Ang Mutia nan Katimuran: The Chronicles of Pre-Colonial Philippines (Discussion)

[ramones1986]

"Indeed, the Philippines before the Spanish colonial era was a mosaic of different nations, culturally influenced by China, India and the Malay Archipelago, also known as Nusantara. However, a single entity has a significant influence and an enough power to control the affairs and destiny of the rest of the archipelago: the Tondo-Namayan Kingdom, founded by the ethno-linguistic group of the same name living in the eastern part of Manila Bay, whose ethnogenesis resulted from intermarriage between seafarers originally came from within the Nusantara (Malay Peninsula and/or Borneo) and Austronesian tribes of the area who spoke a language (almost) identical to Namayan tongue, the direct descendant of what linguists called the "ancestral Philippine language. Their dominance of more than eight hundred years was well-recorded not just in the annals of the Philippinee history, but also in the chronicles of Maritime Southeast Asian history."​

- "General History of the Philippines"
Gat Teodoro Agoncillo y Andal



​

"Claiming their descendance from a marriage between Gat Amaron and Dayang Po Inahan[2], the monarchs of Tondo-Namayan (and their immediate relatives) carried the clan name Haringadlaw and belived they have the divine right to rule the whole Luzon (and later, most of the Philippine islands) as living gods and expected respect and tribute from the local rules outside their direct area of influence, as expected in a typical Southeast Asian mandala state. Beyond this mythmaking, both the archaeologists and historians believed that the Haringadlaw clan, and the rest of the Tondo-Namayan people in general, is a product of intermarriage between Bornean/Malayan immigrants and a group of tribes who speak a direct descendant of proto-Philippine language (or for some, the proto-language itself)."​

- "Myths and Facts about the Haringadlaw and Tagean-Talanen Clan"
Xiao Chua


​

NOTE:
Finally, another full-length Philippine-centered timeline of mine! After a long time planning, I can expand what I've started in the List of monarchs thread (24th February to 20th March) and one of my post in Explain the AH Quote thread (22nd February) with some help, especially in linguistics: the proto-Philippine section of Austronesian Comparative Dictionary. Well, for the people who want to know the PoD behind this timeline, here's the recap:

The OTL ancestors of Chams sailed further northeast to the Manila Bay area (and interior, up to Pacific coast), composed of OTL provinces of Metro Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Rizal, and Quezon's Reina (Real, Infanta and General Nakar) and Polillo regions). In the said lands, they've encountered a confederation of tribes who spoke a direct descendant of the proto-Philippine language. The immigrants and the tribes formed alliances and intermarried each other, thus forming the ethnogenesis of Tondo-Namayan ethnolinguistic group, whose language was an interesting combination of proto-Philippine and Malayic vocabulary, using the Philippine focus and the grammatical rules of every Philippine language.

Spoiler: WARNING: Read at your own risk

The same thing happened in the southeast coast of Panay (OTL eastern Iloilo and Guimaras), where a proto-Chamic tribe/clan encountered and intermarried tribes who, surprisingly, spoke a variant of the direct descendant of the proto-Philippine language.

The title of my new timeline "Mutia ng Katimuran", is obviously "Pearl of the Orient" in Namayan language; I knew it's relatively hard to tell this story in narrative form (compared to my first full-length scenario), but I hope I could make it right.

So sit back, relax and enjoy this TL! *fingers crossed*

​

 

[ramones1986]

BOOK 1
CHAPTER 1
"The Beginning"​

Luuk ng Namayan

​

More or less than a thousand and a hundred years before the Common Era, seafarers from the Malay Archipelago (scholars and historians currently debated if they came from Borneo or Malay Peninsula or even both) went northward in search of new trading post, a new land to explore and settle. They landed in Namayan Bay[1], particularly in the eastern part of the region, where they've encountered local tribes; as both people were Austronesians in origin, they interacted with little difficulty. Eventually, the Malayic seafarer migrants and local tribes intermarried; as a result, cultural syncretism followed. As the majority of historians and cultural scholars believed, the local tribes were not strangers when it comes to everything related to the sea; their knowledge was therefore enriched by the arrival of the Malayic seafarers and their subsequent interactions.

