Sultanate of Sulu#Recent Sultans

File:Sulu archipelago.png]]

{{see also|Hinduism in the Philippines|Religion in pre-colonial Philippines|Indosphere|Indianisation}}

The present area of the Sultanate of Sulu was once under the influence of the Bruneian Empire before it gained its own independence in 1578. During the 13th century the people of Sulu began migrating to present-day Zamboanga and Sulu archipelago from their homelands in northeastern Mindanao. Scott (1994) writes that the Sulu are the descendants of ancient Butuanons and Surigaonons from the Rajahnate of Butuan, which was then Hindu, like pre-islamic Sulu. They moved south and established a spice trading port in Sulu. Sultan Batarah Shah Tengah, who ruled as sultan in 1600, was said to be an actual native of Butuan.{{sfn|Scott|1994|p=164}} The Butuanon-Surigaonon origins of the Tausugs are suggested by the relationship of their languages, as the Butuanon, Surigaonon and Tausug languages are all members of the Southern sub-family of Visayan. Later, the earliest known settlement in this area soon to be occupied by the sultanate was in Maimbung, Jolo. During this time, Sulu was called Lupah Sug.{{cite web|last=Julkarnain |first=Datu Albi Ahmad |title=Genealogy of Sultan Sharif Ul-Hashim of Sulu Sultanate |url=http://www.zambotoday.com/archives/7439-Genealogy-of-Sultan-Sharif-Ul-Hashim-of-Sulu-Sultanate.html |access-date=21 December 2010 |newspaper=Zambo Times |date=30 April 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718151329/http://www.zambotoday.com/archives/7439-Genealogy-of-Sultan-Sharif-Ul-Hashim-of-Sulu-Sultanate.html |archive-date=18 July 2011}} The principality of Maimbung, populated by Buranun people (or Budanon, literally means "mountain-dwellers"), was first ruled by a certain rajah who assumed the title Rajah Sipad the Older. According to Majul, the origins of the title rajah sipad originated from the Hindu sri pada, which symbolises authority.{{Harvnb|Ibrahim|1985|p=51}} The principality was instituted and governed using the system of rajahs. Sipad the Older was succeeded by Sipad the Younger.

Some Chams who migrated to Sulu were called Orang Dampuan.https://www.wattpad.com/5944709-history-of-the-philippines-chapter-3-our-early https://tekalong.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/chps-1-3.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005230228/https://tekalong.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/chps-1-3.pdf |date=5 October 2016 }}{{unreliable source?|reason=url suggests a blog|date=February 2024}} The Champa civilization and the port-kingdom of Sulu engaged in commerce with each other which resulted in merchant Chams settling in Sulu, where they were known as Orang Dampuan in the 10th–13th centuries. In contrast to their cousins in the Butuan Rajahnate, who considered themselves diplomatic competitors of Champa for China trade,{{cite book |author-link=William Henry Scott (historian) |last=Scott |first=William |title=Prehispanic Source Materials: For the Study of Philippine History |page=66 |location=Quezon City |publisher=New Day Publishers |year=1984 |edition=revised |isbn=9711002264}} (under Butuan's Rajah Kiling); instead, Sulu freely traded with the Champa civilization. The Orang Dampuans from Champa however were eventually slaughtered by envious native Sulu Buranuns due to the wealth of the Orang Dampuan.{{cite book|title=The Filipino Moving Onward 5' 2007 Ed.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SIq_FvJUr40C&pg=RA3-PA18-IA1|publisher=Rex Bookstore, Inc.|isbn=978-971-23-4154-0|pages=3–}} The Buranun were then subjected to retaliatory slaughter by the Orang Dampuan. Harmonious commerce between Sulu and the Orang Dampuan was later restored.{{cite book|title=Philippine History Module-based Learning I' 2002 Ed.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ITLRpPrrcykC&pg=PA39|publisher=Rex Bookstore, Inc.|isbn=978-971-23-3449-8|pages=39–}} The Yakans were descendants of the Taguima-based Orang Dampuan who came to Sulu from Champa.{{cite book|title=Philippine History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gUt5v8ET4QYC&pg=PA46|year=2004|publisher=Rex Bookstore, Inc.|isbn=978-971-23-3934-9|pages=46–}} Sulu received civilization in its Indic form from the Orang Dampuan.{{cite book|title=Study Skills in English for a Changing World' 2001 Ed.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2H0KWiOADLQC&pg=PA23|publisher=Rex Bookstore, Inc.|isbn=978-971-23-3225-8|pages=23–}}

During the reign of Sipad the Younger, a Sunni Sufi scholar and mystic{{Harvnb|Tan|2010|p=85}} named Tuan Mashā′ikha{{efn|Mashā′ikha is an Arabic term which originated from mashā′ikh, which means "an intelligent or pious man".}} arrived in Jolo in 1280 CE.{{efn|The generally accepted date for the coming of Tuan Mashā′ikha is 1280 CE, however, other Muslim scholars dated his coming only as second half of the 13th century".{{Harvnb|Larousse|2001|p=39}}, footnote 51}} Little is known to the origins and early biography of Tuan Mashā′ikha, except that he is a Muslim "who came from foreign lands" at the head of a fleet of Muslim traders,{{Harvnb|Decasa|1999|p=321}} or he was issued from a stalk of bamboo and was considered a prophet, thus well respected by the people. Other reports, however, insisted that Tuan Mashā′ikha together with his parents, Jamiyun Kulisa and Indra Suga, were sent to Sulu by Alexander the Great (who is known as Iskandar Zulkarnain in Malay Annals). However, Najeeb Mitry Saleeby, a Lebanese American doctor who wrote A History of Sulu in 1908 and other studies of the Moros, dismisses this claim by concluding that Jamiyun Kulisa and Indra Suga were mythical names.{{Harvnb|Saleeby|1908|p=155}} According to tarsila, during the coming of Tuan Mashā′ikha, the people of Maimbung worshipped tombs and stones of any kind. After he preached Islam in the area, he married Sipad the Younger's daughter, Idda Indira Suga, who bore three children:{{Harvnb|Tan|2010|p=86}} Tuan Hakim, Tuan Pam and 'Aisha. Tuan Hakim, in turn, begot five children.{{Harvnb|Saleeby|1908|p=149}} From the genealogy of Tuan Mashā′ikha, another titular system of aristocracy called "tuanship" started in Sulu. Apart from the Idda Indira Suga, Tuan Mashā′ikha also married another "unidentified woman" and begot Moumin. Tuan Mashā′ikha died in 710 A.H. (equivalent to 1310 AD), and was buried in Bud Dato near Jolo, with an inscription of Tuan Maqbālū.{{Harvnb|Ibrahim|1985|p=54}}

