Editing History of the Philippines (section)

===The polity of Tondo===
{{Main|Tondo (historical polity)|History of Manila}}
[[File:LCI.jpg|upright=1.3|thumb|left|The [[Laguna Copperplate Inscription]], {{c.|900|lk=no}} CE. The oldest known historical record found in the Philippines, which indirectly refers to the polity of Tondo]]
Tondo was a major trade hub on Luzon island in the northern part of the Pasig River delta. The earliest historical record of local polities and kingdoms, the [[Laguna Copperplate Inscription]], indirectly refers to the Tagalog polity of [[Tondo (historical polity)|Tondo]] ({{circa|before 900}}–1589) and two to three other settlements believed to be located somewhere near Tondo, as well as a settlement near Mt. Diwata in Mindanao, and the temple complex of Medang in Java.<ref name="Postma1992">{{cite journal |last1=Postma |first1=Antoon |title=The Laguna Copper-Plate Inscription: Text and Commentary |journal=Philippine Studies |date=1992 |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=183–203 |jstor=42633308 }}</ref> Although the precise political relationships between these polities is unclear in the text of the inscription, the artifact is usually accepted as evidence of intra- and inter-regional political linkages as early as 900.<ref name="Postma1992"/><ref name="Scott1994" /><ref name=":7" /> By the arrival of the earliest European ethnographers during the 1500s, Tondo was led by the paramount ruler called a "[[Lakandula|Lakan]]".<ref name="Scott1994" /><ref name=":7" /> It had grown into a major trading hub, sharing a monopoly with the [[Rajahnate of Maynila]] over the trade of Ming dynasty<ref name=Ring>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vWLRxJEU49EC&pg=PA565 |title=International Dictionary of Historic Places: Asia and Oceania |author=Ring, Trudy |author2=Robert M. Salkin |author3=Sharon La Boda |name-list-style=amp |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1996 |pages=565–569 |isbn=978-1-884964-04-6 |access-date=January 7, 2010}}</ref> products throughout the archipelago.<ref name="Scott1994" /> This trade was significant enough that the [[Yongle Emperor]] appointed a Chinese governor named Ko Ch'a-lao to oversee it.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ho Khai Leong|title=Connecting and Distancing: Southeast Asia and China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwnzBiM0LmAC&pg=PA33|year=2009|publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies|isbn=978-981-230-856-6|page=33}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VbwogbQ3l8UC&q=Yung+lo+governor+luzon&pg=PT84|title=In Our Image|access-date=August 24, 2015|isbn=978-0-307-77543-6|last1=Karnow|first1=Stanley|year=2010|publisher=Random House Publishing }}</ref>

Since at least the year 900, this thalassocracy centered in [[Manila Bay]] flourished via an active trade with Chinese, Japanese, Malays, and various other peoples in Asia. Tondo thrived as the capital and the seat of power of this ancient kingdom, which was led by kings under the title "Lakan" that belongs to the caste of the [[Maharlika]], who were the feudal warrior class in ancient Tagalog society. At its height, they ruled a large part of what is now known as [[Luzon]] from [[Ilocos Region|Ilocos]] to [[Bicol Region|Bicol]] from possibly before 900 CE to 1571, becoming the largest [[History of the Philippines (900–1521)|precolonial state]]. The Spaniards called them ''Hidalgos''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Scott|1985|p=104}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Report: The Philippines 2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yt3IZ3JATlsC&pg=PA11|page=11|year=2012|publisher=Oxford Business Group|isbn=978-1-907065-56-9}}</ref>

The people of Tondo had developed a culture that is predominantly Hindu and Buddhist, they were also good agriculturists, and lived through farming and [[aquaculture]]. During its existence, it grew to become one of the most prominent and wealthy kingdom states in precolonial Philippines due to heavy trade and connections with several neighboring nations such as China and Japan.

Due to its very good relations with Japan, the Japanese called Tondo as ''Luzon'', even a famous Japanese merchant, [[Luzon Sukezaemon]], went as far as to change his surname from ''Naya'' to Luzon.<ref>Miyamoto, Kazuo. Vikings of the Far East. New York: Vantage Press, 1975. pp88–89.</ref> [[Japan]]'s interaction with Philippine states have precedence in the 700s when Austronesian peoples like the [[Hayato people|Hayato]] and [[Kumaso]] settled in Japan and culturally mediated with the locals and their Austronesian kin to the south, served at the Imperial court and sometimes waged battles in Japan.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kakubayashi |first1=Fumio |year=1998 |title=隼人 : オーストロネシア系の古代日本部族' |id={{NAID|110000577490}} |trans-title=Hayato: An Austronesian speaking tribe in southern Japan |language=Japanese |journal=The Bulletin of the Institute for Japanese Culture, Kyoto Sangyo University |volume=3 |pages=15–31 }}</ref> Japan also imported [[Mishima ware]] manufactured in Luzon.<ref name="cole">{{cite journal |last1=Cole |first1=Fay-Cooper |title=Chinese Pottery in the Philippines |journal=Field Museum of Natural History. Anthropological Series |date=1912 |volume=12 |issue=1 |url=https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en/download/Chinese_Pottery_in_the_Philippines_1000107472.pdf |archive-date=September 3, 2021 |access-date=December 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210903115635/https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en/download/Chinese_Pottery_in_the_Philippines_1000107472.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In 900 CE, the lord-minister Jayadewa <!--It's Lord-Minister! ''Senpati'' is Sanskrit for Admiral/Lord Minister therefore Jayadewa is a not Chieftain or a Datu just check the article Laguna Copperplate Inscription.--> presented a document of debt forgiveness to Lady Angkatan and her brother Bukah, the children of Namwaran. This is described in the Philippines' oldest known document, the [[Laguna Copperplate Inscription]].<ref name="Woods2006">{{cite book|last1=Woods|first1=Damon L.|title=The Philippines: A Global Studies Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Z&pg=PT44|year=2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-675-6|page=44}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The Chinese also mention a polity called "Luzon." This is believed to be a reference to Maynila since [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] and Spanish accounts from the 1520s explicitly state that "Luçon" and "Maynila" were "one and the same",<ref name="Scott1994" /> although some historians argue that since none of these observers actually visited Maynila, "Luçon" may simply have referred to all the Tagalog and Kapampangan polities that rose up on the shores of Manila Bay.<ref name="Alfonso2016">{{cite book | title=The Nameless Hero: Revisiting the Sources on the First Filipino Leader to Die for Freedom | publisher=Holy Angel University Press | author=Alfonso, Ian Christopher B. | year=2016 | location=Angeles | isbn=978-971-0546-52-7}}</ref>