By the end of Suleiman's reign, the Empire spanned approximately , extending over three continents: mainly Europe, Africa and Asia. In addition, the Empire became a dominant naval force, controlling much of the
Mediterranean Sea. By this time, the Ottoman Empire was a major part of the European political sphere. The Ottomans became involved in multi-continental religious wars when
Spain and
Portugal were united under the
Iberian Union led by the Habsburg monarch
Philip II of Spain, the Ottomans as holders of the
Caliph title, meaning leader of all Sunni Muslims worldwide, and Iberians, as leaders of the Christian crusaders, were locked in a worldwide conflict, with zones of operations in the Mediterranean sea and Indian Ocean where Iberians circumnavigated Africa to reach India, and in the way, wage wars upon the Ottomans and its local Muslim allies and likewise the Iberians passed through newly Christianised
Latin-America and
sent expeditions that traversed the Pacific to Christianize the partially Muslim
Philippines and use it as a base to further attack the Muslims in the far east. In which case, the Ottomans sent armies to aid its easternmost vassal and territory, the
Sultanate of Aceh in Southeast Asia. During the 17th century, the bloody worldwide conflict between the Ottoman Caliphate and Iberian Union was nevertheless a stalemate, since both powers were
at similar population, technology and economic levels.
The Luzones and the Conquest of Philippines by the Spanish Habsburgs During the 1500s, The Luzones were a people coming from Luzon, Philippines that had trade and military networks across South, Southeast, and East Asia, and had found employment both for the Ottoman and Portuguese sides back when the Ottomans concentrated assistance to Southeast Asian Sultanates on their new protectorate, the
Sultanate of Aceh and the Portuguese conquered Malacca.
Luzon, where the Luzones were from were divided among Islamized and Pagan peoples (Buddhist, Hindu, and Animist) who fought each other. Nevertheless, Luzones found employment as officials across the region such as the following cases. Due to the invasion of
Hindu Tondo by the
Sultanate of Brunei which set up the Muslim
Rajahnate of Maynila as a puppet-state, the prince of Manila and grandson of Sultan Bolkiah, named Rajah Ache, served as the admiral of the Bruneian navy and had suppressed a Buddhist revolt in Southwest Borneo at the city of Loue as well as served as the enforcer of Bruneian interests in Luzon. Likewise, after the
Ottoman expedition to Aceh, the Ottoman commander, Heredim Mafamede sent out from Suez by his uncle, Suleiman, Viceroy of Cairo, when his fleet later took Aru on the Strait of Malacca, which contained 4,000 Muslims from Turkey, Abyssinia, Malabar, Gujarat and Luzon, and following his victory, Heredim left a hand-picked garrison there under the command of a
Luzones Filipino by the name of Sapetu Diraja. Sapetu Diraja, was then assigned by the Sultan of Aceh the task of holding Aru (northeast Sumatra) in 1540. The Luzones even joined the attempt for a Muslim reconquest of Malacca against the Portuguese. Luzon mercenaries also participated in an unsuccessful attempt to retake Malacca in 1525 with the help of Portuguese renegade Martin Avelar. The "captain of the Luces" sailed in the flagship with warriors Joao de Barros considered "the most warlike and valiant of these parts." However, the Luzones also found employment in
Portuguese Malacca, and one of them,
Regimo Diraja was appointed as
Temenggung (
Jawi: تمڠݢوڠ (Governor and Chief General) over the natives and he even controlled and policed the trade between the Indian Ocean, the
Strait of Malacca, the
South China Sea, and the
medieval maritime principalities of the Philippines. The dual allegiance to the Ottomans and Portuguese, of Filipinos (Lucoes) who had trade networks across East, Southeast and East Asia had effects on Turkish interests in the Indian Ocean because Luzon eventually gave their allegiance to
Habsburg controlled Spain at a later date. 1521 saw the beginnings of the Spanish and Habsburg conquest of the Philippines (Including Luzon) by Conquistadors from either Spain or Mexico. The
Ferdinand Magellan expedition passed through the Philippines and attempted to conquer the Hindu
Rajahnate of Cebu but only succeeded temporarily. Afterwards, in 1543,
Ruy López de Villalobos arrived at the islands of Leyte and Samar and named them
Las Islas Filipinas in honor of
Philip II of Spain, at the time
Prince of Asturias and himself a Habsburg, as the name was eventually expanded to label the whole archipelago of
The Philippines. in 1598, under
Philip II, King of Spain and Portugal European colonialization began in earnest when Spanish explorer
Miguel López de Legazpi arrived from Mexico in 1565 and formed the first European settlements in Cebu. Beginning with just five ships and five hundred men accompanied by Augustinian monks, and further strengthened in 1567 by two hundred soldiers, he was able to repel the Portuguese and create the foundations for the colonialization of the Archipelago. In 1571, the Spanish, their Latin-American recruits and their Filipino (Visayan) allies, commanded by able conquistadors such as Mexico-born
Juan de Salcedo (who was in love with Tondo's princess,
Kandarapa) attacked
Maynila, a vassal-state of the Brunei Sultanate and liberated plus incorporated the
kingdom of Tondo as well as establishing
Manila as the capital of the
Spanish East Indies. The Spanish employed the divide and conquer policy of pitting the various Animist, Hindu and Muslim
Filipino kingdoms against each other to rapidly conquer a divided people. After the initial conquest, control of the archipelago was cemented by a steady flow of Spanish, Mexican and Peruvian settlers and soldiers from Europe and
Latin-America, as the Philippines was governed under the Mexico-based
Viceroyalty of New Spain until the onset of Mexican independence.