The origin of the local tribes whom the seafarers encountered in the eastern part of the bay was relatively obscure. However, there is a consensus among experts that the tribes (or actually clans, as some of them insisted) were closely-knitted and even related to each other; hence, they actually believed that the tribes speaking mutually intelligible dialects of Luuk language[2], a phase of Namayan language before the arrival of Malayic seafarers. Meanwhile, the pattern of migration of the seafarers from the south was now believed to be spread across the eastern part of Namayan Bay, hence the similarities in the artifacts found from the coast of Maraungan[3] province in the south to Bulakan in the north.



NOTES:
[1] Manila Bay
[2] The direct descendant of proto-Philippine language (before it was transformed into Namayan)
[3] OTL Maragondon region/SW Cavite.

 

[ramones1986]

BOOK 1
CHAPTER 2
"Jade and Iron: The Development and Expansion of Luuk Culture"

Lingling-o

"When the Malayic seafarers arrived in the eastern Manila Bay area approximately 12th century BCE,
the Luuk tribes living in the area were already skilled in crafting tools and ornaments made of jade imported from Formosa;
in fact, the Luuk people was part of the Philippine Jade culture that flourished as a result of trade between peoples of Luzon
and its northern neighbors the Formosans, particularly in the east.​

- H. Otley Beyer​

​

As seen in the archealogical discoveries in site across the southwestern parts of Luzon (with later excavations in other parts of the Luzon like the Tugigaraw Valley provinces[1], Palawan and Siargao), jade culture was flourishing at the time the Malayic seafarers arrived in the eastern Manila Bay region and intermarried with the Luuk people, one of the participants in this phase of Philippine history. Jade was imported from Formosa and the skill of crafting such metal was brought to the Philippines approximately a thousand years before the arrival of the seafarers from Malay Archipelago; it was possibly believed that Austronesian migration from Formosa was link to jade and its craftmaking; in fact, jade and the its craftmaking industry was first established in southern China's Liangzhu culture.

The economy of the Luuk people was relatively diversified and developed for its area: Beside the well-known industry of jade crafting, they also have woodcrafting and handicratft industries that catered to the needs of an already socailly stratified society like the Luuk. Like every civilization that existed at this time, agriculture served as the mainstay of the Luuk society; farmers practiced wet-paddy agriculture in the rich inland plains enriched by alluvial waters; sometimes, they also grew vegetables between the harvesting and rice planting seasons . Trading was also practiced at this moment, although the scale was not massive like after the arrival of the Malayic seafarers; it was through the latter's contribution to the Luuk society and economy that interisland trading boomed and expanded to include the islands of Kalamian[2] and Palawan.

Manunggul Jar
The symbol of Tabon-Balay Paniki culture[3]
​

About 1000 BCE, the Jade Culture was joined by the arrival of the Iron Age in the Philippines, known as Tabon-Balay Paniki[4] after the two caves in Palawan and Bulakan respectively, where artifacts were found by archaeologists in abundance. The Tabon-Baniki culture was characterized by the development of metallurgy, as evident in tools such as swords, spearheads and axes. The Tabon-Balay Paniki culture was also characterized through their burial customs: cremating the dead and buried in elaborately decorated jars covered in lids, as exemplified in the Manunggul Burial Jar discovered in Tabon Cave. At this moment, the Iron Age brought improvements in productivity in the economy of the ethno-linguistic groups of the Philippine archipelago, especially in the eastern Manila Bay area: the trading partners of the Luuk people expanded to include Han China and Nanyue[5], a semi-Sinified kingdom north of the Indochinese peninsula, whose inhabitants spoke Austroasiatic languages.

There were also sociopolitical changes brought by the arrival of the Iron Age among the Luuk people; the already socially stratified Luuk soceity was further stratified as some of the most simple villages and hamlets evolved into barangays (or more appropriately, kampong), headed by a datu (either elective or hereditary, more often the latter) and advised by a council of elders and governed by simple code of laws derived from local traditions. Between 850 BCE and 50 CE, waves (and generations) of Luuk clans migrated inland, particularly from the regions of Kawit, Maraungan and Bulakan: Clans from Bulakan established communities in the mountains of Kabuludang Inahan[6], terracing the middle and lower slopes for rice and vegetables, while maintaining contact with their brethrens through trade between mountain communities, as well between them and the coastal Luuk communities. The Dumagats, who were hunters-gatheres and the original inhabitants of the mountains, were forced to flee east as the Luuk people enroached their territory and cleared for cultivation; curiously, some of their babies that were abandoned by Dumagat women were subsequently adopted by Luuk families, most often childless couples. Meanwhile, clans from both Maraungan and Kawit migrated to the mountainous area south of their regions of origin, reaching to the region of Tabuko[7], especially in the western banks of Kagayang Sungay (Sungay River)[8], thus establishing the border between the Luuk (later Tondo-Namayan) and Kumintang people.



