Foundation and Islamization The Buayan people, formerly known as Kiliman, was said to have been founded in the mid to late 14th century following the early batch of sharif preachers from Maguindanao and Sulu. According to the
Tarsila, an Islamic genealogical document about the ruling clans of Mindanao, Datu Mamu was the first recorded ruler of Buayan. Datu Mamu married princesses from several chiefdoms, expanding his influence. After the arrival of
Rajah Baguinda Ali from
Basilan to Mindanao, Maguindanao, Lanao, and Buayan all
converted to Islam.
Reign of Rajah Silongan One of the first rulers of Buayan that the Spaniards encountered was Rajah Silongan. In April 1596, Rajah Silongan held off against the joint forces of Maguindanao and Spain, eventually subordinating the Sultan of Maguindanao,
Kapitan Laut Buisan, and form a confederacy that composed of Buayan, Cotabato, and Tamontaka. In 1599, Rajah Silongan, accompanied by 3,000 Buayan
Moros, joined forces with Datu Salikula of Maguindanao and assaulted the coast communities of
Cebu,
Negros, and
Panay, inflicting many atrocities. A huge force tried a repeat in 1600 but was repelled in southern Panay. In 1602, the Sultan of Buayan invaded
Batangas but was repelled at
Balayan. They also invaded
Calamianes and gained 700 captives. In 1603, Buayan attacked
Leyte. In 1605, a peace treaty negotiated by Melchor Hurtado was signed between Maguindanao, Buayan, and Spain. On 8 September 1605, Spain and Buayan signed an agreement to recognize Rajah Silongan as the paramount ruler of Maguindanao in exchange for his allegiance to Spain. This was done as a divisive measure to encourage strife between Maguindanao and Buayan. Eventually, Kapitan Laut Buisan of Cotabato would distance himself from Rajah Silongan and establish his own community on the coast. On 22 July 1609, after the leaders of Buayan learned of the Spanish capture of
Ternate, Rajah Silongan and Kapitan Laut Buisan sent a letter to the Spanish governor-general in
Manila to ask for forgiveness for their previous alliance with the Sultanate of Ternate. In 1619, the Sultanate of Buayan faced a decline due to the rise of Sultan Muhammad Kudarat of Maguindanao. Eventually, by 1634, the confederacy headed by Rajah Silongan disappeared. He was reduced into a petty king. After his father's death in 1872, his uncle, Bayao of Kudarangan, succeeded as the Sultan of Buayan. However, it was Datu Uto who held real power. Eventually, he emerged to become the Sultan of Buayan in 1875, formally succeeding his uncle and was able to expand his influence in the Cotabato Basin and resist Spanish domination over the Sultanate of Buayan. Moreover, Datu Uto was able to establish an alliance with the Sultan of Sulu, which became important due to their need for firearms to continue the resistance. Sulu's demand for slaves led Datu Uto to change his behavior towards the neighboring Tiruray people, and began to kidnap for slaves within Tiruray territory, which were sold via the Bay of Sarangani on the southern tip of Mindanao. While the Spanish could not occupy Buayan itself, they focused and succeeded in taking over the datus of smaller territories within Buayan causing the alliance network of Buayan to weaken and promote further defections of allegiance. A capitulation treaty between Buayan and Spain was signed on 10 March 1887, affecting Buayan's prestige. Buayan officially became a vassal of Spain. However, Datu Uto saw this as merely a peace treaty and not as an actual act of capitulation. The Spanish colonial forces established several forts within the territory of Buayan such as Fort Reina Regente in Tinungkup and Fort Pikit in modern-day
Malidegao, Cotabato.
Betrayal of Datu Piang, Amai Mingka Datu Piang, a Chinese-mestizo, was formerly the appointed Minister of Lands by Datu Uto. According to oral tradition, many of Datu Uto's followers defected him for Datu Piang, as Datu Uto refused to open his granaries to his people during a time of famine. This helped Datu Piang gain a large following. While Datu Piang was often referred to as 'Datu', he was a commoner who had no noble origin and never used the honorific to refer to himself. Rather, he referred to himself as
Ama ni Mingka (Father of Mingka). In December 1899, American forces landed in Cotabato and Datu Piang collaborated with the American authorities. This left Datu Ali, the ruler of Tinungkup and eventually Buayan, as the only formidable opponent that was able to form a resistance against American forces in Mindanao.
Reign of Datu Ali In 1899, Datu Uto handed over his throne to his first cousin Datu Ali of Tinungkup. He became the Rajah of Buayan, emerging as the supreme ruler of the Upper Cotabato Valley and was able to form an alliance to resist American attempts of subjugating the interior datus into their administration. In 1905, Buayan fully lost its independence after Datu Ali of Tinungkup, stricken with malaria at the time, was killed by American forces in the
Battle of the Malala River during the
Moro Rebellion. Buayan fell into an interregnum afterwards and was eventually absorbed into the American colonial administration. With the help of Datu Piang and several datus, the American authorities were quickly able to assert their military and eventually, civilian form of government in Moro territory, thereby either incorporating datus into the civil government, or reducing their royal titles into the status of a mere traditional leader. == Economy ==