Butuan

Who holds it

Title

The king's household and harbour officers (no names)

Since

not pinned

Born

not known

Family

not known

Confidence

low

The king is not named for 1200; see the king record.

Lord in 1200

The king of Butuan, not named for 1200 (see King of Butuan).

What the town holds

• The river port and its landings
• The boat yards
• Gold working
• The water road up the Agusan

Allies and rivals

Champa and Srivijaya-era shipping; the Manobo hill peoples upriver.

How things stand that morning

Not described for 1200.

Wealth

Gold from the Agusan gravels and the Diwata range, worked into ornament; plank-built boats; forest goods. Chinese, Cham and mainland jars arrive (the graves). No figures.

Threats

• Silting of the river mouth and the Masao channel
• Sea raiders from the Sulu and Visayan seas (none dated)
• The decline of the Chinese and Cham trade

Council

The king's household and the leading traders (inference); no council is recorded.

Communities

Not known. A Cham and Srivijayan connection is inferred from the trade and from the 1011 request; no foreign quarter is shown.

Militia

Not known. No numbers.

Walls and castle

No wall or fort is recorded.

Trade and crafts

Gold from the Agusan gravels and the Diwata range, worked into ornament; plank-built boats; forest goods. Chinese, Cham and mainland jars arrive (the graves). No figures.

Places of note

• Butuan: The old river port; the modern city stands near it.
• Masao: Agusan mouth on Butuan bay; the channel has shifted.
• Libertad (Ambangan): Where the balangay were found; position approximate.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry id butuan-agusan and masao-butuan-port are kept as one town with two points; the realm record carries the rest of the valley.

Evidence: A dated embassy cycle (1001 to 1011), good excavation and then a gap to 1521. The campaign board marks it 'secure'; secure for the site, not for the kingship in 1200.

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

On the map: Near land of the port only.

Primary sources for Butuan

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• A Description of the Foreign Peoples (Records of Foreign Nations), Zhao Rukuo (Zhao Rugua) (1225 at Quanzhou). The best single text for the island world around 1200, written by the superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou from merchants' reports a generation after the date. Read online
• Description of the Foreign Peoples (Chau Ju-kua), Zhao Rukuo (趙汝适) (about 1225, while superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou). The Song customs officer's survey of the overseas world, compiled from merchants and from Zhou Qufei, a generation after 1200 but describing trade routes that were the same in 1200. Read online