A descendant of the Sunni Sufi Shaykh Tuan Mashā′ikha named Tuan May also begot a son named Datu Tka. The descendants of Tuan May did not assume the title of tuan, but instead, used datu. This was the first time datu was used as a political institution.{{Harvnb|Tan|2010|p=88}} During the coming of Tuan Mashā′ikha, the Tagimaha people (literally means "the party of the people") from Basilan and several places in Mindanao, also arrived and settled in Buansa. After the Tagimaha came the Baklaya people, (which means "seashore dwellers"), who are believed to have originated from Sulawesi, and settled in Patikul. After these came the Bajau people (or Samal) from Johor. The Bajau were driven towards Sulu by a heavy monsoon, some of them to the shores of Brunei and others to Mindanao.{{Harvnb|Saleeby|1908|pp=41–42}} The population of Buranun, Tagimaha, and Baklaya in Sulu created three parties with distinct systems of government and subjects. In the 1300s the Chinese annals, Nanhai zhi, reported that Brunei invaded or administered the Philippine kingdoms of Butuan, Sulu and Ma-i (Mindoro), which did not regain their independence

until later date.{{Cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20072046 |page=280|jstor=20072046 |title=From Quanzhou to the Sulu Zone and beyond: Questions Related to the Early Fourteenth Century |last1=Ptak |first1=Roderich |journal=Journal of Southeast Asian Studies |date=1998 |volume=29 |issue=2 |doi=10.1017/S002246340000744X |s2cid=162707729 |url-access=subscription }} According to the Nagarakretagama, the Majapahit Empire under Emperor Hayam Wuruk invaded Sulu in 1365. However in 1369, the Sulus rebelled and regained independence and in vengeance assaulted the Majapahit Empire and its province Po-ni (Brunei), as well as the northeast coast of BorneoMing shi, 325, pp. 8411, 8422. and thereafter went to the capital, looting it of treasure and gold. In the sacking of Brunei, the Sulus stole two sacred pearls from the Bruneian king.Brunei Rediscovered: A Survey of Early Times By Robert Nicholl, p. 12, citing: "Groenveldt, Notes Page 112" A fleet from the Majapahit capital succeeded in driving away the Sulus, but Po-ni was left weaker after the attack.{{sfn|History for Brunei Darussalam|2009|p=44}} Since Chinese historiographies later recorded there to be a Maharaja of Sulu, it is assumed that the Majapahit did not take it back, and it was a rival to it. By 1390 CE, Rajah Baguinda Ali, a prince of the Pagaruyung Kingdom, arrived at Sulu and married into the local nobility. At least in 1417, when Sulu rivaled Majapahit according to Chinese annals, three kings (or monarchs) ruled three civilized kingdoms in the island.{{cite web|title=Paduka Batara (d. 1417)|url=http://www.nhi.gov.ph/downloads/fihgov0099.pdf|work=National Historical Commission of the Philippines|access-date=21 December 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117120741/http://www.nhi.gov.ph/downloads/fihgov0099.pdf|archive-date=17 November 2011}} Patuka Pahala (Paduka Batara) ruled the eastern kingdom (Sulu Archipelago) -- he was the most powerful; the western kingdom was ruled by Mahalachi (Maharajah Kamal ud-Din), ruler of Kalimantan in Indonesia; and the kingdom near the cave (or Cave King) was Paduka Patulapok from Palawan Island.{{Harvnb|Tan|2010|p=128}} The Bajau settlers were distributed among the three kingdoms. During this time, Sulu avenged itself for Majapahit Imperialism by encroaching upon the Majapahit Empire as the alliance of the three Sulu kings had territory that reached East and North Kalimantan, which were former Majapahit provinces.[https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/228735802.pdf Reading Song-Ming Records on the Pre-colonial History of the Philippines] By Wang Zhenping, p. 258.

Moumin's descendants the son of Tuan Mashā′ikha populated Sulu.{{clarify|date=February 2024}} After some time, a certain Timway Orangkaya Su'il was mentioned by the second page of tarsila; he received four Bisaya slaves (people from the Kedatuan of Madja-as) from Manila (presumably Kingdom of Maynila) as a sign of friendship between the two countries. The descendants of Su'il also inherited the title Timway, which means "chief". On tarsila's third page, it accounts the fact that the slaves were the ancestors of the inhabitants in the island to Parang, Lati, Gi'tung, and Lu'uk respectively.

The fourth page then narrates the coming of the Buranun (addressed in the tarsila as "the Maimbung people"), Tagimaha, Baklaya, and finally the drifted Bajau immigrants from Johor.{{Harvnb|Saleeby|1908|pp=152–153}} The condition of Sulu before the arrival of Islam can be summarized as such: The island was inhabited by several cultures, and was reigned over by three independent kingdoms ruled by the Buranun, Tagimaha, and Baklaya peoples. Likewise, the socio-political systems of these kingdoms were characterized by several distinct institutions: rajahship, datuship, tuanship and timwayship. The arrival of Tuan Mashā′ikha afterwards established a core Islamic community in the island.

