postma to conclude that they were Mangyans, since the Ratagnon still inhabits the island all through the Spanish period until the 1930’s.[13] In the case of Baco, the Spanish account was too focused with their skirmish with two Chinese junks anchored at its river to pay attention to its inhabitants These two places that were certain to be inhabited by Muslims are all located north of Mindoro and not incidentally the most prosperous and advanced settlements in the area; an area which will comprise the two Mindoro provinces in the future.
Being identified as Moros like those of Luzon and being close to important sea routes, they most probably have the same trade relations with the Sultanate of Brunei. According to Dr. William Henry Scott, in his book Barangay: Sixteenth Century Philippine Culture and Society, “By the time of Spanish advent, parts of Luzon with direct Bornean-Malay contact—Manila, Mindoro, the Batangas coast and the Betis valley in Pampanga—had received Islam.”[14]
While Dr. Laura Lee Junker, an archaeologist and ethno-historian, in her book Raiding, Trading and Feasting: The Political Economy of Philippine Chiefdoms went as far as saying that “We know very little about the Mindoro polity other than that its chiefs, like those of Manila, were powerful enough to trade regularly with and intermarry with the ruling families of Brunei.”[15]
Could this be the reasons why Mindoro is called the “lesser Luzon” at the time of Spanish contact? Or is it because the customs and language of its maritime towns same as those that inhabits Luzon, the Tagalog ethnic group perhaps? Or is it because it was the strongest island next to Luzon in terms of military and economic might? And yet the Spaniards say “as far as could be seen, this island lacks provisions.”
It seems that there are more questions than answers. But let us see if by solely examining the weapons, clothing, means of defense or warfare, religion, socio-political organization and even foreign relations, depicted in the two main Spanish account regarding Mindoro; we can answer some of these questions, if not all of them.
But before we continue with the rest of the account regarding Mindoro’s north and eastern coast chronicled in "Relation of the voyage to Luzon”, let us first go back to a narration of an earlier expedition. The first Spanish expedition, lead by Juan de Salcedo, towards Mindoro via Ilin Island, an islet off the coast of San Jose in Southwestern Mindoro. The expedition culminated with the Spaniards’ successful siege of three Lubang stone forts. These stone forts were the first stone forts the Spaniards encountered in the archipelago. Further proof of how prosperous the northern part of Mindoro was and the islands near it, a result of being close to Luzon and important sea routes.
The expedition, based on the accounts, probably lasted from April 28, 1570 to May 5, 1570 but was only written two years later on April 20, 1572. Like the previous document the account was also written by another unknown author, it is titled "Relation of the Conquest of the Island of Luzon" and is also from The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, translated from the originals, edited and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson, with historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord Bourne. Cleveland, Ohio: A.H. Clark Company, 1903-9. Vol. 3, 1569-1576. Pp. 141-172.
The unknown author wrote:
“The first thing which I shall attempt to relate herein will be an expedition which was made by Captain Juan de Salzedo (=Juan de Salcedo) when he was governor in the island of Panai (=Panay). As has been already related in other accounts, written in the year sixty-nine, the Portuguese raised the blockade established by them on the island of Çubú (=Cebu) against the camp of his Majesty (=Philip II), because of certain difficulties which arose; and the governor determined to cross to the island of Panay with his captains in order to levy tribute upon the people of certain provinces. His nephew, recently made captain of the company which his brother Felipe de Sauzedo (=Felipe de Salcedo) had brought to these islands, was sent with forty soldiers to certain islands. This captain embarked in fourteen or fifteen small native boats, and set out for an islet which is called Elem,39 and when we had reached this island we did not find any resistance whatever, for all the natives came to us in peace.
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39 Elem: in Retana's text, "el M." In some old documents appears the name Elen (or Helin); it apparently refers to the islet off the southwest point of Mindoro which is now called YlÃn.
From there, led by a guide, he crossed to the island of Mindoro, and made an attack one night just about dawn upon a very rich native village called Mamburau, and plundered it. Many of the natives were captured, some of whom afterward bought their liberty, and others were allowed to go free. Thence he took a guide for a little islet, Loban (=Lubang) by name, which is fifteen leagues farther. When the captain was departed, the natives, who had fled from the village, returned and saw the havoc and destruction caused by the Spaniards, and were unwilling to return to rebuild it; accordingly they themselves set fire to it, and totally destroyed it.
The captain, having arrived at his destination at midnight, with all possible secrecy leaped ashore, and arranged his men and the Pintados40 Indians whom he had with him in ambuscade near the villages, in order to make the attack upon them at daybreak. However, the natives of this island having been informed of the hostile incursion of the Spaniards, withdrew with their children and wives and all their belongings that they could take with them, to three forts which they had constructed.
Now since these were the first natives whom we found with forts and means of defense, I shall describe here the forts and weapons which they possessed. The two principal forts were square in form, with ten or twelve culverins on each side, some of them moderately large and others very small. Each fort had a wall two estados high, and was surrounded by a ditch two and one-half brazas in depth, filled with water.
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40 Pintados ("painted"): a term applied to the inhabitants of the Visayas (and afterward extended to those islands), because they painted their bodies with red clay--or, as some writers say, on account of their being tattooed.
The small weapons used by these natives are badly tempered iron lances, which become blunt upon striking a fairly good coat of mail, a kind of broad dagger, and arrows—which are weapons of little value. Other lances are also used which are made of fire-hardened palm-wood and are harder than the iron ones. There is an abundance of a certain very poisonous herb which they apply to their arrows. Such are the weapons which the natives of these islands possess and employ. Now as the captain approached the villages at daybreak, and found them empty, he proceeded through a grove to the place where the first fort was situated; and, having come in sight, negotiated with them, asking whether they desired to be friends of the Spaniards.
The natives, confident of their strength, refused to listen, and began to discharge their culverins and a few arrows. The captain, seeing that they would not listen to reason, ordered them to be fired upon. The skirmish lasted in one place or the other about three hours, since the Spaniards could not assault or enter the fort because of the moat of water surrounding it. But, as fortune would have it, the natives had left on the other side, tied to the fort, a small boat capable of holding twenty men; and two of our soldiers threw themselves into the water and swam across, protected by our arquebusiers from the enemy, who tried to prevent them. This boat having been brought to the side where the Spaniards were, fifteen soldiers entered it and approached the rampart of the fort. As soon as these men began to mount the rampart, the Indians began to flee on the other side, by a passage-way which they had made for that very purpose.
