Lantaka
The Lantaka (
The lantaka was cited by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Philippines as an intangible cultural heritage of the country under the 'Traditional Craftsmanship' category that the government may nominate in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists. The documentation of the craft was aided by ICHCAP of UNESCO.[6]
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Etymology
The name may stem from the
Description
The lantaka is the "younger sibling" of the lela; they are smaller, with a length of less than 100 cm.[5]: 122–123 Typically, the bore diameters of these cannons were in the range of about 10–50 mm.[3] Many of these guns were mounted on swivels (called cagak in Malay)[3] and were known as swivel guns. The smaller ones could be mounted almost anywhere including in the rigging. Medium-sized cannons were frequently used in reinforced sockets on the vessel's rails and were sometimes referred to as rail guns. The heaviest swivel guns were mounted on modified gun carriages to make them more portable.[citation needed]
History
The origin of
In Malaya
When the Portuguese first came to the Malacca Sultanate, they found a large colony of Javanese merchants under their own headmen; they were manufacturing their own cannon, which is deemed as important as sails in a ship.[14]
Most lantakas were made of bronze and the earliest ones were breechloaders.[15] Michael Charney (2004) pointed out that early Malay swivel guns were breech-loaded.[16]: 50 There is a trend toward muzzle-loading weapons during colonial times.[17] Nevertheless, when Malacca fell to the Portuguese in 1511, both breech-loading and muzzle-loading swivel guns were found and captured by the Portuguese.[16]: 50
De Barros mentions that with the fall of the Malacca Sultanate, Albuquerque captured 3000 out of 8000 artillery. Among those, 2000 were made from brass and the rest from iron, in the style of Portuguese berço (breech-loading swivel gun). All of the artillery had its proper complement of carriages which could not be rivaled even by Portugal.[18][19]: 22, 247 [20]: 127–128 Afonso de Albuquerque compared Malaccan gun founders as being on the same level as those of Germany. However, he did not state what ethnicity the Malaccan gun founder was.[20]: 128 [12]: 221 [21]: 4 Duarte Barbosa stated that the arquebus-maker of Malacca was Javanese.[22]: 69 The Javanese also manufactured their own cannon in Malacca.[14] Anthony Reid argued that the Javanese handled much of the productive work in Malacca before 1511 and in 17th century Pattani.[22]: 69
Wan Mohd Dasuki Wan Hasbullah explained several facts about the existence of gunpowder weapons in Malacca and other Malay states before the arrival of the Portuguese:[23]: 97–98
- No evidence showed that guns, cannons, and gunpowder are made in Malay states.
- No evidence showed that guns were ever used by the Malacca Sultanate before the Portuguese attack, even from Malay sources themselves.
- Based on the majority of cannons reported by the Portuguese, the Malays preferred small artillery.
The cannons found in Malacca were of various types: esmeril (1/4 to 1/2-pounder
: 22
Despite having a lot of artillery and firearms, the weapons of Malacca were mostly and mainly purchased from the Javanese and Gujarati, where the Javanese and Gujarati were the operators of the weapons. In the early 16th century, before the Portuguese arrival, the Malays were a people who lacked firearms. The Malay chronicle,
Setelah datang ke Melaka, maka bertemu, ditembaknya dengan meriam. Maka segala orang Melaka pun hairan, terkejut mendengar bunyi meriam itu. Katanya, "Bunyi apa ini, seperti guruh ini?". Maka meriam itu pun datanglah mengenai orang Melaka, ada yang putus lehernya, ada yang putus tangannya, ada yang panggal pahanya. Maka bertambahlah hairannya orang Melaka melihat fi'il bedil itu. Katanya: "Apa namanya senjata yang bulat itu maka dengan tajamnya maka ia membunuh?"
After (the Portuguese) coming to Malacca, then met (each other), they shot (the city) with cannon. So all the people of Malacca were surprised, shocked to hear the sound of the cannon. They said, "What is this sound, like thunder?". Then the cannon came about the people of Malacca, some lost their necks, some lost their arms, some lost their thighs. The people of Malacca were even more astonished to see the effect of the gun. They said: "What is this weapon called that is round, yet is sharp enough to kill?" [26]: 254–255 [12]: 219
Lendas da India by
The Dutch and Portuguese quickly learned that they could trade cannons not only for
In the Philippines
The ancient walled city of Cainta located in the opposite banks of the Pasig River,[31] is recorded as a fortified city with bamboo thickets and lantaka guns on its walls witnessed by the Spanish conquistadors on the Siege of Cainta in 1571.[31][32]
As described in an anonymous 1572 account documented in Volume 3 of
This said village had about a thousand inhabitants, and was surrounded by very tall and very dense bamboo thickets, and fortified with a wall and a few small culverins. The same river as that of Manilla circles around the village and a branch of it passes through the middle dividing it in two sections.
