The History of Magindanao
Before the first mass was celebrated on the northern shore of Mindanao mosques had been built on the fertile banks of the Pulangi, and before Legaspi landed on Cebu Kabungsuwan had been declared and acknowledged datu of Magindanao.
The Mohammedan conqueror of Mindanao was neither an admiral of a fleet nor a leader of an army of regular troops. He had no nation back of him to reënforce his battalions nor a royal treasury to support his enterprise. His expedition was not prompted by mere chivalry or the gallant adventures of discovery. He was not looking for a new route to rich lands nor searching for spices and gold dust. The emigrant sought a new land to live in, and trusted his fortune and success to the valor of his crew and the influence of his witchcraft.
Having a fair admixture of Malay blood in him and sufficient Arabian energy and enthusiasm to push on, he came and conquered and soon found himself at home in Mindanao as well as at Juhūr. There was no racial prejudice to contend against and the language of the new land was akin to his own. But true to his religion, as he was true to his ancestry, his faith suffered no defeat. No submission was accepted without conversion, and no friendship was cultivated with the unfaithful. He married in the land of his conquest, and the ties of faith were soon strengthened by the ties of blood and kinship; and as the first generation passed and the second generation followed, the conqueror and the conquered became one in blood and sympathy, one in faith, and one in purpose. A new dynasty which stood for Islam, for progress, and for civilization arose on the ruins of barbarism and heathenism. Savage and fierce as the Moros look, they are greatly superior to the surrounding pagans who inhabit the hills and the interior of Mindanao. Once their equals and kinsmen, they have vastly surpassed them now and are preëminently above them. With Mohammedanism came art and knowledge, and communication with the outside world was established.
For four centuries two different agencies of civilization have been at work in the Philippine Islands. One started in the north and worked its way south, continually progressing and constantly growing in power and improving in character. The other began in the south and extended north, but it soon reached a definite limit, and like a tree stunted in its growth it reverted to its wild nature and grew thorny and fruitless. The first graft of the tree of Magindanao was not aided by later irrigation. The first wave of immigration was not reënforced, and with an ebb tide it lost most of its size and force.
The Moros of Mindanao figured very prominently in the history of the Philippines. They were never united under one flag, but they formed different sultanates, some of which attained considerable power and fame. In the fullness of his glory, the sultan of Magindanao ruled over the whole southern coast of Mindanao from Point Tugubum, east of Mati, to Zamboanga, and beyond this latter point to the outskirts of Dapitan. All the pagan tribes living around the Gulf of Davao and in the Sarangani country, and all the Subanos west of Tukurun and Dapitan submitted to his power and paid him tribute. In the upper Rio Grande Valley the power of the rajas of Bwayan was felt and respected as far as the watershed of the Cagayan Valley on the north and the inaccessible slopes of Mount Apo on the east. The Ranao Moros controlled the whole country and the seacoast west of Cagayan de Misamis and north of the Illana Bay.
The large majority of the Moro sultanates are, however, small, and have never been fully numbered or described. They generally represent small divisions of territory and subdivisions of tribes, each under one chief who calls himself sultan or datu. Nevertheless, tribal relations and language group these petty divisions into two large distinct groups, the Magindanao and the Iranun. The Magindanao group includes the majority of the tribes. The Iranun group is restricted to the tribes living along the eastern coast of the Bay of Illana from the point of Polloc to the neighborhood of Tukurun, and the whole Ranao region lying between that line and the Bay of Iligan.
The Magindanao group is the greater of the two in number, in the extent of its territory, and in fame. Indeed, all the Moros of Mindanao, except the Iranun, were at one time under one influence and were brought under the sole control of the sultan of Magindanao.
The Samal Moros, who are variously classified by different writers and who are often mentioned as one of the main divisions of the Moros of Mindanao, are really foreign to Mindanao and belong to a distinct and separate group. Until recently they had never been independent, but had lived under the protection of various datus, and always served the datu for the protection he afforded them, or paid him tribute. They were sea rovers and had no claim on territory anywhere. Lately they have settled down on the Island of Basilan, the Sulu Archipelago, and around the Zamboanga peninsula. The Samals were the latest of the Malay people to arrive in the Philippine Islands. In fact, they are the only Malay people of whom we have positive historical statement of emigration from the Malay Peninsula to Sulu and Mindanao, and were in all probability Mohammedans prior to their arrival in the Philippine Islands. With the Magindanao and Iranun peoples it is different. They were in the land and belonged to the native element of the country long before their conversion to Islam.
