Sama-Bajau

Who he is

Title

Boat headmen and elders of each Sama group (no overall head)

Since

not pinned

Born

not known

Family

not known

Confidence

low

Not on the campaign board's list of places but real. First documented in 1521 (Pigafetta, Zamboanga); Wikipedia's 'Sama-Bajau' reports origin theories (Pallesen 1985 puts ethnogenesis about 800 on the Zamboanga peninsula; a genetic study suggests a south Sulawesi origin and eastward and northward movement in the eleventh to fourteenth centuries).

What it holds

• The Sibutu passage, the only clean way for a big ship between the Sulu and Celebes seas
• Reef and island anchorages of the Semporna and Tawi-Tawi coasts
• Pilotage and escort, sold to ports

Allies and rivals

Every port in the Sulu and Celebes seas; Sulu chiefs; no feud is dated.

How things stand that morning

Not described for 1200.

Wealth

Pearl shell, trepang, tortoise shell, shark fin; no figures.

Military

Boats; later serve as crews of raiders under others (Iranun and Tausug authority in the later record). No numbers.

Threats

• Raiders from Mindanao and Sulu
• Monsoon storms

Places of note

• Semporna and Bum Bum: Reef and island country on the Bornean side of the Sulu sea.
• Sibutu passage: The deep gap at the end of the Sulu chain.
• Bongao (Tawi-Tawi): Chief island of the Tawi-Tawi group.

Where the sources disagree

• Not on the campaign board (the assignment says: real). The campaign board entry ids semporna-bum-bum and sibutu-passage are folded in here.
• The 'twelfth to thirteenth century pirates in the Straits of Singapore' are a possible reading of Chinese and Arabic notices, uncertain (Wikipedia).

Evidence: Wikipedia's summary of linguistic and genetic hypotheses; the earliest document is 1521.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: Boat people hold waters, not land; the blocks mark where their camps and anchorages are, not an extent.