In the walls of old
Local tradition
If a native vessel was unarmed, it was usually regarded by the local populace as improperly equipped and poorly decorated. Whether farmers, fishermen, or headhunters, the villagers who lived in the longhouses along Borneo's rivers lived in fear of being taken by pirates who used both vessel-mounted and hand-held cannons. Villages and tribesmen that were armed with mounted or handheld cannons had a distinct advantage over those who could only rely on bows and arrows, spears, blowguns and krises (swords).
Land transportation in the 17th and 18th century Java and Borneo was extremely difficult and cannons were fired for virtually all types of signaling. Whether they were fired in celebration of a birth or wedding, or to warn another hilltop fortress or riverbank fishing village of an impending attack, cannons were used to transmit messages telling of urgent or special events. Such events ranged from yellow fever and cholera epidemics to the start or finish of religious holidays such as Ramadan.
Distinguished visitors were ushered into longhouses with great ceremony, accompanied by the firing of the longhouse's cannon, much like today's 21-gun salute. These cannons were a display of the status and wealth of the extended family that controlled the longhouse.
All worked brass, bronze and copper had value and were used as trade items in early Borneo. Cannons were frequently part of the bride price demanded by the family of an exceptionally desirable bride or the dowry paid to the groom.
Many of the small cannons, often called personal cannons or hand cannons, had been received as honors and were kept and passed down in families, but in hard times they also served as a form of currency that could keep the family fed. As a recognized form of currency, cannons could be traded for rice, drums, canoes, tools, weapons, livestock, debts of honor, and even settlement of penalties for crimes ranging from the accidental death of a fellow villager to headhunting against another tribe.
Large cannons had the extra value of being used in both celebratory times and in warfare. The larger and/or more elaborate the cannon, the greater the trade value, and thus the greater the status of the owner.
Many of the finest cannons were given out by the
Modern era
In the 1840s England began suppressing piracy and headhunting and Rajah James Brooke (a wealthy Englishman who established the dynasty that ruled Sarawak from 1841 until 1946) distributed numerous Brunei cast hand cannons to guarantee the cooperation and allegiance of the local chiefs. Lantaka was used by Moro soldiers in the Moro Rebellion against U.S. troops in the Philippines.[36] They were also used by the Filipinos during the Philippine Revolution, this time copied from European models and cast from church bells. One cannon founder was a Chinese Filipino named Jose Ignacio Pawa, a blacksmith also.
Today these guns can be found on virtually all of the islands of the Pacific Rim, but they are most commonly found in the Muslim areas of Indonesia and Malaysia. The largest collection is in Brunei, where it is now illegal to export them. Even in other countries, a museum export permit is usually required.
These cannons are now highly sought after by collectors, with some of the realized prices exceeding $50,000
Today most of the Christians in Mindanao and the Visayas refer the word "lantaka" to
See also
- Luthang, a bamboo toy gun from the Philippines that originally referred to small lantaka.
- Indonesiankingdoms.
- Lela, a type of cannon similar but larger than lantaka.
- Meriam kecil, a tiny version of meriam kecil (lela and lantaka) used mainly as a currency.
- Bedil (term), local term for gunpowder based weapons.
Notes
- ^ Maka kata Laksamana, "Adapun hamba sekalian datang ini dititahkan oleh Sultan Melaka membawa surat dan bingkisan tanda berkasih-kasihan antara Sultan Melaka dan duli Sultan Rum, serta hendak membeli bedil dan meriam yang besar-besar. Adalah kekurangan sedikit bedil yang besar-besar di dalam negeri Melaka itu. Adapun hamba lihat tanah di atas angin ini terlalu banyak bedil yang besar-besar.”. Translation: Then the Admiral said, "As for our reason for coming here, we were ordered by the Sultan of Melaka to bring a letter and a gift of sympathy between the Sultan of Melaka and the Sultan of Rum, as well as to buy large guns and cannons. There is a shortage of large guns in the state of Melaka. While I see that the land above the wind has too many big guns."