Islam was successfully introduced and firmly established in Mindanao by one man. This same man founded the sultanate of Magindanao and reformed the whole system of government among his converts. His full name was Sharif Mohammed Kabungsuwan, generally known as Sharif Kabungsuwan.
Kabungsuwan was without doubt the greatest Mohammedan adventurer who trod the soil of the island. But both the traditions of Magindanao and its written records state that he was preceded by two pioneers, the first of whom was Sharif Awliya. Awliya was universally regarded as a relative and a predecessor of Kabungsuwan. His history is wrapped in myths. He is said to have come to Mindanao in the air to search for paradise, or that part of it which remained in Mindanao, and, while he was looking for it on the hill of Tantawan (Cotabato), to have found a houri who was sent to him from heaven. He married this houri and she bore a daughter called Paramisuli. Later the sharif returned to the west, but his wife and daughter remained in Magindanao.
The second arrival in Magindanao was Sharif Maraja, who married Paramisuli and was thought to have begotten Tabunaway and Mamālu, who were the chiefs of Magindanao when Kabungsuwan arrived in the land. Sharif Maraja is said to have had a brother called Sharif Hasan, who accompanied him as far as Basilan, but who stopped there and founded the sultanate of Sulu. Whether Bidayan, the son of Sharif Hasan, who is mentioned in the fourth tarsila, should be Bidin, the abbreviated form of Zainul-Abidin, who was the first sultan of Sulu, it is not easy to say. No copy of the Sulu genealogy has been obtained as yet, and no authoritative statement can be made. But it is universally believed that the first sultan of Sulu came from Basilan, and that the ancestors of the sultans of Bruney, Sulu, and Magindanao were brothers.
Sharif Kabungsuwan was the son of Sharif Ali Zainul Abidin, a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed who emigrated from Hadramut, southern Arabia, to Juhūr, Malay Peninsula. The sultan of Juhūr, was evidently a Mohammedan then, and was called Iskandar Thul-Karnayn, the Arabic appellation of Alexander the Great. The word “Sharif” is Arabic and means “noble.” It is a title which is universally given to the descendants of the Prophet Mohammed. The full title is “Sayid Sharif,” the “master and noble.” The Arabians generally use the first word, Sayid, alone, but the Moros have adopted the second. Being highly respected on account of his ancestry, Zainul-Abidin was given the hand of the sultan’s daughter in marriage. Her name was Jūsul Asiqīn, a corrupted form of the Arabic name “Jawzul-’Ashiqīn.” It is generally believed that she bore three children, the youngest of whom was called Kabungsuwan. The word “Kabungsuwan” is Malay and means “the youngest.” The names of the two older brothers of Kabungsuwan were variously given. They were not mentioned in the tarsila and have been obtained from mere traditions. One authority gave them as Ahmad and Alawi, the other as Mohammed and Ahmad. Both authorities agreed on the fact that the oldest founded the sultanate of Bruney, and the second the sultanate of Sulu.
Kabungsuwan probably knew some Arabic, but he necessarily spoke and used the Malay language, his mother’s tongue.
The incidents connected with his departure from Juhūr are of considerable historical interest. No dates have been obtained relative to this departure. The early Moros never dated their events or documents. Their narratives were very brief and crude. When they dated their events or wars they used a cycle of eight years, and designated its years by the letters A, H, J, Z, D′, B, W, D″. Whenever one cycle ended they began another without any relation or reference to the corresponding Mohammedan year. The earliest date that has been obtained which has immediate bearing on Mindanao history is that Bwīsan, the father of the Corralat of Combés, was living in 1597; the next date was that of Corralat’s defeat by General Corcuera in 1636. Bwīsan had two older brothers, and he was probably preceded in the sultanate by both of them. His father, Bangkāya, was the son of Makaalang, the son of Kabungsuwan. It will therefore be within safe limits to say that Kabungsuwan’s departure from Juhūr or his arrival in Mindanao occurred about the end of the fifteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth century. Captain Forest, who visited Magindanao in 1775, placed that event roughly at A. D. 1475, which is near enough to assume as correct.
