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Sim Nowell Paolo Q.

2LM2

December 17, 2013

I. A. Summary of Chapter IV
History has been always important in our society because it teaches us our past mistakes
and helps us realize what we should do to improve our society. Modern practice of history begins
with written records; evidence of human culture without writing is in the prehistoric era. The
Philippines has not yet published a prehispanic document with significant proof of authenticity.
The scholars in our country rely on other countries records to find possible references to our past
and to help us reconnect it in the present.
One of the apparent records from our neighboring countries is from the Chinese empire,
which dates back to the pre-Christian era. The translations have not yet been concerned directly
to the Philippines because the Chinese are saying that the Filipinos in the olden times are
barbarians, which are unfit subjects for literary exposition. According to Henry Otley Beyer he
called it as the Proto historic period. According to Peralta (2003) Some of the earliest written
accounts

of

the Philippines can

be

traced

back

to

chronicles

from

the Song

Dynasty of China around the 12th century A.D. There were proofs of Chinese trade even without
written records like from the Sung Dynasty (960-1278), which gave us an actual description of
trade and in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), which notice us of more official contact as well as an
account of the Spanish conquest. Scholars with varying degrees of competence and productivity
scrutinized vague periods like Grimes modern study of the prevailing winds in the South China
Sea, which was about Fa Hsiens pilgrim where he was blown off course on his return from India
and wound up between Luzon and Formosa and Wang Teh-ming and other scholars saying that in
the ancient text they conclude that there was a volcano in Luzon, Ternate, Timor or somewhere
in Java. But the historians hunger for references led them to use stray data, one of them is Austin
Craig, eminent authority on rizal , quoted Terrien de Lacouperies Formosa Notes which quoted
George Kleinwachters The history of Formosa under the Chinese which quoted the Yang Tchou
Wen Kao which suggest that Gaddangs and Kalingas of Northern Luzon were Tagalogs.
Medieval China had a lack of interest in geography of the South East Asia, but in the Sung
Dynasty supported by tariff revenues, came the first positive reference and the first description of
the Philippines as Mo-Yi or Ma-i. Not only that but a lot of records arise to back up the first ever
positive reference like the Two chapters of Superintendent of Foreign Trade of Chao Ju-kua and
Chu Fan Chih and more. But ne of the most important description of the Philippines in the13th
century was
Chao Ju-Kuas, which showed us that Filipino trader, were trustworthy on conducting
their business aboard Chinese vessels, which were anchored in some seaports with political
jurisdiction over other islands. Mai is north of Borneo. They say that Ma-I is evidently Mindoro.
The natives there live in large villages and wore cloth like sheets. The method for transacting
business is for the native traders to descend on the baskets and hampers then mob then go off
taking the goods around to the other island for trading.
The main products of the natives in Ma-I are yellow wax, cotton, true pearl, tortoise-shell,
medicinal betelnuts and yu-ta cloths. San-su also of the same sort as Ma-I with many names like
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Kia-mayen, Pa-lau-yu and Pa-ki-nung. But the merchants who reach this place dare not go
ashore as they say that the natives are savages that are why to make sure there was a successful
trade they retain hostages aboard. Chao Ju-kua indicated that Ma-I seems to be politically more
sophisticated than San-su and San-su people are scattered about in tribes while Ma-I are not the
first settlers in their land for they dont know where the bronze images come from. Wang Tayuans TaoChih Lueh presents stillmore details of medieval Filipino life. Three areas where
added and they were Sulu, Mintolang, Malilu. Wang Ta-yuan is famous for his voyage to the
Southern Sea as a tourist. There clear evidences of cultural contacts between Wang Ta-yuan and
Asian mainland like Hindu practice of suttee and use of bamboo bes in Malilu. Wang does not
use the term savages for Filipinos because he acknowledges the presence of tribal chieftains of
Ma-I, San-tao and Sulu but he finds the San-su people simple. His account of Mintolang
indicates a significant difference between cultures and that of Ma-I, San-tao, Malilu and Sulu.
Only in Mintolang does people wear long blue garments with short black jacket and punish
robbery by executing the robbers family. Both Chu Fan Chih and the Tao I Chih Lueh indicates
some barbarous place called Pi-shoe-ye which may be Visayas. Wang describes the natives as
being tattooed up the neck and they are ruthless slavers. Chao Ju-kua portrays them as naked
cannibals who raids of raid and plunder on the China coast.
The later Chinese accounts are from a lone entry in the first year of the Ming Dynasty
which talks about Sulu forces raiding Borneo but driven off with assistance from Java. After the
coming of an energetic new emperor, imperial envoys spread the word among peoples too
remote to witness including the Philippines. Many of the small countries sent tribute envoys.
Then official mention of the Philippines in Chinese record was a description of Sulu, which
mentioned salt, made from seawater, sugarcane wine, and clothe woven of the outer bamboo
fibers, pearls and Spanish attempts at conquest.
Other records show us that not only the Chinese had prehispanic contact with the
Philippines, like the Japanese which were trading with deer-skins, local wood and old Chinese
jars, Indic elements and artifacts found in prehistoric Philippines which suggest contacts with
Sumatra and Java. From the other side of the world come also three records of westerners they
are Marco Polo; saying that he might had passed through the Philippines, Odoric Mattiusi; he
described the natives use blow guns and carry little stones as anting- anting and tattoo
themselves for protection and Ibn Batuta; who talked about Princess Urduja of Tawalisi. Lastly is
a European text, which described both the Filipinos and the land they came fromand it is The
Summa Oriental of Tome Pires. In this text he calls Filipinos Luceos and describes them as
robust and hardworking people.
Although the Philippines lack prehistoric documents a quasi-historical record is found
in the tarsilas or family genealogies, of the Muslim rulers of Sulu and Magindanao.
Magindanaos records are more on extravagant fantasy like angels carried the paradise to Mecca.
Sulus records are more on solid facts like the coming of Karim ul Makdum by an iron pot or
vessel, followed by a conqueror named Rajah Barinda, who gave his daughter to Abu Bakr, the
founder of the Sultanate of Sulu.

