Iranun people

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Iranun
A 19th century illustration of an Iranun pirate.
Regions with significant populations
 Philippines 333,454 (2020)[1]
(Bangsamoro, Soccsksargen, Northern Mindanao, Zamboanga Peninsula, Manila, Cebu)
 
Austronesian peoples

The Iranun are an

ethnic group native to southwestern Mindanao, Philippines. They are ethnically and culturally closely related to the Maranao, and Maguindanaon, all three groups being denoted as speaking Danao languages and giving name to the island of Mindanao. The Iranun were traditionally sailors and were renowned for their ship-building skills. Iranun communities can also be found in Malaysia and Philippines
.

Origins

A traditional Iranun house in the Heritage Village of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

The origin of the name "Iranun" remains contested.

endonym of the ancestral group which later split into the Iranun, Maranao, and Maguindanao people. The Iranun and Maranao still speak the language closest to the ancient Proto-Danaw among all of the Danao languages spoken by these groups.[3]

Regions

The Iranun are native to the southwestern regions of

Dimataling and Tukuran
).

Iranun have also migrated to the west coast of

Sama-Bajau, owing to their shared naval history as well as their common religious beliefs and same ancestral roots in the Bangsamoro
region of the Southern Philippines.

History

1890 illustration by Rafael Monleón of a late 18th-century Iranun lanong warship

Establishment of the Sultanate of Maguindanao

In the 15th or 16th century, after Shariff Kabungsuwan landed in Mindanao, he first landed in an Iranun kingdom known as T'bok, where he founded a sultanate now known as the Sultanate of Maguindanao. For the duration of the 16th century, the Iranuns and Samal mercenaries were the initial core elements of the sultanate.[4]

The Sultanate of Maguindanao traces its ancestry to Iranun roots. For several centuries, the Iranuns in the Philippines formed part of the Sultanate of Maguindanao. In the past, the seat of the Maguindanao Sultanate was situated at Lamitan (within modern-day Picong, Lanao del Sur) and

T'bok, both of which were strongholds of the Iranun society.[4]

Colonial Period (1565-1946)

After the Spanish attack on the sultanate's capital in Lamitan, Sultan Kudarat transferred his capital to Simuay. Eventually, the capital would be transferred away from the Iranun territories and into Maguindanaon territory when the capital was transferred to Selangan in 1701 and eventually Tamontaka in 1711, solidifying the dominance of Maguindanaons within the sultanate. This assertion of dominance was also supported by the fact that the Maguindanaons were the predominant ethnic group within the sultanate.[5][6][7]

For centuries, the Iranun were involved in

Muslim. Their language is part of the Austronesian family and is most closely related to the language of the Maranao people of Lanao
. Historically, the Iranun were given the exonym Ilanun (also spelled variously as Illanun, Illanoan, Illanoon, Ilanoon, etc.) during the British colonial era. The Malay term Lanun (which came to mean "pirate") originated from the exonym.

In the case of inter-marriages of an Iranun woman and an outsider man, the cultural influences of the woman's family will be more dominant that the outsider man would be considered as an Iranun man; although in a lot of cases this does not happen.[9]

Iranuns fought the Western invaders under the flag of the Maguindanao Sultanate. They formed part of the Moro resistance against the American occupation of the Philippines from 1899 to 1913.[10] The Iranun were excellent in maritime activity as they are traditionally sailors and pirates.[10] They used to ply the route connecting the South China Sea, Sulu Sea, Moro Gulf to Celebes Sea, and raided the Spanish held territories along the way. They also extensively mapped the waters of Southeast Asia, and possess notable material culture, such as the historically important Carta Indigena Filipina map, which shows their geographical knowledge and control over many of the region's seas and coasts.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Ethnicity in the Philippines (2020 Census of Population and Housing)". Philippine Statistics Authority. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  2. ISBN 9780930741648
    .
  3. S2CID 145549504
    .
  4. ^ a b https://www.gutenberg.org/files/41770/41770-8.txt [bare URL]
  5. ^ https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/sultan-kudarat-the-philippines-most-powerful-sultan-a00293-20190703-lfrm [bare URL]
  6. ^ Cesar Adib Majul (1971). Muslims in the Philippines. Asian Center.
  7. ^ Laarhoven, Ruurdje (1 March 1986). "WE ARE MANY NATIONS: THE EMERGENCE OF A MULTI-ETHNIC MAGUINDANAO SULTANATE". Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society. 14 (1): 32–53 – via JSTOR.
  8. ^ a b "Existing historical evidence from the Iranun reveals West Philippine Sea part of Philippines". Philstar.com. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  9. ISBN 98-362-2600-1
    .
  10. ^
    ISBN 978-14-728-0789-2
    .
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