 Okay, so we're moving into the deep past now and we're starting with Stephanie Mawson from Cambridge who has recently completed a PhD on the early Philippines and who is now a postdoctoral researcher at St. John's College in Cambridge and who is developing from her original PhD into a new project. Right, how are we doing? I tried to get them all to come in but there's a slight yes, I think Christine has gone to shepherd all the renders, rainy people in but let's make a start then if you'd like to go 20 minutes. So thanks everyone for being here so bright and early and it's a real honor to be here and I'm really looking forward to our conversation. So I guess we probably all know that the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines is marked by conflict between the Spanish and the Polities in the south part of the Alcalácao and this was famously dubbed the Morro Wars and this paper revisits this conflict to look at the alliances that were built between different Southeast Asian groups at the end of the 16th century so I wanted to first just begin with a brief overview of the conflict between Spain and the Morro communities of Mindanao and Holo during the 17th century before moving on to look in detail at the alliance that was built between the Mindanaos and Tanate. So and one really important aspect of this story is that the Morros were not one polity, Mindanao itself hosted many different communities but alliances offered these groups the opportunity to build on each other's strengths including gathering intelligence that they had on their opponents as well as combining their military capabilities and in the late 16th century Tanate was actually both the most militarily powerful and the best at forging alliances with surrounding populations in this region and their alliance with the Mindanaos posed a sincere threat to European colonial ambitions in the region. So the first conflicts between the Spanish colonizers and the Morro communities in Mindanao and Holo began only a few years after the Spanish founded the city of Manila in 1570 and established a galleon trade with Mexico. The origins of these conflicts can be traced back to the Spanish ambitions to expand their control and influence over a large part of Southeast Asia. At least in the early days the Philippines was seen as a stepping stone to a much greater prize which was the Melucas where the lucrative trade in spices such as cloves, nutmeg and maize were centered. The Portuguese had maintained an outpost in the Melucas since the 1520s and dominated this trade but the Spanish had ambitions for resting control over this trade away from the Portuguese and so consequently Spanish ambitions they had ambitions to expand southwards from the Philippines and they proposed to do this very early on after the founding of Manila and these ambitions were most clearly articulated by Governor Francisco de Sander who was the third governor of the Philippines. Sander argued that if reinforcements were sent from Spain they would not only very quickly conquer Borneo, Mindanao and Holo but also extend Spanish domination over the spy silence in Java and he also believed that China itself could be conquered just much in the same way that the Spanish conquered Mexico sorry the Aztecs in Mexico with just a handful of valiant conquistadors so a few other royal officials really shared this optimism but they did agree that it was a good idea to conquer the neighboring Muslim polities on the islands of Mindanao and Holo where they believed that they would find gold, cinnamon and other riches and so at the end of the 16th century the conquest of Mindanao and Holo was seen as essential to expanding Spanish power across maritime southeast Asia beginning in 1578 the Spanish began a wave of aggressive military incursions into the territories of Borneo, Mindanao and Holo and although they expected these conquests to be easy they in fact initiated a pattern of conflict that would continue for most of the 17th century. The polities in the southern archipelago responded with force to the aggressive territorial ambitions of Spain and slave raiding was the cornerstone of their military response. Raiding parties from Mindanao, Holo, Carago, Borneo and the Camucones attacked coastal villages in the Spanish controlled part of the Philippines seizing thousands as captives as slaves basically and these raids not only thwarted Spanish expansionary ambitions but actively destabilized new Spanish settlements in the Visayas and the Camarines. Virtually no community south of Mindanao was exempt from the yearly assault but the Visayan territories were the most frequently impacted. For example over just three years between 1599 and 1602 Maguindanao raiders seized 2,300 slaves from Visayan territories while in 1635 Governor Utaro de Corcuero estimated that raiders from Borneo and the Camucones had collectively captured around 25 to 30,000 vassals of the king of Spain. On occasion raiders would venture very close to Minile as a way of demonstrating the weaknesses of Spanish defenses and raiders also used other tactics to disrupt the Spanish occupation of the Philippines. The Maguindanaos in particular tried to convince certain communities in the Visayas to break their connections with Spain and to become tributaries of the Maguindanaos instead and the Sulus of Hollow attacked infrastructure such as shipyards as a way of damaging Spanish economic power in the region. On the whole the Spanish struggled to respond to all of these raiding activities. Initially they tried raising defensive amadas to protect the sign communities before shifting to diplomacy and then finally to aggressive military incursions. But most of this is actually quite ineffective and the pattern of raiding continued throughout the century up until 1663 when the Spanish were forced to withdraw all of their military personnel from Mindanao to Nata and the Colomianes. Alliances between different polities in the Salamanca Pellego were a really important part of this conflict and I'm just I'm going to