it is the 18th century a life for some of the coastal inhabitants of the Philippines was anything but idyllic for without warning they could be attacked by the merciless Illinoisan the Raiders of the Sulu Sea when the lanolin captured people they would bore a hole through their palm put a string through the palm of each person [Music] these Raiders were fearsome and fearless in battle even against better armed technologically superior colonial forces [Music] to the Western colonists the Raiders were nothing more than barbaric outlaws of pirates and they were hunted down as such [Music] it's very hard for someone who's not used to seeing slave raiding to understand slave reading during those times was legal there is speculation that these Raiders were not the savages they were made out to be but nearly indigenous people defending their way of life against a foreign oppressor but there is little doubt that these Raiders were skilled fighters and deadly swordsmen they were also expert sailors and builders of formidable vessels of war but these were no ragtag band of marauders they were a well-organized force that could attack with precision and strategy and they gave the Western colonial forces a run for their money it is December the 8th 1720 in the southernmost reaches of Spanish occupied Philippines stands Zamboanga City protecting the city's fort pillar the garrison of 600 Spanish soldiers have already fought off several local rebel attempts to take the fort but on this day they will face a threat of unprecedented proportions heading their way hundreds of ships carrying 3,000 battle-hardened Raiders and the Spaniards are grossly outnumbered the battle for Fort Pillow is about to begin [Music] Zamboanga City sits at the tip of the southernmost Peninsula of the Philippines it is by no means a bustling metropolis these days but it is still strategically located along an important sea route between the northern and southern regions of the Philippines it was Zamboanga geographical advantage that made it valuable to the Catholic Spaniards who colonized it in the sixteenth century to protect their interests the Spanish colonists built forts to discourage potential invaders at the front line of these defenses was fought del Pilar a 10 meter high fortress that sprawled over two acres [Music] [Music] one of the most celebrated attacks at Port Pilar was the 1720 attack of the Maguindanao King the Lassie he was the king of Bullock in Maguindanao Roger the lassie was planning the attack on some Wonga City together with the joint forces of the Zulu Sultanate the Zulu and Maguindanao Sultanate's were then the two main kingdoms controlling the Muslim colonies of the southern Philippines with the king of maguindanao Raja tulasi at the helm they launched a bloody attack on Fort Alon attack some Wonga burned the town around the fort cut dog provisions the line of provisions for the Spaniards and began war against the soldiers of his side afford the taking the fort would not be easy for Raja Dalhousie and his fighters this was a structure designed to withstand even the destructive force of cannonballs every possible approach to the fort was defended by rows of Spanish artillery but even with their superior defenses in weaponry the Spanish soldiers are greatly outnumbered 1 to 5 [Music] [Applause] Roger de la sees militia armed with only an assortment of swords plunge aggressively into battle against the cannons and firearms of the Spaniards Roger de la sees men are decimated by cannon fire but they are relentless wave after wave of Raiders attack before until they finally reach the outer wards [Music] the Spanish soldiers a resort to desperate measures to fend off the Raiders they throw rocks in boiling water and allow these men as they scaled the walls at the fort [Applause] Roger de la seize Raiders fight with a vengeance the desire to rid San belanger of the Spanish drives them forward they really have to suppress the Spanish presence here in the peninsula because the the fort was the base operations point to check on slave raiding going to the north and coming back according to some historians slavery had been practiced among some tribes in the Philippines before the arrival of Western powers but it was never a widespread or frequent activity but the arrival of the Spanish and their desire to dominate trade in the region would trigger an escalation of slave raiding the people of the southern Sultanate would defy their self-proclaimed Spanish masters by targeting Christian communities in the north [Music] the Spanish referred to the slave Raiders as morals after the Muslim fighters they encountered on Spanish soil some seventy-five years old [Music] but they were in fact from three different tribes and they would challenge Spanish authority throughout its occupancy [Music] Pyrus that were described by the colonial powers or coroner rule actually more activities of different tribes in the Mindanao area as well as Rockefeller go but there were actually three particular groups of Muslims that were identified in this College Association one mr. Ballentine three tribes or sama that occupied the chain of islands between Basilian and Sulu Island now the second one which very important in in piracy history were the Eternals the Illinois and Samar were both long-standing seafaring communities they would often join forces with the Tao stroke a tribe without the maritime experience but known for its fierce warriors and widespread political tower [Music] it was in fact the Tau sig that