The Philippines had trade relations with southern China, and cultural ties with India through neighboring present-day Malaysia, and Indonesia as early as the 9th to the 12th century.[4] The social and political organization of the population, in the widely scattered islands, evolved into a generally common pattern. Only the permanent-field rice farmers of northern Luzon had any concept of territoriality.[1] The basic unit of settlement was the barangay, originally a kinship group headed by a Datu (chief). Within the barangay, the broad social divisions consisted of the maharlika (nobles), including the datu; timawa (freemen); and a group described before the Spanish period as dependents. Dependents included several categories with differing status: landless agricultural workers; those who had lost freeman status because of indebtedness or punishment for crime; and alipin (slaves), most of whom appear to have been war captives.[1]
In the period between the 7th century to the beginning of the 1400s, numerous prosperous centers of trade had emerged, including the Kingdom of Namayan which flourished alongside Manila Bay,[11][12][13], the Rajahnate of Cebu, the Confederation of Panay,[14] the Rajahnate of Butuan, the Kingdom of Sanfotsi situated in Pangasinan, the Kingdoms of Zabag and Wak-Wak situated in Pampanga[15] and Aparri (which specialized in trade with Japan and the Kingdom of Ryukyu in Okinawa).
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