Tondo (historical polity) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tondo Tundun
before 900–1589
Tondo, Pasig, and other barangays under the influence of Dayang Kalangitan of Pasig in c.1450.
Capital	Tondo
Common languages	Old Tagalog, Kapampangan, and Classical Malay
Religion	Hinduism Tantrayana Buddhism Islam Tagalog polytheism
Government	Bayan feudal monarchy ruled by a king with the title lakan, consisting of several barangay duchies that are ruled by the respective datu
Lakan
• c. 900	Unnamed ruler represented by Jayadewa, Lord Minister of Pailah (according to a record of debt acquittance)
• 1450–1500	Rajah Lontok and Dayang Kalangitan
• 1521–1571	Lakandula
Historical era	Antiquity to Early modern
• First historical mention, in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription; trade relations with the Mataram Kingdom implied	before 900
• Various proposed dates for the founding of the neighboring Rajahnate of Maynila range as early as the 1200s (see Battle of Manila (1258) and (1365)) to the 1500s (see Battle of Manila (1500))	c. 1200s to c. 1500s
• Establishment of regular trade relations with the Ming dynasty	1373
• Territorial conflict with Maynila during the reign of Rajah Matanda's mother	c. 1520
• Fall of Manila	1570
• Battle of Bangkusay Channel	1571
• Attack of Limahong and concurrent Tagalog revolt of 1574	1574
• Discovery of the Tondo Conspiracy, dissolution of indigenous rule, and integration into the Spanish East Indies	1589
Currency	Piloncitos, Gold rings, and Barter
Succeeded by c. 1500 Maynila 1589 Captaincy General of the Philippines Manila (province)
Today part of	Philippines

In early Philippine history, the Tagalog settlement at Tondo (sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of Tondo) was a major trade hub located on the northern part of the Pasig River delta, on Luzon island. Together with Maynila, the polity (bayan) that was also situated on the southern part of the Pasig River delta, had established a shared monopoly on the trade of Chinese goods throughout the rest of the Philippine archipelago, making it an established force in trade throughout Southeast Asia and East Asia.

Tondo is of particular interest to Filipino historians and historiographers because it is one of the oldest historically documented settlements in the Philippines. Scholars generally agree that it was mentioned in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, the Philippines' oldest extant locally produced written document, dating back to 900 A.D.

Following contact with the Spanish beginning in 1570 and the defeat of local rulers in the Manila Bay area in 1571, Tondo was ruled from Intramuros, a Spanish fort built on the remains of the Maynila polity. Tondo's absorption into the Spanish Empire effectively ended its status as an independent political entity; it now exists as a district of the modern City of Manila.

History

Geographically, the settlement was completely surrounded by bodies of water: mainly the Pasig River to the south and the shore of Manila Bay to the west, but also by several of the delta's rivulets: the Canal de la Reina to the southeast, the Estero de Sunog Apog to the northeast, and the Estero de Vitas on its eastern and northernmost boundaries.

It is referred to in academic circles as the "Tondo polity" or "Tondo settlement", and the earliest Tagalog dictionaries categorized it as a "bayan" (a "city-state", "country" or "polity", lit. "settlement").

Early travellers from monarchical cultures who had contacts with Tondo (including the Chinese, Portuguese and the Spanish) often initially referred to it as the "Kingdom of Tondo". Early Augustinian chronicler Pedro de San Buenaventura explained this to be an error as early as 1613 in his Vocabulario de la lengua tagala, but historian Vicente L. Rafael notes that the label was nevertheless later adapted by the popular literature of the Spanish colonial era because Spanish language writers of the time did not have the appropriate words for describing the complex power relations on which Maritime Southeast Asian leadership structures were built. The earliest firsthand Spanish accounts described it as a smaller "village", in comparison to the fortified polity of Maynila.