controlled the Sulu Sultanate in the south with the lineage of Towson Sultan's and high-ranking officials dating as far back as the 15th century [Music] retaliatory attacks conducted pub salut bogie Nana always carried these contingents no the internal the belonging sama and of course it has a warning but historians also question whether the Raiders from the southern Philippines should be called pirates it comes down to intent were these Raiders out for personal gain or were they simply serving their local political masters all talk about piracy deal with the problem of terminology that using the word in English word pirate is actually misleading in some respects because it doesn't cover Raiders it doesn't cover people erected on behalf of the state for these philippine Morrow's the raids to the north and attacks on spanish forces were acts of retaliation against the foreign occupier most of these raids were also sanctioned by the sultanate in the name of an even higher cause Islam the Philippines is made up of three main regions mindanao in the south Visayas and central Philippines and Luzon in the north aslam reached the shores of the southern philippines in 1380 and began to spread north but it would later come up against an obstacle in the shape of the cross [Music] there was certainly a great deal of pressure from the south for poor populations in the Visayas to become is llama sized but the presence of the Spanish in the Visayas and in the southern resort to a great degree disrupted that spread of Islam in fact the Spanish colonial administrators thought it was their responsibility to prevent the spread of Islam from the south to the Christianized populations to the north at its peak the Spanish had an impressive empire that stretched across much of the world these conquests were motivated not only for the wealth of these colonies but the opportunity to propagate Christianity in the Philippines they landed in Luzon in the north from here Christianity spread displacing Islam and indigenous tribal beliefs [Music] in the predominantly Muslim South however Christianity's growing influence was viewed with scorn [Music] where the Spanish is concerned it wasn't always about what people in the South were after it was more that the presence of the Spanish really undermined their commercial interests in the region now you had a new power in the region which was exerting its own agendas and its own influences what the Sultanate in the South wanted to do was to maintain their power right if not increase it a little bit more in the power struggle that ensued both sides used their religious ideologies to further their influence for the Muslim Sultanate eradicating the Christian Spanish presence in Zamboanga was one of their top priorities but how could the sword-wielding tribes of the south stand up against a militarily superior foe how that they have assembled a flotilla of battleships that could pose a serious threat to the Spanish colonialists the answer lies buried deep under centuries of soil Bhutan is a small town located at the northernmost region of mindanao in 1977 an archaeological dig would unearth the secrets of a distant past evidence of an ancient maritime civilization was found in this pond [Music] carbon dating of artifacts found point to a seafaring a civilization that existed in the 4th century ancient mariners who traversed the seas around the Philippines long before the arrival of Western colonists [Applause] the date would eventually unearth a small feat of ancient seaworthy vessels [Applause] [Music] the people who built these ships but deaf sailors with an intimate knowledge of the Seas and how to navigate them the slave Raiders inherited these maritime skills from these early southern Filipino seafarers it helped them build a flourishing trade in the bounty of the sea by the mid 1700s these ships evolved into sturdier more seaworthy craft at the scope of their commercial ventures grew and fuelled by a growing demand for slaves in the south so too did the intensity and frequency of their raiding expeditions what began as small raids within the archipelago went beyond Philippine seas to the Straits of Malacca close to 2,000 kilometers away increase in slave in the demand for slaves fit into a situation by the Midna 18th century when something very unusual unprecedented happened in the Malacca Straits region and that was the arrival in seasonal seasonal arrival of very large numbers of Raiders from the southern Philippines the Illinois slave Raiders who landed that the Straits of Malacca were skilled warriors and they sailed formidable ships [Music] they could go into a shallow waters they had compasses even they had they they had cannon on board their ships they had many rowers the Elenin built long-range vessels like the jiangha all along these ships had a large wide keel for stability and three large cloth sales on sturdy collapsible tripod like masts [Music] these vessels were 24 to 27 meters long with 6 meter wide house each had cannons mounted at the bow complementing the three main sales were 34 hours on each side road by captured slaves these were their flagships the Illinois equivalent of a modern Cruiser [Music] each vessel carried between a hundred and a hundred and fifty men a captain on Nikodim a steersman and warrior sails slaves to power the office and captured local guides to help navigate unknown waters the ill are known used compasses browse telescopes and the Stars to navigate they were also knowledgeable about the tempestuous monsoon