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THE ANCIENT TRADING HARBOR OF BUTUAN

By Greg Hontiveros

At the Periphery of Asian Empires The rise of Butuan as a trading port coincided with the zenith of the Sri Vijayan Empire (700-1377 AD) in Palembang, Sumatra, the Kingdom of Champa (700-900 AD) in the central coast of Vietnam, and the Sung Dynasty (960-1279 AD) in Imperial China. It is this East Asian trading constellation that situates and explains Butuans role in the buying and selling of products, and as a trading intermediary with the neighboring tribal communities. Ironically, the trading port of Butuan was located at the periphery of the Asian empires, not far from the rim of the Pacific Ocean, the worlds largest expanse of open water. Still, this unfavorable geographic factor was no constraint for its growth at this period of its history. The Sri Vijayan Empire rose and ebbed between 700 A.D. until 1377 A.D. It was based in Palembang, Sumatra and had effective control over the Malay Peninsula and Borneo, Sumatra and Java. Thus, it dominated the strategic Strait of Malacca and therefore had its sway over trade coming from India, Persia and Arabia. Sri Vijayan merchants had extensive trade links with China and India. Its power began to ebb when the Cholas of India destroyed parts of Sri Vijaya, thus allowing the king of East Java, Airlangga, to regain his power. There was a slow decline until the Javan kingdoms of Singosari and Majapahit eclipsed the Sri Vijayan empire in 1377. Sri Vijaya had a strong Hindu and Buddhist influence on its culture. The Kingdom of Champa ruled much of what is now Vietnam. The Chams, who were a seafaring people of Indonesian stock, ruled the central and southern coast of Vietnam. Since the second century A.D., their kingdom adopted Indian culture and religion, and had successfully fended off Chinas attempts to subjugate them. From 700 to 900 A.D. their capital was at Indrapura (Tra Kieu) near Da Nang, but due to the expansion of the Vietnamese state of Annam, they moved south to Vijaya, near Qui Nhon in the 11th century. The Kingdom of Champa ruled much of what is now Vietnam. In the 12th and 13th centuries, they were embroiled in a war with the Khmers of Cambodia, and by 1470, the kingdom of Champa was conquered by the Vietnamese.

The Sung Dynasty was ascendant in China between 960 and 1279 A.D. The whole Chinese Empire finally fell to the Mongols in 1279. The Sung period is usually subdivided into the Northern Sung (960-1126), when the capital was situated at Kaifeng, and the Southern Sung (1127-1279), when the capital was at Hangzhou and the dynasty controlled only South China. Butuan as a trading port reached its zenith during the Northern Sung period. It is well to remember too that the golden age of the Chinese maritime trading expansion to Asia and Africa, and its accompanying improvements in shipbuilding technology and navigation skills, started in the later Southern Sung period. Apart from the economic impact brought about by the China trade, Butuan was also influenced at a much deeper cultural level by the Indian civilization. Indian influence was not direct, but was mediated by the Hinduized civilizations of the Sri-Vijayan Empire based in Sumatra (700-1377 A.D.) and the Madjapahit Empire in Java (12921478 A.D.). The late John Burton commented on the impact of Indic influence on the Philippine archipelago. He was careful to define the Indic area of influence as a vast domain affected by the ancient culture of the Indian civilization that stretched from India to insular Southeast Asia. It is believed that both the Sri-Vijayan and Madjapahit Empires were the major carriers of Indic influence in the Philippine archipelago. The Indian cultural influences permeate our world-view, and this is easily seen in much of some of the words used in our belief-systems, like guro (teacher), budhi (conscience), Bathala (god), diwata (worship), etc. The artifacts of Hindu provenance which were discovered in Butuan and its environs provide a material basis for our contention that the dynamic interaction among Asian communities were also occasions for cultural cross-fertilization. Two objects have become popular icons of Butuans prehistory: the balanghai boat and the Golden Tara. They have become so ubiquitous in many local cultural and historical affairs that it is easy to surmise that most people hereabouts have a basic idea of its meaning. But nothing could be further than the truth. Thus it needs a leap of knowledge and imagination to fully grasp the meaning and implication of these famous icons. Knowing what they really symbolize will enrich our regard for our local culture and will introduce us into a very fascinating aspect of our past. The most fascinating object that serves as a material evidence of Indic influence is the famous Golden Tara of Agusan which is now displayed at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. It was found in 1917 by a Manobo woman along the banks of Wawa River, not far from its confluence with Agusan River, in Esperanza, Agusan del Sur. H. Otley Beyer reportedly exerted efforts to purchase the image for the Philippine National Museum but failed. Eventually, three Americans living in the Philippines at the time Faye-Cooper Cole who was Southeast Asian curator of the Field Museum, Shaler Matthews of the University of Chicago, and Mrs. Leonard Wood, wife of the governorgeneral managed to raise the needed funds. The administration of Governor-General Leonard Wood arranged for its transfer to Chicago in 1922. The gold image was cast in 21-karat gold, weighs nearly 4 pounds, and measures around 8 inches in height.

