Lake Lanao is a high inland lake in west Mindanao with a dense farming population around it and no harbour at all.
It is on the campaign board because a map of coasts erases the largest concentration of people in the interior of Mindanao. The Maranao oral epic Darangen is undated in fact (an estimate of about 840 is quoted on Wikipedia's 'Sama-Bajau' page and cannot be relied on). The Islamic sultanates of the lake are fifteenth century and later.
Who he is
- Title
- Chiefs of the lake settlements (later Maranao, 'people of the lake')
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source names the chief of this place for 1200. The word datu (and barangay) is recorded by the Spanish from the 1560s; the Copperplate of 900 uses Sanskrit-Malay titles instead. Everything about 1200 is inference from archaeology and later accounts.
What it holds
- The lake settlements and their rice land
- The downriver route to Iligan bay
Allies and rivals
Tied to its neighbours by marriage, debt, feud and raid; nothing above it.
How things stand that morning
Not described for 1200.
Wealth
Rice, fish, forest goods; no figures.
Military
War boats and raiding parties in the later record; no numbers.
Threats
- Raiders from the next coast
- Typhoon and flood
- A change in the Chinese trade
Places of note
- Lake Lanao: High lake; settlements round its shore.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The campaign board's inference; no text or dated archaeology.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A river mouth community's near land, drawn as a seeded block.
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia, 'Sama-Bajau' (read in this pass): origin theories, first documented mention 1521
- The OMNIA board (September 2026) note for this place: a lead only, not a source
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.