winds of the region and used them to travel extensively during the months between August and October in a period called the pirate season by 1830 a smaller faster and more maneuverable form of raiding boats replaced the drongos they were the fast attack boats of the Somali raiding tribes and they were called the garage [Music] the garage glass of vessels was built from bamboo wood and the nipa palm and could carry more than 100 sailors this single sailed ship was 25 meters long and 6 meters across and housed a powder magazine and cannon at the bow with 30 to 60 oars on each side the garage was faster than any other seagoing vessel of its time the raiding fleets also comprised auxilary vessels called solicit pods these were small coats designed for coastal raids on route to a major raid the fleets would collect manpower and ships from friendly raiding bases along the way eventually building a fearsome organized sea force now when they leave the shore on skeleton force they pass by other bases and augment the labor into the ship then when when they reach the coast they usually hide their big boats because it can be seen from the shore so they use the solicit on the smaller vessel to roll into the shorelines and pretend that they are fishermen they're harmless people but these slave Raiders were anything but harmless when the lawmen captured people they would bore a hole through their palm put a string through the palm of his bosom Europeans were unable to do anything about it at this stage they didn't have their ships were were not as fast as those of their runnin they they weren't as maneuverable and if they will become then of course they were fair game and they weren't enough of them unlike the ships of the raiding tribes Spanish galleons were slow and ungainly while they were heavily armed they're deep keels prevented them from chasing raiding craft into the shallows but behind this clash of religious doctrines was a more compelling reason for the Spanish to bring the slave Raiders to heal the spoils of trade with the Orient something the Spanish court wanted complete control [Music] the sea voyages of the ancient filipino mariners of butuan were not restricted to the Sulu seas artifacts originating from China that were found here are proof of the great distances traveled by them and the trading activities they were involved in there is further proof that families of the Sulu Sultanate had themselves visited the resource-rich regions of China for commerce [Music] long before the entry of Western powers to the region international trade was already flourishing when Europeans first came to this region they came for those it was those products that attracted them the products that couldn't be found anywhere else not only spices but woods tin pepper and also by the 18th century those products were also very important in China trade so before Europeans arrived there was already a person of trade between China and India and Europeans simply entered into that pattern the difference was that Europeans wanted to control it in many respects the Spanish wanted to be part of this they wanted to be part of this process of exchange and trade but they wanted to do so in conjunction with conversion and conjunction with with colonization of the islands so this presented some very very important conflicts between the people in the south and the newly arrived powers of the Spanish as the Spanish seized control of the Philippines the influence of the Muslim South waved the new Western masters sought to dominate trade in Hollow the seat of power of the Sulu Sultanate today hollow is a mere shadow of the great commercial and political power it once was and while the seafaring warriors slave Raiders evolved along gone they're proud descendants still live here this palace is roughly 300 plus years old to student I am the Spanish it is my preferred weapon because in a mystical side I feel I feel the old nosov the weapon in hand I feel I feel the person who held this before I feel this trend [Music] Halman Abubakar is a direct descendant of tousled rulers like his warrior ancestors he is an exponent of the martial art of salat practicing it is his way of keeping the heritage of his people alive [Music] [Music] how man is also a city councillor in Holland like his tousled predecessors he champions the cause of his people the Muslim communities of Mindanao in southern Philippines but today he does so with diplomacy not the sword maybe the Spain only wanted to Christianize hollow force feeding us with something that we don't want to believe in it's like oppression so we go to war and when you call us pirates for doing that it's your decision better to us we are fighting for something we believe in we are freedom fighters it is our fight for freedom freedom from oppression freedom from not losing your own identity amongst how man's prized possessions are a variety of ancient Taos hook weapons this is the bottom the story goes the barong is the one that also Warriors used to cut off an m14 a carbine because it is the blade stick as you can hear it it's pure the barong was a deadly weapon a sword with a single-edged leaf-shaped blade made of thick tempered steel this approximately 1 meter long weapon was used in close hand-to-hand battle to cut Spanish firearms down to size [Music] the Chris or Callie's was built a weapon of warfare and ceremony this sword measuring up to 1.2 meters in length was not only carried by slave Raiders into battle but also by nobles and high-ranking officials of the