Rajah Sulayman

Rajah Sulayman ( Arabic سليمان; * approx. 1540; † 1588 ) was a Muslim Filipino king who, together with Rajah Matanda and Rajah Lakandula, rulers of the area of Tondo , ruled the large ethnic group of the Tagalog , who were resident in the southern area of ​​the Pasig River , in the 16th century . He was the last native ruler of Manila .

biography

In the middle of the 16th century, Manila, then called "Maynilad", was a flourishing settlement under the leadership of Rajah Matanda. Matanda was a name of respect and means something like "elder" . His co-ruler, who could also be called his crown prince, was a young man named Sulayman. The roots of the two Rajahs were probably on Borneo . Rajah Sulayman controlled the traffic of the Chinese trade goods that were carried on the Pasig River to the settlements of Laguna de Bay .

In 1570 the two conquistadors Martín de Goiti and Juan de Salcedo reached the area of ​​Maynilad. Shortly after their arrival, Sulayman welcomed the two. He made friends with the newcomers, entertained them and gave them presents. After a short time he began to feel exploited by the Spaniards and realized that the strangers had not come to visit the island, but were looking for his land and its resources. He was allied with Rajah Matanda of Sapa and the Lakandula of Tondo at the time . Thereupon he opposed the Spaniards and planned to drive the invaders out of the area of ​​Manila.

So it came on the morning of May 24, 1570 to the battle of Bangkusay, a district that today belongs to the district of Tondo. Sulayman had gathered thousands of indigenous warriors around him, who faced around 300 Spanish soldiers (mostly Tlaxcaltecs ) and around 600 Filipinos who belonged to various, already Christianized ethnic groups from Panay . The army of Sulayman, Lakandula and Matanda was numerically superior, but had nothing to oppose the superior armament of the enemy and lost the battle. The Maynilad settlement was burned to the ground.

In the course of this defeat, all three rulers fell into the hands of Martín de Goiti and became prisoners of the Spanish conquistador. The survivors from Sulayman's forces withdrew into the jungle together with the fighters from Lakandula and Matanda in order to reorganize themselves. A short time later they started an uprising during which they besieged the Spanish settlements of Manila for months and forced De Goiti to retreat to the fortress of Fuerza de Santiago . After long months of fighting, the Spaniards succeeded in repelling the besiegers on June 24, 1571. Shortly after the arrival of the Spanish general Miguel López de Legazpi and the reinforcements accompanying him, the local fighters finally surrendered to the Spanish superiority.

As a result, the leaders, including Sulayman, converted to the Roman Catholic faith. They got their privileges back, were integrated into the colonial system of rule and henceforth ruled under Spanish control. There is no further mention of Sulayman in Spanish records since the late 16th century.

reception

Rajah Sulayman is revered as a hero in the Philippines because he fought the Spanish capture of the archipelago at an early stage. In Malate, a district of Manila at the front of the Malate Church in the Plaza Rajah Sulayman, which joins the beach promenade along the Bay of Manila , his larger than life statue has been erected.

The militant Rajah Sulayman movement founded in 1991 is named after him.

credentials

1. ^ ^{A b} Margarete Payer: Chronicle of the history of the Philippines. Published online, last revision: 1997-03-11. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
2. ^ INTRAMUROS: A History. Online publication of the Intramuros travel guide , February 20, 2007. Accessed June 10, 2017.
3. ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: history of Manila ) (unclear provenance).