It is true that thirty or forty Moros fought and resisted the entrance of the Spaniards; but when they saw that half of our people were already on the wall, and the rest in the act of mounting, they all turned their backs and fled. A hundred or more of them were killed, while of our men five were wounded. In this way was the fort taken, together with fifty or sixty prisoners, ten or twelve culverins, and everything else in it. On the morning of the next day, which was the second of May, in the year one thousand five hundred and seventy, the captain set free one of the Moro prisoners, and sent him to the second fort, which was in the middle of the island very near the first one, and charged him to tell them that he summoned them to surrender peacefully.
The Moro having performed his mission, and delivered the message of the captain to those in the fort, they sent back the reply that they did not desire to be friends with the Spaniards but were eager to fight with them; and with this reply the Indian aforesaid returned to the captain. On the following day we went with some four hundred friendly Indians to the fort; and the captain, advancing within sight of it, addressed them, asking that they should be friends with the Spaniards and not try to fight with them, as that would result badly for them. They again declared that they did not desire this friendship, and began to fire their culverins and discharge arrows; and in return the soldiers discharged, on all sides, their arquebuses. But during the whole day we were not able to enter the fort, for we Spaniards were very few in number; and the heat was intense, and we had not eaten, although it was near night.
The captain, seeing that he had not accomplished anything, decided to return to the boats which he had left behind, and on the next morning again to besiege the fort, and hem them in as closely as possible; and thus he did. Having come in this manner and having grounded his boats upon a beach close to the enemy, when these latter saw the determination of the Spaniards, and that they would not depart under any circumstances until they had conquered them, they therefore determined to make peace and become friends. To this end the leaders came out of the fort and made peace and friendship with the captain, becoming good friends, which they are up to the present time. They gave him a hundred tall [ taels] of gold, which he divided among his soldiers.
From there the captain went to a rock belonging to another small islet very near to that of Loban, and lying in the sea at a very short distance from the said islet. The natives who lived in that island had retired to this rock to the number of about three hundred warriors. The captain, having arrived on the same day at about ten o'clock, went around the rock, and we captured a small boat containing thirty men. Many volleys from the arquebuses were fired at them during this day; and on the following morning the soldiers began to make ladders to scale the rock—whose occupants, when they saw the determination of the Spaniards, came to terms of peace and friendship, giving another hundred tall of gold, following the example of those of the other fort, who had been left good friends. The captain returned with all of us who were with him to the island of Panay, where the governor was with the master-of-camp, who had returned from another expedition made with his men to an island called Acuyo. Thereupon the question was discussed of sending men to explore the island of Luzón; and it was agreed that the master-of-camp and captain Juan de Sauzedo (=Juan de Salcedo) should set out upon this expedition with a hundred soldiers.”
To read the complete document click here.
Photo from "Voyage of the Balangay" Presentation
It is not known from the account if the Pintados of Panay was only familiar with the route to the settlement of Ilin Island and needed more information and a new guide who is familiar with the western littoral of Mindoro. For the unknown chronicler wrote:
“This captain embarked in fourteen or fifteen small native boats, and set out for an islet which is called Elem,39 and when we had reached this island we did not find any resistance whatever, for all the natives came to us in peace. From there, led by a guide, he crossed to the island of Mindoro, and made an attack one night just about dawn upon a very rich native village called Mamburau, and plundered it.”
When the account said “for all the natives came to us in peace”, did this mean that the inhabitants of Ilin agreed to pay the Spaniards “tribute” right away when they asked them to, perhaps in gold? Because all through the Spanish account of this archipelago they named Felipinas, the sign of friendship and loyalty the Spaniards was asking, is for the inhabitants to pay them "tribute".
And that‘s exactly what the expedition was for, the Spaniards were looking for wealthier settlements to conquer and extract wealth and provisions from, and Mamburao was such settlement. Using the element of surprise they attacked it at dawn. It is rather odd that they didn’t find any means of defense or fortifications in what they called “a very rich native village.” Perhaps Mamburao have also warriors and culverins for defense but were taken by surprised. There’s also a hint of Mamburao’s familiarity with the frequent slave raiding between the chiefdoms of this archipelago when the account said “Many of the natives were captured, some of whom afterward bought their liberty.”
There’s also a hint that the inhabitants of Mamburao have connections with those inhabiting Lubang, could it be because the former is also a Muslim settlement? Because Lubang have been warned in advance of the impending Spanish attack thus removing the element of surprise, and allowed them to prepare and withdraw to their three stone forts, a means of defense that the inhabitants of Mamburao didn’t have:
“Many of the natives were captured, some of whom afterward bought their liberty, and others were allowed to go free. Thence he took a guide for a little islet, Loban (=Lubang) by name, which is fifteen leagues farther. When the captain was departed, the natives, who had fled from the village, returned and saw the havoc and destruction caused by the Spaniards, and were unwilling to return to rebuild it; accordingly they themselves set fire to it, and totally destroyed it. The captain, having arrived at his destination at midnight, with all possible secrecy leaped ashore, and arranged his men and the Pintados40 Indians whom he had with him in ambuscade near the villages, in order to make the attack upon them at daybreak. However, the natives of this island having been informed of the hostile incursion of the Spaniards, withdrew with their children and wives and all their belongings that they could take with them, to three forts which they had constructed.”
The stone forts of Lubang were not only the first stone forts the Spaniards saw in this archipelago they named Felipinas, it were also the only ones of its kind.
Thus the unknown chronicler writes:
“Now since these were the first natives whom we found with forts and means of defense, I shall describe here the forts and weapons which they possessed. The two principal forts were square in form, with ten or twelve culverins on each side, some of them moderately large and others very small. Each fort had a wall two estados high, and was surrounded by a ditch two and one-half brazas in depth, filled with water.”
The inhabitants of Lubang don’t just have ordinary stone forts, what they have were pretty modern stone forts, with not only stone walls as barriers, it was also surrounded by moats filled with water. They also possessed large number of culverins. Culverins is culberina in Spanish, we can use the smallest culberina in the 16th Century Spanish arsenal as a conservative basis for measuring the culverins the Spaniards witnessed in Lubang and for that matter in Minolo as well.[16] And the smallest Spanish culverin is the media culberina, a 10-18 pounder cannon, meaning the weight of the cannonball is ten to eighteen pounds, while the maximum range in yards is 5,000.[17] So at the time of Spanish advent the inhabitants of Lubang have already modern weapon on their arsenal plus of course a modern means of defense, their complex stone forts.