Politically, Tondo was made up of several social groupings, traditionally referred to by historians as barangays, which were led by datus. These datus in turn recognised the leadership of the most senior among them as a sort of "paramount datu" called a lakan over the bayan. In the middle to late 16th century, its lakan was held in high regard within the alliance group which was formed by the various Manila Bay area polities, which included Tondo, Maynila, and various polities in Bulacan and Pampanga. Extrapolating from available data, the demographer-historian Linda A. Newson has estimated that Tondo may have had a population of roughly 43,000 when the Spanish first arrived in 1570.

Culturally, the Tagalog people of Tondo had a rich Austronesian (specifically Malayo-Polynesian) culture, with its own expressions of language and writing, religion, art, and music dating back to the earliest peoples of the archipelago. This culture was later influenced by its trading relations with the rest of Maritime Southeast Asia. Particularly significant were its relations with Ming dynasty, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Majapahit empire, which served as the main conduit for significant Indian cultural influence, despite the Philippine archipelago's geographical location outside the Indian cultural zone.

Origins of the name "Tondo"

Numerous theories on the origin of the name "Tondo" have been put forward. Filipino National Artist Nick Joaquin suggested that it might be a reference to high ground ("tundok"). The French linguist Jean-Paul Potet, however, has suggested that the river mangrove, Aegiceras corniculatum, which at the time was called "tundok" ("tinduk-tindukan" today), is the most likely origin of the name.

Geographical location political influence

Detail of the Duque de Almodóvar's 1787 "Plan de Manila su Bahia y Puerto de Cavite" with the islands of Binondo, Tondo, and Isla de Balut highlighted in sepia.

Scholars generally agree that Tondo was located north of the Pasig river, on the northern part of Lusong or Lusung, which is an Old Tagalog name for the Pasig river delta. This name is thought to have been derived from the Tagalog word for a large wooden mortar used in dehusking rice. This name eventually came to be used as the name for the entire island of modern Luzon.

Tondo's territorial boundaries are generally accepted as defined by several bodies of water which gave Tondo an island shape:

• the Pasig River to the South;
• the Canal de la Reina, forming the Isla de Binondo between itself and Estero de Binondo to the southeast,
• an eastern stretch of the Estero de Vitas to the east,
• the Estero de Sunog Apog to the northeast forming the Isla de Balut between itself and the Estero de Vitas,
• a northern stretch of the Estero de Vitas merging from the mouth of the Navotas River to the north, and
• the original (pre-reclamation) shoreline of Manila Bay to the west.

Tondo's territorial boundaries excluded territory occupied by Maynila Namayan (modern day Santa Ana), Tambobong (modern day Navotas), Omaghicon (modern day Malabon), Pandacan, and Pasay – all of which had their own respective leaders.

Culture and society

A portrayal of the Ginu class. From the Boxer Codex, c. 1595.

Since at least the 3rd century, the Tagalog people of Tondo had developed a culture which is predominantly Hindu and Buddhist society. They are ruled by a lakan, which belongs to a caste of Maharlika, were the feudal warrior class in ancient Tagalog society in Luzon, translated in Spanish as hidalgos, and meaning freeman, libres or freedman. They belonged to the lower nobility class similar to the timawa of the Visayans. In modern Filipino, however, the term itself has erroneously come to mean "royal nobility", which was actually restricted to the hereditary maginoo class.

Social structure

The pre-colonial Tagalog barangays of Manila, Pampanga and Laguna had a more complex social structure than the cultures of the Visayas, enjoying a more extensive commerce through their Bornean political contacts, and engaging in farming wet rice for a living. The Tagalogs were thus described by the Spanish Augustinian friar Martin de Rada as more traders than warriors.

In his seminal 1994 work Barangay: Sixteenth Century Philippine Culture and Society (further simplified in the briefer by the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office in 2015), historian William Henry Scott delineates the three classes of Tagalog society during the 1500s:

• the maginoo (ruling class), which included the lakan/rajah and the datus under him;
• A class described as "freemen" consisting of timawa and maharlika; and
• Alipin (slaves), which could further be subcategorized as aliping namamahay or aliping sa gigilid.

The term datu or lakan, or apo refers to the chief, but the noble class to which the datu belonged to was known as the maginoo class. Any male member of the maginoo class can become a datu by personal achievement.