As to its provenance, there were two contending views. The late H. Otley Beyer viewed it as a Hindu goddess, a Philippine copy of the Ngandjuk image of the Madjapahit Empire, following the suggestion of F.K. Bosch. Prof. Juan Francisco, an honorary curator for Indologic Studies at the National Museum, took a differing view and suggested that the image is a goddess of the Buddhist pantheon, in the Mahayana group. It is related to the concept of a female Boddhisattva and at the same time the counterpart of the Hindu goddess Sakti as a Tara, or wife, of a Buddhist god. This is a peculiar development of Buddhism in Southeast Asia ... As to the date of the statue, its probable connection with the Tantric development of Buddhism in Southeast Asia would put it in the late 13th or early 14th centuries A.D., and the dating is confirmed by Mr. P.R. Srinivasan." While not part of the recent finds in Butuan, the Golden Tara is indicative of the level of artistry reached by local gold artisans. As to its significance, Dr. Francisco stated "that in its early history, Philippine art revealed a certain degree of sophistication as evidenced by this priceless gold image - if, be it repeated, it is finally established as representative of pre-European Philippine art. A mysterious object found in burial coffins in 1976 was a silver paleograph, a strip of silver metal measuring 17.8 centimeters with a varying width of 1.3 centimeters on which are inscribed 22 ancient ideograms. It is not related to any known ancient Philippine script. Archaeologist Jesus T. Peralta explained: Comparisons with ancient scripts of southeast Asia of approximately the same period suggested affinity with a Javanese type of syllabary. His opinion was buttressed by a verification made by Dr. Ben Bronson of the Chicago Field Museum with Mr. Boechari of Indonesia who was the foremost paleographer in Southeast Asia at the time. Peralta wrote further, citing Boecharis reply to Bronsons query: The Javanese script was indeed similar to a Javanese script that had been in use from the 12th to the 15th century. The characters displayed a Hindu-Buddhistic influence, probably the earliest in the Philippines. The silver paleograph provides a tremendous implication on the extensive linkages of various communities in insular Southeast Asia. Peraltas view on the matter is instructive: The implication suggested by the discovery of the script is clear when interrelated with the other finds recovered through systematic archaeology in northeastern Mindanao, specifically the sea-going plank boats in the southern Philippines, and the tradeware that could be dated to even as early as the 10th century. A widespread and systematic trade had prevailed then among the peoples of island Southeast Asia, thus connecting, directly or indirectly, the southern part of the Philippines with the major islands of Indonesia at the very least. Yet another very fascinating artifact that was discovered which have implications for the trading game is a small round seal made from rhinoceros ivory on which a few alphabets of Sanskrit origin could still be discerned as the rest were worn-out due to constant use. The ivory seal has its modern counterpart in the rubber stamp that we use to mark our official transactions. The syllables that the expert eye of J.D. Casparis (a Dutch scholar in ancient Indonesian scripts) has decoded spells But-wan, in ancient Javanese or Early Kawi script that was in use in a wide area stretching from Bali,

Indonesia to Thailand and Champa (present-day Vietnam). This ivory seal which is displayed at the Butuan Regional Museum further confirms Butuan as an important trading port whose official seal proudly marked the origin of the goods it produced and exported. The Allure of Gold Butuan as a trading port derived its advantage from a strategic position where it can marshal natural resources in this part of the Philippines. Anthropologist Margarita R. Cembrano, who delved deeply on the ethno-archaeology of Butuan, explains this advantage: The growth of Butuan as a major trading center from the tenth to the twelfth centuries not only reflects its place in regional commerce, but more importantly suggests a high level of economic and political integration. In commanding the resources of both the Mindanao interior through the Agusan River and its northeast coast, as well as those of nearby islands, Butuan functioned as a collector and distributor of commodities. Marine and forest products such as pearls, tortoise shells, tripang (Holothuria sp.), mother-of-pearl, medicinal and aromatic products, beeswax, resin, camphor, etc. were exchanged for foreign products. Local and short-distance trade might also include dried fish, fish paste, salt, rice and other carbohydrate staples (banana, rootcrops, and sago), and manufactured products like pottery, textiles, mats, gold ornaments, metal (lead, iron, bronze, etc.) implements, reworked glass beads, and even human cargo slaves. Given its position as a thriving trading port, Butuan must have reached a level of urbanity that a concentration of people, business transactions and trading boats contributed to its community life. Burton was of the belief that the demographic composition of pre-Hispanic Butuan was varied: Our hypothesis is that Butuan and outlying areas were inhabited by peoples of different origin, that is, they were heterogeneous groups which might have migrated from the Visayas and other parts of Mindanao and settled in Butuan, mainly due to the existence of a thriving trade and commerce and the good prospects of the place. An important question has always been raised about the basis for the growth and development of the trading settlement of Butuan. Why precisely the deltaic wetlands of Butuan and not some other place? Butuans preeminence could be the result of the presence of gold. Archaeologist Wilfredo P. Ronquillo of the National Museum believes that metal working was a specialty of the Butuan area" and also glass bead working and reworking. He cited as material evidence the more than 100 intact clay crucibles; worked stone and clay gold-melting discs; gold-smithing wooden tools shaped as pincers, pick and knives; iron, bronze, lead and gold objects; lead wastes and iron slags; and worked and reworked gold fragments which were discovered. The presence of a large number of clay crucibles in one place suggests an ancient industrial site where goldsmithing and metal-working huts abound. Ronquillo describes two types of crucibles: Type I crucibles were probably employed for bronze and iron melting, while the Type II examples were probably for gold smithing. Type II crucibles in fact are always found associated with gold dust or fragments.

