The Kedatuan of Dapitan was an ancient Philippine polity once based at Bohol at Tagbilaran Strait. Bohol's first indigenous people settled in the Anda peninsula. These people came from northeast Mindanao. These people were responsible for the Anda petrographs which are one of the most important indigenous rock writing in the country. Around the 12th century, a group of people from Northern Mindanao settled in the strait between mainland Bohol and the island of Panglao. Those people came from a nation in northern Mindanao called Lutao (probably the animist kingdom of what will soon be the Islamic Lanao). Those people established the Kedatuan of Dapitan in western Bohol because the true indigenous people of Bohol in the Anda peninsula and nearby areas were not open to them, forcing them to establish settlement in the western part of the island. The kedatuan was first built with hardwood on the soft seabed. It engaged it trade with nearby areas and some Chinese merchants. The Jesuit Alcina tells tales about a rich nation he called the 'Venice of the Visayas', pointing to the Kedatuan of Dapitan at that time. The Jesuit also tells of a princess named Bugbung Hamusanum, whose beauty caused her suitor, Datu Sumangga, to raid parts of southern China to win her hand.[1] By 1563, before the full Spanish colonization agenda came to Bohol, the Kedatuan of Dapitan was at war with the Sultanate of Ternate in the Moluccas (who were also raiding the Rajahnate of Butuan). At the time, Dapitan was ruled by two brothers named Dalisan and Pagbuaya. The Ternateans at the time were allied to the Portuguese. Dapitan was destroyed and Datu Dalisan was killed in battle. His brother, Datu Pagbuaya, together with his people fled back to Mindanao and established a new Dapitan in the northern coast of the Zamboanga peninsula. The new Dapitan eventually was incorporated by the Spanish. Pagbuaya's son, Manooc was among those who sided with the Spanish. He converted to Christianity and aided the Spaniards in the conquest of Islamic Manila and the Camarines area in Luzon. The people of Dapitan also assisted the Spanish in the conquest of Northern Mindanao. Eventually, the Dapitans took their vengeance against the Ternateans when Manooc's cousin, Laria, guided the Spanish in their invasion of the Moluccas (Ternate).
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Recorded monarchs
| The Reigning Datu |
Events |
From |
Until |
| Sumanga |
Datu Sumanga raids China to win the hand of Dayang-dayang (Princess) Bugbung Humasanum |
? |
? |
| Dailisan |
The Kedatuan was destroyed by the Sultanate of Ternate |
1563 |
? |
| Pagbuaya |
The Kedatuan is re-established in Mindanao |
? |
1564 |
| Manooc |
The Kedatuan is incorporated to the Spanish Empire |
? |
? |
See also
References
Philippines
