abstract
| - The Kingdom of Ma-i (Old Tagalog: 国的麻逸, tr. Bansa nang Ma-i) was a Kingdom that consisted of the island of Mindoro, several adjacent islands, and the Buruka prefecture with its capital being Li Han. Ma-i shares a border with the Kingdom of Tondo to the north, and a maritime border with Madja-as Confederation to the south. It was established in the ninth century, establishing extensive trading ties with the Ming and Japan and serving as a major entrepot within the region. It would be subjugated as a Chinese tributary later on. Frequent contact with the Chinese would prompt the process of sinicisation, evident by the use of silk, Chinese cotton garments, and the prevalence of Mahayana Buddhism in place of Theravada Buddhism, the sect mainly practiced by its neighbours. Prior to the Han–Bruneian War, Mindoro was annexed into the Sultanate of Brunei and was converted into Islam. However, after Tondo intervention, it regained Mindoro, but was forced to renounce its status as a tributary of the Ming and to become a protectorate of Tondo. After being fed-up of foreign rule, it seceded from Tondo. The Lakandula conquered Li Han and the coastal parts of Mindoro during the Tondo conquest of Lusong, though the Ma resisted the Tondo for about two more decades, setting up a kingdom in inland Mindoro.
|