Tarsila No. II states that there departed with Sharif Kabungsuwan from Juhūr many people who were dispersed by the storm and ultimately found their way to different ports. The places to which they went were Balimbang, Bangjar, Kuran, Tampasuk, Bruney, Sandakan, Sulu, Malabang, Tubuk, and Mindanao. There is no doubt that this statement refers to an emigration from Juhūr east as far as Mindanao, and that with this emigration came Kabungsuwan. The Samal people generally believe that they came from Juhūr and its neighborhood. The traditions of Magindanao distinctly state that the people who came with Kabungsuwan were Samals. The Samals or Bajaws are the sea nomads of the Malay Archipelago and their emigrations are frequent.
The Samals of the Sulu Archipelago are ruled by the Sulu datus and are generally very submissive. They are allowed to live on Sulu soil, but they have never made themselves independent anywhere. Indeed, all the evidence that can be obtained seems to point distinctly to the fact that they are of late arrival and do not belong to the older peoples of the Philippine Islands.
The early Magindanao records give the impression that the arrival of Kabungsuwan and the conversion of the people of Magindanao to Islam were accomplished peaceably. The word Samal is never mentioned and the Samals are always considered as aliens in every respect. The Samals seem never to have settled in Magindanao itself, but they did settle for some time on the Island of Bongo or Bungud, that lies opposite the mouth of the Pulangi, and at Batwan and Banago, near Malabang. From these places they moved later to Sibugay and Sarangani and the Gulf of Davao. Combés called the Samals Lutaw and said that they were in the employ of Corralat, and manned some of his boats, fighting and carrying on piracy side by side with the people of Magindanao and with the Iranun. Summing up the preceding evidence, we can unhesitatingly say that the Samals came to Magindanao with Kabungsuwan, but that they did not settle on the soil of Magindanao, nor did they intermarry sufficiently to assimilate with the Magindanao people.
The character of the conquest Kabungsuwan achieved and the bearing it has on the admixture of races in Mindanao is therefore of special interest. When Kabungsuwan arrived at the mouth of the Pulangi there were on the neighboring soil of Magindanao the following settlements: Slangan, Magindanao proper, Lusud, Matampay, Tagiman, and Katitwan. The first and the last were probably the greatest and the strongest of all, for they were the first to meet Kabungsuwan and interrupted his advance at Tinundan. After some fighting they were evidently defeated and retreated up the river. The people of Magindanao, under the leadership of the brothers Tabunaway and Mamālu, came next, but their attitude was not hostile. For some reason they secured an alliance or agreement with Kabungsuwan and invited him to Magindanao. They submitted to a form of Mohammedan baptism and to circumcision, and towed Kabungsuwan’s boat from that place up to Magindanao. Hence the meaning of the word tinundan, the place of towing. The ceremony for circumcision occurred at Katuri, the little settlement on the river just opposite Cotabato; the baptism or washing occurred at Paygwan at the mouth of the river. The word katuri means circumcision.
The dumatus urge that Tabunaway and Mamālu had been Mohammedans previous to that incident and that they had some intimate relation to Kabungsuwan. This is possible, but it is very difficult to understand how such a submission could have been enforced or obtained had Kabungsuwan been a mere relative and guest whom they had never seen before. The people of Magindanao proper were, even in the best days of the sultanate, far outnumbered by the people of Slangan. Yet, soon after his arrival in Magindanao, Kabungsuwan went on conquering and converting to Islam all the surrounding tribes and chiefs, and succeeded. This seems impossible of achievement unless Kabungsuwan had some force with him which commanded the fear and respect of the natives, and which, with the aid of Magindanao, was able to carry his arms to victory over all the neighboring native chiefs and tribes of the land. This force was in all probability made up of the Samals who accompanied him from Juhūr and who remained in his service and in the neighboring seas for a certain period of time. But having married in Mindanao, the succession to Kabungsuwan’s sultanate naturally reverted to the native element, and the Samals were gradually alienated and their sympathy with their master grew steadily weaker. Not being agricultural in their habits and preferring the sea, they gradually withdrew from Magindanao. The natives proved superior to the Samals and, though converted to Islam, they preserved, to a great extent, their own identity and their language. Knowing how insignificant the former chiefs and their settlements had been, it is not difficult for us to conceive how Kabungsuwan, with a small foreign force but with superior talent and with superior arms, could so easily accomplish the conquest of Magindanao. It is commonly believed that the natives who fought Kabungsuwan had no swords and depended chiefly on their wooden arrows as implements of war, and that the Mohammedans who attacked the natives fought with swords and gained an easy victory. Possibly they used gunpowder, too.
