“Butuan: Top 9 Oldest City in Southeast Asia”

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A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE

January 2022
 Introduction

Background of the Study

Butuan city is known to be one of the existing kingdoms in the southeast Asian region

during the precolonial era in the ASEAN. The oldest known civilization settlement in the

Philippines is thought to be Butuan.

Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, Butuan was referred to as the Rajahnate of

Butuan, an Indianized state renowned for its advanced naval engineering and metallurgical

industry. The Champa (an ancient Indochinese kingdom lasting from the 2nd to the 17th

century ad and extending over the central and southern coastal region of Vietnam from

roughly the 18th parallel in the north to Point Ke Ga (Cape Varella) in the south) was a major

trading partner of the Rajahnate during its heyday in the 10th and 11th centuries CE. The

Srivijaya Empire and modern civilization (controlled modern-day Indonesia and much of the

Malay Archipelago from the seventh to twelfth centuries).

In the past, the city was renowned for producing the best boats and gold in the entire

Philippine archipelago. As displayed in museums, Butuan's history, culture, arts, and

inhabitants date back to the 4th century, making Butuan an intriguing source of cultural items

in Mindanao (Butuan – Travel Guide at Wikivoyage.)

One of the problems faced in historical research is it's the legitimacy of and

information just like what button is facing. Because Butuan city is just a thriving city of the

Philippines, it faces a lot of backlashes among Filipinos of its legitimacy as the top 9 oldest

city in SEA.
 According to another source from Seasia.com, the City of Butuan was the 9th oldest

city in the entire Southeast Asian region. Butuan city acknowledges this. Thus, the researcher

for this paper was enlightened by this international blogpost website featuring the city and

was inspired to create a paper to help the Butuanons engage in historical research.thus, this

source had cited that the chronological evidences (from oldest city to the 10 th spot) were from

the compilation of the company named Eviva Tours. Eviva Tour is Vietnam operator tour

company, specialized in luxury tour in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia. Their strategy in inviting

people to explore the areas were all about advertising what’s interesting in the southeast

Asian region.

Statement of the Problem

Butuan city is a city ascending, as what the city’s tagline says so. This research

acknowledges the existing problem of cultural/historical unfamiliarity of the people from and

out of Butuan City about the historical evidence that Butuan was a witness of major events

even in the pre-colonial era. Given the fact that the source Seasia.com, was only a secondary

data and was originally published informally by a tour-booking company for tourist called

Evivatour.com, this research bridged the gap to help the readers validate the specific content

of the article relating to Butuan City.

Nowadays, people need to be careful on reading articles online, that way it can create

an avenue for them to be more active on historical facts. The concept of historical truth is

crucial to psychoanalysis because it enables a shift away from an early theory of Freud's that

focused on trauma and toward a more sophisticated, perspective-based conception of the

analytic process (Historical Truth | Encyclopedia.com, n.d.). We can learn about the

construction, functioning, and evolution of past communities, institutions, ideologies,

where we are now because to the rich history of the planet (Nair, 2020).

Significance of the Study

All research papers need to have an objective so that it would help readers to

understand the topic and to encourage them to critically read more about the related topic just

like this research paper. Thus, this paper specializes on the following areas:

1. Encourages readers to be proficient in historical literacy in the southeast Asian region

as well as the world. This research provides authentic sources from valid authors and

factual information like archives, news, artifacts etc.,

2. Establishing an academically inclined reading material available for the people of

Butuan and the rest of the world for them to know more about the rich culture,

history, and traditions of the ancient past of the city.

3. Refer on existing data, archives, artifacts, etc., in such a way, this research paper is

secondary-data-based research (Secondary Data Methodology) with a goal of

understanding the chronological patterns of evidence.

This area of the paper focuses on the evidence found by the researcher on the internet

about the history of Butuan City being the 9 th oldest city in the southeast Asian region. As it

was dated before the Spanish colonialism and occupation in the Philippine Archipelago.

First Appearance During the Song Dynasty

Butuan was in communication with the Chinese Song dynasty by at least 1001 AD,

according to evidence. 1001, AD, the Chinese annal Song Shih documented the first presence

of a Butuan tributary mission at the Chinese Imperial Court. Butuan was a gold mining and

commerce town in northeastern Mindanao at the time, famed for producing metal tools and

weapons, musical instruments, and gold jewelry (Abinales and Amoroso, State and Society in

the Philippines.p. 36).

Participation of the Philippines in the Nanhai Trade: 9th - 16th Centuries

The Nanhai trade was a luxury commerce including a vast trade network primarily

between China and countries in mainland Asia and insular Southeast Asia. The Chinese

traded prime commodities such as silk, ceramics, lacquer wares, glass beads, and metals for

South Seas exotica such as pearls, aromatics, spices, and pepper. It also includes ivories,

fragrant wood, rhinoceros horns, beeswax, and cotton (Tan, “Participation of the Philippines

in the Nanhai Trade: 9th - 16th Centuries.”(p. 1)).

Despite the scarcity of written records, ceramic findings from the 9th and 10th

centuries that include Yue and Hunan ceramics, albeit in small quantities compared to the

number of wares from subsequent times, indicate to the Philippines' role in maritime trade
during this period. So far, these early wares have only been discovered in Samar, Visayas,

and Butuan, Mindanao. Over the last four decades, an extraordinary number of Guangdong

ceramics from the Northern Song Dynasty (906-1127 A.D.) has been excavated in Butuan

(Tan, “Participation of the Philippines in the Nanhai Trade: 9th - 16th Centuries.”)

`` `.
 Figure 1. Brown, Roxanna M., ed. Guangdong Ceramics. From Butuan and Other

Philippine Sites, 1990.