{{See also|Islam in the Philippines}}

{{main|List of Sultans of Sulu}}

The Sulu Archipelago was an entrepôt that attracted merchants from south China and various parts of Southeast Asia beginning in the 14th century.{{Harvnb|Donoso|2022|p=505}} The name "Sulu" is attested in Chinese historical records as early as 1349,{{Harvnb|Abinales|Amoroso|2005|p=43}} during the late Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), suggesting trade relations around this time.{{Harvnb|Gunn|2011|p=93}} Trade continued into the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644); envoys were sent in several missions to China to trade and pay tribute to the emperor. Sulu merchants often exchanged goods with Chinese Muslims, and also traded with Muslims of Arab, Persian, Malay, or Indian descent. Islamic historian Cesar Adib Majul argues that Islam was introduced to the Sulu Archipelago in the late 14th century by Chinese and Arab merchants and missionaries from Ming China. The seven Arab missionaries were called "Lumpang Basih" by the Tausug, and were Sunni Sufi scholars from the Ba 'Alawi sada of Yemen.{{cite journal |last1=Quiling |first1=Mucha-Shim |title=Lumpang Basih |journal=Journal of Studies on Traditional Knowledge in Sulu Archipelago and Its People, and in the Neighboring Nusantara |date=2020 |volume=3 |url=https://www.academia.edu/42073637 |access-date=20 May 2023}} A yellow-colored flag was used in Sulu by the Chinese community.{{cite web|url=http://www.royalpanji.net/the_chinese_community_in__sulu_sultanate.html|title=The Chinese Community in Sulu Sultanate |last=paopadd}}{{unreliable source?|date=October 2016}}

Around this time, a notable Arab judge, Sunni Sufi and religious scholar Karim ul-Makhdum{{efn|Also Karimul Makhdum, Karimal Makdum or Makhdum Karim among others. Makhdum came from the Arabic word makhdūmīn, which means "master".}} from Mecca arrived in Malacca. He preached Islam, particularly the Ash'ari Aqeeda and Shafi'i Madh'hab as well as the Qadiriyya Tariqa, and many citizens, including the ruler of Malacca, converted to Islam.{{Harvnb|Saleeby|1908|pp=158–159}} Sulu leader Paduka Pahala and his sons moved to China, where he died. Chinese Muslims brought up his sons in Dezhou, where their descendants live and have the surnames An and Wen. In 1380 CE,{{efn|Another uncertain date in Philippine Islamic history is the year of arrival of Karim ul-Makhdum. Though other Muslim scholars place the date as simply "the end of 14th century", Saleeby calculated the year as 1380 AD corresponding to the description of the tarsilas, in which Karim ul-Makhdum's coming is ten years before Rajah Baguinda's. The 1380 reference originated from the event in Islamic history when a huge number of makhdūmīn started to travel to Southeast Asia from India. See Ibrahim's "Readings on Islam in Southeast Asia."}} Karim ul-Makhdum arrived in Simunul island from Malacca, again with Arab traders. Apart from being a scholar, he operated as a trader; some see him as a Sufi missionary from Mecca.{{Harvnb|Larousse|2001|p=40}} He preached Islam, and was accepted by the core Muslim community. He was the second person to preach Islam in the area, after Tuan Mashā′ikha. To facilitate conversion of nonbelievers, he established a mosque in Tubig-Indagan, Simunul, the first Islamic temple to be constructed in the area, or in the Philippines. This later became known as the Sheik Karimal Makdum Mosque.{{cite web|last=Mawallil|first=Amilbahar|title=Simunul Island, Dubbed As 'Dubai of the Philippines', Pursues Ambitious Project |url=http://mindanaoexaminer.com/news.php?news_id=20090702181517|access-date=22 December 2010|newspaper=The Mindanao Examiner |date=3 July 2009|author2=Dayang Babylyn Kano Omar|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714095516/http://mindanaoexaminer.com/news.php?news_id=20090702181517|archive-date=14 July 2011|url-status=dead}} He died in Sulu, although the exact location of his grave is unknown. In Buansa, he was known as Tuan Sharif Awliyā. On his alleged grave in Bud Agad, Jolo, an inscription reads "Mohadum Aminullah Al-Nikad". In Lugus, he is referred to as Abdurrahman. In Sibutu, he is known by his name.{{Harvnb|Gonda|1975|p=91}} The differing beliefs about his grave's location came about because the Qadiri Shaykh Karim ul-Makhdum travelled to several islands in the Sulu Sea to preach Islam. In many places in the archipelago, he was beloved. It is said that the people of Tapul built a mosque honouring him and that they claim descent from Karim ul-Makhdum. The customs, beliefs and political laws of the people changed and adapted to adopt the Islamic tradition.{{Harvnb|Saleeby|1908|p=159}}

Sulu abruptly stopped sending tributes to the Ming in 1424. Antonio Pigafetta recorded in his journals that the sultan of Brunei invaded Sulu to retrieve the two sacred pearls Sulu had previously pillaged from Brunei.[https://www.jstor.org/stable/20174317?seq=14 Brunei Rediscovered: A Survey of Early Times By Robert Nicholl] p. 45. A sultan of Brunei, Sultan Bolkiah married a princess (dayang-dayang) of Sulu, Puteri Laila Menchanai, and they became the grandparents of the Muslim prince of Maynila, Rajah Matanda. Manila was a Muslim city-state and vassal to Brunei before the Spanish colonized it and converted it from Islam to Christianity.{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}} Islamic Manila ended after the failed attack of Tarik Sulayman, a Muslim Kapampangan commander, in the failure of the Conspiracy of the Maharlikas, when the formerly Muslim Manila nobility attempted a secret alliance with the Japanese shogunate and Bruneiean sultanate (together with her Manila and Sulu allies) to expel the Spaniards from the Philippines.{{Cite book |last=de Marquina |first=Esteban |title=Conspiracy Against the Spaniards: Testimony in certain investigations made by Doctor Santiago de Vera, president of the Philipinas, May–July 1589 |work=The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898 |publisher=Arthur H. Clark Company |year=1903 |editor-last=Blair |editor-first=Emma Helen |editor-link=Emma Helen Blair |volume=7 |location=Ohio, Cleveland |pages=86–103 |editor-last2=Robertson |editor-first2=James Alexander |editor-link2=James Alexander Robertson}} Many Tausugs and other native Muslims of Sulu Sultanate already interacted with Kapampangan and Tagalog Muslims called Luzones based in Brunei, and there were intermarriages between them. The Spanish had native allies against the former Muslims they conquered like Hindu Tondo which resisted Islam when Brunei invaded and established Manila as a Muslim city-state to supplant Hindu Tondo.