In addition to these modern means of defense and warfare the inhabitants of Lubang had also, in the words of the unknown chronicler, “small weapons” such as “badly tempered iron lances, which become blunt upon striking a fairly good coat of mail, a kind of broad dagger, and arrows. Other lances are also used which are made of fire-hardened palm-wood and are harder than the iron ones. There is an abundance of a certain very poisonous herb which they apply to their arrows.”
Although armed with modern weapons the inhabitants of Lubang are no match for the battle hardened Spaniards and their Pintado allies. And as what the Spaniards expected and waiting for, the inhabitants of Lubang capitulated, the conquistadors extracted 200 taels of gold from them which they justified as “levying tribute”. "Tael” according to Blair and Robertson is the trade name in China for the ounce of silver; it also designates a weight, of 1⅓ oz. avoirdupois.
After conquering Lubang the Spaniards returned to Panay Island, there they discussed with Miguel Lopez de Legazpi that it’s time to do a reconnaissance of Luzon. And it was agreed upon that the Master of Camp Martin de Goiti and Juan de Salcedo will be leading this expedition.
But between Panay and Luzon is the island of Mindoro, and perhaps the Pintados reported to the Spaniards that the island’s capital, the town and port of Mindoro is very wealthy and very strong. And that the inhabitants of this town and port were also tributaries of Rajah Sulayman, chief of their bitter enemies in Manila.[18]
There are two different accounts of how the town of Mindoro and Manila was conquered; the first appeared in "Relation of the voyage to Luzon" which is more detailed and obviously an eyewitness account and thus more reliable. The other one appeared in the Relation of the Conquest of the Island of Luzon which the chronicler admits “I did not take part in this expedition but shall describe literally everything which occurred in it. I have drawn my information from the others who participated in it, and more especially from two of my associates, both of whom went on this expedition, and who are men of great reliability—an advantage, as I have before mentioned” and thus less reliable.
So only the more reliable account will be discuss and appear here, but the link of the whole Relation of the Conquest of the Island of Luzon document if you haven’t notice was also given above, after quoting the whole account regarding the western settlements in Mindoro and the island of Lubang.
As the account regarding Mindoro in Relation of the voyage to Luzon continues:
“After sailing northwest for two days, they arrived at the island of Zibuyan, a high and mountainous land known to possess gold-mines. Without talking to any of the natives, they left that island, which is situated about fourteen leagues from the river of Panay, and went to the island of Mindoro. Among other islands passed was that of Banton, where lived certain Spaniards, who had gone there in vessels belonging to friendly Indians. The island of Banton is about fifteen leagues from Cibuyan. It is a small circular island, high and mountainous, and is thickly populated. The natives raise a very large number of goats here, which they sell in other places. The natives of this island of Banton, as well as those of Cibuyan, are handsome, and paint themselves.
From the island of Banton to that of Bindoro there is a distance of about twelve leagues. The master-of-camp reached this latter place, and anchored there with all the vessels in his charge. Mindoro is also called "the lesser Luçon." All its ports and maritime towns are inhabited by Moros. We hear that inland live naked people called Chichimecos. As far as could be seen, this island lacks provisions.
News reached the master-of-camp that, in a river five leagues from the place where the ships had anchored, were two vessels from China, the inhabitants of which these natives call Sangleyes.22 Seeing that the weather did not permit him to send the large ship, because the wind was blowing south by west, he despatched Captain Juan de Salzedo, with the praus23 and rowboats to reconnoiter the said ships, and to request peace and friendship with them.
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22 Sangleyes: derived from hiang (or xiang) and ley, meaning "a traveling merchant;" appellation of Chinese traders in the Philippines.
23The prau or parao (a name of Malay origin) was a large, flat boat with two masts, and lateen sails; used for carrying freight, and employed in the rivers and bays.
This step had scarcely been taken when the southwest wind began to blow so violently, that our people were compelled to put into a harbor, and to find shelter for that night behind a promontory. Four praus and the frigate, unable to do this, found shelter farther away; and, keeping always in sight of the shore, these vessels looked for the ships all that night.
The next morning they were overtaken by five of the other vessels and the frigate, which were searching for them. The master-of-camp and captain Juan de Salzedo were still behind, with the large junk and the other praus. At break of day, the praus which had preceded the others reached the river where the Chinese ships were anchored. The Chinese, either because news of the Spaniards had reached them, or because they had heard arquebuse-shots, were coming out side by side with foresails up, beating on drums, playing on fifes, firing rockets and culverins, and making a great warlike display. Many of them were seen on deck, armed with arquebuses and unsheathed cutlasses.
The Spaniards, who are not at all slothful, did not refuse the challenge offered them by the Chinese; on the contrary they boldly and fearlessly attacked the Chinese ships, and, with their usual courage, grappled them. This was certainly a rash move on their part, for the Chinese ships were large and high, while the praus were so small and low that they hardly reached to the first pillar of the enemy's ships. But the goodly aim of the arquebusiers was so effective that the Chinese did not leave their shelter, and the Spaniards were thus enabled to board their ships and take possession of them. There were about eighty Chinese on board the two ships; about twenty were killed in the affray.
The soldiers searched the cabins in which the Chinese kept their most valuable goods, and there they found silk, both woven and in skeins; gold thread, musk, gilded porcelain bowls, pieces of cotton cloth, gilded water-jugs, and other curious articles—although not in a large quantity, considering the size of the ships. The decks of both vessels were full of earthen jars and crockery; large porcelain vases, plates, and bowls; and some fine porcelain jars, which they call sinoratas. They also found iron, copper, steel, and a small quantity of wax which the Chinese had bought. Captain Juan de Salzedo arrived with the rear-guard of the praus, after the soldiers had already placed in safety the goods taken from the Chinese ships. He was not at all pleased with the havoc made among the Chinese. The master-of-camp, Martin de Goite, who had remained behind with the large ship, showed much more displeasure, when he heard of the occurrence. As soon as he was able to cast anchor with the junk in the river of Bato (the name of the place where the Chinese vessels were found), he made all haste to make them understand that he was sorry for their misfortune, and that they had done wrong in sallying forth against the Spaniards. Nevertheless, he said he would give them, besides their freedom, a ship, in which they might return to their own country without any hindrance—besides whatever was necessary for their voyage. This was highly appreciated by the Chinese, who, being very humble people, knelt down with loud utterances of joy.
