The use of Malay was a result of extensive interactions between the native kingdoms in the Philippines and the various ancient
Malay world civilizations that existed in modern-day
Brunei,
Indonesia, and
Malaysia as it was the trade language of the entire Maritime Southeast Asian region. The
Laguna Copperplate Inscription, the earliest-known document found in the Philippines was written in a mix of
Old Malay, Classical Tagalog and
Old Javanese and in the
Kawi alphabet which recorded interactions between the classical civilizations in
Luzon with the
Majapahit empire of
Java and the
Srivijaya empire of
Sumatra. The Old Malay spoken in the archipelago also reflected the religious nature of the region - the archipelago was inhabited by a mix of Buddhist, Animists and Hindus. Upon the arrival of Portuguese conquistador
Ferdinand Magellan in
Cebu, his slave,
Enrique, a Malaccan-native had to speak on his behalf since he was a native-Malay speaker who acted as a translator between Spanish, Portuguese and Malay. Enrique likely perished in Mactan Island during the
battle that killed Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. The use of Malay in the Philippines reached its height with the introduction of
Islam by Malay Muslim,
Arab,
Persian, Chinese Muslim and Indian Muslim preachers to the islands. However, this was in the form of
Classical Malay, a dialect which originated from the Riau-Malacca region. Along with that,
Arabic was also introduced as well as the introduction of the
Jawi script, an Arabic-based alphabet for Malay. The dynasties of the Islamic sultanates in Mindanao were themselves of ethnic
Malay descent with sprinkles of
Arab ancestry (others possess some
Persian and Indian blood) such as those of the
Sultanate of Maguindanao. Malay became the regional
lingua franca of trade and many polities enculturated Islamic Malay customs and governance to varying degrees, including Kapampangans, Tagalogs and other coastal Philippine peoples, particularly Tausūgs,
Maranao, and
Maguindanao people. According to Bruneian folklore, at around 1500
Sultan Bolkiah launched a successful northward expedition to break
Tondo’s monopoly as a regional entrepot of the Chinese trade and established
Maynila (Selurong) across the
Pasig delta, ruled by his heirs as a satellite. Subsequently, Malay through Bruneian influence spread elsewhere around Manila Bay, present-day Batangas, and coastal Mindoro through closer trade and political relations, with a growing
Kapampangan-Tagalog diaspora based in Brunei and beyond in Malacca in various professions as traders, sailors, shipbuilders, mercenaries, governors, and slaves. Intermarriages between native Muslims of Sulu Archipelago, Sultanate of Maguindanao, and Sultanate of Lanao and Kapampangan and Tagalog Muslims (called Luzones) even took place later. With progress of Spanish conquest in the 16th century, the use of Malay among the Philippine natives quickly deteriorated and diminished as it was replaced by
Spanish. It became non-existent among the Christian Filipinos. Malay remained much confined to the Muslim population of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, who actively resisted Spanish rule and attempts by missionaries to convert them to
Christianity. During the late 19th century, with the deterioration of
Spanish rule, a Pan-Malayan movement began in the Philippines, spearheaded by national hero
José Rizal, who had a vision of "uniting the Malayan race" from the bondage of separation by colonial powers. He had actually tried learning the Malay language, having believed it to be an original of Tagalog. But Rizal's vision and movement did not move further when President
Manuel L. Quezon chose Tagalog as the basis for the evolution and adoption of the national language of the Philippines on December 30, 1937. Politicians in the Philippines had actually contemplated on renaming the country to "Malaysia", before
the actual federation was named so. Some maps had also referred to the area now comprising
Philippines,
Indonesia and
East Malaysia as "Malaysia" as a whole. Malay is related to the native languages of the Philippines, both being
Austronesian languages. Many words in the
Tagalog and
various Visayan languages are derived from
Old Malay. Although the history of Malay influence in Philippine history is a subject of conversation, no attempts have been made to ever promote Malay or even
Spanish. The number of Malay-speakers in the Philippines is unknown; as a result of the 300-year Spanish rule, most are very confined to the southern parts of
Mindanao (specifically in the
Zamboanga Peninsula, where
Spanish creole is natively spoken) and the
Sulu Archipelago in a region known as
Bangsamoro; Spanish creole is also spoken by some Muslim and Christian residents in Sulu Archipelago. This region, derives from the Malay word
bangsa and the Spanish
moro, the Muslim peoples of the Philippines refer to themselves
Moro which comes from a Spanish word meaning "Moor". The lingua franca of the native residents of Bangsamoro are Tagalog/
Filipino and Cebuano. ==Contemporary use==