References
- ^ BLADE CULTURE AND THE ADVENT OF FIREARMS
- ^ "Borneo Brass Cannon (Lantaka)". michaelbackmanltd.com. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
- ^ a b c "Cannons of the Malay Archipelago". www.acant.org.au. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
- ^ Teoh, Alex Eng Kean (2005). The might of the miniature cannon: A treasure of Borneo and the Malay Archipelago. Asean Heritage.
- ^ a b Ismail, Norain B.T. (2012). Peperangan dalam Historiografi Johor: Kajian Terhadap Tuhfat Al-Nafis. Kuala Lumpur: Akademi Pengajian Islam Universiti Malaya.
- ^ "ICHCAP | e-Knowledge Center". www.ichcap.org. Archived from the original on 1 February 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
- ^ a b Wilkinson, Richard James (1908). An Abridged Malay-English Dictionary (Romanised). Kuala Lumpur: F.M.S Government Press. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b Wilkinson, Richard James (1901). A Malay-English dictionary. Hongkong: Kelly & Walsh, limited. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Departemen Pendidikan Nasional (2008). Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia Pusat Bahasa Edisi Keempat. Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama.
- ^ Schlegel, Gustaaf (1902). "On the Invention and Use of Fire-Arms and Gunpowder in China, Prior to the Arrival of European". T'oung Pao. 3: 1–11.
- ^ Lombard, Denys (1990). Le carrefour javanais. Essai d'histoire globale (The Javanese Crossroads: Towards a Global History) Vol. 2. Paris: Editions de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. Page 178.
- ^ a b c Reid, Anthony (1993). Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450–1680. Volume Two: Expansion and Crisis. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
- ^ Averoes, Muhammad (2020). Antara Cerita dan Sejarah: Meriam Cetbang Majapahit. Jurnal Sejarah, 3(2), 89 – 100.
- ^ a b Furnivall, J. S. (2010). Netherlands India: A Study of Plural Economy. Cambridge University Press. p. 9
- ISBN 9781576077702.
- ^ ISBN 9789047406921.
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- ISBN 9780801859540. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
- ^ a b Crawfurd, John (1856). A Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands and Adjacent Countries. Bradbury and Evans.
- ^ a b Birch, Walter de Gray (1875). The Commentaries of the Great Afonso Dalboquerque, Second Viceroy of India, translated from the Portuguese edition of 1774 volume 3. London: The Hakluyt Society.
- ^ a b Charney, Michael (2012). Iberians and Southeast Asians at War: the Violent First Encounter at Melaka in 1511 and After. In Waffen Wissen Wandel: Anpassung und Lernen in transkulturellen Erstkonflikten. Hamburger Edition.
- ^ a b Reid, Anthony (1989). The Organization of Production in the Pre-Colonial Southeast Asian Port City. In Broeze, Frank (Ed.), Brides of the Sea: Asian Port Cities in the Colonial Era (pp. 54–74). University of Hawaii Press.
- ^ Hasbullah, Wan Mohd Dasuki Wan (2020). Senjata Api Alam Melayu. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
- ^ a b Manucy, Albert C. (1949). Artillery through the ages: A short illustrated history of the cannon, emphasizing types used in America. U.S. Department of the Interior Washington. p. 34.
- ^ Lettera di Giovanni da Empoli, with introduction and notes by A. Bausani, Rome, 1970, page 138.
- ^ Kheng, Cheah Boon (1998). Sejarah Melayu The Malay Annals MS RAFFLES No. 18 Edisi Rumi Baru/New Romanised Edition. Academic Art & Printing Services Sdn. Bhd.
- ^ Koek, E. (1886). "Portuguese History of Malacca". Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 17: 117–149.
- ISBN 9789679120257.
- ISBN 978-979-069-058-5.
- ISSN 0128-1186.
- ^ a b c Blair, Emma Helen; Robertson, James Alexander, eds. (1903). "Relation of the Conquest of the Island of Luzon". The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898. Vol. 3: 1569–1576. Translated by Gill, J. G. Ohio, Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Company. p. 145.
- ^ "Pre-Colonial Manila". Presidential Museum and Library. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
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- ^ Gaysowski, Richard (2000). "Lantaka is one of several names for small hand carried rail guns". The Artilleryman. 22 (2). Archived from the original on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
- ^ "used cannon for sale". Archived from the original on February 7, 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
External links
- The Sea Research Society has a collection of over sixty of these guns, most dating from the 17th and 18th centuries.
- The Temple of Proportions, an online cultural center, has three more pictures of a gorgeous Lantaka.[dead link]