focus here on one particular alliance that emerged between the Maguindanaos and Tanata. So who were the Tanatans? Tanata and Brunei were two major poles of commercial and political influence in this region at the end of the 16th century. Both were trading hubs with extensive connections throughout the Malay world as well as established trading relationships with China, Siam, the Arabian Peninsula and more recently with the Portuguese. As the only clove producing islands in the world the Malucas had attracted traders to their ports for centuries. But Tanata's rise to prominence as a regional power in the late 16th century was in fact linked to this relationship with the Portuguese. Since 1522 the Portuguese had occupied fortified positions in Tanata and Tidore and had established a unique trading partnership with these islands and this relationship was never particularly peaceful. But a series of events in the 1570s led the Tanatans to break their alliance with the Portuguese allowing them to rapidly expand their regional influence. In 1570 the Sultan of Tanata, Jairun, was assassinated by the Portuguese initiating a period of anti-colonial rebellion leading to the eventual expulsion of the Portuguese from the island in 1575. And over the course of the next several decades the Tanatans set about establishing an extensive tributary network which extended across the majority of island polities throughout the Bandas, Leves and Malucas seeds. By these means Tanata consolidated their power in the region seized greater control over the Spice trade from neighbouring rivals in Tidore and ensured that any uninvited future European interventions would be met with considerable resistance and the Spice trade continued to thrive without a European monopoly. And by these means Tanata was able to strengthen not only, sorry, skipped ahead, a 1603 description of Tanata noted the island regularly received traders from Java and elsewhere in the Malay archipelago as well as Turks who traveled via Java and Arche. Now this interaction with lucrative global trading markets meant that Tanata had accessed a sophisticated weaponry including artillery. The king of Tanata ordered that no merchant would be allowed to trade with his vessel states unless they brought artillery with them. And by these means Tanata was able to strengthen not only the forts on their own islands but also to fortify a large part of the Malucan archipelago. It was said that the main fort in Tanata alone was defended by 300 cannons and other types of artillery as well as a thousand Malucan soldiers who were equipped with coats of male doublets and helmets that they had taken from the Portuguese. Additionally they were backed by a thousand Javins, Chinese, Archeanese and Turks, the latter of whom were experts in fire bombs and other explosive weapons. And so very quickly Tanata became an extremely powerful and heavily militarized center at the heart of an expanding tribute network that encompassed a large part of eastern Indonesia. In 1580 the Portuguese and Spanish crowns unified ending their long-standing rivalry in the region and finally opening the Malucas up to Spanish ambitions. Beginning in the 1580s the Spanish led several expeditions to try and re-impose European control over the Malucas. However they found that by this stage the Tanatans had grown into formidable opponents thanks to their increasing militarization and regional alliance building. So it was within this context that an alliance between Tanata and the Big Indenals emerged and we can easily understand that this alliance was mutually beneficial. While Tanata saw Mindanao as a convenient block to Spanish expansion in the region, the Big Indenals benefited from the military strength of the Tanatans encountering Spanish territorial incursions. So how did this alliance work in practice? Towards the close of the 16th century Tanata was reported to have sent considerable aid to Mindanao in the form of shipbuilders, armorers, gunpowder manufacturers, artillery and manpower to help the Big Indenals resist Spanish invasion into their islands. The Spanish blamed the support offered by the Tanatans for their military failures against the Big Indenals in the 1590s. Realizing the power of this alliance the Spanish began to incorporate a clause into their peace agreement which stipulated that the Big Indenals had to end their alliance with the Tanatans if they ever wanted to achieve peace with Spain. And such a demand by the Spanish actually had the opposite effect on the Big Indenals who saw that their alliance with the Tanatans was their most powerful weapon against Spanish expansionary efforts. So all of this reached a climax in 1597 when the Spanish organized an invasion of Big Indenal territories led by Captain Juan Vronquillo. Vronquillo sailed an army of 230 Spanish and 1500 indigenous soldiers up the Polangu River to wage an assault on the Big Indenal Fort of Boyan. When they arrived they found that the Big Indenals occupied a well-defended fort garrisoned with many soldiers and artillery. And although Vronquillo set up a siege of this fort he was aware that defeating the Big Indenals presented a considerable challenge. Writing back to Manila he reported that after several skirmishes with the Big Indenals on his way back to the fort he was actually running low in ammunition. They'd run down to just 3,000 bullets which was enough for about two hours of firepower and the soldiers were tired and hungry and many had fallen sick or were injured. At the same time he knew that the Big Indenals were willing to fight to their death but also that they could easily flee by ship without being pursued. So it was at this point that 800 Tanatans sailed up the Polangu River coming in aid of the Big Indenals who hoped that this powerful force would crush Vronquillo's armada. The Spanish land afterwards that just before their arrival the Big Indenals had sent one of their nobles called Buissan to Tanate to ask for their aid in fighting the war. While in Tanate Buissan arranged the marriage of the