The term timawa referring to freemen came into use in the social structure of the Tagalogs within just twenty years after the coming of the Spaniards. The term, however, was being incorrectly applied to former alipin (commoner and slave class) who have escaped bondage by payment, favor, or flight. Moreover, the Tagalog timawa did not have the military prominence of the Visayan timawa. The equivalent warrior class in the Tagalog society was present only in Laguna, and they were known as the maharlika class.

At the bottom of the social hierarchy are the members of the alipin class. There are two main subclasses of the alipin class. The aliping namamahay who owned their own houses and served their masters by paying tribute or working on their fields were the commoners and serfs, while the aliping sa gigilid who lived in their masters' houses were the servants and slaves.

The more complex social structure of the Tagalogs was less stable during the arrival of the Spaniards because it was still in a process of differentiating.

Leadership structure

Tondo was a large coastal settlement led by several leaders, called datu, who had their own followings, called either "dulohan" or "barangay". These datus with their respective barangays in turn acknowledged the leadership of a datu with the most senior rank – a "paramount ruler" or "paramount datu", who was called a "lakan". According to San Buenaventura, a large coastal settlement with this kind of leadership structure was called a "bayan".

The equivalent paramount datus who led the southern polity of Maynila were referred to using the term "rajah", and in Mindanao, a similar title in more Islamized polities was that of "sultan".

The term for the barangay social groupings refers to the large ships called balangay, which were common on such coastal polities, and is used by present-day scholars to describe the leadership structure of settlements in early Philippine history. This leads to some confusion for modern readers, because the term "barangay" was also later adapted (through the 1991 Local Government Code) as a replacement for the Spanish term barrio to describe the smallest administrative division in the modern Republic of the Philippines – a government structure very different from the original meaning of the word.

In addition, Jocano warns that there were significant differences between "smaller" barangays, which were only 30 to 100 households in size, and considerably larger barangays, which according to Buenaventura were called "bayan". Jocano asserted that the social and governance structures of these larger barangays, with high levels of economic specialization and a clear system of social stratification, should be the primary model for the analysis of social structures in early Philippine history, rather than the "smaller" barangays.

Popular literature has described these political entities as either chiefdoms or kingdoms. Although modern scholars such as Renfew note that these are not appropriate technical descriptions.

Contemporary historiographers specializing in early Philippine history prefer to use the generic term "polity" in international journals, avoiding the terms "chiefdom" and "kingdom" altogether.

Scholars such as William Henry Scott and F. Landa Jocano have continued to use the term "barangay", especially in longer-form texts such as books and anthologies, because these longer forms allow space for explanations of the differences between the modern and archaic uses of the word "barangay".

Religion

Historical accounts, supported by archeological and linguistic evidence and by corroborated by anthropological studies, show that the Tagalog people, including those in Tondo and Maynila, practiced a set of Austronesian beliefs and practices which date back to the arrival of Austronesian peoples, although various elements were later syncretistically adapted from Hinduism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Islam.

The Tagalogs did not have a specific name for this set of religious beliefs and practices, although later scholars and popular writers refer to it as Anitism, or, less accurately, using the general term "animism."

Tagalog religious cosmology

The Tagalog belief system was more or less anchored on the idea that the world is inhabited by spirits and supernatural entities, both good and bad, and that respect must be accorded to them through worship.

According to the early Spanish missionary-ethnographers, the Tagalog people believed in a creator-god named Bathala, whom they referred to both as maylicha (creator; lit. "actor of creation") and maycapal (lord, or almighty; lit. "actor of power"). Loarca and Chirino also report that in some places, they were called "Molayri" (Molaiari) or "Diwata" (Dioata)." However, these early missionary-ethnographers also noted that the Tagalogs did not include Bathala in their daily acts of worship (pag-a-anito). Buenaventura was informed that this was because the Tagalogs believed Bathala was too mighty and distant to be bothered with the concerns of mortal man, and so the Tagalogs focused their acts of appeasement to "lesser" deities and powers, immediate spirits which they believed had control over their day-to-day life.

