Namayan (Baybayin: Pre-Kudlit: or (Sapa), Post-Kudlit: ), also called SapaLocsin, Leandro V. and Cecilia Y. Locsin. 1967. Oriental Ceramics Discovered in the Philippines. Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company. and sometimes Lamayan, was an independent polityAbinales, Patricio N. and Donna J. Amoroso, State and Society in the Philippines. Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005. on the banks of the Pasig River in the Philippines. It is believed to have peaked in the 11th-14th centuries, although it continued to be inhabited until the arrival of European colonizers in the 1570s.
Formed as a polity occupying several barangays, it was one of several polities on the Pasig River just prior to the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, alongside Tondo, Maynila, and Cainta.
Archeological findings in Santa Ana have produced the oldest evidence of continuous habitation among the Pasig River polities, pre-dating artifacts found within the historical sites of Maynila and Tondo.Fox, Robert B. and Avelino M. Legaspi. 1977. Excavations at Santa Ana. Manila: National Museum of the PhilippinesTondo is mentioned in an even older document (the Laguna Copperplate Inscription), however, providing earlier evidence of a polity named "Tondo", even if the artifact was found in a different site.
Sources Historians studying Namayan have the advantage of being able to draw both from written sources and from artifacts uncovered in controlled archeological digs.
The most prominent primary written sources regarding precolonial Namayan is "Estado Geográfico, Topográfico, Estadístico, Histórico-Religioso de la Santa y Apostólica Província de San Gregorio Magno", published in 1865 by Franciscan scholar Fr. Félix de Huerta. His description of Namayan included important details such as the extent of Namayan's territories, and the lineage of its rulers.
Controlled archaeological excavations conducted by the National Museum of the Philippines in the 1960s, meantime, produced artifacts from a pre-Hispanic gravesite within the Santa Ana Church complex, providing important information about maritime trade around Southeast Asia and China from 12th to 15th century AD, as well as the elaborate mortuary practices of Namayan's inhabitants.
Capital sites Three present-day locations are identified as the political centers of Namayan. Two of these are within the present-day Santa Ana district in Manila, and Barangay Namayan in Mandaluyong across the river from the other sites.
Namayan, Mandaluyong Barangay Namayan in Mandaluyong bears the name of the polity, and was believed to be the seat of power of Lakantagkan. However, it was incorporated into Santa Ana de Sapa as a barrio in 1578.
Sapa The site most associated with the Namayan polity is the town proper of Santa Ana, which grew around Our Lady of the Abandoned Parish. This site did not become the main settlement until 1578, when Franciscan missionaries built the first church some distance from the original town. Locals referred to the site as "Sapà."
Sapà is the Tagalog and Kapampangan word for a small creek. Nearby bodies of water matching the description include what are now Estero de Tripa de Gallina ("Rooster’s Gut Estuary") and a smaller creek (Estero de Sta. Clara) in the vicinity of the present-day streets of Del Pan, Havana, and Tejerón. However, old Santa Ana was known for being "criss-crossed by brooks and creeks", any number of which could have been obscured by urbanization.
Christianised into Santa Ana de Sapa, the name eventually encompassed the modern Santa Ana district of Manila. De Huerta notes that "this town takes its name from the titular saint and the addition of Sapa for its having been established in a site immediately upon an estuary or rivulet proceeding from the Pasig River, which the natives call Sapa and the name of the town itself."
Lamayan Instead of the Sapa site, local traditions say that an area called Lamayan (Tagalog and Kapampangan for "the place where a wake was held"), was situated on the banks of the Pasig itself. It was said to be the site of the ancient capital from which Lakantagkan and Buwan once ruled. It is still recognizable today, as a street in the area still bears its name.
Territory Namayan's territory has been described bordering Manila Bay, the Pasig River, and Laguna de Bay. A more precise description of Namayan's administrative area is given by Fr. de Huerta, who, noting that Namayan was a confederation of several barangays, identified these component communities as they were named during the mid 19th century.
Most are now districts or barangays within the modern City of Manila:
Namayan (Lakantagkan's seat of power; modern-day Namayan, Mandaluyong) Sapa (now the district of Santa Ana) Meycatmon (which literally means "a place with Catmon (Dillenia indica) trees") Calatondongan Dongos Dibag Pinacauasan Yamagtogon Meysapan (now within Ususan, Taguig) Malate Dilao (Paco) Pandacan Quiapo Sampaloc San Miguel
Four settlements are now separate cities in and around Metro Manila:
San Juan del Monte (now San Juan) San Felipe Neri (now Mandaluyong) San Pedro de Macati (now Makati) Taytay, Rizal
Administrative and political records of Spanish Manila indicate that these settlements mentioned as territories of Namayan were recorded in 1578 as parts and visitas (satellite settlements) of Sta. Ana de Sapa.
A number of these settlements' names are no longer used today, but Philippine National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin, in his book "Manila My Manila: A History for the Young", says that Namayan's territories included what are now Santa Ana, Quiapo, San Miguel, Sampaloc, Santa Mesa, Paco, Pandacan in Manila; Mandaluyong, San Juan, Makati, Pasay, Pateros, Taguig, Taytay, and Parañaque.Joaquin, Nick. Manila My Manila: A History for the Young. City Government of Manila. Manila: 1990.
Economic activities Huerta describes the original settlement in Santa Ana as a fishing village that had other industries including carpentry, masonry, piña (pineapple cloth) embroidery, tinapá, cigars, bricks, sugar and bread.