Since there was an established Butuan-Champa trade network, it was not surprising

for the former to try to seek the same prestige as the latter. According to the historical record,

the ceremonial flags were granted but not the equal status with Champa with whom China

had started trade contact as early as the 4th century (Tan, “Participation of the Philippines in

the Nanhai Trade: 9th - 16th Centuries.”).

With this part of Butuan’s history, it is a strong indicator that it made a good

impression to be the 9th oldest city/kingdom in the entire ASEAN region.

The Discovery of the Balangay Boat and Other Important Artifacts of the Ancient

Rajahnate of Butuan

This part of the paper highlights other evidence that had witnessed the glory days of

the rajahnate (kingdom). Butuan balangay boats were the first wooden vessels discovered in

Southeast Asia. The original balangay was discovered in 1976 and is presently on exhibit at

the Balangay Shrine Museum in Butuan City's Libertad. It was radiocarbon dated to 320 CE

after being tested (Clark et al., “The Butuan Two Boat Known as Abalangayin the National

Museum, Manila, Philippines.”). The House Committee on Law Revisions named the

Balangay the National Boat of the Philippines in November 2015. "Future generations of

Filipinos will appreciate the invaluable contribution of their forebears in building the

country's maritime culture and in passing on the qualities of solidarity, harmony, resolve,

courage, and bravery," according to the Balangay. Bellow is an image of the firstexcavated

balangay boat.
 Figure 2. Lacsina, Ligaya. (2016). Boats of the Precolonial Philippines: Butuan Boats.

10.1007/978-94-007-7747-7_10279.

A silver strip discovered inside a wooden coffin in Butuan in the 1970s. The

characters have a Hindu-Buddhist influence, which is most likely a kind of early writing in

the Philippines (about 14th-15th century).

Butuan Ivory Seal, abbreviated BIS, is an ivory stamp, seal stamp, or privy seal linked

with a Rhinoceros Ivory Tusk. The 9th-12th century artifact was discovered in Libertad,

Butuan, Agusan del Norte, southern Philippines. The word Butban is written in stylized Kawi

on the seal. Butban was assumed to be an abbreviation for Butuan. The ivory seal is now on

display at the Philippines' National Museum. The seal, dated 1002 A.D., could have been

used for trading documents. Butuan has been the center of trade and commerce in North

Eastern Mindanao since the 10th century.

Such artifacts and factual evidences found from Chinese annals (archives), these had

contributed to the researcher’s study. All was to validate if Butuan City was already a city

during 1001 AD. The artifacts are the most common evidence that researchers could study.

As little information as Butuan, historical truthfulness should always be anchored especially

when dealing with pre-colonial areas of history.

The result was first analyzed coming from the accounts of the Chinese Annals.

According to evidence, Butuan was in contact with the Chinese Song dynasty by at least 1001

AD. The years may not be in a chronological order but the evidences are clear that this was

one of the earliest account. History had proven that Butuan had a good relationship with

China during the Nanhai Trade dated in the 9th century.

With several jars discovered in the Butuan area indicating the riches of the kingdom

and the existence of foreign traditions, this research demonstrated using secondary sources

that there was a commerce link from Butuan to Champa (Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia

today). Artifacts like the Butuan Ivory Seal had crystalized the argument of Butuan City

discourse about the area being the 9th Oldest City in the ASEAN region as mentioned by

Evivatour.com. All of the results had a correlational chronology of the mentioned timeline of

the blogposts both from Evivatour and Seasia.

Eviva Tour. “Top 10 Oldest Cities in Southeast Asia | Eviva Tour,” November 8, 2022.

https://evivatour.com/top-10-oldest-cities-in-southeast-asia/.

Butuan – Travel guide at Wikivoyage. “Butuan – Travel Guide at Wikivoyage.” Accessed

January 16, 2023. https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Butuan.

Eviva Tour. “Top 10 Oldest Cities in Southeast Asia | Eviva Tour,” November 8, 2022.

https://evivatour.com/top-10-oldest-cities-in-southeast-asia/.

Historical Truth | Encyclopedia.com. “Historical Truth | Encyclopedia.Com.” Accessed

January 16, 2023. https://www.encyclopedia.com/psychology/dictionaries-thesauruses-

pictures-and-press-releases/historical-truth.

Nair, Madhu. “Why Is History Important And How Can It Benefit Your Future?” University

of the People, July 1, 2020. https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/why-is-history-important/.

Encyclopedia Britannica. “Champa | Ancient Kingdom, Indochina.” Accessed January 16,

2023. https://www.britannica.com/place/Champa-ancient-kingdom-Indochina.

Abinales, Patricio N., and Donna J. Amoroso. State and Society in the Philippines. State and

Society in East Asia Ser., 2005. https://doi.org/10.1604/9780742510241.

Tan, Rita . “Participation of the Philippines in the Nanhai Trade: 9th - 16th Centuries.”

UNESCO, February 6, 1499. https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/knowledge-bank/participation-

philippines-nanhai-trade-9th-16th-centuries.

Brown, Roxanna M., ed. Guangdong Ceramics. From Butuan and Other Philippine Sites,

1990.
Clark, Paul, Jeremy Green, Tom Vosmer, and Ray Santiago. “The Butuan Two Boat Known

as Abalangayin the National Museum, Manila, Philippines.” International Journal of

Nautical Archaeology 22, no. 2 (May 1993): 143–59. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-

9270.1993.tb00403.x.

web.archive.org.

“Https://Web.Archive.Org/Web/20170324035749/Http://Nationalmuseum.Gov.Ph/

Nationalmuseumbeta/Collections/Archaeo/Seal.Html#.” Accessed January 17, 2023.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170324035749/http://nationalmuseum.gov.ph/

nationalmuseumbeta/Collections/Archaeo/Seal.html#.