To Ronquillo, gold may have been one of the main reasons for the large protohistoric population center in Butuan. That it was available in fairly large quantities is shown by the recent gold finds. Present-day gold panners in Butuan are finding seemingly unlimited quantities of gold both worked and unworked. Various proofs of gold items displayed the glory of Butuans gold industry: the Golden Tara of Agusan, the various items at Central Banks pre-Hispanic gold collection (which, together with the Surigao del Sur finds, comprise some 70% of the Central Bank collection, according to Ramon Villegas, a top-notch jeweler and historian), and those of private collectors. The final tribute mission to China in 1011 indicated that the Butuan emissaries presented to the Emperor a gold tablet on which was written a message from the king of Butuan who had an Indianized title of Sri Bata Shaja. It would be a tremendous contribution to an understanding of our past if one day Chinese scholars could unearth this particular item from the imperial trove and a translation of the message is made. The late John Burton made an amazing insight on the tales of Marco Polo: When Marco Polo began his homeward voyage from China to Venice in 1295, he made a special paragraph in his writings which must have referred to the Philippines. He said that 7,400 islands lay to the east of China and were fully populated. They abounded in timber and spices and traded these products with one another. He then made particular reference to a place rich in gold, washed down to the seashore by mighty rivers. So big were the nuggets, he said, that by merely strolling in the sand one would kick them over with his feet. Compare that with Pigafettas 1521 description of the realm of the king of Butuan: In the island of that king who came to the ship are mines of gold, which is found by digging from the earth pieces as large as walnuts and eggs. And all the vessels he uses are likewise of gold, as are also some parts of his house, which was well fitted in the fashion of the country. And he was the most handsome person whom we saw among those peoples. He had very black hair to his shoulders, with a silk cloth on his head, and two large gold rings hanging from his ears. He wore a cotton cloth, embroidered with silk, which covered him from his waist to his knees. At his side he had a dagger, with a long handle, and all of gold, the sheath of which was of carved wood. Withal he wore on his person perfumes of storax and benzoin. He was tawny and painted all over. His island is called Butuan and Calaghan. And when the two kings wish to visit each other, they go hunting on the island where we were. Of these kings, the aforesaid painted one is named Raia Calambu, and the other Raia Siaiu. While these were tall tales as any tale of gold would be, the astonishing gold artifacts in the archaeological digs basically confirmed the truth of their claim. The quantity and the level of sophistication of Butuan gold and similar finds in the neighboring areas of Surigao and Tandag remains very much a mystery. Ramon N. Villegas, a historian and an expert in Philippine jewelry tradition, has reached a similar conclusion with that of Ronquillo: Archaeological and historical evidence indicate that gold was a significant feature that attracted foreign trade to the Philippines, despite its

geographical distance from the main East-West trade routes. At the same time, the metal must have permitted the ancient Filipinos, particularly those who controlled or had access to gold resources, to be in a favorable position in exchange transactions. In this archipelago, the quest for gold, which began in Mesopotamia thousands of years earlier, literally reached the Far East. The original impetus for the gold trade may have come from the direction of India. To Villegas, gold may have stimulated Indian-Southeast Asian trade in the last centuries BC, following the cut-off of India from her traditional sourcesThe shortage of the metal in the subcontinent was further exacerbated with the prohibition of its export to India from Roman territory by Emperor Vespasian in 69-70 ADIn the light of the archaeological evidence, the Indianization of Southeast Asia and the trade in metals intensified simultaneously. Whether Indian voyagers or Nusantao sailing-traders initiated this exchange is perhaps a moot point. Whatever the case, culture exchange must have primarily involved metal-technology transfer. West Asia gained access to copper and tin and the knowledge of working bronze, while East Asia learned the mining of gold and iron for export and local consumption. The adoption by Southeast Asia of religious, philosophical and political ideas from India and West Asia, must have occurred only later, and as a consequence of this economic exchange. In a business shrouded in mystery, Villegas, the jewelry expert, posed these questions: If they were made locally, what brought about their manufacture? What external forces influenced goldworking and what internal factors motivated its development? The influences ranged from West Asian to the ancient Etruscans, but these only added to the unfathomable mystery. Whoever they were, they enriched Philippine jewelry art by introducing the skill of granulation. The skill was developed by the Classic Filipinos to an extent rivaled only by the ancient Etruscans in Europe. Villegas concludes: Northeastern Mindanao, the main gold-producing center then, also seems to be the stylistic center. The tremendous presence of gold was observed well into the early Spanish colonial period, as recorded by Spanish chroniclers and missionaries. Fray Luis de Jesus in his 1624 history of the Recollect mission in the Philippines, noted one practice where a death mask was used by the natives, and material evidence for this could be seen in the exhibit of the Butuan Regional Museum: After days of mourning had been completed, they covered the eyes and mouth of the corpse with sheets of gold.