After this proposal had been made clear to the Chinese, and gladly accepted by them, the master-of-camp entrusted the chief notary, Hernando Rriquel, with the repairing of one of the ships—ordering him to have the hatchway taken out, and to send all that the ship contained to the port of Panay. Seeing that the sails, masts, and rigging of the vessels were so different from ours that none of his men had any knowledge of them, the master-of-camp thought best to ask the Chinese to send three or four of their sailors with the junk to Panay, in company with some friendly Moros of Luçon, who were with the Spaniards. The Chinese very willingly agreed to that, and provided the required men. Thus the ship was despatched with twelve Lucon Moros, four Chinese, and four Spanish soldiers of the guard.
In this river of Bato was found some green pepper24 growing on trees as small as shrubs, with their clusters like agias. Here they learned that the town of Mindoro, which is the capital of that island, was five leagues from Bato, and that three more Chinese ships were there. They also heard that the Moros of Mindoro had made great preparations for its defense, and had provided themselves with a large number of culverins, arrows, and other offensive weapons, and were intrenched in a very strong fort. In consideration of this, and the fact that the Spaniards in this country have always desired to come in conflict with people who do not flee from them, they decided to proceed immediately to that island—although the natives of the river of Bato offered them peace, and promised to pay them two hundred gold taels25 (the equivalent of two thousand pesos de minas in Spanish reckoning), if they would remain there a few days. The master-of-camp assured them of peace, and, telling them to have the money ready upon his return, set out for the port of Mindoro.
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24Cf. Friar Odoric's description of the green pepper found in Malabar (called by the Arabs Balad-ul-Falfal, "the Pepper Country")—growing on vines which the natives plant against tall trees for support, and bearing fruit "just like bunches of grapes;" see Yule's Cathay, vol. i, pp. clxxvii, 77.
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25The tael is a Chinese money of account, worth formerly about $1.50; now $1.68, "Tael" is the trade name in China for the ounce of silver; it also designates a weight, of 1⅓ oz. avoirdupois
Departing from the river of Baco in the morning, the Spaniards arrived, by noon, at the town of Mindoro, which is an excellent though poorly-sheltered seaport. The harbor has only one entrance. Its waters beat against a hill which is the first and the smallest of a chain of three hills overlooking the port. The other two hills are very craggy and thus form a defense to the pass for the natives. Many armed Moros appeared on the first hill—bowmen, lancers, and some gunners, linstocks in hand. All along the hillside stood a large number of culverins. The foot of the hill was fortified by a stone wall over fourteen feet thick. The Moros were well attired after their fashion, and wore showy head-dresses, of many colors, turned back over their heads. Many of them were beating drums, blowing horns made from shells, and ringing bells. The number of men was quite large.
The master-of-camp arrived with his ship, ahead of the oared praus. When the first prau arrived, he embarked in it with the chief notary, Hernando Rriquel, the interpreter, and a recently-converted Moro, who served as guide. With only these men, and one soldier armed with a shield, the master-of-camp advanced toward the Moro fort. He reached the foot of the hill, without allowing any others to follow him; and, being unable to proceed any further on account of its steepness, he summoned from above two Moros, to treat for peace.
.
There seemed to be a difference of opinion among the Moros, as was gathered from their demeanor, for some made gestures of war, and others of peace, some of them even going so far as to throw a few stones and level the culverins. On the whole, they were not very anxious to fight. Meanwhile, the master-of-camp was so near them that they could have spit on him. All the Spaniards had already disembarked, and stood at an arquebuse-shot from the master-of-camp. The latter was so anxious to win over those Moros and gain their confidence, because they exhibited fear, that he wished to climb the hill on all fours to reach them; but his companions dissuaded him from this.
At this time Captain Juan de Salzedo, the sergeant-major, the high constable, and the ensign-major, came up; and the master-of-camp, the captain, and the officials were assembled there, with but one soldier, for the master-of-camp would not allow the others to advance. The Moros having seen the peaceful attitude of our people, one of them descended the hill, almost on all fours. Our Moro guide advanced toward him; but, on account of the great steepness of the hill, he had to be helped up by the other Moro. After they had seen and recognized each other, and after the customary embrace and kiss, they descended to the master-of-camp. The latter told the Moro who had come down, through the interpreter, that he need not fear; for he had not come to harm them, but to seek their friendship. The Moro carried the message to the others upon the hill, and a chief came down; and, upon reaching the master-of-camp, said that he and all the town wished to be his friends, and to help the Spaniards with whatever they possessed.
The master-of-camp answered that the proposition was acceptable; whereupon the Moro chief asked him to withdraw from that place—saying that, after they had withdrawn, he would come to treat of friendship and of what was to be given. The master-of-camp, in order to please him, agreed to this; and told the chief that he was going to review his men, and that he should not be offended when he should hear arquebuse-shots and the noise of artillery. Accordingly, he withdrew to the place where his men were drawn up in order, and there a fine review took place—the company closing ranks in such perfect order that both the friendly Indians (who came with us, to the number of five or six hundred) and the Moros were greatly frightened.
The master-of-camp ordered that the cannon amidship on the large vessel be fired, although not to increase their fright. The review had not yet ended when a Moro came with sixty gold taels, which he gave to the master-of-camp—asking him not to be offended if the gift were not brought quickly, because the people had dispersed through fear, and therefore it could not be collected so soon; but he promised that they would raise the amount to four hundred taels. The master-of-camp received this gold, and had it placed in a small box, the key of which he gave to the Moro, telling him to keep it until the promise was fulfilled; but to consider that after treason nothing could be more blameworthy than falsehood.
The Moro salaamed low, and said that he would not lie, and that they would fulfil their promise, little by little. And so they did, for, on that same day, four more messengers came with gold; and all entreated and begged the master-of-camp not to be offended at the delay, if there should be any. With these flatteries and promises the Moros detained us about five days, during which time we had friendly dealings and intercourse with them, although they mistrusted us to a certain extent.