The inhabitants of Slangan, Magindanao, Katitwan, and those of all the other settlements of the valley were pagans and were very similar to the present Tirurays in language and worship. Those who adopted the new religion remained in the rich lowlands of the valley, but those who refused fled to the mountains and have stayed away ever since. Those who wavered in accepting the new terms of submission and who were later suffered to stay in the neighboring hills were called Tiruray. Those who refused to submit, fled to more distant places, and kept up their enmity and opposition were called Manobos. The pagans who are thus spoken of as related to the Moros of Mindanao in origin, besides the above, are the Bilans, the Tagabilis, and the Subanos.
Every settlement of these former pagan tribes had its chief. The chief was called timway. Tabunaway was the last timway of Magindanao. Manumbali was the last timway of Slangan. The Tirurays and the Manobos still call their chief timway. The ruler of the Mohammedan dynasty assumed the title of datu. The noun datu means king or ruler; the verb datu means to rule. Kabungsuwan retained the title sharif. His son Maka-alang also is always referred to as sharif. Later the term datu prevailed, and the first datu who is mentioned in the tarsila as sultan was Sultan Qudrat, whom Combés called Corralat.
Soon after Kabungsuwan had established his power in Magindanao he received the submission of many chiefs, all of whom he converted to Islam. Later he advanced up the valley to Bwayan and along the coast to Malabang. Some believe that he went to the Ranao country, but it is difficult to support all the statements made. His descendants and his converts carried on the war and the conversion, so that before the Spaniards reached their country their conquest and conversion had reached the present limits.
The story of Putri Tunīna and her marriage to Kabungsuwan is universally known to the Moros of Mindanao. The custom of burying the dead next to the house, as practiced by Tabunaway, is still common everywhere, and trees are often planted around the tomb.
By Sarabanun, the sister of Tabunaway, Kabungsuwan begot no children. By Putri Tunīna he begot three daughters, one of whom, Putri Māmūr, married the first Moslem datu of Bwayan, Mālang-sa-Ingŭd. At Malabang Kabungsuwan married Angintābu, the daughter of the chief of that place, and begot Sharif Maka-alang, who succeeded him.
The people of Magindanao who aided Kabungsuwan in his wars secured from him certain privileges and favors over their neighbors. These privileges are still claimed by the dūmātūs, the present descendants of Tabunaway. They have not paid tribute to the datus and have often intermarried with the datu class. It was different with the people of Slangan. The descendants of Manumbali and his subjects all became subjects and servants to the datus. Their descendants are, however, still known and live in Lugaylugay, about 1 mile below Cotabato, and on the same side of the Pulangi.
Little is known about Sharif Maka-alang. He in all probability ruled in Magindanao, not in Malabang. His wife was a Bilan woman related to Parāsab, a Bilan chief.
Bangkāya succeeded Maka-alang and married three wives, daughters of the principal chiefs of Slangan, Magindanao, and Matampay, by each one of whom he begot a son. His sons were Dimasangkay, Gūgu Sarikūla, and Kapitan Lāwut Bwīsan, all of whom become datus and succeeded to the rule of Magindanao in order. Sarikūla married a Sulu princess called Raja Putri, who was supposed to be the noblest lady of her day in Magindanao and who probably was the daughter of the sultan of Sulu. The word Putri is equivalent to “princess,” and Raja Putri means “royal princess.” Kapitan means “holder” or “leader.” Lāwut is a Malay word meaning “sea.” Bwīs means “tax.” Kapitan Lāwut Bwīsan distinguished himself more than his predecessors and was the most powerful enemy Spain encountered in the south in her first effort to reduce the Moro land. In 1597, in company with Silūngan, the raja of Bwayan, he checked the invasion of Marquis Rodriguez and defeated him at Tampakan.
Bwīsan was succeeded by his son, Sultan Dipatwān Qudrat, the Corralat of Combés. The word Dipatwān is Malay in origin and means “master” or “sir.” The word qudrat is Arabic and means “power.” The letters d and r and r and l are interchangeable in Moro, and the word qudrat is commonly pronounced kudlat or kurlat; hence the corrupted form “Corralat.” Sultan Qudrat overshadowed his father, Bwīsan, and ruled with a strong hand. He was probably the strongest and greatest Mindanao sultan that ever lived. He fought the Spaniards bitterly and held their sovereignty in check for many years. His pirates terrorized Luzon and the Visayas and controlled the southern seas for a long time.