Apart, of course, from gold and other export products mentioned above, there is an item that was produced and traded in Butuan, but was rarely mentioned musk oil from the civet cat. The earliest history about the Philippine islands (Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas) was written by Antonio de Morga in 1602, and in it he mentioned the following trade which may have a provenance long before the arrival of the Spaniards: In the province and river of Butuan which is pacified and assigned to Spaniards, and is located in the island of Mindanao the natives practice another industry which is very useful. As they possess many civet cats, although smaller than those of Guinea, they make use of the civet and trade it. This they do easily, for, when the moon is in the crescent, they hunt the cats with nets, and capture many of them. Then when they have obtained the civet, they loose the cats. They also capture and cage some of them, which are sold in the islands at very low prices. In his annotation to Morgas work, Jose Rizal viewed this long-gone industry from the vantage point of his time in the late 19th century: This industry must now be forgotten, for it is never heard of. Another popular export item is beeswax which was plentiful in our tropical isles. The journalist and pre-Hispanic historian E.P. Patanne explains one important use of this item in the metal industries in China and other Asian kingdoms: Beeswax was a necessary ingredient in the casting of bronze weapons and implements, where the soft material was molded into the shape of a desired object and the model covered with clay. The clay envelope is baked and the wax is lost. Into the clay mold was then poured molten metal. This is the lost wax (cire perdue) method of casting. This aspect of our pre-Hispanic past was echoed in the remark of Datu Silongan in 1597 when he hesitated at the last moment to consent to converting to Christianity by offering instead the worldly goods that made Butuan a trading success some five centuries earlier. On Silongans nod lay the success of the evangelization process for the first Church in Mindanao. Fr. Francisco Combes, SJ, author of the first history book on Mindanao and Sulu in 1667, preserved for posterity this revealing encounter: Chief Silongan, who belonged to the leading elite of those islands, came to them every day and with increasing insistence said to them: Please, tell me, Father, what you want. Do you want gold? Or civet? Or wax? And because the missionaries always said no in spite of so many offerings inspired by love and noble hospitality, the people did not know what to do. The Nanhai Trading Web The impetus of dynamic trading was fueled by the huge China market, and we and our neighbors had a stake in exporting goods, in return received items, much advanced during those times, from the Chinese. Really, we can see a lot of historical parallels at the present time. There are two artifacts which prove the mutual trading links between Butuan and some Asian kingdoms: the balanghai boat relics and the Chinese ceramics. The former proves beyond doubt that the South China Sea was not an obstacle but a maritime

highway that linked many islands of Southeast Asia with its giant neighbor. The latter, having been found in plenty in Butuan, proves that goods were exchanged and human interactions were stimulated. Perhaps the most important piece of tradeware that provide the precise historical eras and the span of the trading web in Asia are the Chinese ceramics. And nowhere in the Philippines can one find the greatest number of Sung Dynasty ceramics (10th 12th centuries AD) than in Butuan. Other places in the country showed voluminous finds that date back to the Ming dynasty in the 14th-15th centuries AD. Rita C. Tan, an expert in Oriental ceramics, points to the Northern Sung period of Chinese history as the time when dynamic trading placed Butuan in the galaxy of trading ports that regularly received valuable trade goods from China in ample quantities: The ample quantity of Guangdong ceramics excavated in Butuan during the past decade should move that date at least two hundred years earlier. Butuan must have been a big market for Chinese ceramics in the Northern Sung period when Guangzhou [Canton] was the busiest port That both Guangdong and Fujian ceramics have been excavated in profuse quantity in the Philippines and other Malay archaeological sites but appear rarely in the Song tomb sites in China is testimony that they were produced chiefly for exportDuring his visits to the Philippines in recent years, Feng Xian Meng [a Chinese ceramics expert] was overwhelmed by the great diversity of South China wares he encounteredThe fact that the Philippines is a great repository of Chinese ceramics is witness to the once voluminous trade between the Philippines and China in the pre-colonial period. The study of Oriental ceramics, more particularly the Guangdong tradewares from China, is very significant to our prehistory as they provide a strong material evidence for the extensive trading networks throughout Asia. The study of ceramics in southern China has traced them to the specific kilns in the Guangdong and Fujian provinces that originally produced them and the particular years of the Northern Sung period. Peraltas statement was buttressed by the observation of Ronquillo when the latter noted the significance of the Butuan finds in moving back by more than a century the trading era with the discovery of Yueh and Yueh-type wares, and its profound implications in Philippine archaeology: Prior to the discovery of Chinese ceramics at Butuan City, the oldest tradewares known in the Philippines dated to the Song Dynasty (AD 960-1270). The recovery of Yue, Yue-type and especially Guangdong wares from the midden layer of the Butuan sites is significant since it indicates earlier trading with China and probably with other Southeast Asian countries, maybe as early as the Five Dynasties (AD 907-960). So extensive was Butuans trading links with her Asian neighbors that a quantitative survey of the ceramics discovered (on a scale from the most numerous) as summarized by Margarita R. Cembrano, would reveal the following: Chinese (10th - 15th centuries AD), Khmer/Cambodian (9th - 10th centuries AD), Thai (14th 15th centuries AD), pre-Thai Satingpra (900 1100 AD), Haripunjaya (800 900 AD), pre-trade Vietnamese (11th 13th centuries AD), and Persian (9th 10th centuries AD).