NOTES:
[1] OTL Cagayan Valley.
[2] Kalamian includes Mindoro ITTL.
[3] TTL version of Sa Hunyh culture.
[4] OTL Biak-na-Bato.
[5] OTL Guangdong-Guangxi region; more of this kingdom in the later updates.
[6] OTL Sierra Madre Mountains, particularly in the ranges currently in Bulacan-Quezon border and Rizal.
[7] OTL San Pedro, Biñan, Santa Rosa and Cabuyao in the province of Laguna.
[8] San Cristobal River.

 

[ramones1986]

REMINDER:
I'm planning to post new updates within this weekend as I'm currently writing (or attempting to write) the future posts in my notebook. The future updates can be about the events that will led to the formation of Tondo-Namayan kingdom, as well as the Luuk (or I actually mean Namayan) society after the Iron Age period.

You can actually ask questions and comment on the timeline itself. See you on weekends.

 

[SRJS]

Can I get to see some trading via sea transportation that time?

 

[ramones1986]

Can I get to see some trading via sea transportation that time?

Well, here's a sample of a trading balangay:

Here's the map of the ancient trade routes in the whole Southeast Asia:
(sorry if it's OTL map)

Within the Philippine archipelago, there were already inter-island maritime trade between the peoples of Luzon and neighboring islands: for example, northern Kalamian (OTL Mindoro) seaside villages were center of trade, as well as northern Palawan; trading expanded over generations (or centuries) to include the Visayan Islands and northern Mindanao.


PS:
I seriously need a Q-BAM map of both the Philippines and Southeast Asia.

 

[Cahaya Purnama]

You just need to crop this.

 

[Cuāuhtemōc]

Neat. Subscribed.

 

[Timaeus]

Good luck ya bastard, I'll be watching closely. And I do so hope you incorporate the Nestorian Christianity part. And the vastly different Europe part.

 

[ramones1986]

You just need to crop this.

Thanks for the map, although the resulting cropped image was not good enough.

 

[ramones1986]

Neat. Subscribed.

Thank you so much!

Good luck ya bastard, I'll be watching closely. And I do so hope you incorporate the Nestorian Christianity part. And the vastly different Europe part.

I'll surely do.
Although I don't want to spoil the timeline, I'll possibly include scenarios in other parts of Asia (and the world), whose PoDs are ranged within or after 16th century BCE.

 

[ramones1986]

How the Luuk (proto-Tondo-Namayan) people expanded inward
(as of 1st century of Common Era)

Legend:
Red: Initial settlement area of Luuk societies
Pink: The extension of internal migration of several Luuk clans

​

Thanks to @Yanranay for the base map. I really appreciated your effort.

 

[ramones1986]

BOOK 1
CHAPTER 3
"An Alliance Was Forged: The Birth of a Confederation"
​

As the Luuk socieities prospered from both inter-island (maritime and inland) and international maritime trade, they received enormous, albeit indirect, cultural influences from both China and India: Chinese cultural influences came through the semi-Sinified kingdom of Minyue (閩越), especially in the period after the royal family fled to Formosa, accompanied by their most loyal military and civilian officials in 111 BCE[1]; in effect, the most basic bureaucratic system of China was not only learned by the Luuk proto-states in the coast of Manila Bay, but also neighboring peoples like the Sambal and Sisuan[2] peoples in the west and, minimally, to the Kumintang people of the south. Nonetheless, direct Chinese cultural influence (through present-day Fujian, particularly the south) would arrived centuries later, as the historians and archaeologists agreed: they argued that the cultural influences the peoples of Manila Bay were actually a mix of Chinese and Austronesia/native Formosan cultures. Meanwhile, Indian cultural influences reached the Philippine Islands through the Malay Archipelago, and the Luuk societies were no exception: Tamils, well-known seafarers of the Indian Ocean, were responsible for the transmission of (southern) Indian culture to Maritime Southeast Asia: religious beliefs, literature, forms of government and especially their way of writing: the Mutticu alphabet[3], considered as the direct ancestor of all the writing systems in the Malay, including the system current used by the Philippine languages like Tondo-Namayan.

