Towards the turn of the millennium A.D., the contacts of the peoples of the Philippine islands with the peoples of the neighboring nations became intensified. This was ushered by the development of a relatively efficient maritime transportation among the Asians including the Filipinos.1
As this maritime transportation developed, the Filipinos became more mobile. This mobility was affirmed by Chinese annals, noting that Ma i (Mindoro) merchants appeared in the Canton Coast to trade in 982 A.D.2 Sung Shih recorded Butuan Tributary missions between 1001-1007 A.D.3 And in Kung Kuei Chi, Governor Wang Ta-yu of Chu’uan-chow was reported to be an eyewitness of a raid staged by three Visayan chiefs and hundreds of their followers on the Fukien coast sometime between 1174 and 1189A.D.4
Also, because of this development of maritime transportation, foreign trade between the Philippines and other Asian nations was intensified. Traders from China, India and the Middle East came to do business with local inhabitants. And the local traders, in turn, traded with each other, either following the silk roads of foreign traders resulting to inter-island trade, or make their way up to the interior via rivers and trade with the upland settlers resulting to ilawud-ilaya trade.5
This international trade was primarily participated by the seaport communities, the coastal counterpart of the ilawud-ilaya trade pattern. In the case at hand, Butuan in the ilawud, participated in the said international trade.
Though internal trade could develop even without international trade, more often than not, it is important to have a historical survey on Butuans international trading participation. This is because as the foreign trade networks developed, they stimulated “feeder” micro-trading systems – the highland-lowland trading system6 locally known as ilawud-ilaya.
A. Indian-Indonesian Contacts
Archaeological sources would speak of India as the earliest source of Butuan’s cultural enrichment through trade. The discovery of a 21carat ‘Gold image of Agusan’ advanced the contention that Indian influences filtered through Indonesia to reach ilawud. Whether that Gold Image of a Female Deity sitting cross-legged is a Buddhist Tara (with Tantric connections) or a Sivaite goddess, it is still a question. But unanimously, scholars identified it as Indian in origin.7
The Philippine Islands were geographically outside the direct line of commerce between India and the rest of Southeast Asia. Because of this fact, scholars believed the Indian influences filtered into the Philippines through Sumatra and Java, which were historically Indian trading partners in the island world of Indonesia.8
During the Madjapahit (Indo-Javanese) empire, modified Indian influences reached Philippine seaport communities through the intensified Philippine-Indonesian relations.9 In fact, the term Mt. Maiapay, ilawud’s natural landmark was believed by most scholars as a corrupted term for Madjapahit. And the term Butuan, a settlement in the Ilawud, was believed to have been derived from the Hindu term butu meaning, Phallus, an important element in the Hinduism religion. Some scholars believed that the whole island of Mindanao were part and parcel of the said Madjapahit Empire.10
B. Trade Relations with China
Whether in documents or in archaeological evidences, Sino-Butuan trade relations were very strong. Chinese documents especially the annals of the Sung dynasty, Sung Shih, recorded Butuan (P’u-tuan) as a tributary foreign state in 1001-1007 A.D. Although Sino-Butuan relations may step back at an earlier period as suggested by the Tang wares dug in Butuan’s archaeological digs, no direct documentary sources maybe cited for this contention.11
The first tribute mission sent by Butuan to Xhina was on 17 March 1001. Butuan (P’u-tuan) was described in Sung Shih as a small country in the sea east of Champa, and farther than Ma i (Mindoro). Butuan, accordingly, conducted regular trading with Champa and rarely with China. Butuan appeared on tribute missions again during the next five years, together with other outlanders like Arabs, Sanmalan, Syrians, Tibetans, Uighurs and assorted southwestern hill tribes, adding non-Butuan products like camphor and cloves to its offerings.12
Chinese trade with Butuan appeared to be of two ways: indirect and direct. The indirect trade was through intermediary merchants while the direct trade was generally an effort of the peoples of Butuan. On 3 October 1003, for example, Butuan chief Ch’i-ling (Kiling) sent his minister, Li-ihan, to China purposively for trade. This period is quite unusual for Li-ihan presented red parrots in addition to local products like tortoise shell. A year later, however, the direct market purchases were banned because the minister claimed that the “people from distant lands don’t understand rules”. This ban covered all products especially Chinese goods, gold, silver, ceremonial flags and regimental banners to which they had taken a predilection.13
By 1007, Ch’i-ling sent another envoy I-hsu-han with a formal request for Butuan’s equal status in court as that of Champa. But this was denied on the grounds that Butuan was beyond Champa. Sari Bata Shaja, Butuan’s new ruler with an impressive Indian name, tried another request in 1011. His envoy Likan hsieh presented a gold tablet, non-Butuan products like ‘White Dragon’ camphor, Moluccan cloves and a south sea slave. With this mission, Butuan’s request was granted, flags, pennons and armor were requested to ‘honor the distant land’.14 Butuan trading activities, together with that of Ma i and Borneo, had been recorded in the Chinese annals even as late as 1373 during the Ming period. But at the beginning of 13th century, Mindoro, Butuan and Sulu became Bornean outposts.15
During the advent of Spanish colonization, Manila-based Moros monopolized the retailing of the Chinese goods within the archipelago. One of them told Legazpi in 1565 that “since what they carry are goods from China, they (the natives) called the boats from Borneo and Luzon, Chinese junks in these islands, and even they themselves are called Chinese among these islands, but in fact Chinese junks do not reach there (Butuan) because they are very big ships not fit for sailing between these islands.”16 It should be remembered that Butuan was a village located a little upstream from the mouth of Agusan River.