The First Recorded Trade Mission The material evidence found on the ground begged for a documentary proof that would make sense of the finds and provide a three-dimensional view of life a thousand years ago. This was a challenge that archaeologists and historians tried to tackle with reference to pre-colonial studies. As everyone knows, ancient Filipinos may have their alphabet, but whatever writings there were have now been destroyed by the elements as they were written on a fragile medium of wood and leaf. The other more reliable source were documents written by court scribes of nearby kingdoms with a strong sense of history. China, being one of oldest civilizations, certainly fits the bill. So it was no surprise that one of the most eminent historians of Philippine pre-colonial history expanded his search on pre-colonial Philippines in documents of the ancient Chinese Empire. William Henry Scott made a significant contribution toward this end when he translated various annals of Chinas ruling dynasties that dealt with the tribute/trade missions coming from the Philippine islands, and compiled them in the book, Filipinos in China Before 1500. Scott, an Episcopalian missionary who eventually became a preeminent expert on pre-colonial Philippines, was peculiarly suited to the study of the Chinese documents as he specialized in Chinese language in Yale and Harvard during his undergraduate years and from which he received scholarly awards. The earliest mention of any toponym or place-name in the Philippine archipelago in a written document was about Ma-i and Butuan during the Sung Dynasty period. The former place-name (historians identified it to be either the present-day Mindoro or the area around Manila Bay) has been lost in the mists of time, but Butuan continues to be in use till today. To properly understand the function of tribute missions, Cynthia Ongpin-Valdes, president of the Oriental Ceramics Society of the Philippines, explains: A tribute mission was the Chinese idea of a proper diplomatic approach. China, which was then called the Middle Kingdom, believed itself to be the center of the universe. All foreigners from underdeveloped states and tribes which were historically her neighbors were considered under China and called barbarians. They were required to pay tribute while the Chinese court gave gifts in exchange. The elaborate tribute-gift exchange under which guise official trade operated became an important part of Chinas economy. Tributary status carried many advantages and was much sought after, although a parallel trade activity was allowed to operate in the hands of private merchants. Together, tributary and private trade comprised the profitable Nanhai (Southern Ocean) trade. W.H. Scott wrote that the first Philippine tribute mission to China appears to have come from Butuan on 17 March 1001.

While other settlements in the country like Sulu and Manila would figure in Chinese documents as major traders to the empire during the Ming Dynasty, the Butuan mission antedated them by almost 400 years. The Song Shi (Sung Dynasty history) noted the various Butuan tribute/trade missions from 1001 to 1011 AD. The earliest entry described the distant land of Butuan, thus: Butuan is in the sea. It has had mutual relations with Champa, but not much communication with China. It is interesting to note that the data on Butuan are included in the chapter on the kingdom of Champa, a thriving major seaport along the coastline of central Vietnam which faces the Philippines. Champa was traditionally a trading middleman for goods coming from Arabia, India, and Southeast Asia to the huge China market for centuries. The Song Shi (Song Hui Yao Ji Gao, vol. 197) proceeded to recount that in October 1003, Butuans King Qi-ling sent two of his ministers, Li-yi-han and Jia-mi-nan, as emissaries to present a tribute of native products and red parrots. By February 1004, the Emperors messengers fetched the Butuan envoys to witness the New Year Festival in the night with their feast and lanterns. On this occasion, the Emperor gifted them with strings of cash. By April of the same year, the envoys formally presented their tribute of native products. It appears that by October or November, a Chinese official complained: The Butuan envoys trade for a lot of Chinese goods, gold and silver, to take back to their country, and they also take all kinds of flags and pennons. People from distant lands dont understand rules and regulations. I would therefore recommend that new restrictions be imposed to prohibit their dealing directly in the market place, and making private contracts. While this particular embassy did not result in the establishment of direct trading, this did not dissuade Butuan from making a determined bid to penetrate the China market. In July or August of 1007, King Qi-ling sent another embassy led by Yi-xu-han who brought tortoise shell, camphor, dai-branches[?], cloves, mother-of-cloves and native products. The Emperors court presented them caps, belts and robes, dishes and presents, and strings of cash, and provided with escorts. Yi-xu-han presented to the court a month later a petition asking for equal treatment and favors bestowed on the envoy of the kingdom of Champa. An official commented that Butuan is beneath Champa. If this rank is granted, I fear there will be no more chiefs standards left. I would recommend instead that they be given five small vari-colored flags. And this was done. The Song Shi account finally recorded a breakthrough in March 1011 when a new Butuan ruler with an impressive Indianized title, Xi-li-ba-da-sha-zhi [Sri Bata Shaja], sent his envoy Li-gan-xie, to present a memorial engraved on a gold tablet, and gifts of cloves, white Barros camphor, tortoise shell and red parrots. A black slave girl was also given, but the Emperor took pity on her in these strange surroundings, and he ordered that she be sent back. By July, Li-gan-xie was granted a title of Gently Reconciling General, together with two envoys from San-ma-lan and Pu-po-luo, all described as small countries in the sea. By the next month, the Song Shi recorded the envoys sent up a