{{main|Piracy in the Sulu Sea}}

File:Iranun pirate.png pirate.]]

The Sulu sultanate became notorious for its so-called "Moro Raids" or acts of piracy on Spanish settlements in the Visayan areas in Northern Philippines and from coastal and river villages in North Borneo (Sabah), with the aim of capturing natives to be sold at slave markets in the Sulu Island (Jolo Island) and Tawi Tawi Island.{{Citation |title=The Sulu Sea |date=2019 |work=Pirates of Empire: Colonisation and Maritime Violence in Southeast Asia |pages=42–95 |editor-last=Amirell |editor-first=Stefan Eklöf |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/pirates-of-empire/sulu-sea/F532960AFF94E3D63209FA2A970F0696 |access-date=2025-05-23 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-48421-3}} Tausug pirates used boats known collectively by Europeans as proas (predominantly the lanong and garay warships), which varied in design and were much lighter than the Spanish galleons and could easily out-sail these ships, and also often carried large swivel guns or lantaka and also carried a crew of pirates from different ethnic groups throughout Sulu, such as the Iranun, Bajaus and Tausugs alike. By the 18th century, Sulu pirates had become virtual masters of the Sulu seas and the surrounding areas, wreaking havoc and conducting raids to kidnap natives living in Spanish and Brunei North Borneo settlements for the slave trade.{{cite journal|title=Camarines Towns: Defenses Against Moro Pirates|first=Francisco|last=Mallari|journal=Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society|volume=17|issue=1|pages=41–66|date=March 1989|jstor=29791965}} This prompted the Spaniards to build a number of fortifications{{cite web|url=http://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2433/56477/1/KJ00000131731.pdf|title=Moro Piracy during the Spanish Period and Its Impact|first=Domingo M.|last=Non|publisher=Kyoto University Repository|date=4 March 1993|access-date=16 October 2015}} across the Visayan islands of Cebu and Bohol; churches were built on higher ground, and watchtowers were built along coastlines to warn of impending raids.

The maritime supremacy of Sulu was not directly controlled by the sultan; independent datus and warlords waged their own wars against the Spaniards and even with the capture of Jolo on numerous occasions by the Spaniards, other settlements like Maimbung, Banguingui and Tawi-Tawi were used as assembly areas and hideouts for pirates.

The sultanate's control over the Sulu seas was at its height around the late 17th to early 18th centuries when Moro raids became very common for the Borneo natives, Visayans and Spaniards.

In Sulu and in the Mindanao interior, the slave trade flourished and majority of the slaves that were being imported and exported were of Visayan ethnicity; the term Bisaya eventually became synonymous to "slave" in these areas. Its maritime supremacy over the Spaniards, at the time, the Spaniards acquired steam-powered ships that began to curb Muslim piracy in the region, the Moro piratical raids began to decrease in number until Governor Narciso Clavería launched the Balanguingui expedition in 1848 to crush the pirate settlements there, effectively ending the Moro pirate raids. By the last quarter of the 19th century, Moro pirates had virtually disappeared and the maritime influence of the sultanate became dependent on the Chinese junk trade. The piracy and slave trade was brought to an end by the Spanish who destroyed the Sulu Sultanate in 1878 with a formal surrender and capitulation of the Sultanate once and for all. Once the Americans arrived, further attempts at resurrection to their old piracy ways were put down swiftly.

{{See also|Sultanate of Bulungan}}

File:18th Century Flag of Sulu.svg Pierre Sonnerat.{{cite web|url=http://www.royalpanji.net/|title=Royal Panji|last=paopadd}}{{unreliable source?|date=October 2016}}]]

In 1746, Sultan Azim ud-Din I, with Spanish assistance, carried out punitive expeditions around the Sebuku region against the Tidungs to reconsolidate his power in Borneo. By April 1747, the expeditions were declared a success and the chief of Tarakan declared his allegiance to Sulu. After the Sultan returned to Sulu, he brought back 50 captives who were previously under the hands of the Tidung and among them was a friar, while others were Tidung chiefs. Two of the Tidung chiefs were left in Jolo while the rest were brought to Zamboanga.Bond, Natan (December 2020). [https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/bitstream/handle/11343/256433/64c8a698-298c-ea11-94bd-0050568d7800_Nathan-Bond_PhD-thesis_Seeking-the-state-from-the-margins.pdf "Seeking the state from the margins: From Tidung Lands to borderlands in Borneo"]. School of Social and Political Sciences. The University of Melbourne. Retrieved 19 January 2025 Tausug traders began settling in Tarakan. However, things began to complicate after the Tidungs made a political marriage with Bulungan, placing the Tidungs also under the Sultanate of Bulungan.{{Cite web |title=Bulungan Sultanate Museum |url=https://geotourism.guide/tourpoints/indonesia/kalimantan-timur/kabupaten-bulungan-2/culture/bulungan-sultanate-museum/ |access-date=13 February 2022 |website=Geotourism-guide}}

In 1789, amidst the civil war in Berau, Sultan Azim ud-Din II raided Berau and Tarakan, which led to the de facto independence of Bulungan from Berau by the 18th-19th century. Sulu became the dominant power in the region and Bulungan was placed under the sphere of influence of the former. Tausug vessels began arriving in the region at a large scale to conduct trade. The status of Bulungan as a subject of Sulu however would later change after they stopped paying tribute to Sulu in 1855. This would later become official after the British annexation of North Borneo and the Dutch annexation of Bulungan in 1878.{{Cite journal |last=Sellato |first=Bernard |date=2001 |title=Tribes and States in Northern East Borneo |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/resrep02177.7.pdf |journal=Center for International Forestry Research |pages=15–41 |jstor=resrep02177.7 }}{{Cite journal |last=Kuliangga |first=Mos |title=Bulungan |url=https://www.academia.edu/3642422 |access-date=13 February 2022 |website=Academia.edu}}

