Challenge: highly developed Philippines

Probably wouldn't - decolonization might ensure we stay Balkanized.

Yes..., Balkanization of the Philippines might happen...

ASB; yes.., a man from OTL's Philippines... (let's assume that it's me) will suddenly sleep on his laptop and woke up to meet Dr. Jose Rizal while on his way to bed in Hongkong in 1892... And so... We're gonna change the history of the Philippines... The Malolos Republic might have him as President since he's going to be a closet revolutionary rather than a reformist... And by the time the Americans came; We're gonna prevent George Dewey in making his tactics whatsoever in fooling Aguinaldo in the Battle of Manila in 1898 and thus giving the Americans a base of operations to land troops and start the Filipino-American War by February, 1899... The Philippines might Meijinized and with my knowledge... help the Philippines in becoming a buffer Switzerland to prevent the Japanese rampaging here... And a Filipino cabal might rise up and yes, we're guided out of our condition right now... Yehey!! A consequence though would be how Spanish would be our official language right now and not English...
 
I'm working on a section in my TL about Tondo. Not sure about Brunei, but when I say the Nestorian Mongol Khanate of Tondo, I meant the island of Luzon with the possibility of expanding within a hundred years.
 
I'm working on a timeline in which the end result would be like this. The first point of divergence would be... I hope you like it.

From Sulu to Malaya until Philippines: An Andres Bonifacio ATL​

Mactan [Circa.1521]

The water on the shores of Mactan was predominantly red on this sunny day. Bodies of native warrior lazily act like flotsam, while men of iron had already sunk below knee-deep water. Kneeling on before his foe was the adroit explorer Magellan. A few more treacherous miles and he would had been one of the first few people whom circumnavigated the world, a few miles more and he would have behold all of Europe of his feat. If only he was more cautious about trusting those wretched savages. Now, he silently pray for a swift death and the forgiveness of his sins.

The Datu of Mactan was watching impassively, before him was broken warrior garb in metal. He never knew this man and wonders what sort of madness had came across this outsider to meddle on the affairs of the Sultanate, his duty was to make sure that the Barangays are put in their respective places. But, now. Now they send an outsider to do the job they could not even imagine of doing, men wearing metal armor and armed with cannons much like those men from the north uses. He mused about arranging more raids against the neighboring Barangays, but at this moment he would need to decide what to do with this outsider.

“Bring the white man, mend his wounds! I want him alive, but tie him properly I don’t want him running around the village when he wakes up.” With that the Datu of Mactan brought down his fist like he had done countless times onto Magellan the explorer, as the white man succumb to unconsciousness a little butterfly flutters its wings.

Mactan-ATL-Philippines-circa.1836.jpg
 
No. Just no, no, no, no, no. With a PoD in 1521 there's no chance the borders in Indonesia/Malaysia are going to be the exact same. Colonization is going to be a rough time for the Filipino peoples. Spain was flush for quite some time, and while they may not return in force to the Pacific, that certainly doesn't count out the other colonial powers.
 
I'm working on a timeline in which the end result would be like this. The first point of divergence would be... I hope you like it.

From Sulu to Malaya until Philippines: An Andres Bonifacio ATL​

Mactan [Circa.1521]

The water on the shores of Mactan was predominantly red on this sunny day. Bodies of native warrior lazily act like flotsam, while men of iron had already sunk below knee-deep water. Kneeling on before his foe was the adroit explorer Magellan. A few more treacherous miles and he would had been one of the first few people whom circumnavigated the world, a few miles more and he would have behold all of Europe of his feat. If only he was more cautious about trusting those wretched savages. Now, he silently pray for a swift death and the forgiveness of his sins.

The Datu of Mactan was watching impassively, before him was broken warrior garb in metal. He never knew this man and wonders what sort of madness had came across this outsider to meddle on the affairs of the Sultanate, his duty was to make sure that the Barangays are put in their respective places. But, now. Now they send an outsider to do the job they could not even imagine of doing, men wearing metal armor and armed with cannons much like those men from the north uses. He mused about arranging more raids against the neighboring Barangays, but at this moment he would need to decide what to do with this outsider.

“Bring the white man, mend his wounds! I want him alive, but tie him properly I don’t want him running around the village when he wakes up.” With that the Datu of Mactan brought down his fist like he had done countless times onto Magellan the explorer, as the white man succumb to unconsciousness a little butterfly flutters its wings.

Actually, Bolkiah did try to unite the OTL Philippines
Sultan Bolkiah was the fifth Sultan of Brunei. He ascended the throne of Brunei upon the abdication of his father, Sultan Sulaiman. He ruled Brunei from 1485 to 1524. His reign was known as the Golden Age because Brunei became the superpower of the Malay archipelago. Under Sultan Bolkiah, Brunei prospered further, but he was still unsatisfied with Brunei's progress and ordered all his chiefs and ministers to seek new ideas to develop Brunei further. He frequently travelled abroad to broaden his outlook and increase his knowledge for the development of his country. The new ideas he brought back to Brunei were ordered to be studied in detail and pursued for implementation for the benefit of his people and country.