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memorial exalting their countries and requesting flags, pennons and armor to honor distant lands. They were granted. What perhaps was the principal motive behind Butuans assiduous intention to trade directly with China. The reply is simply one of economic advantage. It was probably far more advantageous to buy and sell goods with the Chinese than to continue the centuries-old pattern of leaving the middleman function to the kingdom of Champa. To Scott, the significance of the Butuan missions could be summed up as patent attempts to bypass Champa middlemen and were probably not repeated because they were successful, just as the Butuan-Champa trade itself was probably successful in bypassing Sri-Vijaya controls south of Borneo. Indeed, the kingdom of Champa had a far longer history of direct trading with China, thus various smaller trading localities had to channel their goods through Champa. For a long while there was no alternative. While it is not exactly clear how Butuan related with the powerful Sri Vijayan empire, the evidence is that Butuan served a useful role of bringing to Champa, and ultimately to the Chinese market, goods coming from the fabled Spice Islands - the Moluccas - without passing through Sri Vijayan controlled sea-lanes and large islands like Borneo. This much is clear when looking at the map of Southeast Asia: the only route from the Moluccas that would evade control from Sri Vijaya would be a northward one to Mindanao. From Butuan, the route to Champa would generally be on a westward course. And this would mean that long before the Europeans ever heard of the fabled Spice Islands, Butuan had already been the route of spices to the China market. This Sung Dynasty document and the archaeological discoveries are incontrovertible material evidences of the Butuan trading port as part of the constellation of the Nanhai (southern seas) trading web. Further, it lays to rest doubts about the Butuan found in the Song Shi and a similar place in the Philippines. Ongpin-Valdes makes this assessment: Scotts important work as well as the tremendous amounts of trade ceramics found in Butuan indicate evidences of the early relationship between China and the Philippines, specifically Butuan. There is emerging evidence that Butuan was an important trade center from the 9th to the 10th centuries which was a period of unusual energy and expansion in Southeast Asia. One very intriguing aspect that these evidences have raised is that the Butuan mission antedated the rise of China as Asias preeminent maritime power during the Southern Song period (1126-1279). Here again is Ongpin-Valdes: With rapid advances in shipbuilding and navigation, the Chinese themselves initiated a more direct route to the Nanhai(and) fully established its boat-building industry in the dockyards of Quanzhou in Fujian province. From this time on, the huge junks of Chinas new merchant marine ruled the seas and could sail directly to the sources of spices and medicinals in the Nanhai.