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| caption1 = The first concession treaty was signed by Sultan Abdul Momin of Brunei on 29 December 1877, appointing Baron de Overbeck as the Maharaja Sabah, Rajah Gaya and Sandakan{{cite news|url=http://www.bt.com.bn/life/2008/09/21/how_brunei_lost_its_northern_province|title=How Brunei lost its northern province|first=Rozan|last=Yunos|newspaper=The Brunei Times|date=21 September 2008|access-date=28 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140523144547/http://www.bt.com.bn/life/2008/09/21/how_brunei_lost_its_northern_province|archive-date=23 May 2014|url-status=dead}}

| image2 = Concession of Sabah (Sulu) 1878.jpg

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| caption2 = The second concession treaty was signed by Sultan Jamal ul-Azam of Sulu on 22 January 1878 also appointing Baron de Overbeck as Dato Bendahara and Raja Sandakan{{cite news|url=http://www.bt.com.bn/2013/03/07/sabah-and-sulu-claims|title=Sabah and the Sulu claims|first=Rozan|last=Yunos|newspaper=The Brunei Times|date=7 March 2013|access-date=20 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140617035533/http://www.bt.com.bn/2013/03/07/sabah-and-sulu-claims|archive-date=17 June 2014|url-status=dead}}

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In the 18th century, Sulu's dominion covered most of northeastern part of Borneo. However areas like Tempasuk and Abai had never really shown much allegiance to its earlier ruler, Brunei, subsequently similar treatment was given to Sulu. Alexander Dalrymple, who made a treaty of allegiance in 1761 with Sulu, had to make a similar agreement with the rulers of Tempasuk and Abai on the north Borneo coast in 1762.{{Harvnb|Saunders|2002|p=70}} The Sultanate of Sulu totally gave up its domain over Palawan to Spain in 1705 and Basilan to Spain in 1762. The territory ceded to Sulu by Brunei initially stretched south to Tapean Durian (now Tanjong Mangkalihat) (another source mentioned a southernmost boundary at Dumaring),{{Harvnb|Majul|1973|p=93}} near the Straits of Macassar (now Kalimantan). From 1726 to 1733, the Sulu sultanate restarted their tributary relationship with China, now the Qing Empire, about 300 years after it had ended.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IfpIBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA40 |title=Brunei: From the Age of Commerce to the 21st Century |first=Marie-Sybille |last=de Vienne |publisher=National University of Singapore Press |year=2015 |page=73|isbn=9789971698188}}

By 1849, the areas gained from Brunei had been effectively controlled by the Sultanate of Bulungan in Kalimantan, reducing the boundary of Sulu to a cape named Batu Tinagat and the Tawau River.{{Harvnb|United Nations Publications|2002|p=638}}

In 1848 and 1851, the Spanish launched attacks on Balanguingui and Jolo respectively. A peace treaty was signed on 30 April 1851{{refn|see text of treaty (in Spanish),{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l0gMAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA120 |title=Colección de los tratados, convenios y documentos internacionales celebrados por nuestros gobiernos con los estados extranjeros desde el reinado de Doña Isabel II. hasta nuestros días. Acompañados de notas histórico-críticas sobre su negociación y cumplimiento y cotejados con los textos originales... |year=1893 |pages=120–123 |language=es|author1=Spain}}}} in which the sultan could only regain the capital if Sulu and its dependencies became a part of the Philippine Islands under the sovereignty of Spain. There were different understandings of this treaty; although the Spanish interpreted it as the sultan accepting Spanish sovereignty over Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, but the sultan took it as a friendly treaty amongst equals. These areas were only partially controlled by the Spanish, and their power was limited to military stations and garrisons and pockets of civilian settlements. This lasted until they had to abandon the region as a consequence of their defeat in the Spanish–American War.

On 22 January 1878, an agreement was signed between the Sultanate of Sulu and British commercial syndicate of Alfred Dent and Baron von Overbeck, which stipulated that North Borneo was either ceded or leased (depending on translation used) to the British in return for payment of five thousand Malayan dollars per year. The differences in interpretation would later lead to the North Borneo dispute.{{cite book |author=Ooi |first=Keat Gin |author-link=Keat Gin Ooi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QKgraWbb7yoC&pg=PA1163 |title=Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor |date=2004 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-770-2 |pages=1163–}}{{cite book|author=International Court of Justice|title=Summaries of Judgments, Advisory Opinions, and Orders of the International Court of Justice, 1997–2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QhIhqVaIpawC&pg=PA205|year=2003|publisher=United Nations Publications|isbn=978-92-1-133541-5|pages=205–268}}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

File:President Taft and the Sultan of Sulu (1913).png Jamalul Kiram II with William Howard Taft of the Philippine Commission in Jolo, Sulu (27 March 1901)]]

The Sulu sultanate later came under the control of Spain in Manila. In 1885, Great Britain, Germany, and Spain signed the Madrid Protocol to cement Spanish influence over the islands of the Philippines. In the same agreement, Spain relinquished all claim to North Borneo which had belonged to the sultanate in the past to the British government.{{cite web|url=http://www.lawnet.sabah.gov.my/Lawnet/SabahLaws/Treaties/Protocol%28Madrid%29.pdf|title=British North Borneo Treaties (Protocol of 1885)|publisher=Sabah State Attorney-General's Chambers|access-date=6 September 2013|archive-date=29 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029195606/http://www.lawnet.sabah.gov.my/Lawnet/SabahLaws/Treaties/Protocol%28Madrid%29.pdf|url-status=dead}}

{{blockquote |text=The Spanish Government renounces, as far as regards the British Government, all claims of sovereignty over the territories of the continent of Borneo, which belong, or which have belonged in the past to the Sultan of Sulu (Jolo), and which comprise the neighbouring islands of Balambangan, Banguey, and Malawali, as well as all those comprised within a zone of three maritime leagues from the coast, and which form part of the territories administered by the Company styled the "British North Borneo Company". |sign=Article III|source=Madrid Protocol of 1885}}

{{main|Kiram-Bates Treaty|Moro Rebellion}}

{{Expand section|date=June 2025}}

File:War Flag of Sulu Sultanate.svg of the Sultanate of Sulu at the end of the 19th century]]

Following the defeat of the Moro Rebellion, the Sultanate of Sulu's existence effectively ceased on 22 March 1915, when American commanders demanded Sultan Jamalul Kiram II signed an agreement called the Carpenter Agreement. By this agreement, the sultan relinquished all sovereignty over territory then under control of the United States, retaining only his religious authority as head of Islam in Sulu.