C. Trade Relations with Spain
Even during the time of the Spanish exploration and subsequent colonization, Butuan’s trading relations with foreign traders were regular. It will not be surprising, then, that Magellan’s arrival on 29 March 1521 was taken by the Lapaknon Manobos as trading per se. Because though Enrique, Magellan’s Malay slave interpreter had spoken to the Lapaknon manobos who met them through native canoes (baloto), the Lapaknon Manobos were hesitant to come nearer because they didn’t understand Malay (only the chiefs knew many languages in these districts so wrote Pigafetta). Not until Magellan ordered his men to throw a red cap and other things tied to a bit of wood that the Lapaknon Manobos were able to surmise that these strangers came for trade and thus, went away to tell their king.17
The Spaniards headed by Magellan anchored by for provisions because their supply had already been exhausted in the course of their long journey. Through Enrique, Magellan was able to obtain three porcelain jars of raw rice covered with leaves and two very large oranges. In exchange, Magellan gave the chief a Turkish fashioned garment and a fine red cap and to the chief’s men, mirrors and some knives.18
Being a warrior society, Spanish knives gained local patronage in Butuan. The Lapaknon Manobos rushed home and gathered all they have to barter for knives. In fact, a native wanted to barter rice and bananas for a knife and wouldn’t care for anything but a knife. Another native offered his massy crown of pure gold for a Spanish knife, which Magellan refused, wanting to inculcate among the Lapaknon Manobos that the Spanish merchandise was more valuable than the natives’ gold.19
In 1565, while Legazpi’s fleet was stationed in Bohol, he ordered the patache San Juan to go to Butuan ‘and sail along its coast, and to find out in what part of the island the cinnamon is gathered, for it grows there.’ In the boat were Guido de Lavezaris, Andres de Mirandola, Fray Martin de Rada, O.S.A. and Rodrigo de la Isla (Espinosa).20
Isla (Espinosa), the pilot of the patache, wrote an account of that reconnaissance trip to Butuan. He wrote that the chief of Butuan during that time was Lumanpaon and his wife was Bucaynin. The chief’s son was Lian and the chief’s brother was Sigoan. On the subsequent trading that followed, Isla wrote and I quote:
“The chief appeared and sat down. I told the interpreter (the Moro whom they met trading in Butuan) to tell the king that I was the pilot of the ship out there and that I had come at the captain’s orders to bring him a present (a velvet cap and cloak). He took it and put it on immediately. I then told him if it was his pleasure that the cloth, (which we brought) be sold to his subjects. He said yes, adding that some of the natives had much gold and others little and so each can buy what he can…”21
Legazpi’s men went back to the fleet stationed Bohol unable to obtain the provisions they needed. This was because the Moros, afraid that the they’ll be damaged if the Spaniards will trade with the natives, convinced the natives that they should not give anything in exchange for any kinds of goods that the Spaniards will offer (except tostones). The Moros have even uttered many lies and slander against the Spaniards so that the natives will avoid trading with them.22 An early case of unfair trading tactics.
Butuan, therefore, during the time of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi (1565), was a regular port of call among the Borneans and Luzon-based Moros. This encouraged internal trade, serving as a ‘Feeder’ micro-trading system to the international trading system. Butuan traded with the ilaya for beeswax and gold, natural and other products. These were things that Borneans, and other foreign traders came for.
__________
1 F. Landa Jocano, Philippine Prehistory, (Quezon City. Philippine Center for Advanced Studies, 1975) p.135.
2 William Henry Scott, “Boat Building and Seamanship in Classic Philippine Society,” Anthropological Papers, no. 9 (1981) p.23.
3 Sung Shih in William Henry Scott, Prehispanic Source Materials for the study of Philippine History,(Quezon City. New Day Publishers, 1984)p. 66.
4 F. Landa Jocano, Philippine Prehistory, (Quezon City. Philippine Center for Advanced studies, 1975) p.135.
5 ibid. pp. 34-35.
6 ibid.
7 Mardonio M. Lao, “Butuan Before the Spanish occupation: An Introduction,” Mindanao Journal, Vol.6, nos. 2-4 (October 1979-June 1980) p.249.
8 F. Landa Jocano, Philippine Prehistory, (Quezon City. Philippine Center for Advanced Studies, 1975) pp.137-139.
9 ibid., p.137.
10 Bernardinito C. Galpo, “A Descriptive Survey on Butuan’s Archaeological and Ethnological Exhibits,” a lecture delivered at the Philippine National Museum, Caraga Region Branch, Butuan City, 2 August 1993.
11 Sung Shih in William Henry Scott, Prehispanic Source Materials for the study of Philippine History, (Quezon City. New Day Publishers, 1984)p.66.
12 ibid.
13 ibid.
14 ibid., p.67.
15 William Henry Scott, Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1991) p.164.
16 Anon. Relacion, in Isacio R.Rodriguez, Historia de la Provinciana Augustiniana del Smo. Nombre de Jesus de Filipinas, Vol.13 (Manila: 1978) p.467.
17 Antonio Pigafetta, “First Voyage Around The World,” in Gregorio F. Zaide and Sonia M. Zaide, Documentary Sources of Philippine History, Vol. 1 (Manila: National Bookstore Inc., 1990) p.116.
18 ibid.
19 ibid. p.122.
20 Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, “Relation of the Voyage to the Philippines (1564-1565),” in Gregorio F. Zaide and Sonia M. Zaide, Documentary Sources of Philippine History, Vol. 2 (Manila: National Bookstore, Inc., 1990) p.9.
21 Espinosa, loc. cit.
22 Legazpi, op. cit., 10-11.
No comments:
Post a Comment