Because the Tagalogs did not have a collective word to describe all these spirits together, Spanish missionaries eventually decided to call them "anito," since they were the subject of the Tagalog's act of pag-aanito (worship). According to Scott, accounts and early dictionaries describe them as intermediaries ("Bathala's agents"), and the dictionaries used the word abogado (advocate) when defining their realms. These sources also show, however, that in practice, they were addressed directly: "in actual prayers, they were petitioned directly, not as intermediaries." Modern day writers divide these spirits are broadly into the categories of "Ancestor spirits, nature spirits, and guardian spirits," although they also note that the dividing line between these categories is often blurred.

Demetrio, Cordero-Fernando, and Nakpil Zialcita observe that the Luzon Tagalogs and Kapampangans' use of the word "Anito", instead of the word "Diwata" which was more predominant in the Visayan regions, indicated that these peoples of Luzon were less influenced by the Hindu and Buddhist beliefs of the Majapahit empire than the Visayans were. They also observed that the words were used alternately amongst the peoples in the southernmost portions of Luzon – the Bicol Region, Marinduque, Mindoro, etc. They suggested that this have represented transitional area, the front lines of an increased "Indianized" Majapahit influence which was making its way north the same way Islam was making its way north from Mindanao.

Economic activities

Historians widely agree that the larger coastal polities which flourished throughout the Philippine archipelago in the period immediately prior to the arrival of the Spanish colonizers (including Tondo and Maynila) were "organizationally complex", demonstrating both economic specialization and a level of social stratification which would have led to a local demand for "prestige goods".

Specialized industries in the Tagalog and Kapampangan regions, including Tondo and Maynila, included agriculture, textile weaving, basketry, metallurgy, hunting, among others. The social stratification which gave birth to the Maginoo class created a demand for prestige products including ceramics, textiles, and precious stones. This demand, in turn, served as the impetus for both internal and external trade.

Junker notes that significant work still needs to be done in analyzing the internal/local supply and demand dynamics in pre-Spanish era polities, because much of the prior research has tended to focus on their external trading activities. Scott notes that early Spanish lexicons are particularly useful for this analysis, because these early dictionaries captured many words which demonstrate the varied nuances of these local economic activities.

Trade

Junker describes coastal polities of Tondo and Maynila's size as "administrative and commercial centers functioning as important nodes in networks of external and internal trade." While the basic model for the movement of trade goods in early Philippine history saw coastal settlements at the mouth of large rivers (in this case, the Pasig river delta) controlling the flow of goods to and from settlements further upriver (in this case, the upland polities on the Laguna Lake coast), Tondo and Maynila had trade arrangements which allowed them to control trade throughout the rest of the archipelago. Scott observes that while the port of Tondo had the monopoly on arriving Chinese merchant ships, it was Manila's fleet of trading vessels which in turn retailed them to settlements throughout the rest of the archipelago, so much so that Manyila's ships came to be known as "Chinese" (sinina).

Redistribution of Chinese goods

Tondo and Maynila's shared trade relations with China make the Manila bay area one of the northernmost points on the route of the Silk Road.

The most lucrative of Tondo's economic activities involved the redistribution of Chinese goods, which would arrive in Manila bay through Tondo's port and be distributed throughout the rest of the archipelago, mostly through Maynila's extensive shipping activities.

The Chinese migrations to Malaya and the Philippines shore began in the 7th century and reached their peak after 1644 owing to the Manchu conquest of China. These Chinese immigrants settled in Manila, Pasig included, and in the other ports, which were annually visited by their trade junks, they have cargoes of silk, tea, ceramics, and their precious jade stones.

According to William Henry Scott (1982), when ships from China came to Manila bay, Lakandula would remove the sails and rudders of their ships until they paid him duties and anchorage fees, and then he would then buy up all their goods himself, paying half its value immediately and then paying the other half upon their return the following year. In the interim, these goods would be traded throughout the rest of the archipelago. The end result was that other locals were not able to buy anything from the Chinese directly, but from Tondo and Maynila, who made a tidy profit as a result.