daughter of the king of Tanate to another Big Indenal ruler Rajemura thus solidifying the alliance between the two polities. The king of Tanate then sent these 800 soldiers to intercept the Spanish on the Polangu River. So Vronquillo met the Tanatans by land and by water and in a major battle ensued in which the Tanatans were soundly defeated and their general Kachil bubble was killed. This victory was significant up to that point the Tanatans were widely believed to be undefeatable and in shock the Big Indenals agreed to sign Vronquillo's treaty and he returned to Manila in triumph. But despite this the Spanish never actually consolidated their victory. The following year they withdrew all of their forces from Big Indenal seeding all of the gains that they had made against the Big Indenals and the Tanatans. And nominally this was because of reports that English ships had entered Indonesian waters and they were worried that they might sail upon Manila. But the reality was that despite having won the battle the Spanish lacked the capacity to genuinely occupy the territory of Big Indenal. Vronquillo's victorious expedition was in reality a costly reprisal mission that failed to achieve any conquest. The big treaty with the Big Indenals was dead almost as soon as it was signed and Big Indenal raiding resumed and steadily increased in the years to come. The following these events in Big Indenal the Spanish began to focus their efforts on conquering the Maluccas and this move was definitely motivated by a desire to control the spice trade but it was also clearly a response to the increasing influence of Tanate on Mindanao. An initial attempt in 1603 resulted in a humiliating defeat for the Spanish with the Tanatans outsmarting them militarily. However in 1606 bolstered by considerable reinforcements from Mexico and Spain the Spanish finally succeeded in invading Tanate, seizing their fort and capturing their king. The king of Tanate, Cachalcide Bure, along with two dozen other Tanatan rulers were captured and brought to Manila where they were kept as hostages by hostages of the Spanish crown for the next several decades and in fact Cachalcide Bure never returned to his homeland. He died in Manila at the end of the 1620s. So the Spanish hoped that by conquering Tanate they could cut off the supply of military aid to the Big Indenals. The Big Indenals in turn responded to the Spanish invasion of Tanate through increased raiding. In 1608 the audience here reported that in April the Big Indenals had sailed with 77 caracolers and attacked the islands of Leyte and Ibebel. They had robbed and burnt churches taking many captives. The Spanish ambassador to Mindanao frame Malchor Otaro laid the blame for this situation squarely on Spanish involvement in Tanate. He noted that the Big Indenals were united with Tanate in religion, friendship and trade and recognised Tanate as superior. By that time Tanate had also forged an alliance with the Dutch who by then had established their own fortifications in that island just a league away from the Spanish fort. Malchor Otaro also reported that letters had been sent in secret from Mindanao to the imprisoned king of Tanate in Manila and some Big Indenals had travelled there with the aim of rescuing him and restoring him to his throne. Malchor Otaro warned that it was possible that the Big Indenals would ally themselves with the Dutch and gather together a great armada to sail on Manila to achieve their plan of liberating the Tanat and king and restoring him to his throne. And he believed that this place was the Spanish and the greatest danger that they had ever been in since arriving in the Philippines. So while the 1606 conquest of Tanate was successful in that the Spanish succeeded in reclaiming possession of the Portuguese fort in Tanate, the Spanish never overcame Tanate's power. The arrival of the Dutch in the Malucas and their alliance with Tanate locked the Spanish into a costly war of attrition that lasted until their withdrawal from the Malucas in 1663. At the same time bereft of their long-standing ally, the Big Indenals sought to forge a new alliance through marriage with the Sulus of Hollow. This alliance was to prove as devastating as the last and raiding continued for the next half a century. During this period raiding parties from Big Indenal, Hollow, Caraga, the Kamakones and Borneo continued to threaten the Spanish presence in the region by attacking Spanish vessels, seizing indigenous Filipinos and Spanish missionaries as captives, eroding Spanish authority in the Visayas and attacking key Spanish shipyards. Alliances between all of these oppositional polities were an integral part in ensuring that this resistance to Spanish domination was as effective as it was. So just to conclude, alliances were always an important part of intergroup warfare in the Philippine archipelago. During the cloning period, the alliances that we most often hear about are the ones forged between the Spanish and indigenous communities which allowed the Spanish to gain a foothold in the archipelago and extend their authority. Yet we need to also consider that these alliances could become powerful tools used by communities against European ambitions in this region. And this is certainly the case with the alliance built by the Big Indenals and Tanatans at the end of the 16th century. Thanks. Thank you very much in particular for keeping your time. We'll go straight on to Miguel Lorenzo with a very closely allied paper shifting from the Spaniards to the Portuguese. So whilst you're gathering up your maybe one question for Stephanie. A quick question whilst we're changing speakers. Ah yes, Hannibal. The Tanata was the more superior power because they had, I mean the Big Indenals also had access to artillery and they were like quite a heavily fortified and more like society but the Tanatans just had much more of that and they had built this basically empire in maritime southeast Asia at the end of the 16th century and so I guess the alliance was kind of backing on to that.