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The Fateful 13th Century Whatever happened to the ancient trading port of Butuan, and how did its ruling class cope with its changing fortunes? It seemed that after the thirteenth century AD, there was shift in trading patterns and Butuan began to be eclipsed by other pre-Hispanic trading ports like Sulu and Manila. It still remains a mystery as to why Butuan declined as a trading port. However, scholarly studies provide us with the most likely possibilities and even the approximate dates of its long slow decline. Archaeology, linguistics and historical documents provide the sources of data on the changing fortunes of our pre-Hispanic past. The decline was not sudden. All indications show that even during the early period of the Ming Dynasty in China (1368-1644) and the Madjapahit Empire in Indonesia (1300-1520), trading continued as shown by the discovery of numerous Chinese ceramics dating to the Ming period. Scholars continue to investigate the likelihood of a gold trade from Butuan with the Madjapahit Empire. But other Philippine trading centers like Sulu, Maguindanao, Cebu, and Manila gradually eclipsed Butuan towards the dawn of the Spanish colonial era. Traces of Butuans ancient links with its successor, Sulu, were still observed by the early Spanish chroniclers in the Philippines during the first century of colonization. So it is to be noted with great significance, therefore, that present-day efforts at reaching out across the chasm of religious and economic differences between the Christian and Muslim communities in Mindanao would take satisfaction in the fact that underlying the more recent politico-religious differences is an even more ancient ethnic linkage that binds Sulu and Butuan. Very early in the Spanish colonial era, the Jesuit missionary Francisco Combes wrote the Historia de las Islas de Mindanao, Jolo y sus adyacentes (1667). During his time, Combes acted as an ambassador of the Spanish governor-general to the courts of the kings of Sulu and to Sultan Kudarat of Maguindanao. Combes would write about Butuan as an ancient homeland of Sulus rulers, as gleaned from his conversations with Rajah Bongsu and his court: the rulers and nobility of Jolo and Basilan recognize as the place of their origin the village of Butuan (which, although it is located in this island, is within the pale of the Visayan nation) on the northern side, in sight of the island of Bool, islands which are in the same stage of civilization. Therefore, that village can glory at having given kings and nobility to these nations. Combes would cite the uncle of Rajah Bongsu Paguian Tindig as one Sulu ruler who originally came from Butuan. Paguian Tindig was a tragic figure who fell from power despite his attempt to secure support from the Spanish colonizers against his rivals. From the accounts of Rajah Bongsu, as narrated to Combes, Paguian Tindig comes off as a tragic figure. He migrated to Sulu after a conflict with his brother in

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Butuan; Combes explained Paguian Tindigs decision to leave as the dissensions of two brothers [that] obliged the less powerful to seek, by way of exile, a path to liberty which oppression denied him. With his cousin, Adasaolan, and some loyal followers, he migrated to Basilan and Sulu. Adasaolan remained in Basilan and eventually married the daughter of Dimasangkay, the ruler of Maguindanao. Paguian Tindig, through his ruling kin, would eventually become the ruler of Sulu. Later, the two cousins would be embroiled in a deadly rivalry, with Adasaolan firmly supported by the Maguindanao royalty, among whom was Imbog, the mother of Sultan Kudarat and a native of Jolo. Paguian Tindig, feeling that he was at a strategic disadvantage, sought an alliance with the Spanish colonial government in Manila. His absence in Jolo, however, gave his rivals the opportunity to conspire and to consolidate their hold, and despite the military support that the Spaniards provided for his trip home, he was foolhardy enough to go far ahead of the protective fleet, and was slain in the ensuing fight upon his arrival in Jolo. During the first century of Spanish rule, a lot of written evidence can be gleaned on the relationship of Butuan and Sulu. Combes historical study is very instructive in this regard. Rajah Bongsu, and before him Paguian Tindig, had Butuan roots. It is important, then, to verify their stature in the whole constellation of the Sulu Sultanate. Cesar Adib Majul, an eminent authority on the history of Filipino Muslims, would describe these two personages based on the tarsila (royal genealogy) of the Sultanate of Sulu: (Sultan) Batara Shah Tengah was probably the Paguian Tindig mentioned by Francisco Combes. The more correct form would be Pangiran TengahThe above tale is quite credible, and the identification of Batara Sha Tengah with Paguian Tindig is reasonableCombes claimed that Pangiran Tengah paid tribute to the Spanish government and, since the Sulu ruler once paid tribute in 1596, it can be reasonably argued that Batara Shah Tengah had ruled at least between 1596 to 1608. This span of time coincides with Buisans hegemony in Maguindanao and Buisan is supposed, according to Combes, to have helped defeat Pangiran Tengah. Sultan Batara Shah Tengah, or Paguian Tindig, ruled at about the time when the Jesuit missionary Valerio Ledesma entered Butuan in November 1596 to found the first church in Mindanao and whose first convert were the datus Elian, Osol and Silongan. There is an intriguing oral history in Butuan of the dissension of two brothers, one of whom left for Sulu and eventually became a strict Muslim, and another became a Catholic convert in the early days of Spanish rule. Of Rajah Bongsu, Majul identifies him as the ninth Sultan, Muwalil Wasit, in the tarsila. He started his rule as a young man and was probably the Sulu ruler in 1614 who was described by Dutch officials who saw him as a young man. One of his daughters married Sultan Qudarat of Maguindanao; while another daughter married Balatamay (Baratamay), rule of Buayan in 1657. Around 1650, his son Pangiran Bakhtiar (Bactial) took over the affairs of the sultanate. He was probably still alive in 1662, since Combes writing around this time referred to him as the old king in such a manner suggesting he was still alive. The rule of Rajah Bongsu can thus be established to have taken place from around 1610 to 1650.