Augustinian Fray Martin de Rada Legaspi says that the Tagalogs were "more traders than warriors", and Scott notes in a later book (1994) that Maynila's ships got their goods from Tondo and then dominated trade through the rest of the archipelago. People in other parts of the archipelago often referred to Maynila's boats as "Chinese" (Sina or Sinina) because they came bearing Chinese goods.

Gold as a currency

The Piloncitos, a type of Gold nuggets with Baybayin Ma characters. Used as one of the early currency along with Gold rings.

Trade among the early Filipinos and with traders from the neighboring islands was conducted through Barter. The inconvenience of barter later led to the use of some objects as medium of exchange. Gold, which was plentiful in many parts of the islands, invariably found its way into these objects that included the Piloncitos, small bead-like gold nuggets/bits considered by the local numismatists as the earliest coin of ancient Filipinos, and gold barter rings.

The Piloncitos a type of gold ingots are small, some are of the size of a corn kernel—and weigh from 0.09 to 2.65 grams of fine gold. Large Piloncitos weighing 2.65 grams approximate the weight of one mass. Piloncitos have been excavated from Mandaluyong, Bataan, the banks of the Pasig River, and Batangas. That gold was mined and worked here is evidenced by many Spanish accounts, like one in 1586 that said:

"The people of this island (Luzon) are very skillful in their handling of gold. They weigh it with the greatest skill and delicacy that have ever been seen. The first thing they teach their children is the knowledge of gold and the weights with which they weigh it, for there is no other money among them."

Other than Piloncitos, the people of Tundun also used the Barter rings, which is gold ring-like ingots. These barter rings are bigger than doughnuts in size and are made of nearly pure gold. Also, they are very similar to the first coins invented in the Kingdom of Lydia in present-day Turkey. Barter rings were circulated in the Philippines up to the 16th century.

Agriculture

Bangkang Pinawa, ancient Philippine mortar and pestle.

The people of Tondo engaged in agriculture, making a living through farming, rice planting and aquaculture (especially in lowland areas). A report during the time of Miguel López de Legazpi noted of the great abundance of rice, fowls, wine as well as great numbers of carabaos, deer, wild boar and goat husbandry in Luzon. In addition, there were also great quantities of cotton and colored clothes, wax, wine, honey and date palms produced by the native peoples, rice, cotton, swine, fowls, wax and honey abound.

Crop production

Rice was the staple food of the Tagalog and Kapampangan polities, and its ready availability in Luzon despite variations in annual rainfall was one of the reasons Legaspi wanted to locate his colonial headquarters on Manila bay. Scott's study of early Tagalog lexicons revealed that the Tagalogs had words for at least 22 different varieties of rice.

In most other places in the archipelago, rootcrops served as an alternate staple in seasons when rice was not readily available. These were also available in Luzon, but they were desired more as vegetables, rather than as a staple. Ubi, Tugi, Gabi and a local root crop which the Spanish called Kamoti (apparently not the same as the sweet potato, sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas) were farmed in swiddens, while "Laksa" and "Nami" grew wild. Sweet potatoes (now called Camote) were later introduced by the Spanish.

Millet was common enough that the Tagalogs had a word which meant "milletlike": "dawa-dawa".

Animal husbandry

Duck culture was also practiced by the Tagalogs, particularly those around Pateros and where Taguig City stands today. This resembled the Chinese methods of artificial incubation of eggs and the knowledge of every phase of a duck's life. This tradition is carried on until modern times of making balut.

Timeline of historical events

Early history

Establishment (c. 1258)

The earliest date proposed for Maynila's founding is the year 1258, based on genealogical traditions documented by Mariano A. Henson in 1955. (Later cited by Majul in 1973, and by Santiago in 1990) This tradition claims that a Majapahit settlement ruled by "Rajah Avirjirkaya" already existed in the Maynila at the time, and that it was attacked by a Bruneian commander named Rajah Ahmad, who defeated Avirjirkaya and established Maynila as a "Muslim principality". The LCI provides evidence that Tondo existed at the time, but it is not explicitly mentioned in Henson's account.

