Philippines

When in 1521, Ferdinand Magellan sailed through the Asian waters, stumbled along the eastern archipelagos to China, he christened the islands as Archipelago de San Lazaro. But, the islands already had flourishing civilisations that were an extension of the Indianised kingdoms of southeast Asia. On the current Luzon and Palawan islands, the dependencies of the Bruneian Empire (Sultanate of Brunei) existed in the 16th century. In contrast, a sparsely dominated Maguindanao Sultanate (1520-1905) lived on Mindanao island. The islands of Panay and Negros were scrambled with indigenous polity known as Madja-as. Similarly, other islands had different governments that belonged to the Islamic or Hindu-Buddhist realms. Accordingly, the Spanish came across the islands, established their dominance using the usual Europan tactics, and made an Indianised polity their own. 

After two decades, in 1542, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos renamed the islands Islas Filipinas honouring Prince Philip of Austria (later Spain; Felipe de Prudente). Spanish rule continued for more than three centuries. It ended in 1898, only to be taken over by the Americans, making it the only American colony in Asia (and one of the few in the world). While the islands mostly remained under the Spanish, a brief two-year span between 1762 to 1764 saw few British occupations at Manila and Cavite on the Luzon island. During the American regime that ended in 1945, a brief Japanese occupation occurred when Japan expanded its Empire during wartime. But this post focuses on the indigenous kingdoms that existed during the European colonisation part, a pattern similar to several other civilisations. 

The following empires and kingdoms have existed since the colonisation period started in the Philippines. 

1. Bruneian Empire (1368 -1888; existed till the end of the 17th century on Batanga and Cavite regions of Luzon island, parts of Palawan island, Zambaonga tip of Mindanao and the islands of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi)
2. Rajanate of Cebu (1400 - 1565; eastern coast of Cebu)
3. Maguindanao Sultanate (1520 - 1905; parts of Mindanao)
4. Sulu Sultanate (1457 - 1915; islands of Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi)
5. Confederation of the Madja-as (1200 - 1565; parts of Western Visayas region)
6. Ternate Sultanate or Kingdom of Gapi (1257 - 1914; parts of Mindanao)

Unlike India, these royalties didn't hold the position of being the Princely States in the Philippines and Indonesia but continued their resistance until the 1920s. The Spanish and Dutch forces slowly engulfed these kingdoms, thus completing the European sphere with the British in India, the French in Indochina, the Dutch in the East Indies, the Spanish in the Philippines and pockets of Portuguese in all of Asia. 

The Filipino Revolution, or the Tagalog Revolution of 1898, is considered one of the critical turning points in the history of the Philippines. But, several battles were fought during the pre-colonial era to fight against the European forces—the Battle of Bangkusay of 1571 broke the trade hub and established Spanish hegemony in Manila. The battle of Mactan 1521, leading to the death of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan is a landmark battle in Filipino and Spanish histories. 

Another exciting aspect of colonisation is the death of the original Filipino writing script that pre-dated Roman or Latin. It was the earliest recorded in Spanish history, back in 1590. Known as the Baybayin script, it was discarded and rejected by the Spanish rulers at the beginning of the 17th century, slowly imposing the Latin script over the indigenous one. Similar logic would be applied to languages such as Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Malaysia and Vietnamese. 

On older maps, a 1572-dated recreation series of Ptolemy's maps, one would see a shore of rock-like figures scattered to the east of Cathay, believed to be written as Archipelagus 7448 Insularu. Another map dating 1599 mentions these individual islands such as Paloan (Palawan), Talaba, Mindanao, Aricifes, and Pouades; collectively, it's discussed incorrectly as Molvcos (Molluccas). When the Spanish arrived, they also named the western coast of Luzon Costa de Cuba, as it's mentioned on a 1608 dated map. As we enter the mid-1600s, we also see an island named Panama, denoting today's Panay island, while Luzon is mentioned as Luconia. At the end of the 1600s, while Panama is corrected as Panay, Palawan is mentioned as Paragoa, and we see the emergence of Manilla. At the beginning of the 1700s, on a 1708 dated map, Paragoa or Paragoya is mentioned as Puloan, closely moving towards its present name, while Luconia is also called Manille and Panay is mentioned as Panayottan. 

Interestingly, another term, New Philippines or Nouvelles Philippines, was used to summarise the Oceanic islands to the east of the Philippines, such as Palau, Carolinas, Guam etc. One can find this name on a 1705-dated map. A 1762 map of Asia shows the correct boundaries of these islands and an explicit mention of Isles Philippines with Mindanao, Paragoa, Panai, Negros, Zebu, Mindor, Isle Lucon, Samor, Leite, I. S. Juan etc., while Guam, Carolinas and Palau are mentioned as Archipelago S. Lazare or Lazarus Archipelago. As we move into the 1800s, the names are more prominent Paragoa is now Palawan and Luconia is now Luzon. At the same time, the Carolinas, Guam, Palau etc., are separated, and the Marianas is mentioned as its former name Ladrones. 

The 1900s map of the Philippines saw the incoming of Americans, and one can find such on a 1910 map showing Catanduanes, a small island east of Luzon, as to the United States. The Philippines became American territory after the war of 1899, which lasted for the next three years. By the 1920s, one would find the islands mentioned as The Philippines (USA) on several maps that existed till 1945, only to be incorporated into the expanding Japanese Empire. On a 1957 map, the islands are mentioned as the Republic of the Philippines, without any Japanese, American, or Spanish affiliation. 

Below is a recreation of a 1631-dated map of the Philippines, sketched originally by Gerhard Mercator (1512-1594).