A sample of Mutticu alphabet

​

The Malay Archipelago, meanwhile, also contributed to the enrichment of Luuk culture and society through migration, especially those who came from central Java: it has been noted that the said area was the two most Indianized Austronesian societies alongside Thiru Lanka[4], whose Bornean-speaking inhabitants were directly influenced by the Tamils in their north. As the Common Era dawned, the geopolitical reality of eastern Manila Bay region became more complex as different kampungs have forged alliance to the point of merging within each other to the point of evolving into different proto-states: they shared a common form of government; they were hereditary monarchies aided by a council of elders and a basic bureaucratic system, albeit maintaining a basic variant of the Indian-inspired mandala system. In the end, seven coastal states were formed in the eastern area of Manila Bay, all of whom were comparable to city-states of ancient Greece in size and influence. They were the following:

• Bulakan
• Maykawayan
• Tundon
• Namayan
• Kawit
• Maraungan
• Sungay

In the mountain settlements, however, it was different story: separated by distance, the settlements maintained their independence, and yet they realized they need to forge alliance to protect their interests, defend themselves from the attacks of the Dumagats and stimulate the regional economy as well as secure trading ties with their counterparts at the coast

A view of Kabuludang Inahan
​

Led by Komurugan Gattapang Atipulu, the chieftain of Kampung Atipulu[5], leaders of the mountain communities throughout the Kabuludang Inahan formed Kumpulang Tagabulud (Mountainmen's League) in 150 CE. From their de facto capital in Kampung Atipulu, the alliance forged a common defense system to combat Dumagat attacks by constructing a series of fortifications on the then-border between the Luuk and the hunter-gatherers, considered as the predecessors of the fortifications in the border between the Tugigaraw Valley statelets and Tondo-Namayan Kingdom.

The success of Kumpulang Tagabulud encouraged their lowland counterparts to forged a common between each other and they ultimately invited their upland brethrens to join them. Indeed, thirty years later (180 CE), the eight coastal Luuk kingdoms joined the Kumpulang Tagabulud to form the Kumpulang Bangsaluuk (Bangsaluuk Confederation) in Namayan, the capital of the principality of the same name in the southern bank of Pasigan River; it was here that the first legally-binding document in Philippine history, the Oath of Namayan (Ang Sumpa ng Namayan), was written. The king of the state of Kawit, Datu Dimangan Koravan Tirumata, was chosen as the first leader of the confederation.






NOTES:
[1] Another PoD to be discussed in the future updates.
[2] OTL Kapampangan people.
[3] OTL Grantha alphabet.
[4] OTL Sri Lanka, but the people inhabiting there ITTL are ancestors of Malagasy people.
[5] OTL Antipolo.

 

[SRJS]

BOOK 1
CHAPTER 3
"An Alliance Was Forged: The Birth of a Confederation"
​

As the Luuk socieities prospered from both inter-island (maritime and inland) and international maritime trade, they received enormous, albeit indirect, cultural influences from both China and India: Chinese cultural influences came through the semi-Sinified kingdom of Minyue (閩越), especially in the period after the royal family fled to Formosa, accompanied by their most loyal military and civilian officials in 111 BCE[1]; in effect, the most basic bureaucratic system of China was not only learned by the Luuk proto-states in the coast of Manila Bay, but also neighboring peoples like the Sambal and Sisuan[2] peoples in the west and, minimally, to the Kumintang people of the south. Nonetheless, direct Chinese cultural influence (through present-day Fujian, particularly the south) would arrived centuries later, as the historians and archaeologists agreed: they argued that the cultural influences the peoples of Manila Bay were actually a mix of Chinese and Austronesia/native Formosan cultures. Meanwhile, Indian cultural influences reached the Philippine Islands through the Malay Archipelago, and the Luuk societies were no exception: Tamils, well-known seafarers of the Indian Ocean, were responsible for the transmission of (southern) Indian culture to Maritime Southeast Asia: religious beliefs, literature, forms of government and especially their way of writing: the Mutticu alphabet[3], considered as the direct ancestor of all the writing systems in the Malay, including the system current used by the Philippine languages like Tondo-Namayan.