In 1636 General Corcuera led an expedition against him and after considerable difficulty reduced his fort and defeated his forces. Qudrat appears to have had a large number of firearms, and his fort was very strongly fortified. The Spaniards captured 8 bronze cannons, 27 lantaka or culverins, and 100 muskets.
In 1645 his relations with Spain had undergone a distinct change. He had become more powerful, but he was desirous of peace and made a treaty with the Spanish Government. This treaty was in the nature of an alliance for mutual aid and protection. It secured better commercial facilities and gave the Jesuits the privilege of building a church in the sultan’s capital. Thirteen years later hostilities were renewed and another campaign was directed against Simway. This time Qudrat succeeded in blocking the river at different places and successfully checked the invasion.
Qudrat was followed by his son, Dundang Tidulay, of whom very little is known. Sultan Dundang Tidulay begot Sultan Mohammed sa-Barahamān and Sultan Mohammed Kahāru-d-Dīn Kuda. Barahamān ruled peacefully and begot several children, two of whom, Jāpar Sādik Manāmir and Dipatwān Anwār, became sultans.
After the death of Sultan Barahamān his son Manāmir was declared sultan. As Manāmir was very young, his succession was considered illegal and an act of enmity directed against his uncle, Kuda. Kuda therefore “usurped the government and went to Simway, carrying with him the effects of the deceased sultan.”
Civil war ensued and the peace of the state was greatly disturbed. This war must have lasted more than thirty years, and its story is variously related by the Moros. The tarsila do not mention it at all. The best description was given by Captain Forest, who learned its details from the mouth of Pakīr Mawlāna, the chief person who conducted the campaign and terminated the struggle.
Kuda invited a party of Sulus living in Magindanao to Simway to support him against his nephew. The Sulus came, but finding him with only a small force, they treacherously murdered him and plundered his camp and possessed themselves of many pieces of heavy cannon, which Kuda had transported from Magindanao to Simway. “The Sulus returned home with their booty, and Manāmir’s party got the ascendency.” But the Sulus, conscious of their iniquity and fearful of resentment when peace should be restored, fomented trouble between Manāmir and his brother Anwār, and supported the latter. The state was again divided against itself, and the second struggle proved worse than the first. Skirmishes were kept up and nightly attacks and assassinations were continued until both sides were very much weakened. Their enmity grew bitter and Malīnug, the son of Anwār, killed his uncle Manāmir. Manāmir was the rightful sultan, and on account of his assassination he has ever since been called Sahīd Mupāt, which means “died a martyr.” Pakīr Mawlāna and Pakāru-d-Dīn, the sons of Sahīd Mupāt, were obliged to leave Magindanao, and retired to Tamontaka. “The country then suffered much. The great palace at the town was first plundered and then burned. In the conflagration many of the houses of Magindanao were destroyed, as was also a great part of the town of Slangan. The groves of cocoanut trees were also mostly destroyed, as being convenient and at hand to make palisades for temporary forts.”
In the meantime Sultan Anwār died at Batwa and has ever since been referred to as Mupāt Batwa, which means “died in Batwa.” Malīnug assumed the sultanate after his father’s death and kept up the fight.
“After a tedious, desultory war, Malīnug fled up the Pulangi to Bwayan. Pakīr Mawlāna then got possession of all the lands about Magindanao, and peace was made soon after. Malīnug died a natural death, and some time later his two sons visited Pakīr Mawlāna.”
Pakīr Mawlāna was a man of low stature, smiling countenance, and communicative disposition. He acquired a great reputation for wisdom and bravery during the civil war, which he brought to a happy conclusion. He spoke Malay and wrote the best tarsila of Magindanao. Magindanao flourished in his day and regained its former glory and prosperity. His pirates invaded the Celebes and had several encounters with Dutch and English vessels, often with success. His relations with Spain were friendly, but Spain had very little influence outside of the Zamboanga colony.