The Bruneian Empire (c. 1500)

By the end of the 15th century, the Bruneian Empire controlled the western shores of the Philippines.

According to other Bruneian oral traditions, a city with the Malay name of Selurong, which would later become the city of Maynila) was formed around the year 1500.

Scott (1994) acknowledges those traditions, noting that "according to Bruneian folk history", [ ] "Manila was probably founded as a Bornean trading colony about 1500, with a royal prince marrying into the local ruling family." French linguist Jean-Paul Potet notes, however, that "According to some, Luzon and/Manila would have been called Seludong or Selurong by the Malays of Brunei before the Spanish conquest (Cebu 1565, Manila 1571)." However, Potet also points out that "there is no text to support this claim. Conversely, Borneo has a mountain site called Seludong."

According to yet other Bruneian oral traditions, the Sultanate of Brunei under Sultan Bolkiah attacked the kingdom of Tondo, and established Selurong on the opposite bank of Pasig River. The traditional Rajahs of Tondo, like Lakandula, retained their titles and property but the real political power came to reside in the House of Soliman, the Rajahs of Maynila.

Incorporation into the Bruneian Empire (1500)

Tondo became so prosperous that around the year 1500, the Bruneian Empire, under Sultan Bolkiah, merged it by a royal marriage of Gat Lontok, who later became Rajah of Namayan, and Dayang Kalangitan to establish a city with the Malay name of Selurong (later to become the city of Manila) on the opposite bank of Pasig River.

The traditional rulers of Tondo, like Lakandula, retained their titles and property upon embracing Islam but the real political power transferred to the master trader House of Sulayman, the Rajahs of Maynila.

Portuguese presence (1511 – 1540s)

The Portuguese first established a presence in Maritime Southeast Asia with their capture of Malacca in 1511, and their contacts with the seafarers they described as Luções (lit. people from "lusong", the area now known as Manila Bay) became the first European accounts of the Tagalog people, as Anthony Reid recounts:

The first European reports on the Tagalogs classify them as "Luzons", a nominally Muslim commercial people trading out of Manila, and "almost one people" with the Malays of Brunei.

The Portuguese chronicler Tome Pires noted that in their own country, the Luções had "foodstuffs, wax, honey, inferior grade gold", had no king, and were governed instead by a group of elders. They traded with tribes from Borneo and Indonesia, and Filipino historians note that the language of the Luções was one of the 80 different languages spoken in Malacca.

As skilled sailors, the Lucoes were actively involved in the political and military/naval affairs of those who sought to take control of the economically strategic highway of the Strait of Malacca, serving in the fleets of the Sultans of Ache and Brunei, and the former Sultan of Malacca, Scholars have suggested that they may have served as highly skilled naval mercenaries sought after by various fleets of the time.

Portuguese and Spanish accounts from the early to mid 1500s state that the Maynila polity was the same as the "kingdom" that had been referred to as the "Kingdom of Luzon" (Portuguese: Luçon, locally called "Lusong"), and whose residents had been called "Luções".

However, Kapampangan scholars such as Ian Christopher Alfonso add that it is also possible that while the Portuguese and Spanish chroniclers specifically equated "Luçon" with Rajah Matanda's Maynila polity, the description may have been expansive enough to describe other polities in the Manila bay area, including Tondo as well as the Kapampangans of Hagonoy and Macabebe.

Conflicts with Maynila (before 1521)

According to the account of Rajah Matanda as recalled by Magellan expedition members Gines de Mafra, Rodrigo de Aganduru Moriz, and expedition scribe Antonio Pigafetta, Maynila had a territorial conflict with Tondo in the years before 1521.

At the time, Rajah Matanda's mother (whose name was not mentioned in the accounts) served as the paramount ruler of the Maynila polity, taking over from Rajah Matanda's father (also unnamed in the accounts), who had died when Rajah Matanda was still very young. Rajah Matanda, then simply known as the "Young Prince" Ache, was raised alongside his cousin, who was ruler of Tondo – presumed by some to be a young Bunao Lakandula, although not specifically named in the accounts.