They had already abandoned the first town on the shore and had withdrawn to a hill about two hundred paces away. There most of them had taken their wives, children, and part of their goods, although the best part of their property was kept farther inland. This hill was so well fortified by nature, that, had it not been for the two ladders, which the Moros kept in two places, one could have ascended it only with wings. Notwithstanding all these difficulties, our Spaniards paid them friendly visits. On this little fortified spot the Moros had built their huts, as high as Mexican market-tents. They resembled a crowd of children with their holiday toys. During these five days, the Moros had, little by little, given two hundred taels of impure gold, for they possess great skill in mixing it with other metals. They give it an outside appearance so natural and perfect, and so fine a ring, that unless it is melted they can deceive all men, even the best of silversmiths. While in this port of Mindoro the master-of-camp sought information concerning the distance to Manilla and the towns which would be found on the journey. Our interpreter disagreed with the Moros of Mindoro as to the number of days it would take; but they all agreed that it was far, and that perhaps the weather would not permit us to sail thither.
The natives of Mindoro added also that the Spaniards were crazy to go to Manilla with so small a force, and that they pitied us. They recounted so many wonders of Manilla that their tales seemed fabulous; they said that there were very large oared boats, each carrying three hundred rowers, besides the warriors; that the people were well armed and excellent bowmen; that the ships were well equipped with artillery, both large and small; and that any one of those vessels could attack two praus, and sink them when within range. With these accounts the Moros tried to discourage the Spaniards; but the more they attempted to frighten them with such things the more desirous they all became to set foot in Manilla. In view of this, the master-of-camp did not wait for the full payment of what the Moros had promised; but, warning them to have the remainder ready upon his return, he left them on friendly terms, and set out for the town of Manilla with all his men.
He left the port of Mindoro at midnight, and the next morning cast anchor before a small island lying between Mindoro and Lucon, where he remained two days waiting for the praus”.
To read the complete document click here.
Photo from "Voyage of the Balangay" Presentation
The document speaks of a main settlement, a town which is also named Mindoro and it was stated that it is also the capital of the island; hence we can surmise that the Island’s name came from that town.
The unknown author wrote:
“In this river of Bato was found some green pepper24 growing on trees as small as shrubs, with their clusters like agias. Here they learned that the town of Mindoro, which is the capital of that island, was five leagues from Bato, and that three more Chinese ships were there. They also heard that the Moros of Mindoro had made great preparations for its defense, and had provided themselves with a large number of culverins, arrows, and other offensive weapons, and were intrenched in a very strong fort.”
There’s no town in the island’s history that is named Mindoro, but there’s a town named Minolo at the time of Spanish contact, which was the first provincial capital of Mindoro and is also the main settlement when the Spaniards arrived.[19] This town’s importance was also delineated when Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in 1572 proclaimed it as a royal encomienda while the rest of Mindoro including Lubang and Ilin Islands was assigned to Felipe de Salcedo as a private encomienda. [20]
And as the unknown chronicler from the document “Relation of the Conquest of the Island of Luzon” wrote:
“This is the port where enter all the passengers who come from the islands of the Pintados and from España to this island of Luzón, where the governor resides.”
There’s also an entry in the book written by Volker Schult that explains how the town’s name Minolo was changed into Mindoro in Spanish translations, and how it became identified with the whole island. Schult quoted from the work of Antoon Posta, a leading Mangyan and Mindoro scholar.
Schult wrote:
"A.Postma, Mindoro Missions Revisited, PQCS, vol. 5 (1977), pp. 253-254, made it clear that the name "Mindoro" as the island's name has derived from "Minolo", the main settlement at the time the Spaniard's arrived. In documents written in Tagalog, Mindoro was named as "ang pulo ng Minolo" up to the end of 18th century. In the Spanish translations of these documents, however, "Minolo" permanently was changed into "Mindoro". Moreover, the Spaniards used "Mindoro" as the synonym of the main settlement and harbor of "Minolo". Thus, it seems that "Mindoro" is a hispanization of the Tagalog "Minolo" which, at first, denoted only the main settlement. In the course of time however, "Mindoro" was identified with the island as such. The settlement of "Minolo" lost its importance, which made identification with the island's name much easier."[21]
At the present "Minolo" is reduced to just one of the barangays of "Puerto Galera", a name which according to Schult was only mentioned in records from the 18th century onwards.[22]
Back to the document, the means of defense of this port and town of Minolo includes a hill fortified “by a stone wall over fourteen feet thick manned by many armed Moros—bowmen, lancers, and some gunners, linstocks in hand” and “all along the hillside stood a large number of culverins”, a modern weapon at that time.
You can sense that the harbor was specifically chosen for its strategic purposes, as the account goes:
“The harbor has only one entrance. Its waters beat against a hill which is the first and the smallest of a chain of three hills overlooking the port. The other two hills are very craggy and thus form a defense to the pass for the natives.”
There’s also a brief mention of their manner of dressing and some kind of war music and the number of its warriors, as the unknown author wrote:
“The Moros were well attired after their fashion, and wore showy head-dresses, of many colors, turned back over their heads. Many of them were beating drums, blowing horns made from shells, and ringing bells. The number of men was quite large.”
The inhabitants of Minolo also possessed great skills in mixing gold with other metals, giving it “an outside appearance so natural and perfect and so a fine a ring that unless it is melted they can deceive all men, even the best of silversmiths.”
In short the people of Minolo at that time were very good goldsmiths or silversmiths.
And to organize such a huge, advanced and wealthy settlement, it needs a relatively complex political and social organization, a trait which the Mangyan tribes don’t have. Mangyans live in scattered settlements with about thirty families each.[23] Minolo, being the capital of the island of Mindoro, must also be the urban center. It could have been the preferred home by most of its more than 15,000 inhabitants living at different coastal settlements on river banks. The rough population estimate came again from "Relation of the Conquest of the Island of Luzon."
The unknown author wrote:
“From that island [Panay] to the island of Luzón it is about sixty leagues, and in the course is that of Mindoro. This is an island where much wax and honey is produced. It contains many gold mines, and rivers where gold is gathered. I have been all about it; on the farther coast, which is to the south, it is well populated, while on the northern coast is the village called Mindoro, as well as other thickly-populated rivers. Those who have not seen it or set foot upon it say that it contains about eight thousand men. I shall dare to affirm from what I have seen of it that it has more than fifteen thousand. It is very near the island of Luzón. Between this island and the others above named, lie many small islets, which are friendly, although they have but small populations.”