The greater part of Magindanao was in his days built on the point and the adjacent narrow strip of land which lies at the junction of the Matampay and the Pulangi and between them. A longitudinal raised street began at the point and extended for half a mile to a canal which was cut from river to river. More than 150 houses were situated on both sides of this street. The other part of the town of Magindanao did not exceed 20 houses. The town of Slangan was really continuous with Magindanao and extended for about half a mile down the river, forming one continuous street. Slangan was the larger town and had over 200 houses. Both towns had large numbers of mechanics, vessel builders, and merchants. Many Chinese carpenters, arrack distillers, and millers lived in both towns, but chiefly in Slangan. Gardens and rice fields surrounded the town. The chief datus at that time had forts and kept small bodies of troops as bodyguards and artillery corps to take care of the muskets and guns. Kibād Sahriyāl, son of the sultan, had the best and strongest fort at that time. This fort was called Kuta Intang (diamond fort) and was located at the extreme point of the land and commanded the river and the town. The fort had five pieces of cannon, 6 and 9 pounders, and a large number of swivels and lantaka. The Magindanao warriors of those days wore armor coats and helmets and carried krises, spears, and shields. The natives made gunpowder and secured their saltpeter from a cave near Taviran. They built vessels of all dimensions and cruised as far as Java and the Celebes. Their vessels were always long for the breadth and very broad for their draft of water.
In 1774 Mawlāna retired from office in favor of his brother, Pakāru-d-Dīn. Pakār was a weaker man than his brother and practically had very little control over affairs, and always acted in important state questions with the advice and consent of Kibād, his nephew. During his time the English tried to get Bongo Island and to establish a footing near the mouth of the Pulangi.
Sultan Pakāru-d-Dīn was succeeded by Kibād Sahriyāl, who possessed many of the good qualities of his father and ruled with firmness and success. In the meantime the power of Spain in Mindanao had revived and her forces became active again. Kibād maintained friendly relations with Spain and signed a treaty with her in 1794, in which he promised not to enter into any treaty or agreement with another power.
Like his father he had many wives and concubines and begot many children, chief among whom are Sultan Kawāsa and Alamansa Sul-Karnayn.
Kawāsa succeeded his father and maintained the dignity of his office and the prosperity of his sultanate. He is often called Anwāru-d-Dīn (lights of religion) and Amīru-l-Umara (the prince of the princes). He had many children, chief of whom was Intirīnu or Amīrul.
Alamansa died at Dansalan. He had many children, two of whom were Raja Twā, and Datu Dakūla, the prince of Sibugay. Raja Twā begot Untung and Perti. The nation looked to Raja Twā to succeed Sultan Kawāsa, but he died before his uncle, and the sultanate fell to his young son, Untung. Intirīnu was rejected for family reasons and Datu Dakūla was set aside to give representation to the favorite house of Twā.
Untung was known as Sultan Sakandar Qudratu-l-Lāh (Alexander, the power of God). He was also surnamed Jamālu-l-A’lam (A’zham), which means “greatest beauty.” Qudrat the Second was the last sultan who observed all the customs and rites of the sultanate. He was young when he assumed power, and his reign marked the beginning of the downfall of the sultanate and the actual occupation by Spain of the Rio Grande Valley. In the treaty of 1837 he submitted to the sovereignty of Spain and accepted the subordinate title of Feudatory King of Tamontaka. Spain appointed his successor and prohibited his people from invading any territory west of Point Flechas. She regulated the licensing of boats sailing beyond Zamboanga and erected a trading house at Paygwan, at the mouth of the Rio Grande.
In 1843 Datu Dakūla ceded to Spain the west coast of the Zamboanga peninsula, promised to aid in suppressing slavery, and acknowledged Spanish protection.
In 1845 Sultan Qudrat confirmed the treaty of 1837, with a more definite submission, and allowed the establishment of a Spanish trading house at Cotabato.
This aggression on the part of Spain was prompted by her increased strength and an additional naval revival. Steamboats and improved firearms ended Moro aggression and solved the Moro question. In 1851 Polloc was occupied and was made a naval station. In 1857 Spanish boats advanced as far up as Tambao and drew up a treaty with the sultan of Talakūkū in which he acknowledged his surrender and his submission to the authority of Spain. In 1861 camps were established at Cotabato, Libungan, Tambao, Taviran, and Tamontaka.