This contrasts sharply with the economic activities of the contemporaneous polities of Tondo and Maynila, which monopolized the influx of goods coming from China, and monopolized the re-sale of the same Chinese goods to other ports in the archipelago, respectively.
Gold as currency
The Namayans used Piloncitos, small gold ingots some of the size of a corn kernel—and weighing from 0.09 to 2.65 grams. Large Piloncitos weighing 2.65 grams approximate the weight of one mass. Piloncitos have been excavated from Mandaluyong, Bataan and the banks of the Pasig River.
Other than Piloncitos, the Namayans also used gold rings or gold ring-like ingots. Barter rings were circulated in the Philippines up to the 16th century.
Rulers Fray Huerta also recorded the genealogy of Namayan's ruling family, tracing it to a Lacantagcan or Lakantagkan, (also spelled Lakan Tagkan or Lakan Takhan, separating Lakan and Tagkan), and his wife Bouan. Under the heading "Santa Ana", he records: In origin of the natives of this town comes from a ruler ("regulo") called Lacantagcan, and his wife named Bouan, lords ("señores") of the Namayan territories [...] The first Christian name found in the genealogical tree of this great ("gran") family is a certain Martin in this form. Martin, son of Calamayin: Calamayin, son of Laboy, Laboy, son of Palaba, and Palaba, firstborn son of the ruler ("regulo") Lacantagcan and his wife Bouan.
Historian William Henry Scott notes that "Rajah Kalamayin" was the name of the ruler of Namayan at the point of colonial contact in the early 1570s, and Huerta here records that his son was baptized "Martin" upon conversion to Roman Catholicism. Huerta only traces the genealogical tree of Lacantagcan back through Martin, and thus only mentions the eldest of Lacantagcan and Bouan's sons, Palaba. The other four sons of Lacantagcan are not named, and no daughters are mentioned.
Huerta does go on, however, to mention that Lacantagcan had another male son, named Pasay, whose mother was a Bornean slave:
The said Lacantagcan, in addition to five children of his legitimate wife Bouan, had a bastard ("bastardo") with a slave of Bornean lineage ("esclava de casta bornea"), called Pasay, who was the origin of the town known by the same name, for having fixed there his residence as landowner, supported by his father.
While Huerta thus definitively establishes that the rulers of Namayan and the settlement called Pasay were related, the precise nature of their relationship during the 1500s is unclear: Scott records that during that period, Pasay's rulers interacted with the Spanish themselves instead of "Rajah Kalamayin" speaking on their behalf.
Some local oral traditions cite Lakantagkan's child Pasay as a daughter, bestowing her with the title "Dayang-dayang" ("princess"), such as the one cited by Dery (2001), about a princess named Pasay, who married Rajah Sulayman of Maynila. However, the descriptor "bastardo" (bastard), used by Huerta, is masculine in form.
Historian Grace Odal-Devora notes that Kapampangan oral histories also mention a "Sultana Kalangitan", described as "the Lady of the Pasig" who ruled the "Kingdom of Namayan." She is said to have been the grandmother of "Prinsipe Balagtas" (or Bagtas), and the legend says that the Kapampangan people are descended from him. Odal notes that this demonstrates the interconnections of the Tagalog ruling elites.
Documented rulers of Namayan The rulers of Namayan from the period of colonial contact (the 1570s) back to three prior generations, were documented by Franciscan Historian Fray Felix Huerta in the work Estado geográfico, topográfico, estadístico, histórico- religioso de la santa y apostólica Provincia de San Gregorio Magno ("Geographical, topographical, statistical, historical and religious state of the holy and apostolic province of St. Gregory the Great"), a record of the histories of Franciscan missions which is now a primary resource for local histories of Philippine municipalities.
Title Name Notes Documented Period of Rule Primary Sources LakanTagkan or Araw Named "Lacantagcan" by Huerta and described as the ruler to whom the "original residents" of Namayan trace their origin According to Nick Joaquin, Lakan Tagkan was the descendant of Prince Balagtas, who was the descendant of Emperor Soledan and Empress Sasaban of Sapa.According to Luis Camara Dery (2001), Lakantagkan was also called "Lakan Araw", and his wife Bouan was called "Ma-ilak" or "Maylac". exact years not documented; three generations prior to CalamayinHuerta Lakan)Palaba Noted by Huerta as the "Principal Son" of Lakantagkan. exact years not documented; two generations prior to KalamayinHuerta Lakan) Laboy Noted by Franciscan genealogical records to be the son of Lakan Palaba, and the father of Kalamayin. exact years not documented; one generation prior to Kalamayin Huerta LakanKalamayin Referred to by Scott (1994) as Rajah Kalamayin, described as the last ruler of Namayan before the Spanish period. | immediately prior to and after Spanish colonial contact according to Scott (fl. 1571–1575)Kalamayin or Calamayin was not mentioned to be the ruler of Namayan who first encountered the Spaniards in Huerta's original work in 1865, but was assumed by William Henry Scott. All that is known was that Martin was the first person in the genealogy of the house of Namayan to be baptized with a Spanish name. | Huerta |- | (no title documented by Huerta) || Martin* *Huerta does not mention if Kalamayin's son, baptized "Martin", held a government position during the early Spanish colonial period early Spanish colonial period Huerta
Legendary rulers of Namayan