{{Main|North Borneo dispute}}

File:W.C.Cowie and A.Cook-SultanOfSulu.png, managing director of BNBC, with the Sultan of Sulu.]]

As a result of the language used in the treaty signed in 1878 to approve Sulu's cession of the eastern part of Sabah, a territorial dispute emerged between the Philippines and Malaysia, known as the North Borneo dispute.

The treaty was signed between Sulu sultan Jamal ul-Azam and Baron von Overbeck, representing the North Borneo Chartered Company. In it, in exchange for annual payment of five thousand dollars (later raised to 5,300), Sulu's Sabah territories were either ceded (per the English version) or leased (according to some interpretations of pajakkan in the Malay version). Using the former interpretation, the British protectorate of North Borneo was formed in 1881, later becoming part of Malaysia in 1963 under the name of Sabah. However, the Philippines, acting as the successor state to the Sultanate of Sulu, also claim Sabah, which it interprets to only have been under lease by Sulu, to the point of adding the claim to some of its constitutions.{{cite web|title=North Borneo (Sabah): An annotated timeline 1640s-present|website=The Explainer|date=2013-03-01|author=Manuel L. Quezon III|url=https://www.quezon.ph/2013/03/01/north-borneo-sabah-an-annotated-timeline-1640s-present/|access-date=2025-06-15}}

Malaysia views the dispute as a "non-issue",{{cite web|url=http://www.thestar.com.my/story.aspx/?file=%2f2008%2f5%2f29%2fnation%2f21389432&sec=nation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227044338/http://www.thestar.com.my/story.aspx/?file=%2f2008%2f5%2f29%2fnation%2f21389432&sec=nation|archive-date=2014-02-27|title=Call for ICJ arbitration dismissed|work=The Star|date=29 May 2008|access-date=24 February 2013}} as it not only considers the agreement in 1878 as one of cession later confirmed in a 1903 agreement,{{Cite book|url=https://www.google.com/search?q=The+term+used+in+the+1903+confirmation+Beritish+Nurth+Burniuh,+meaning+literally+we+have+willingly+surrendered+to+the+Government+of+British+North+Borneo.+here+the+controversial+idiom+of+pajakan&tbm=bks&cshid=1596441598799440|title=The Contested Maritime and Territorial Boundaries of Malaysia: An International Law Perspective|last=Haller-Trost|first=R|publisher=Kluwer Law International|year=1998|isbn=9789041196521|location=University of Michigan|pages=155}}{{cite book|author=R. Haller-Trost|title=The Contested Maritime and Territorial Boundaries of Malaysia: An International Law Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=65VuAAAAMAAJ|date=1 January 1998|publisher=Kluwer Law International|isbn=978-90-411-9652-1}} but it also deems that the residents had exercised their act of self-determination when they joined to form the Malaysian federation in 1963.{{cite web|title=Sulu sultan's 'heirs' drop Sabah claim|url=http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20080717-149023/Sulu-sultans-heirs-drop-Sabah-claim|access-date=26 October 2010|newspaper=Philippine Daily Inquirer|date=17 September 2008|first1=Ruben|last1=Sario|first2=Julie S.|last2=Alipala|first3=Ed|last3=General|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703014347/http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20080717-149023/Sulu-sultans-heirs-drop-Sabah-claim|archive-date=3 July 2013}}{{cite news|last=Aning|first=Jerome|title=Sabah legislature refuses to tackle RP claim|url=http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090422-200829/Sabah-legislature-refuses-to-tackle-RP-claim|access-date=27 February 2013|newspaper=Philippine Daily Inquirer|date=23 April 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703015336/http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090422-200829/Sabah-legislature-refuses-to-tackle-RP-claim|archive-date=3 July 2013}} It stood by the contract until 2013, issuing annual cheques in the amount of RM5,300 (approx. ₱77,000 or US$1,710) to the legal counsel of the heirs of Jamalul Kiram II, the last sovereign sultan of Sulu.{{cite news|url=http://globalnation.inquirer.net/65303/what-went-before-sultan-of-sulus-9-principal-heirs|title=WHAT WENT BEFORE: Sultan of Sulu's 9 principal heirs|newspaper=Philippine Daily Inquirer|date=23 February 2013|access-date=23 February 2013}}

The heirs to the Sulu royals have themselves staked their claims to Sabah. In 2013, during the Lahad Datu standoff, a group of armed individuals sent by one of the claimants to the Sulu throne, Jamalul Kiram III, arrived in Lahad Datu, Sabah, in an attempt to assert their territorial claim.{{cite news|url=http://globalnation.inquirer.net/64577/heirs-of-sultan-of-sulu-pursue-sabah-claim-on-their-own|title=Heirs of Sultan of Sulu pursue Sabah claim on their own|newspaper=Philippine Daily Inquirer|date=16 February 2013|access-date=20 February 2013}} A total of 72 people were killed in the incident, which led to the suspension of the payments by the Malaysian government and the sentencing of seven of the invaders to the death penalty.{{Cite web |title=Azalina justifies death sentence for seven Sulu 'terrorists'; says penalty for local Lahad Datu 'traitors' to be known after French court ruling in Nov |url=https://news.nestia.com/detail/Azalina-justifies-death-sentence-for-seven-Sulu-%E2%80%98terrorists%E2%80%99%3B-says-penalty-for-local-Lahad-Datu-%E2%80%98traitors%E2%80%99-to-be-known-after-French-court-ruling-in-Nov/12945789 }}{{cite news|url=https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2020/07/610835/malaysia-stopped-paying-cession-money-sulu-sultanate-2013|title=Malaysia stopped paying cession money to Sulu Sultanate in 2013|newspaper=New Straits Times|date=23 July 2020|access-date=11 August 2020}}