A sample of Mutticu alphabet

​

The Malay Archipelago, meanwhile, also contributed to the enrichment of Luuk culture and society through migration, especially those who came from central Java: it has been noted that the said area was the two most Indianized Austronesian societies alongside Thiru Lanka[4], whose Bornean-speaking inhabitants were directly influenced by the Tamils in their north. As the Common Era dawned, the geopolitical reality of eastern Manila Bay region became more complex as different kampungs have forged alliance to the point of merging within each other to the point of evolving into different proto-states: they shared a common form of government; they were hereditary monarchies aided by a council of elders and a basic bureaucratic system. In the end, seven coastal states were formed in the eastern area of Manila Bay, all of whom were comparable to city-states of ancient Greece in size and influence. They were the following:

• Bulakan
• Maykawayan
• Tundon
• Namayan
• Kawit
• Maraungan
• Sungay

In the mountain settlements, however, it was different story: separated by distance, the settlements maintained their independence, and yet they realized they need to forge alliance to protect their interests, defend themselves from the attacks of the Dumagats and stimulate the regional economy as well as secure trading ties with their counterparts at the coast

A view of Kabuludang Inahan
​

Led by Komurugan Gattapang Atipulu, the chieftain of Kampung Atipulu[5], leaders of the mountain communities throughout the Kabuludang Inahan formed Kumpulang Tagabulud (Mountainmen's League) in 150 CE. From their de facto capital in Kampung Atipulu, the alliance forged a common defense system to combat Dumagat attacks by constructing a series of fortifications on the then-border between the Luuk and the hunter-gatherers, considered as the predecessors of the fortifications in the border between the Tugigaraw Valley statelets and Tondo-Namayan Kingdom.

The success of Kumpulang Tagabulud encouraged their lowland counterparts to forged a common between each other and they ultimately invited their upland brethrens to join them. Indeed, thirty years later (180 CE), the eight coastal Luuk kingdoms joined the Kumpulang Tagabulud to form the Kumpulang Bangsaluuk (Bangsaluuk Confederation) in Namayan, the capital of the principality of the same name in the southern bank of Pasigan River; it was here that the first legally-binding document in Philippine history, the Oath of Namayan (Ang Sumpa ng Namayan), was written. The king of the state of Kawit, Datu Dimangan Ravan Aputiwtiw, was chosen as the first leader of the confederation.






NOTES:
[1] Another PoD to be discussed in the future updates.
[2] OTL Kapampangan people.
[3] OTL Grantha alphabet.
[4] OTL Sri Lanka, but the people inhabiting there ITTL are ancestors of Malagasy people.
[5] OTL Antipolo.

That confederation thing reminds me of my fictional work's ancient magically advanced kingdom lol.

I am sure everyone know Germany before, came from bunch of confederate German states?

 

[Timaeus]

I wonder how the southerners are doing.

 

[ramones1986]

I wonder how the southerners are doing.

You mean from Mindanao itself? Well, compared to the Manila Bay area (and to central-southern Luzon and Visayas area in extension), the Mindanao groups were content at this moment on their simple communal life, practicing some agriculture.

 

[ramones1986]

That confederation thing reminds me of my fictional work's ancient magically advanced kingdom lol.

I am sure everyone know Germany before, came from bunch of confederate German states?

Well, the confederation itself was an alliance of mandala-style monarchies and a highland/upland confederation led by a hereditary chief of an important upland center.

 

[ramones1986]

I'll be sincere in this announcement:

Currently, I'm thinking of changing the format of this thread from narrative to the style I used in my first full-length timeline (with some narrative posts for important persons and events), because I feel more comfortable in such format. In the other hand, I fear that by employing such format, it will take "a long time" to continue and/or finish this scenario. Guys, shall I retain this timeline despite the possible change in format or shall I create an all-new thread?

 

[Sceonn]

I'll say just write additional chapters to the style you're most comfortable with. No need to make a whole new thread.

 

[ramones1986]

I'll say just write additional chapters to the style you're most comfortable with. No need to make a whole new thread.

That's actually the plan; I could re-write the the first three chapters and add some dates and events to reflect some changes outside the area.