More articles about: datus

Datus, Rajahs, and Sultans: How Wealthy and Powerful Were the Pre-Colonial Filipino Nobility?

Filipinos, commoners and nobility alike, wore gold jewelry as everyday accessories.

When 17th-century Spanish missionary Francisco Colin came to the Philippines, he mentioned that “there are no kings or rulers worthy of mention” in the islands. He made a common mistake among European observers at the time in searching for evidence of early ...