Mindoro Island is said to have “many gold mines and rivers where gold is gathered” perhaps another reason why the pre-Hispanic Tagalogs migrated and settled here. It is also another evidence and reason for the island’s relative prosperity. It also gives weight to Postma’s premise that Minolo is a hispanization of Mindoro. According to Antoon Postma, the Spaniards preferred Mindoro as the name of the island because it is a word they can recognize, which sounds like “mina de oro” or “mine of gold”.[24]
And last but certainly not the least, the two documents, "Relation of the voyage to Luzon” and "Relation of the Conquest of the Island of Luzon" also revealed that Mindoro’s ports and maritime towns, like of those of Manila, was not only regularly trading with Brunei but with China as well. Other than the two Chinese vessels they found in the river of Baco, the inhabitants of this river reported to the Spaniards that there are three more Chinese ships in the town of Minolo. Although there’s no entry regarding these three Chinese ships during the siege of Minolo, one can assume that they could have left having been informed of the impending siege. Assumption aside, there’s a telling entry in "Relation of the voyage to Luzon” right after Martin de Goiti burned Manila, that the Chinese regularly calls on the ports of Mindoro to trade.
The entry goes like this:
“Thus we set sail in company with only the Chinese and their four vessels; these said that they had no articles of trade in their vessels except some large earthen jars and porcelain. Many of the soldiers bartered trifles of little value with them in exchange for wax, which the Chinese greatly value and even buy with gold. From what we could see and hear of them, the Chinese are a very humble people. It seems that they observe among themselves a certain form of politeness and cleanliness. They became great friends with us, and gave us letters of security, which consisted of white cloths that they had with them, upon which were painted the royal coat of arms. They promised to come the next year to this river of Panay, and to establish trade with the Spaniards. All that the Chinese asked was given them, which pleased them much, and they were shown the best possible treatment. Then they left us, and, according to what they said, went to Mindoro.”
So how long was this China-Mindoro trade relations been going?
Photo courtesy of Mike Pangilinan
If Dr. William Henry Scott is correct, Mindoro first appeared in written records during the Sung Dynasty (960-1278) in the year 972 A.D. by its medieval name Ma-i or Ma-yit. In his book Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History (Revised Edition 1984) page 65, Scott wrote:
"The Sung Dynasty was almost literally supported by tariff revenues on overseas trade, so it is not surprising that from this period comes the first positive reference to political states in or near the Philippines. An entry in the official Sung history for the year 972 records the first administrative action intended to bring foreign commerce under government control."
"In the fourth year of the K’ai Pao period [972], a superintendent of maritime trade was setup in Kwangchow, and afterwards in Hangchow and Mingchow also a superintendent was appointed for all Arab, Achen, Java, Borneo, Ma-i [Mindoro], and Palembang barbarians, whose trade passed through there, they taking away gold, silver, strings of cash, lead, tin, many colored silk, and porcelain, and selling aromatics, rhinoceros horn and ivory, coral, amber, pearls, fine steel, sea-turtle leather, tortoise shell, carnelians and agate, carriage wheel rims, crystal, foreign cloth, ebony, sapan wood, and such things.”
And ten years after the appointment of Maritime Trade Superintendent for barbarian traders including those from Ma-i, Scott added:
“And in 982, some Ma-i traders are reported to have brought valuable merchandise to the Kwangtung coast.”
But one of the most detailed descriptions of this polity named Ma-i, assumed to be present day Mindoro came from Chao Ju-kua’s Chu Fan Chi (An account of the various barbarians). Chao Ju-kua is the Superintendent of Maritime Trade in Ch’uan-chou, Fukien province in 1225 A.D at the time he wrote his Chu Fan Chi which was based on returning merchants’ accounts.[25]
Chu Fan Chi as translated by Scott and I-hsiung Ju in 1968 which appeared in his book Prehispanic Source Materials tells of various chiefdoms where the Chinese merchants trade their wares but focuses on two main chiefdoms which are Ma-i and Shan-hsu.
Ma-i was not the only polity identified by Scott to be medieval Mindoro, he also considered the suggestion of Antoon Postma that perhaps Chia-ma-yen is a transliteration of Ka-mangyan, both of which appeared in Chao Ju-kua’s account.[26]
Chu Fan Chi as translated by Scott and I-hsiung Ju in 1968 goes like this:
Ma-i
The country of Ma-i is to the North of Borneo. The natives live in large villages [lit., of more than a thousand households] on the opposite banks of a stream, and cover themselves with a cloth like a sheet or hide their bodies with a loin-cloth.
There are metal images [lit., “Buddhas”] of unknown origin scattered about the tangled wilds. Few pirates reach these shores.
When trading ships enter the harbor, they stop in front of the official plaza, for the official plaza is that country’s place for barter and trade, and once the ship is registered, they mixed together freely. Since the local chieftains make a habit of using white umbrellas, the merchants must present them as gifts.
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 savage traders then take the goods around to the other islands for barter, and generally don’t start coming back till September or October to repay the ship’s merchants with what they have got. Indeed, there are some who do not come back even then, so ships trading with Ma-i are the last to reach home.
San-hsu, Pai-p’u-yen, P’u-li-lu, Li-yin-tung, Liu-hsin, Li-han, etc. are all the same sort of place as Ma-i.
The local products are beeswax, cotton, true pearls, tortoise shell, medicinal betelnuts and yu-ta [jute?] cloth. The merchants use such things as porcelain, trade gold, iron pots, lead, colored glass beads and iron needles in exchange.
San-hsu
Sun-hsu [lit., three islets] is also of the same sort as Ma-i, with such names as Chia-ma-yen, Pa-lao-yu, and Pa-chi-nung, each with its own tribe living sparsely scattered through the islands who come out to trade when ships arrive. All together they are called San-hsu, and their customs are for the most part the same as Ma-i’s. Each tribe contains a large number of families [lit. more than a thousand].
The land has many lofty ridges rising one behind the other with ranges of cliffs as steep as the walls of a house. High in the inaccessible fastness they make their houses of plaited reeds, and since the mountains have no springs, the women place pots on their heads stacked two or three high and go to get water from the streams , climbing back with as sure step as if they were walking on level ground.