sudden Sultan it's double edged and with either a smooth or wavy blade the Curris could make quick work of any enemy in close combat the reason for this curving x' is for easy slashing the steel would penetrate the ball and it'll stick so it's very hard to pull so then that also Warriors made made it like this so you can actually pull it faster the longest of the swords used by the Raiders primarily the Illinois was the camp ela this heavy single edged sword was often adorned with hair to make it look even more intimidating the results are common to find camp Elan with grooves cut into the blade to indicate the number of lives it acclaimed [Music] at the end of the oblate the tip of the blade are two horns projecting from the blunt side which is being used to pick up the head a capitated body the wealthier Raiders also protected themselves in battle with armor this heavy armor made from caribou horn or steel plates was molded to fit the body and held together with chainmail it could deflect the blows from a sword but they were useless against Spanish firearms [Laughter] [Music] even then this battle between the sword and the fire harm was not dramatically one-sided the Spanish fire harm called a musket had its limitations a musket could fire its ball bearing projectile as far as 90 meters but it was inaccurate and took several tedious steps to reload even the best Musketeers could only manage three shots per minute giving ways of soar building Raiders ample time to come within striking range even with bayonets mounted muskets were not efficient weapons for close combat the battles between the slave Raiders in the Spanish were clashes of ideology Islam against Christianity the indigenous way of life against the enforced values of the occupiers the might of the sword against the destructive power of gunpowder and it would all come to a head in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines on the 8th of December 17 $20 she led a 3,000 strong coalition of warriors against 600 Spanish soldiers at Fort Pillow Zamboanga City at one point it was possible that the sheer number of Raiders could have overrun the fort but that never happened the slave Raiders attack on Fort pillar was poorly conceived as musket fire it was the ship the ships that the Spaniards used was impossible for them to be able to go close to the island so the ordered steamships from England at clever ears disposal with three British built steamships the Maha Yanis Elcano and Rana castelia clever eeeh used the ship's artillery to bombard the forts of belonging the island for once the usually stoic Raiders were shaken taking advantage of the damage done by the barrage of artillery fire the Spanish stormed the forts this time it was the Raiders well plundered the men or actually out during their slave expeditions so they were met in all the forts by a men who were remained who were remain behind with their women and children but what the Spanish found awaiting them inside the fort was not what they were expecting faced with certain capture the Raiders resorted to an unthinkable act but the other men killed the women and the women also killed their children so so it was some they'd rather kill themselves than be taken captive of the Spaniards 450 somehow died in battle all four of balinese forts and 150 raiding ships were destroyed the Spaniards granted clemency to the 350 simão men and women who were captured alive panglima Tapan was not amongst them but they did capture his pregnant wife nyla after years of failed attempts the Spanish had finally succeeded in destroying the raiding base of belonging the island eventually because his family was taken captive in CBI by the Spaniards he decided to surrender and from his surrender in 1858 he was brought to some Wonga city by the Spaniards with most of their fleet destroyed and their bases of operation dismantled the slave raiding activities dwindled they were now at the mercy of the Spaniards governor-general clever Rhea used this advantageous position and ruler of steamships to deal one final blow to the slave Raiders the critical demarcation point comes with the introduction of steamships because steamships now can are not dependent on the wind they can chase a sailing ship anywhere they can be armed with guns and they can attack really anyone they want to clever airs secret weapon put the Spaniards well ahead of the Raiders his coal-burning steamships were faster than the slave power trading wrestles and better yet the steamships were not dependent on the winds they were better built and were able to carry a significantly more lethal battery of evidence in short they marked the end of the once feared navies of the Sultanate [Applause] because of this successful colonial span no the sense of hopelessness began to to enter into Muslim consciousness they had only two choices first to follow their SME country become subjugated people or they continued to resist [Music] the slave Raiders harbor would go down fighting even with their fleet of ships destroyed some amongst them continue to resist the rule of the Spanish but it would be in vain the spanish-american war in the late 19th century saw the Philippines shift from one colonial power to another [Music] the Americans not only got control of the Philippines but also inherited their predecessors problems with the Raiders albeit on a much smaller scale the thorn in the American side was a tower grader called jakirah Shaqiri and his men killed Americans in the area this incensed the new colonial