Pangasinan was a coastal pre-colonial Philippine region located at the coasts of Lingayen Gulf. South of Pangasinan was Caboloan (Luyag na Caboloan), located in the interior of Central Luzon, beside the Agno River basin.
Etymology
The term "Pangasinan" is toponymic, as it derives from the root word 'asin' (salt) with the prefix 'pang-' or 'panag-a' and suffix '-an', denoting place. Therefore, Panag-aasinan or Pangasinan meant "land of salt", suggesting that Pangasinan was a coastal region with a salt industry. Pangasinan was also referred by the natives as "luyag ed dapit-baybay" (place near the coast).
Pangasinan was referred to in contemporary Chinese records as 「馮嘉施蘭」 (HokkienPe̍h-ōe-jī:Pâng-ka-si-lân; Mandarinpinyin:Féngjiāshīlán; Wade–Giles:Fêng2-chia1-shih1-lan2), historically atonally romanized by 20th century authors in Mandarin using the Wade-Giles system as "Feng-chia-hsi-lan", even though premodern Chinese texts in the Philippines from before the 20th century were written in Classical Chinese (HokkienChinese:漢文; Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Hàn-bûn) composed and meant to be read from a Hokkien perspective.
History
Territory
Possible inhabitants of Pangasinan with kampilan sword, depicted in the Boxer Codex (1590) surmised to come from Taimei Anchorage, Lingayen Gulf, Luzon
Pangasinan's territory occupied the entirety of the coasts of Lingayen Gulf, spanning from near Bolinao in Zambales to Balaoan in La Union. Due to Bolinao's proximity with the rest of Pangasinan, Miguel de Loarca assumed that the people of Bolinao and the rest of Pangasinan spoke the same language. Ancient potteries were also found in Bolinao during the precolonial period, suggesting active trade with China. Agoo, the most prosperous port of Pangasinan, engaged in frequent trade with the Igorots in exchange for their gold. The Igorots then received carabaos and pigs which they took back to the mountains. This prosperity attracted many traders from Japan, eventually earning the name "Port of Japan". There were several chiefs who also ruled in Calasiao, Lingayen and Binmaley.
Culture
Green Jade Yue Axes found in Pangasinan. Although carved as weapons, the expensive value of such items, meant that its use is more ceremonial and royal rather than martial.
The locals wore apparel typical of other maritime Southeast Asian ethnic groups in addition to Japanese and Chinese silks. Even common people were clad in Chinese and Japanese cotton garments. They also blackened their teeth and were disgusted by the white teeth of foreigners, which were likened to that of animals. They used porcelain jars typical of Japanese and Chinese households. Japanese-style gunpowder weapons were also encountered in naval battles in the area. In exchange for these goods, traders from all over Asia would come to trade primarily for gold and slaves but also for deerskins, civets and other local products. Other than a notably more extensive trade network with Japan and China, they were culturally similar to other Luzon groups to the south, especially the Kapampangans and the neighboring Ilocanos.
During the late 16th and 17th centuries, Spanish records often stated that the region of Pangasinan were war-like. They were often deemed rebellious, unconquered or "fond of blood" by conquistadors. Bishop Domingo de Salazar described them as "really the worst people–the fiercest and the cruelest in the land–an unconquered tribe whose fiestas were cutting off one another's heads".
Chinese records
Song records
According to some historians, places in the present-day province of Pangasinan like Lingayen Gulf were mentioned as early as 1225, when Lingayen, then known as Liyin, was listed in Zhao Rukuo's Zhu Fan Zhi (A Description of Barbarian Nations, Records of Foreign People) as one of the trading places along with Ma-i.
According to the Philippines' national hero, Jose Rizal. Pangasinan was once ruled by a Warrior-Princess named Urduja who even though was a woman led armies and was fluent in Turkish and made the kingdom of Pangasinan, also called Tawalisi, a rival of Mongol-ruled China, the Mongols invaded and replaced the Song dynasty. In 1916, Austin Craig, an American historian of the University of the Philippines, in "The Particulars of the Philippines Pre-Spanish Past", traced the land of Tawalisi and Princess Urduja to Pangasinan. In the province of Pangasinan, the governor's residence in Lingayen is named "Urduja House".
Ming records
Pangasinan as a place known by the Chinese, was first mentioned as early as 1406 when it was recorded to have responded to emissaries sent by China under the Yongle Emperor and had sent tribute missions from 1406–1411. According to Ming records, Pangasinan appeared five times with chieftains presenting their tributes to the Ming imperial court including: Kamayin on September 23, 1406, Taymey ("Tortoise Shell"), and Liyü in 1408 and 1409. On December 11, 1411, the emperor offered a state banquet to the Pangasinan delegation.
Limahong's conquests and early Spanish period
After the conquest of Pangasinan by Juan de Salcedo in 1572, Pangasinan was founded as an encomienda.
Limahong, a Chinese corsair and warlord, briefly invaded the polity after his failure in the Battle of Manila (1574). He then set up an enclave of wokou (Japanese and Chinese pirates) in Pangasinan. Nevertheless, the Mexico-born Juan de Salcedo and his force of Tagalog, Visayan, and Latino soldiers assaulted and destroyed the pirate kingdom and then incorporated the Pangasinan people and their polity into the Spanish East Indies of the Spanish Empire. To escape, the pirate Limahong dug up a canal in the Agno river delta as a means of escape on August 4, 1575.:383
123Scott, William Henry (1989). "Filipinos in China in 1500"(PDF). China Studies Program. De la Salle University. p.8. A number of Philippine states responded to the emissaries who were sent out in 1403–1405 to announce the new reign and, as the Chinese expression had it, 'cherish the barbarians and give them orders.' On 17 October 1405, Luzon and Mao-li-wu presented tribute together with envoys from Java. (Mao-li-wu, also called Ho-mao-li, was on either Mindoro or Marinduque, and its representative was a Muslim called Taonu Makaw.) Pangasinan (Feng-chia-hsi-lan) appeared five times during the next five years...
123Scott, William Henry (1994). Barangay Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society. Ateneo de Manila University Press. pp.248–249. ISBN9789715501354.
↑de Loarca, Miguel (1582). Relacion de Las Yslas Filipinas.
↑Sals, Florent Joseph (2005). The history of Agoo: 1578-2005. La Union: Limbagan Printhouse. p.80.
↑Scott, William Henry (1994). Barangay. Manila Philippines: Ateneo de Manila University Press. p.187.
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