The suspension of the annual payments led the Sulu heirs to sue Malaysia for breach of contract. Their use of forum shopping led to an initial award of at least US$14.92 billion by a Paris arbitration court.{{Cite web |last=Zulkaflee |first=Ikhwan |title=International Court Ruled That Malaysia Must Pay RM62 Billion To Sulu Sultan's Descendents |url=https://www.therakyatpost.com/news/2022/03/01/international-court-ruled-that-malaysia-must-pay-rm62-billion-to-sulu-sultans-descendents/ |access-date=2022-03-18 |website=TRP |date=March 2022 |language=en-US}} After litigation in Spanish, French, and Dutch court systems,{{cite news |last1=Beattie |first1=Elizabeth |title=Fresh from 'Sulu case' win, Malaysia's law minister turns to domestic reforms |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/07/07/asia-pacific/crime-legal-asia-pacific/malaysia-law-minister-sulu-case/ |access-date=15 December 2023 |work=The Japan Times |date=7 July 2023 |language=en}} Malaysia obtained consistent victories, culminating in a dismissal by the French Court of Cassation on 6 November 2024.{{cite news|last1=Hummel|first1=Tassilo|last2=Azhar|first2=Danial|last3=Williams|first3=Alison|last4=Petty|first4=Martin|date=7 November 2024|access-date=20 January 2025|title=Late sultan's heirs fail in bid to challenge French ruling on Malaysia dispute|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/sultans-heirs-fail-with-bid-challenge-french-ruling-dispute-with-malaysia-2024-11-06/|work=Reuters}}

File:Moro cannon or swivel gun (lantaka) from the Sulu Archipelago, brass, Honolulu Museum of Art.jpg

Chinese who lived in Sulu ran guns across a Spanish blockade to supply the Moro datus and sultanates with weapons to fight the Spanish, who were engaging in a campaign to subjugate the Moro sultanates on Mindanao. A trade involving the Moros selling slaves and other goods in exchange for guns developed. The Chinese had entered the economy of the sultanate, taking almost total control of the sultanate's economies in Mindanao and dominating the markets. Though the sultans did not like one group of people exercising exclusive control over the economy, they did business with them.

File:Iranun lanong warship by Rafael Monleón (1890).jpg, the main warships used by the Iranun and Banguingui people of the navies of the sultanates of Sulu and Maguindanao for piracy and slave raids]]

The Chinese set up a trading network between Singapore, Zamboanga, Jolo and Sulu. The Chinese sold small arms like Enfield and Spencer Rifles to the Buayan Datu Uto. They were used to battle the Spanish invasion of Buayan. The datu paid for the weapons in slaves.{{cite book|author=James Francis Warren|title=The Sulu Zone, 1768–1898: The Dynamics of External Trade, Slavery, and Ethnicity in the Transformation of a Southeast Asian Maritime State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VUZq93ydrrwC&pg=PA129|year=2007|publisher=NUS Press|isbn=978-9971-69-386-2|pages=129–}} The population of Chinese in Mindanao in the 1880s was 1,000. The Chinese ran guns across a Spanish blockade to sell to Mindanao Moros. The purchases of these weapons were paid for by the Moros in slaves in addition to other goods. The main group of people selling guns were the Chinese in Sulu. The Chinese took control of the economy and used steamers to ship goods for exporting and importing. Opium, ivory, textiles, and crockery were among the other goods which the Chinese sold.

The Chinese on Maimbung sent the weapons to the Sulu sultanate, who used them to battle the Spanish and resist their attacks. A Chinese-Mestizo was one of the sultan's brothers-in-law, the sultan was married to his sister. He and the sultan both owned shares in the ship (named the Far East) which helped smuggle the weapons. The Spanish launched a surprise offensive under Colonel Juan Arolas in April 1887 by attacking the sultanate's capital at Maimbung in an effort to crush resistance. Weapons were captured and the property of the Chinese were destroyed while the Chinese were deported to Jolo.

File:Sultan Jamal ul-Azam of Sulu receiving French delegation.jpg having a conversation with the French visitors.]]

After the destruction of the pirate haunts of Balanguingui effectively ending the centuries of slave raids, which the Sulu sultanate's economy had so depended on, along with the economy of mainland Mindanao, the sultanate's economy experienced a sharp decline as slaves became more inaccessible and the islands' agricultural produce wasn't enough, thus it became dependent on the Mindanao interior even for rice and produce.{{cite book|author=Reynaldo Clemeña Ileto|title=Magindanao, 1860–1888: The Career of Datu Utto of Buayan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bd94RtanksIC&pg=PR18|year=2007|publisher=Anvil Publishing, Inc.|isbn=978-971-27-1585-3|pages=18–}} Although the Spaniards thought they had dealt the death blow for the sultanate when they captured Jolo in 1876, rather, the sultanate's capital and economic and trading hub was moved to Maimbung on the other side of the island. Up until the American occupation, this was the residence and economic center of Sulu. This is where the Sultan Jamalul Kiram II and his adviser Hadji Butu began the Sulu pearling industry to increase the sultan's wealth, they organized the Sulu pearling fleet, which remained active well into the early 20th century. In 1910, the sultan reportedly sold a giant pearl in London for $100,000.{{citation_needed|date=August 2017}}

{{clear left}}

Among the people of the Sultanate of Sulu, nobility could be acquired only by lineage, a closed hereditary system.

File:Sulu Craft off Sandakau, with Mecca Pilgrims.jpg

There were two royal classes:{{cite book|last=Bruno|first=Juanito A|title=The Social World of the Tausug| year=1973| page=146}}

• Datu (susultanun), acquired purely by lineage. All male members of the royal house of Sulu held this title and style "His Royal Highness (HRH)". Their spouses automatically held the title of Dayangdayang (princess of the first degree). Adopted members of the royal house of Sulu were styled "His Highness (HH)" and their spouses also held the title of Dayangdayang and the style: "Her Highness".
• Datu sadja, which may be acquired through confirming the titles (gullal) on the middleman of the sultan. The gullal is made if a commoner has achieved outstanding feats or services in line of duty through display of bravery, heroism, etc. Datu sadja is a life title of nobility and the title holders hold the style "His Excellency" and their spouses should hold the title of dayang the style "Her Excellency".