masters and they responded with a vengeance the ships that the Spaniards used was impossible for them to be able to go close to the island so the ordered steamships from England at clever ears disposal were three British built steamships the Maha Yanis Elcano and Rana castelia clever eeeh used the ship's artillery to bombard the forts of belonging the island for once the usually stoic Raiders were shaken taking advantage of the damage done by the barrage of artillery fire the Spanish stormed the forts this time it was the Raiders well plundered the men were actually out during their slave expeditions so they were met in all the forts by a men who were remained who remained behind with their women and children but what the Spanish found awaiting them inside the fort was not what they were expecting faced with certain capture the Raiders resorted to an unthinkable act but the other men killed the women and the women also killed their children so so it was some there they'd rather kill themselves than be taken captive of the Spaniards 450 somehow died in battle all four of Bellinis forts and 150 raiding ships were destroyed the Spaniards granted clemency to the 350 samal men and women who were captured alive panglima Tapan was not amongst them but they did capture his pregnant wife nyla after years of failed attempts the Spanish had finally succeeded in destroying the raiding base of belonging the island eventually because his family was taken captive in CBS and by the Spaniards he decided to surrender and from his surrender in 1858 he was brought to some Wonga city by the Spaniards with most of the fleet destroyed and their bases of operation dismantled the slave raiding activities dwindled they were now at the mercy of the Spaniards governor-general plumeria used this advantageous position and his flotilla of steam ships to deal one final blow to the slave Raiders the critical demarcation point comes with the introduction of steam ships because steam ships now can and not depend on the wind they can chase a sailing ship anywhere they can be armed with guns and they can attack really anyone they want to clever airs secret weapon put the Spaniards well ahead of the Raiders his coal-burning steamships were faster than the slave power trading vessels and better yet the steam ships were not dependent on the winds they were better built and were able to carry a significantly more lethal battery of others in short they mark the end of the once feared navies of the Sultanate [Applause] because of this successful colonial span no the sense of hopelessness began to to enter into Muslim consciousness they had only two choices first to follow the Ricardian become subjugated people or they continued to resist [Music] the slave Raiders however would go down fighting even with their fleet of ships destroyed some amongst them continued to resist the rule of the Spanish but it would be in vain the spanish-american war in the late 19th century saw the Philippines shift from one colonial power to another the Americans not only got control of the Philippines but also inherited their predecessors problems with the Raiders albeit on a much smaller scale the thorn in the american side was a tower grader called jakirah Shaqiri and his men killed americans in the area this incensed the new colonial masters and they responded with a vengeance the Americans ruthlessly hunted and killed jekiri and other Raiders to the Americans like the Spanish before them the Raiders were mere pirates and bandits jakirah would eventually meet the same fate as his predecessors Roger tulasi and pan limit upon defeat the days of raiding in the Philippines were over when you look at the tousle economy in the southern Philippines you would which had really depended heavily on gained a great deal of income from buying and selling slaves and using slaves in their own economy when the market for slaves dried up by the late 19th century by the 1870s and there abouts their economy was in a very marked decline because it had depended so heavily on on the slave selling slaves for revenue [Music] the sultanate eventually lost their political and economic hold in Sulu and it was gradually assimilated into the jurisdiction of the Philippine government but it retained its autonomy [Music] today the once wealthy and powerful Sultanate sir a distant memory this southern region of the Philippines faces new challenges social economic and cultural but some things it would seem haven't changed 600 years on and there are still conflicts in this region I don't want my children to grow up seeing Hollow like this because wherever they go they would still be talk soon they cannot cover land there are the earth oceans and I don't want them to be embarrassed with their homeland so I want to be an example that we can change we can change everything we can get back what was lost let Allah stand up again let them realize how glorious are our hollow is before the house look like Hulman abubakr are proud of their heritage and do what they can to keep the memory of their ancestors alive together with the Illinois and somehow they once ruled a mighty empire [Music] whether these tribes are considered brutal pirates bandits or freedom fighters is a question of perspective but they were excellent Mariners builders the most superior seagoing vessels of their time fearless warriors and skilled fighters and there's little doubt they've earned their place in history as the Raiders of the Sulu Sea [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]