During this time, Ache realized that his cousin, who was ruler of the Tondo polity, was "slyly" taking advantage of Ache's mother by taking over territory belonging to Maynila. When Ache asked his mother for permission to address the matter, his mother refused, encouraging the young prince to keep his peace instead. Prince Ache could not accept this and thus left Maynila with some of his father's trusted men, to go to his "grandfather", the Sultan of Brunei, to ask for assistance. The Sultan responded by giving Ache a position as commander of his naval force.

In 1521, Prince Ache was coming fresh from a military victory at the helm of the Bruneian navy and was supposedly on his way back to Maynila with the intent of confronting his cousin when he came upon and attacked the remnants of the Magellan expedition, then under the command of Sebastian Elcano. Some historians suggest that Ache's decision to attack must have been influenced by a desire to expand his fleet even further as he made his way back to Lusong and Maynila, where he could use the size of his fleet as leverage against his cousin, the ruler of Tondo.

Exclusion from the Battle of Manila (May 1570)

Tondo and its rulers were initially ignored by the Spanish during the conquest of Manila bay, because the Spanish focused their attention on Manila, which had fortifications that Tondo did not.

While Spanish colonizers first arrived in the Philippines in 1521, the Spanish only reached the Manila Bay area and its settlements in 1570, when Miguel López de Legazpi sent Martín de Goiti to investigate reports of a prosperous Moro settlement on the island of Luzon.

De Goiti arrived in mid-1570 and was initially well received by Maynila's ruler Rajah Matanda, who, as former commander of the Naval forces of Brunei, had already had dealings with the Magellan expedition in late 1521. Negotiations broke down, however, when another ruler, Rajah Sulayman, arrived and began treating the Spanish belligerently, saying that the Tagalog people would not surrender their freedoms as easily as the "painted" Visayans did. The accounts of the De Goiti mission report that Tondo's ruler, Lakandula, sought to participate in these negotiations early on, but De Goiti intentionally ignored Lakandula because he wanted to focus on Maynila, which Legaspi wanted to use as a headquarters because it was already fortified, whereas Tondo was not.

By May 24, 1570, negotiations had broken down, and according to the Spanish accounts, their ships fired their cannon as a signal for the expedition boats to return. Whether or not this claim was true, the rulers of Maynila perceived this to be an attack and as a result, Sulayman ordered an attack on the Spanish forces still within the city. The battle was very brief because it concluded with the settlement of Maynila being set ablaze.

The Spanish accounts claim that De Goiti ordered his men to set the fire, historians today still debate whether this was true. Some historians believe it is more likely that the Maynila forces themselves set fire to their settlement, because scorched-earth retreats were a common military tactic among the peoples of the Philippine archipelago at the time.

De Goiti proclaimed victory, symbolically claimed Maynila on behalf of Spain, then quickly returned to Legaspi because he knew that his naval forces were outnumbered. Contemporary writers believe the survivors of Maynila's forces would have fled across the river to Tondo and other neighboring towns.

Establishment of Maynila (May 1571)

López de Legazpi himself returned to assert the Spanish claim on Maynila a year later in 1571. This time, it was Lakandula who first approached the Spanish forces, and then Rajah Matanda. Rajah Sulayman was at first intentionally kept away from the Spanish for fear that Sulayman's presence might antagonize them.

López de Legazpi began negotiating with Rajah Matanda and Lakandula to use Maynila as his base of operations, and an agreement was reached by May 19, 1571. According to Spanish accounts, Sulayman began participating in the discussions again when he apologized to the Spanish for his aggressive actions of the previous year, saying that they were the product of his "youthful passion." As a result of these talks, it was agreed that Lakandula would join De Goiti in an expedition to make overtures of friendship to the various polities in Bulacan and Pampanga, with whom Tondo and Maynila had forged close alliances. This was met with mixed responses, which culminated in the Battle of Bangkusay Channel.

