SUBSCRIBEBeyond the Currents, the Sulu exhibit at the Yuchengco Museum
I was quite elated when Carla Martinez of the Yuchengco Museum read my plurk entry of missing the Beyond the Currents exhibit when it ended last 24 September. She emailed to inform me that they are extending the exhibition to 30 December. A few hours ago, I was at the RCBC and was just happy to view it at last.
I have a running interest and fascination with Sulu especially the slave raids that were sponsored by the Sultanate especially during the mid 18th-19th centuries. What started as a curiousity with remnant Spanish colonial era fortifications, of which most are in ruins, led me to Warren’s landmark study of the period and its significance to the development of towns and cities in the Philippines.
Sulu was at the crossroads between the important markets of China and Europe, acting as a bridge between the two. It has played a very significant role as a global entrepot in international commerce. At it’s peak, it has catapulted the Sulu Sultanate to global prominence and at the same time, brought untold misery and fear to the coastal areas not only in the Philippines but a very wide swathe of area stretching from New Guinea to the Bay of Bengal as slave raiding parties of Balangingi and Iranun fished for captives.
Read more about this untold but significant history of the Philippines at simbahan.net where I did a three part series and at langyaw.com for a much condensed version.