Ottoman-Bruneian conflict against Spanish-Philippines The fall of Bruneian
Manila to Habsburg Spain had disastrous after effects to Muslim interests, especially among the Bruneians, Ottomans, and
Acehnese as the formerly
Muslim city-state became a center of
Christian crusading against most of the Sultanates of Southeast Asia. The Bruneians raised several fleets to retake Manila but they were frustrated. However, the Spanish in
Manila grew afraid of the power of
Brunei and one Spaniard named
Melchor Davalos warned of the constant migration of even the Turks/Ottomans to Borneo as well as other Muslims from the Middle East. Melchor Davalos was so warry he complained to the Spanish king. Increasing tension between Spain and Brunei plus its oppressed allies in the Philippines, mainly the Sultanates of
Sulu,
Maguindanao and
Lanao, which was spurred on by the continual Ottoman and Arab migrations into Brunei some of whom were even defeated veterans of the
Battle of Lepanto contrasted with the Spanish and
Latin-American migrations to the Philippines, eventually erupted into the violence of the
Castille War against Brunei and the
Spanish-Moro Wars. The time the Castilian War broke out was a time of religious fervor in Europe and many parts of the world, when a single state religion was followed. In Spain, the state religion was
Roman Catholicism, obliging followers of other faiths such as Jews and Muslims to convert to this religion. Spain had recently finished a 700-year-old war to reconquer and re-Christianise Spain, which had been invaded by the Muslims under the
Umayyad Caliphate since the 8th century AD. The long process of reconquest, sometimes through treaties, mostly through war, is known as the
Reconquista. The hatred of Spaniards against the Muslims that once invaded Spain fueled the
Castilian War against the similarly Muslim Bruneians. This war also started the
Spanish–Moro Wars in the Philippines against the
Sultanate of Sulu and
Sultanate of Maguindanao. In 1576, the Spanish Governor in Manila,
Francisco de Sande, had arrived from Mexico. He sent an official mission to neighbouring Brunei to meet Sultan
Saiful Rijal. He explained to the Sultan that they wanted to have good relations with Brunei and also asked for permission to spread Christianity in Brunei (
Roman Catholicism in Brunei was a legacy brought by Spaniards). At the same time, he demanded an end to Brunei
proselytism of Islam in the Philippines. Sultan Saiful Rijal would not agree to these terms and also expressed his opposition to the
evangelisation of the Philippines, which he deemed part of
Dar al-Islam. In reality, de Sande regarded Brunei as a threat to the Spanish presence in the region, claiming that "the
Moros from Borneo preach the doctrine of Mohammed, converting all the Moros of the islands". Spain declared war in 1578. In March that year, the Spanish fleet, led by de Sande himself, acting as
Capitán General, started their journey towards Brunei. The expedition consisted of 200 Spaniards and 200 Mexicans, 1,500
Filipino natives, and 300 Borneans. The campaign was one of many, which also included action in
Mindanao and
Sulu. The racial make-up of the Christian side was likely diverse, as documents a few decades later showed that the infantry was composed of
Mestizos,
Mulattoes, and "Indians" (From Peru and Mexico), led by Spanish officers who had worked together with native Filipinos in military campaigns across Southeast Asia. The Muslim side though was also equally racially diverse. In addition to the native Malay warriors, the Ottomans had repeatedly sent military expeditions to nearby
Aceh. The expeditions were composed mainly of
Turks,
Egyptians,
Swahilis,
Somalis,
Sindhis,
Gujaratis, and
Malabars. These expeditionary forces had also spread to other nearby Sultanates such as Brunei and had taught local
mujahideen new fighting tactics and techniques on how to forge cannons. The fighting was fierce but Spain succeeded in invading the capital of Brunei at that time,
Kota Batu, on 16 April 1578, with the help of two disgruntled Brunei
noblemen, Pengiran Seri Lela and Pengiran Seri Ratna. The former had travelled to Manila to offer Brunei as a
tributary of Spain for help to recover the throne usurped by his brother, Saiful Rijal. Spain agreed that if they succeeded in conquering Brunei, Pengiran Seri Lela would indeed become the Sultan, while Pengiran Seri Ratna would be the new
Bendahara. Sultan Saiful Rijal and Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan Abdul Kahar were forced to flee to Meragang, then to
Jerudong, where they made plans to chase the conquering army away from Brunei. In the meantime, Spain suffered heavy losses due to a
cholera or
dysentery outbreak. They were so weakened by the illness. However, this war entering the national conscience as a heroic episode, with the Spaniards being driven out by
Pengiran Bendahara Sakam Ibni Sultan Abdul Kahar and a thousand native warriors to restore back the Sultan's power over the Empire. The Spanish return to Manila on 26 June 1578, after just 72 days. Before doing so, they burned the mosque, a high structure with a five-tier roof. Afterwards, peaceful relations were restored between the Spaniards and Bruneians. However, a legacy of Castilian-Bruneian war is the
Conspiracy of the Maharlikas when the Bruneian aristocracy of Manila attempted an uprising against Spain with Japan and Brunei as allies. The conspiracy was suppressed and the conspirators were exiled to
Guerrero, Mexico which later became a center of the
Mexican war of independence against Spain. The onset of the
Iberian Union resulted in the takeover by the Spanish Habsburgs of the territories held by Portugal across the world, and in this period, the Habsburgs conducted the ongoing
Ottoman–Portuguese confrontations in the Indian Ocean and the
Mediterranean Sea. ==Thirteen Years' War 1593–1606==