Battle of Bangkusay Channel (June 1571)

June 3, 1571, marked the last resistance by locals to the occupation and colonization by the Spanish Empire of Manila in the Battle of Bangkusay Channel. Tarik Sulayman, the chief of Macabebes, refused to ally with the Spanish and decided to mount an attack at the Bangkusay Channel on Spanish forces, led by Miguel López de Legazpi. Sulayman's forces were defeated, and he was killed. The Spanish victory in Bangkusay and Legaspi's alliance with Lakandula of the Kingdom of Tondo, enabled the Spaniards to establish themselves throughout the city and its neighboring towns.

The defeat at Bangkusay marked the end of rebellion against the Spanish among the Pasig river settlements, and Lakandula's Tondo surrendered its sovereignty, submitting to the authority of the new Spanish capital, Manila.

Tondo Conspiracy (1587–1588)

The Tondo Conspiracy of 1587–1588, also referred to as the "Revolt of the Lakans" and sometimes the "Conspiracy of the Maharlikas" was a plot against Spanish colonial rule by the Tagalog and Kapampangan nobles of Manila and some towns of Bulacan and Pampanga. They were the indigenous rulers of their area or an area yet upon submission to the might of the Spanish was relegated as mere collector of tributes or at best Encomenderos that need to report to a Spanish governor. It was led by Agustín de Legazpi, the son of a Maginoo of Tondo (one of the chieftains of Tondo), born of a Spanish mother given a Hispanized name to appease the colonizers, grandson of conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi, nephew of Lakan Dula, and his first cousin, Martin Pangan. The datus swore to rise up in arms. The uprising failed when they were betrayed to the Spanish authorities by Antonio Surabao (Susabau) of Calamianes. The mastermind of the plot was Don Agustín de Legazpi; the mestizo grandson of conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi, nephew of Lakan Dula, a relative of Rajah Matanda. Being a Moro, he was the son-in-law of Sultan Bolkieh of Brunei, whose first cousin was Martín Panga, the gobernadorcillo of Tondo.

Besides the two, the other leaders were Magat Salamat, son of Lakan Dula and the crown prince of Tondo; Juan Banal, another prince of Tondo and Salamat's brother-in-law; Geronimo Basi and Gabriel Tuambacar, brothers of Agustín de Legazpi; Pedro Balingit, the Lord of Pandakan; Felipe Salonga, the Lord of Polo; Dionisio Capolo (Kapulong), the Lord of Kandaba and brother of Felipe Salonga; Juan Basi, the Lord of Tagig; Esteban Taes (also Tasi), the Lord of Bulakan; Felipe Salalila, the Lord of Misil; Agustín Manuguit, son of Felipe Salalila; Luis Amanicaloa, another prince of Tondo; Felipe Amarlangagui, the commander-and-chief of Katanghalan; Omaghicon, the Minister of Nabotas, and Pitongatan (Pitong Gatang), another prince of Tondo and two governors from Malolos and Guiguinto.

Notable rulers and nobles of Tondo

Historical rulers of Tondo

A number of rulers of Tondo are specifically identified in historical documents, which include:

• the epistolary firsthand accounts of the members of the Magellan and Legaspi expeditions, referred to in Spanish as "relaciones";
• various notarized genealogical records kept by the early Spanish colonial government, mostly in the form of last wills and testaments of descendants of said rulers; and,
• in the case of Jayadewa, specific mention in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription.

Legendary rulers

A number of rulers of Tondo are known only through oral histories, which in turn have been recorded by various documentary sources, ranging from historical documents describing oral histories, to contemporary descriptions of modern (post-colonial/national-era) oral accounts. These include:

• orally transmitted genealogical traditions, such as the Batu Tarsila, which have since been recorded and cited by scholarly accounts;
• legends and folk traditions documented by anthropologists, local government units, the National Historical Institute of the Philippines, and other official sources; and
• recently published genealogical accounts based on contemporary research.

Scholarly acceptance of the details recounted in these accounts vary from case to case, and are subject to scholarly peer review.

See also

In Spanish: Reino de Tondó para niños