Sultan Qudrat begot Mamakū, Ambuludtu, Mastūra, Raja Putri, and others. Mamakū is the present Raja Muda of Magindanao and lives at Cran, Sarangani. Ambuludtu and Mastūra are living at Nūling, about 1 mile above Cotabato. Raja Putri, generally known as the Princesa, was Datu Ūtū’s wife.
Sultan Mohammed Makakwa, the son of Intirīnu, succeeded Qudrat. He was the last sultan of Magindanao who lived in Cotabato. The Spaniards paid him a monthly salary of 70 pesos, but kept him under complete control. In his days modern Cotabato was built, and in 1871 it was made the capital of Mindanao. An earthquake destroyed the town that year, and in 1872 it was abandoned as capital in favor of Zamboanga.
Makakwa died about 1883, and his son, Pablu, became sultan. Pablu’s full title was Sultan Mohammed Jalālu-d-Dīn Pablu. He lived at Banūbu, opposite Cotabato, and was the last sultan who received a salary from the Spanish Government.
In 1884 the Spanish engaged the forces of Idrīs, the sultan of Talakūkū, on the banks of the river at Tambao and completely defeated him. Idrīs then signed a treaty acknowledging unconditional surrender and submission.
During Pablu’s life General Terrero conducted the campaign of 1886–87 against Datu Ūtū of Bwayan, and the Spanish gunboats destroyed every fort on the river.
Datu Ūtū resisted the Spanish invasion vigorously and repeatedly, but he was repeatedly defeated, and the Moros of the Rio Grande felt convinced that the arms of Spain were much superior to their own, and have submitted peacefully ever since. Pablu’s sultanate was nominal and powerless. In 1888 Pablu died, and the seat of the sultanate remained vacant until about 1896. Pablu died without a male heir. Mamakū, the Raja Muda of Magindanao, did not meet the requirements of the sultanate, so the sultanate passed over to the house of Datu Dakūla the First. The prince of Sibugay had three sons, Pagat, Puyū or Jamālu-l-Kirām, and Datu Dakūla the Second. Pugat, the eldest, begot Mamuppun, the last prince of Sibugay, and Mangigīn. Datu Dakūla the Second begot Datu Dakūla the Third, who lives at Kumaladan, at the head of Damanquilas Bay. Mamuppun was passed over by the council of the datus in favor of Mangigīn, the present sultan.
Mangigīn is a weak man. After his succession he went to Libungan and lived there during Spanish rule. After the Spanish evacuation and after the attack on Cotabato by Datus Ali, Jimbangan, and Piang, which occurred in 1899, he became fearful of the Saraya datus and returned to peaceful Sibugay, his birthplace and the land of his father.
In her conquest of Mindanao Spain directed her forces against the district of Sibugay first, and then against Mindanao. The district of Sibugay was in a state of complete submission before the Rio Grande Moros were controlled. The subjection of Sibugay advanced to such an extent that in 1896 the region was divided into three districts, to each one of which a datu was assigned by Spanish authority. The datus received orders and directions from the governor of Zamboanga direct, and an annual tax of one real was imposed upon every Subano and Moro male above the age of 18 years.
[1] Throughout this paper foreign words which do not often appear in an English text are given the same form for both singular and plural.
[2] Mindanao, Magindanao, and a few other words with the same terminal sound are written in this paper with the final “ao” because they are well-known words. Other words ending with the same sound are written with the final “aw,” in accordance with the author’s rules for transliteration.—[Editor.]
[3] The word Kabalalan means the place of the rattan, because the rattan plant used to grow abundantly on the mountain and its base.
[4] This word may be a corruption of the name of the bird Rock or Rokh, mentioned in the Arabian Nights.
[5] This word is a corruption of the Arabic word Thul-Fakar, the name of the famous sword of the Caliph Ali. Ali was a noted warrior.
[6] The translation here omits the formal words and repetitions and simply gives the names of the descendants in order.
[7] Sarīp and sharif are both in common use and have the same meaning. The latter is the Arabic form of the word.
[8] It will be noticed both here and elsewhere that the genealogies are confused and that often it is not possible to make out in the text the descent of a given individual. In explanation of this confusion the translator says: “The Moros do not know any better. This is the way they write. No attempt was made in the translation to change the order of the original text.”—[Editor.]
[9] It is not clear in Moro who the parents were. These are chosen pursuant to the general rule that the pronoun refers to the nearest noun, unless otherwise indicated.
[10] The Malay version said three people, but mentions only the above two, Akmad and Sapak.