Maharlika, or commoners, do not trace their descent from royalty. The upper subclasses held administrative roles:

• Wakil Kesultanan – regional representative outside the sultanate
• Panglima – regional representative inside the sultanate
• Parkasa – aide-de-camp of region representative inside the sultanate
• Laksaman– subregional representative inside the sultanate

The men who hold the offices above were addressed by the title of nobility Tuan (the title is directly attached to the office), followed by the rank of the office they hold, their given name, surname and region. The women who held offices above shall be addressed by the title of nobility Sitti (the title is directly attached to the office), followed by the same name order.

A very large part of the Sulu society, as well as in the Sultanate of Maguindanao were slaves captured from slave raids or bought from slave markets. They were known as the bisaya, reflecting their most common origin – Christianized Visayans from Spanish territories in the Philippines – although they also included captured slaves from other ethnic groups throughout Southeast Asia. They were also known as banyaga, ipun, or ammas. It is estimated that as much as 50% of the population of Sulu in the 1850s were bisaya slaves and dominated the Sulu economy. For the most part, they were treated like commoners, with their own houses and were responsible for cultivating farms and fisheries of Tausug nobility. But there were harsh punishments for attempts to escape, and a large number of the slaves were sold to European, Chinese, Makassar, and Bugis slavers in the Dutch East Indies.{{cite book|author=James Francis Warren|title=Iranun and Balangingi: Globalization, Maritime Raiding and the Birth of Ethnicity|publisher=NUS Press|year=2002|pages=53–56|isbn=9789971692421|url=https://nuspress.nus.edu.sg/products/iranun-and-balangingi}}{{cite journal|first=Domingo M.|last=Non|year=1993|title=Moro Piracy during the Spanish Period and its Impact |journal=Southeast Asian Studies|volume=30|issue=4|pages=401–40419|doi=10.20495/tak.30.4_401|url=https://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2433/56477/1/KJ00000131731.pdf}}

{{main|Okir}}

File:Lute (kutyapi), Mindanao, wood, Honolulu Museum of Art.jpg (lute) from Mindanao bearing Ukkil motifs.]]

The Sultanate of Sulu, along with the rest of Mindanao, has a long tradition of decorative arts known as ukkil or okir. Ukkil is the Tausug word for "wood carving" or "engraving". The Tausug and Maranao peoples traditionally carved and decorated their boats, houses and even grave markers with ukkil carvings. Aside from wood carvings, ukkil motifs were found on various clothing in the Sulu archipelago. Ukkil motifs tend to emphasise geometric patterns and a flowing design, with floral and leaf patterns as well as folk elements. The Tausug also decorated their weapons with these motifs, and various kris and barong blades have finely decorated handles as well as blades covered in floral patterns and the like.{{cite book|first=Ligaya|last=Fernando-Amilbangsa|title=Ukkil: Visual Arts of the Sulu Archipelago|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCgW_lZy0LUC&pg=PP1|year=2005|publisher=Ateneo University Press|isbn=978-971-550-480-5|pages=1–}} Bronze lantaka also bear some ukkil patterns.

File:Merchant flag of the Chinese community in the Sulu Sultanate.svg|Merchant flag of the Chinese community in the Sultanate of Sulu

File:Daru Jambangan.jpg|Darul Jambangan (Palace of Flowers) in Maimbung, residence to the Sultan (destroyed by a typhoon in 1932){{Cite web |url=http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/510823/before-his-death-kiram-iii-tells-family-to-continue-fight-to-re-possess-sabah |title=Before his death, Kiram III tells family to continue fight to re-possess Sabah | Inquirer News|date=20 October 2013 }}

{{Div col}}

• Sultanate of Malacca
• Sultanate of Maguindanao
• John C. Bates
• Manila Accord
• Abolition of monarchy
• Hinduism in the Philippines
• History of the Philippines (Before 1521)
• Kiram-Bates Treaty

{{col div end}}

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|publisher=University of the Philippines Press

|year=2010

|isbn=978-971-542-632-9

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=csrZOk6yLosC

}}

• {{citation

|author=United Nations Publications

|title=Case concerning sovereignty over Palau Ligitan and Palau Sipidan (Indonesia/Malaysia). Judgment of 17 December 2002. International Court of Justice Series. Issue 858 of Recueil des arrêts, avis consultatifs et ordonnances. Reports of judgments, advisory opinions and orders

|publisher=United Nations Publications

|year=2002

|isbn=978-92-1-070964-4

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GzlBxwniBBkC

}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

{{Commons category-inline}}

• [https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2013/02/26/line-of-succession-of-the-sultans-of-sulu-of-the-modern-era Line of succession of the Sultans of Sulu of the Modern Era] as published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130227230933/http://www.sulu.gov.ph/Profile.asp?mode=sultanate Philippine Provincial Government of Sulu – The official list of Sultans]
• [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Philippines.htm Sultanate of Sulu] on WorldStatesMen.org

{{Sultans of Sulu and claimants}}

{{Former and present states in the Philippines}}

{{India-related topics in Philippines}}

{{British overseas territories}}

{{History of East Malaysia}}

{{Asia in topic|Hinduism in}}

{{coord|6|03|07|N|121|00|07|E|source:kolossus-cawiki|display=title}}

{{authority control}}

Sulu

Category:History of Sulu

Category:Sulu Sea

Category:History of Sabah

Category:Former countries in Borneo

Category:Former countries in Bruneian history

Category:Precolonial states of Indonesia

Category:Former countries in Malaysian history

Category:Former countries in Philippine history

Category:History of the Philippines (900–1565)

Category:Former monarchies of Asia

Category:Moro history

Category:Moro Rebellion

Category:Filipino royalty

Category:States and territories established in 1405

Category:States and territories disestablished in 1915

Category:1405 establishments in Asia

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Category:15th-century establishments in Asia

Category:1915 disestablishments in the Philippines

Category:Maritime Southeast Asia

Category:Tributaries of Imperial China