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Professor Nagasura T. Madale cites the Tarsilah Brunei, particularly during the reign of Sultan Bolkiah (1485-1524) and Sultan Muhammad Hasan (1582-1598), from which Madale inferred that Sultan Muhammad Hasan married a daughter of a Bisaya, Tuanbaloka (from Butuan) and his son, Raja Bongsu was installed as ruler of Sulu (1612). If this is true, then there is a direct link between Sulu aristocracy with Maguindanao and the people in central Mindanao called Butuanen. This again provides data on the inter-linkages of the various tribal principalities in the islands of Mindanao and Borneo as shown in the lineage of Rajah Bongsu. Around a hundred years later, in 1738, the Franciscan Fr. Juan Francisco de San Antonio in his Cronicas echoed the same observation on the native peoples of Mindanao and their customs. While he acknowledged the common origin of the rulers of Butuan and Sulu, he was unsparing in his denunciation of the Tausugs who were Muslims, a prejudice which finds an echo in present-day attitudes: The Butuans, worthy of eternal memory and thanks, as they were the first among whom the Catholic arms found shelter, come down from the village and river of Butuan, the coast which looks to the north from Mindanao. It was the first soil where the famous Magallanes planted the domination of Jesus Christ and that of our Catholic king. All these, perchance, have the same origin as the Visayans and Pintados, because of their great nearness to them. But they are the origin of the best blood and nobility of the Basilans and Joloans, for the king of Xolo even confessed that he was a Butuan. But he gives the lie to that by his barbarous procedure, for he has been the scourge most disturbing to these islands; while the Butuans have remained ever faithful, and have been vassals to God and to our Catholic monarch, following the example of the Caragas throughout. A Common Tongue The most convincing scientific proof of this ancient ethnic linkage between Butuan and Sulu is the similarity in language of Tausug and Butuanon. In the past, people from both places were astounded by the language similarity despite some 500 miles of water and the various intervening tribal groups that separates them. It was the work of A. Kemp Pallesen, Culture Contact and Language Convergence (1985), that finally presented detailed scientific underpinnings to those observations. However, there were earlier scholarly observations that point to the same view. Alexander Spoehr confirmed, in noting similar works by other linguists, that on the basis of present knowledge, the Tausug language is most closely related to the southern Visayan on the north coast of Mindanao (Conklin 1955; Chretien 1963). The similarity of Tausug to the Visayan languages has been noted by observers as far back as the 18 th century (Dalrymple 1808; Hunt 1837; Belcher 1848; Baranera 1899; Orosa 1923). Keifer (1969) further notes that Tausug does not exhibit significant dialectical variation. This leads to the conclusion that Tausug is an intrusive language in Sulu. What accounted for this significant historic shift from Butuan to Sulu? Spoehr opines: The most reasonable hypothesis is that Tausug moved into Jolo from the north,

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possibly attracted by the early trade with China, and that through superior organizational skill and warlike ability established themselves as the dominant group. Politics, trade and warfare have long been Tausug specialties. Pallesen notes that the language to which Tausug is most closely related is Butuanon, the language of an estuarine group located at the mouth of the Agusan River. At the present time Butuanon is spoken in an area extending little more than 20 km from Butuan City. The vocabularies of these two languages, Tausug and Butuanon, are 77% cognate on a modified Swadesh 100-meaning list (Swadesh 1955). A cognacy of 80% (the figure above, adjusted by 3% for convergence) represents a separation between Tausug and Butuanon of 7-8 centuries. Tausug and Butuanon represent the westernmost extension of the North East Mindanao sub-group of languages on Mindanao. The two separated about 1200 AD subsequent to contact with Sulu speakers, when Tausug speakers migrated to Sulu, probably by sea and by way of the west coast of Mindanao. While Tausug has converged with Samal over time, its distinctness has not been lost if one considers Pallesens finding that after 700 years the vocabularies of Tausug and Butuanon are 77% similar in sound and meaning. The Tausug and the Butuanon now live in contrasting ecosystems and cultural influences: the former in a group of small islands and the latter in a delta that is part of the mainland of Mindanao; the former as the archipelago that first welcomed Islam, while the other prides itself in being the first Christian community in Mindanao. But underneath it all is a kinship and a common tongue that date back to hundreds of years. If there is a lesson to be learned from the ancient relationship of Butuan and Sulu, it is, that looking back across the years, the tale of these two communities mirrored the tragic tale of a great divide in Mindanao: between Christian and Muslim communities. As the history of Butuan unfolded, it became the site of the first church and Christian community in Mindanao in 1597, while much earlier the islands in the Sulu archipelago became the staging ground of the spread of Islam in the Philippines in the early part of the 15th century. Still, underneath it all is a proud tale of two major trading ports at two separate junctions in history that traded with China and other Asian kingdoms. The ancient ethnic kinship of Butuanons and Taosugs would tell us that underneath all the historic cleavage, there is hope for an ultimate convergence of two estranged communities. The saga of Butuan as an ancient trading port with historic links to many Asian kingdoms, and its role as a homeland of many ruling groups in Mindanao and Sulu archipelago, serves as a historic backdrop prior to the entry of Spanish colonial rule in the islands. Butuan was in full decline when the Spanish explorers came to our shores, its former glory at its zenith some 500 years back.

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