Deep in the remote valleys there is another kind of settlements called Hai-tan; the people are short, their eyes are round and bright [lit., yellow], their hair curly, and their teeth protruding. They nest in treetops, and sometimes three or four get together and lurk in the jungle where, unseen, they shoot arrows at passerby, and many have fallen victims to them. But if a porcelain bowl is thrown down, they will look around for it, snatch it up, and go off skipping and shouting.
Whenever foreign [lit., barbarian] merchants reach one of the settlements, they dare not go ashore but first stop the ship in midstream and beat a drum to call them. The savage traders then race out in small boats to get there first with such things as beeswax, cotton, foreign cloth and coconut-heartmats to barter with them. If the price cannot be agreed upon, the real boss of the traders is sure to appear on the spot and settle matters, after which they offer him silk umbrellas, porcelain, and rattan baskets as gifts. But still they retain one or two on board as hostages, and then afterwards they go ashore to trade. Only when the business is all finished do they release the hostages.
The ships stop for no more than three or four days before going on to other places. All the other savages living around San-hsu belong to no common jurisdiction [i.e., are independent].
The mountains incline toward the northeast corner, and often when the southern monsoon comes, the swelling waters dash against the mountains in such huge billows ships quickly put to sea and cannot anchor, so those trading with San-hsu generally prepare to return during May and June.
The main products used for barter are porcelain, damask and thin pongee silk, bright-colored beads, lead fishnet sinkers and tin.
P’u-li-lu is connected with San-hsu but its villages are larger. The people are mostly of fierce disposition given to plunder. The sea is full of corroded-looking rocks, jagged-toothed like blasted trees, with points and edges sharper than swords or lances, so that ships passing by keep on the alert to avoid striking them, and it produces precious-coral trees but they are difficult to get."
The vivid descriptions of returning merchants chronicled by Chao Ju-Kua of course had not mentioned any specific characteristic that can pinpoint where Ma-i, San-hsu, Chia-ma-yen, Pa-lao-yu, Pai-p’u-yen, P’u-li-lu, Li-yin-tung, Liu-hsin, Li-han, etc. were exactly located. Given the descriptions it might be any Philippine chiefdom from Batanes to Tawi Tawi.
But according to Scott “they are surely to be looked for along the western littoral of the archipelago, since that is the route by which Chinese knowledge of the Philippines grew over the next four centuries to culminate in the sailing directions in Chang Hsieh’s 1618 Tung Hsi Yang K’ao (Eastern and Western Sea Pilot) down the coast of Luzon via Mindoro, Iloilo, Dapitan and Maguindanao to the Moluccas.” [27]
And Scott chooses Mindoro to be Ma-i or Ma-yit for the following reasons, Scott wrote:
“There is no reason to doubt that Ma-i—or Ma-yit—is Mindoro, for Mait was the old name of the island when the Spaniards arrived, and that name is still known to its hill tribes and fishermen from neighboring islands.” [28]
Scott obviously is referring to the Mangyans when he said “that name (Mait) is still known to its hill tribes”; for Mait is still the name being use by the Mangyan tribes who inhabit the southern part of Mindoro when referring to the island.[29]
According to Antoon Postma, Mait is often mentioned in the ambahan (the Mangyan Heritage Center defines ambahan as a literary product and poetic expression of the Southern Mangyans of Mindoro) and there’s a coastal community in Bulalacao, Oriental Mindoro that is still being called Mait by the Southern Mangyans. [30]
One unverified account says “Mait” in the ambahan means “this earth, this place where we are living.” And that the river near Maujao is still being called by the Southern Mangyans as Mait River. It added further that the old folks of Aklan in Panay referred to Mindoro as the Island of Mait.[31]
Could it be that, the “old (fisher) folks of Aklan” is what Scott is talking about when he added “and fishermen from neighboring islands” ?
But when he said “for Mait was the old name of the island when the Spaniards arrived”, I hit a blank a wall because so far I have not read any material written by our former colonial master that refer to Mindoro as Mait.
Perhaps that is partly because I am a newbie when it comes to researching our nation’ past and partly because I had and can only read materials already translated in English and not those written in original Spanish. Prehispanic Source Materials was Scott’s doctoral dissertation so I didn’t know how a panel of imminent Filipino historians who I am sure have very inquisitive minds missed the fact that he didn’t gave a source; or perhaps allowed him not to give a source for a finding which is not of minor importance that is identifying Mindoro as Ma-i or Ma-yit.
But another good point that can be argued for Mindoro as being the location of this enigmatic polity Ma-i, came also from Scott; when he is surmising the chiefdoms mentioned in Chao Ju-Kua’s Chu Fan Chih and its possible locations, Scott wrote:
“Ma-i is obviously the most important: it is the only one referred to as a “country” and it had delivered trade wares to Canton 250 years before. It was an international entrepot well situated to control the flow of Chinese products into the archipelago and beyond; foreign vessels anchored at a designated waterfront, registered before transacting business, and transshipped their merchandise to local bottoms for resale in islands unknown to the Chinese. Whatever harbor princeling exercise authority in this port, he may have migrated there for that purpose: the Ma-i people in the Chu Fan Chih sound like new comers since they don’t know where the metal statues in the jungle come from.”[32]
Like the Ma-i polity mentioned in Chu Fan Chih, Mindoro is also well situated, it is in fact has a geo-strategic location being close to important sea routes and the island of Luzon. All sea vessels sailing from the North going to present day Southern Batangas, Southern Quezon, Marinduque, Romblon, Bicol Region , Masbate and farther down south to the rest of Eastern Visayas had to passed the Verde Island passage. The same way Mindoro Strait is the gateway to Palawan, Western Visayas and farther down south to Western Mindanao and Sulu Sea using the western route.
Mindoro’s geo-strategic location was not lost to the Moros who used it as a base when they conducted raids in Luzon and nearby settlements.[33] Even sea vessels passing near Mindoro’s strategic sea routes were not spared. It uses Mamburao as its base on the West Coast and Balete (now reduced to just a barangay in the town of Gloria) on the East Coast to control these sea routes.[34]
Such strategic positioning allowed Iranun raiders from Mamburao to capture a Manila-bound Chinese junk causing the galleon St. Joseph to leave Manila in 1770 with an incomplete cargo.[35]
It was not also lost to a modern military tacticians headed by General Douglas Mac Arthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the Far East during the Second World War, who used Mindoro as its intelligence, staging and supply base for the recapture of Luzon from the Japanese.[36]
While it is true that Mindoro is geo strategically located to be the medieval Ma-i polity, the evidence which was its potential archaeological sites were destroyed and looted by antique hunters.
