Siuálâ Ding Meángûbié

Date Posted: May 03,2009 03:33 AM

The Luzon Empire (呂宋國)

Through the centuries, Kapampangan writers, historians and poets all wrote about a "lost Kapampangan empire" that was destroyed by the Spaniards upon their conquest of the islands in the 16th century AD (Henson, 1965). Yet the name "Kapampangan" is hard to come by in any pre-Hispanic sources. This is understandable. The Spaniards carved out the province of "La Pampanga" from the former Luzon Empire (張燮, 1617) in 1571 and named it after the Indung Kapampangan river. Only then were the inhabitants of the new colonial province  called Kapampangans.

Territory

The Luzon Empire (呂宋國, Cantonese: Lǚsòng Kók) (1279-1571 AD) was an ancient empire once located around the Manila Bay region of the Philippines. Its capital was Tondo (東都, Cantonese: Tūngdū). Its territories covered most of what is now Central Luzon, extending from the delta region that surrounds Manila Bay, all the way into the interior along head waters of the surrounding rivers in the provinces of Pampanga and Bulacan.

 

Political Identity

Many Philippine historians question the term "empire" when applied to ancient Luzon. The Ming Dynasty chinese sources used the term Guó (國), a sovereign kingdom ruled by "kings" (王) and not chieftains (張燮, 1617). As evidenced from the writings of later Portuguese sources (as cited by Scott, 1994), Luzon was a thalassocracy, a trading empire like Brunei and Malacca, or the earlier Madjapahit and Srivijaya empires of Java and Sumatra.

 

Toponymy

Luzon was probably derived from lusung, an Austronesian term which refers to the mortar or wooden pylon used for pounding rice (Panganiban, 1972). The Austronesian people were known to be navigators and preferred naming bodies of water that they later apply to their settlements (Jumsai, 1997). The name Lusung, might have therefore been originally applied to the body of water now known as Manila Bay. This is plausible since the bay is shaped like the mouth of a mortar surrounded by rice producing communities.

In Chinese tradition however, the name lusung (呂宋) is made of of two characters: Lǚ (呂) which means "backbone" or "substitute" and Sòng (宋) which refers to the Song Empire (宋國). In the Southern Chinese dialects like Cantonese and Juzhow, the character Lǚ (呂) is added before a name to lessen its importance or value. For instance, long (龍) "dragon" becomes lulong (呂龍) "dragon-like" (not a real dragon) when the character Lǚ (呂) is added before it. Therefore, the name Luzon (呂宋國) means "Substitute Song Empire" or "Lesser Song Empire."

Mythical Origins

The History of the Song Dynasty (宋史) was compiled under Mongol Prime Minister Toktoghan (脫脫) in 1345 AD. In it, the Mongols recount the final and complete destruction of Nan Song (南宋國, "Southern Song Empire") (1127-1279 AD), where in 1279 AD:

* The Mongol fleet crushed the Imperial Navy of the Southern Song Empire at the Naval Battle of Yamen (崖門戰役).

* The loyal Minister of the Left Liu Xiufu (陸秀夫) committed suicide with last Nan Song Emperor, the child Songdi Bing (宋帝昺) rather than be captured by the Mongols.

* The Grand Admiral Zhang Shijie (張世傑) escaped with his grand armada but were later annihilated by a typhoon while crossing the seas (脫脫, 1345).

Alternative sources refute the accounts of the destruction of Zhang Shijie's grand armada as nothing more than Mongol propaganda since there were no eyewitness accounts of its destruction nor were there traces left of its remains (Giles, 1898). For most historians, the fate of Zhang Shijie and his grand armada remains a mystery.

Contemporary Chinese historians in Guangdong are now even questioning the Mongolian accounts regarding Emperor Bing's death. Even though Mongol sources claimed that the corpse of the last emperor has been found washed ashore along the coast of Shenzen, his actual grave is yet to be found. Cantonese folklore expressed in the traditional Cantonese opera narrates an alternative account where the loyal Minister Liu Xiufu tricked the Mongols by committing suicide with his own son disguised as the young emperor. The real emperor was said to have been smuggled out of the scene of battle by Grand Admiral Zhang Shijie, who will eventually return to redeem the empire from the invaders. The Travels of Marco Polo also recounts the escape of the last Song emperor across the ocean (Yule, 1993). Zhang Shijie's fleet and the last Song emperor may have escaped to pre-colonial Philippines and established the Luzon Empire, the "Lesser Song Empire."