Sultan Bolkiah's victory over Sulu and Seludong (modern day Manila), as well as his marriages to Laila Mecanai the daughter of Sulu Sultan Amir Ul-Ombra (an uncle of Sharifa Mahandun married to Nakhoda Angging or Maharaja Anddin of Sulu), and to the daughter of Datu Kemin, widened Brunei's influence in the Philippines. This increased Brunei's wealth as well as extended Islamic teachings in the region. The influence and power of Brunei reached its climax during the reign of Sultan Bolkiah. Known as the "Singing Captain" (Nakhoda Ragam)[citation needed], his dominion reached faraway Selurong, now known as the city of Manila. Due to overpopulation, he allowed his peoples to venture out of Brunei migrating into North Borneo and to the Sulu (Solook). When visiting the islands, he would plant a speck of pepper into their beaches upon arrival and name some of them, to name a few, as Sitangkay, Siganggang, Simunol, etc. His dominion also reached Bulungan (North Borneo) to Johore (Singapore[vague]), that Brunei, its ancient name was Bulungan Johore[vague]. His father-in-law, Sulu Sultan Amir Ul-Ombra (Amir Ul-Umara), also known as the Sultan Bolkiah of Sulu, recovered Bulungan-North Borneo back for him during a Kalimantan revolt in Southern Borneo.
After his death, Sultan Bolkiah (Bulkieau) was succeeded by his son, Abdul Kahar. He was buried in Kota Batu with his wife, Princess Lela Mechanai.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolkiah

After invading the City of Manila or Selurong, Bolkiah turned the Island now called as Luzon essentially into a Dominion by having the heiress of Mayi("Tondo Empire"), Dayang Kaylangitan married to a Bolkiah or a Bruneian noble and at that point he already had some control of the Sulu Sultanate after Bolkiah married Laila Mekanai of Sulu, I think if the Bolkiahs have some luck they could had integrated Mayi and Sulu completely and conquered Visayas and Mindanao.


Philippines would most likely be named after Bolkiah if it happened.
 
Last edited:
I always thought it rather peculiar that the Philippines was so lacking of development when it was so close to other Asian civilizations. The Spanish swept up the Philippines with even less difficulty than some of the American peoples they recently conquered.

The challenge is for the Philippines is be comparable to Vietnam in development by Magellan's visit. POD, whenever most plausible as I know little about it's history.

Things to consider:

1) Unity - The Luzon kingdoms were weakened by the Borneo/Brunei invasions by the time of Legazpi's entrance in the Philippines. By this point of time, Philippines was much like ancient Greece, city-states. Unity is needed to make a sustained resistance. Had the Philippines been a unified nation much like OTL late 1890s, it would have been a different story.

2) Leadership - Another point to consider is if Philippines or the tribe facing the Spanish invasion is being lead by the most qualified person. Had Legazpi faced or any Spanish Conquistador faced a local Filipino army lead by the same or better military genius level as Lapu-Lapu, no Spanish invasion would have survived.

So the only thing I consider is if someone unifies the Philippines before the Spaniards come and has one monarch who has the same or better level of military capacity as Lapu-Lapu upon Spanish arrival.
 
Things to consider:

1) Unity - The Luzon kingdoms were weakened by the Borneo/Brunei invasions by the time of Legazpi's entrance in the Philippines. By this point of time, Philippines was much like ancient Greece, city-states. Unity is needed to make a sustained resistance. Had the Philippines been a unified nation much like OTL late 1890s, it would have been a different story.



So the only thing I consider is if someone unifies the Philippines before the Spaniards come and has one monarch who has the same or better level of military capacity as Lapu-Lapu upon Spanish arrival.
Luzon states and the other parts of Luzon are under Bruneian suzerainty and Rule since the time of Nakhoda Ragam, the same is true to Palawan.

The Only way for Philippines to be united before the Spanish arrive is for Brunei to annex/vassalize Sulu,Mindanao and the Visayan states which would mean ITTL Philippines has both Sabah,Kalimantan, Brunei and Sarawak but the capital would be Brunei.
 
Last edited:
If we want a developed Philippines
for Luzon
-Tondo needs to shift its capital to a more secure location, I think moving it to a more inland location would be better or a capital not popularly used as a port both Macabebe and Malolos for me are better capitals, if Brunei destroys the Manila area they still have a capital not influenced by the Bruneians and the Tondo Dynasty remains ruling the Tondo state, the Bruneian rulers made Tondo unstable or alternatively have the center of power in Luzon change to a more northern one by having another state from the north dominate in Luzon rather than Tondo.

-Population increase.

-Tondo needs to accept Islam as one of its religions, optionally have its rulers convert to Islam like Sulu did earlier, it would be less likely attacked by the Bruneians due of them being muslims as well.

For Visayas
-A Visayas under Madyaas rule or influence, since they are the largest Visayan state at the time of Magellan.
Note:
I think the Visayans treated the Spanish as a lesser evil to the Muslims from the South that is why they were easily conquered, I think if the Spanish were delayed in arrival the Visayans might have been persuaded to convert to Islam.
 
Last edited:
Top