Scott wrote:
“Contemporary looters from Mindoro report the removal of literally thousands of whole specimens (of Sung wares) from one site alone.”[37]
While according to Laura Lee Junker:
“Several heavily looted archaeological sites with Sung period (as well as later Yuan and Ming period) porcelains have been reported from the Northern Mindoro coast and were the focus of preliminary test pitting by Tenazas (1964). While much of the archaeological potential of this site has been destroyed by modern construction, the density and extensiveness of the archaeological remains tentatively support the identification of this region as the probable locust for the Ma-i polity. Again, the Chinese records and archaeological evidence show an interesting chronological disjunction. While Ma-i is most frequently mentioned early in the Sung period (around the late tenth century), archaeological evidence from Northern Mindoro suggests significant expansion of settlement and foreign trade in the region in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.” [38]
Not only did the archaeological evidence shows disjunction with the Chinese records, it also shows disjunction with the location of Mait being pointed out by the Southern Mangyans; which is on the Southeastern coast of Mindoro, not in the North coast.
But whether the disjunction of evidences weakened Mindoro’s claim to being the enigmatic Ma-i or not, the island’s importance as a trading partner especially Northern Mindoro, which the Chinese regularly calls on from the eleventh century to the sixteenth century can never be questioned. The only question is what polity was it among the Chinese transliterations, if it is not Ma-i? Could it be Chia-ma-yen, a transliteration of Kamangyan as Antoon Postma suggested?
There’s another polity in Chinese records that Scott assumes to be possibly Mindoro or Marinduque, this is the polity of Mao-li-wu also called Ho-mao-li.[39] According to Scott, this polity was represented by a Muslim named Tawnu Makaw and together with Luzon and envoys from Java presented tribute to China on October 17, 1405.[40]
But this was already during the Ming period, thus creating a more noticeable chronological disjunction between the archaeological evidence and the Chinese record; unless of course this polity was in another location in the island other than the one identified in Puerto Galera.
Another location in Mindoro that was reported to have been heavily looted by antique hunters was Ilin Island, an islet off the coast of San Jose which also appeared in Spanish records as was mentioned earlier.[41] The artifacts reportedly found in the island range from the Sung to late Ming period porcelains, Sawankhalok or Sukhotai porcelains, a Cham jar, very small pieces of gold, jewelries, coffins carved out of Mulawin logs and a Javanese jar.[42]
Most probably there are more sites in Mindoro where trade wares were found but not reported, or documented be it Chinese, Thai, Cham or Javanese artifacts. Sometimes Mangyans used these artifacts as trade articles to the low land settlers. My uncle who was an antique collector used to buy some of his collections from the Mangyans. These artifacts prove the existence of pre-Hispanic settlements in Mindoro that have links with various trade networks.
Sadly there are no longer archaeological researches regarding Mindoro’s pre-Hispanic past, perhaps because of lack of funding or Bathala forbid, interest. Later archaeological research and excavations were limited to Spanish era structures.
So perhaps the availability of funds in the near future would instigate a new round of archaeological research and excavations regarding the island’s pre-Hispanic past. But until then, scholars are reduced to speculations and guess works. Mindoro's pre-Hispanic past is an interesting area of research for archaeologists; let’s just hope like the thousands of looted artifacts on its soil, it’s not lost on them too.
References:
1. V. Schult, Mindoro: A Social History of a Philippine Island in the 20th Century (1991), p.20
2. http://www.eoearth.org/article/Mindoro_rain_forests
8. V. Schult, Mindoro: A Social History of a Philippine Island in the 20th Century (1991), p.21
9. Ibid
10. Ibid, p.13
11. Ibid, p.22
12. A. Postma, Mangyan Encounters: East and West (1570-1985), DIWA, special number, vol. 10 (Oct. 1985), p.6. as it appeared on V. Schult, Mindoro: A Social History of a Philippine Island in the 20th Century (1991), p.24
13. A. Postma, Historical Data on the Greater San Jose Parish of Occidental Mindoro (1983), p.1, p.7
14. W.H. Scott, Barangay: Sixteenth Century Philippine Culture and Society (1994), p.195
15. L. Lee Junker, Raiding, Trading and Feasting: The Political Economy of Philippine Chiefdoms (2000), p.111
16. http://www.thepirateking.com/historical/cannon_smoothbores_early.html
17. Ibid
18. V. Schult, Mindoro: A Social History of a Philippine Island in the 20th Century (1991), Divine Word Publications, p.23
19. Ibid, p.26
20. Ibid
21. Ibid, p.24
22. Ibid, p.28
23. Go Bon Juan, Ma’i in Chinese Records - Mindoro or Bai? An Examination of a Historical Puzzle, Philippine Studies vol. 53, no.1 (2005): 119–138
24. Rudy Candelario, Maikling Kasaysayan ng Occidental Mindoro (2000), p.6
25. W.H. Scott, Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History (1984), p.67
26. Ibid, p.71
27. Ibid, p.70
28. Ibid
29. http://www.mangyan.org/tribal/index.asp
30. Rudy Candelario, Maikling Kasaysayan ng Occidental Mindoro (2000), p.5
31. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulalacao,_Oriental_Mindoro
32. W.H. Scott, Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History (1984), p.71
33. V. Schult, Mindoro: A Social History of a Philippine Island in the 20th Century (1991), p.28
34. Ibid, p.29
35. William Henry Scott, Slavery in the Spanish Philippines, page 57
36. Rodolfo Meim Acebes, Mindoro sa Panahon ng Digmaan 1941-1945 (2008)
37. W.H. Scott, Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History (1984), p.23
38. L. Lee Junker, Raiding, Trading and Feasting: The Political Economy of Philippine Chiefdoms (2000),p.99
39. W.H. Scott, Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History (1984), p.75
40. Ibid
41. History Tour 2009 Proceedings (2010), an annual activity of Occidental Mindoro History Team.
42. Interbyu kay Benjamin Cecil Tordesillas, Jr. (Sta. Teresa, Magsaysay, Occ. Mindoro – Dec. 30, 2009) by Occidental Mindoro History Team
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