Excerpt from the 1617 東西洋考 (A study of the Eastern and Western Oceans)

Factual Existence

Despite the conjectures regarding its origins, the Ming Annals (明史) are clear on the actual existence of the Luzon Empire. It records that in 1373 AD, the Luzon Empire sent its first among the many succeeding diplomatic mission to the Great Ming Empire (大明國) (1368-1644), accompanied by the embassies of India's Chola Empire (张廷玉, 1739, see also Scott, 1984).

The Ming chroniclers added the character for "kingdom" or "empire" (國, pinyin: Guó) after Luzon (呂宋) indicating that it was once an independent and sovereign kingdom. Her rulers were acknowledged as kings (王) and not mere chieftains (張燮, 1617). The Ming Empire treated the Luzon Empire more favorably than Japan by allowing it to trade with China once every two years, while Japan was only allowed to trade once every 11 years (张廷玉, 1739)

Golden Age

The Luzon Empire flourished during the latter half of the Ming Dynasty when China closed its doors to foreign trade. Foreigners were forbidden to send trade missions to China. Chinese merchants were likewise forbidden to trade beyond the borders of the Ming Empire. Yet clandestinely, merchants from Guangzhou and Quanzhou regularly delivered trade goods to Tondo. Luzon merchants then traded them all across Southeast Asia and were considered "Chinese" by the people they encountered (San Agustin, 1699).

The Portuguese who came to Asia much earlier than the Spaniards recorded their encounter with the inhabitants of the Luzon Empire and called them Lucoes. The Portuguese records that the Luzon Empire played an active role in the politics and economy of 16th century Southeast Asia, especially in controlling the trade traffic at the Straits of Malacca (Scott, 1994).

The Luzon Empire's powerful presence in the trade of Chinese goods in 16th century East Asia was felt strongly by Japan, whose merchants had to resort to piracy in order to obtain much sought after Chinese products such as silk and porcelain. Famous 16th century Japanese merchants and tea connoisseurs like Shimai Soushitsu (島井宗室) and Kamiya Soutan (神屋宗湛) established their branches here (吉川, 1937). One famous Japanese merchant, Luzon Sukezaemon (呂宋助左衛門) (Miyamoto, 1975) went as far as to change his surname from Naya (納屋) to Luzon (呂宋).

Luzon Sukezaemon (呂宋助左衛門), famous 16th century Japanese merchant. His statue stands in the merchant city of Sakai, Japan.

To be continued...

Reference Notes:

張燮. (1617). 東西洋考 (A study of the Eastern and Western Oceans). (1617). Original Chinese texts at the Kobe University Library Website: http://www.lib.kobe-u.ac.jp/directory/sumita/5A-161/index.html

张廷玉. (1739). 明史 (Ming Annals, 1368-1644 AD). Original Chinese text: http://www.yifan.net/yihe/novels/history/msqztyz/ms.html

脫脫 (Toktoghan). (1345). 宋史 (History of the Song, 960-1277 AD). Original Chinese text available at http://www.yifan.net/yihe/novels/history/songshiytt/sshi.html

Giles, Herbert Allen. [1975 reprint ed.] (1898). A Chinese Biographical Dictionary. Taipei, Taiwan: Cheng Wen Publishing.

Henson, Mariano A. [4th rev. ed.] (1965) Pampanga and Its Towns: A.D. 1300 - 1965. Angeles, Pampanga, Philippines: Mariano A. Henson.

Jumsai, Sumet. (1997). Naga: Cultural Origins in Siam and the West Pacific. Bangkok, Thailand: Chalermnit Press and DD Books.

Miyamoto, Kazuo. (1975). The Vikings of the Far East. New York, New York, USA: Vantage Press.

Panganiban, Jose Villa. (1972). Diksyunaryo-Tesauro Pilipino-Ingles. Quezon City, Philippines: Manlapaz Publishing Company.

San Agustin, Gaspar [1998 bilingual ed.: Spanish & English]. (1699). Conquistas de las Islas Philipinas, 1565-1615. Trans. Luis Antonio Maneru. Intramuros, Manila, Philippines: Pedro Galende, OSA.

Scott, William Henry. (1984). Prehispanic Source Materials: For the study of Philippine History. Quezon City, Philippines: New Day Publishers.

Scott, William Henry (1994). Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society. Quezon City, Philippines: Anteneo de Manila University Press.

吉川英治 (1937). 新書太閣記. 東京,大日本帝國: 朝日新聞.

Yule, Henry. (1993). The Travels of Marco Polo, New York, New York: Dover Publications.