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The earliest reference to the Philipppine appears from the chinses records and the
Filipinos are described to have a simple custom and material culture with Chinese and Hindu
influence, have social organization and well develop domestic and foreign trading. They usually
trade wax, iber cloth betelnuts, coconut, cotton, and many more.
B. The inclusion, enumeration, explanation and discussion of important terminologies in
Chapter IV

Proto-historic Period- it was the term used by Henry Otley Beyer

- The 10th-15th centuries when imported porcelains
make dating possible even without written record.
Terra incognita- is a term used in cartography for regions that have not been
mapped or documented.
Gaddang and Kalinga- tribes in the northern part of Luzon in the Philippines
the word "Gaddang" comes from the
-

word ga meaning "heat" and dang meaning "burned"

Kalinga comes from the common noun kalinga

which means enemy, fighter, or headhunter

San-su- three islands with such names as Kia-mayen, P-lau-yu and Pa-ki-nung.
Mintolang/Kumalalang- old name of Mindanao
Malilu- old name of Manila
Suttee- the Indian custom of a widow burning herself, either on the funeral

pyre of her dead husband or in some other fashion, soon after his death.
Dawat wa batak katur Bring inkstand and paper
Lucoes- it is what the Portuguese explorers call the natives in the southeast asia
Tarsilas- comes from an Arabic word meaning the link of a chain.
- it is the link of a sultan to the prophet and qualification in the
orthodox Islam to rule over the people

Sejarah Melayu- Malay Annals is a Malay literary work which covers a period of
over 600 years that chronicles the, then and now, Genealogies of Rulers in the
Malay Archipelago.

II. Reaction
As what to I read about different records taken from different countries our ancestors were
hardworking and trustworthy people. Until now more researchers are finding sources that would help
them create a clearer picture of the past. For it is important to learn where we came from and what
mistakes and challenges they face through for us to learn and never to repeat those and the
innovations and success to be able to repeat them. Now having these records it can help us in
understanding and appreciating what we now have and why we are like this.

Reference:

Willaim henry, S. Chapter IV . A Critical Study of Philippine History . (pp. 65-8). .

Ocampo, Ambeth. 2012. Prehistoric Philippines (Looking Back 6). Pasig City: Anvil.

Jesus H. Peralta, Prehistory of the Philippines,

http://www.ncca.gov.ph/phil._culture/traditional_arts/glimpses/prehistory/glances/glan
ces_prehistory.htm