The Sulu Zone: The Dynamics of External Trade, Slavery and Ethnicity in the Transformation of a Southeast Asian Maritime State, 1768-1898

by James Francis Warren

First published in 1981, The Sulu Zone deals with a fascinating geographical, cultural and historical "border zone" centered on the Sulu and Celebes Seas between 1768 an 1898, and its complex interactions with China and the West. The author examines the social and cultural forces generated within the Sulu Sultanate by the China trade, namely the advent of organized, long distance maritime slave raiding and the assimilation of captives on a hitherto unprecedented scale into a traditional Malayo-Muslim social system.

His work analyzes the dynamics of the last autonomous Malayo-Muslim maritime state over a long historical period and describes its stunning response to the world capitalist economy and the rapid "forward movement" of colonialism and modernity. It also shows how the changing world of global cultural flows and economic interactions caused by cross-cultural trade and European dominance affected men and women who were forest dwellers, highlanders, and slaves, people who worked in everyday jobs as fishers, raiders, divers and traders. Often neglected by historians, the responses of these members of society are a crucial part of the history of Southeast Asia.

Genres: History

400 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2007

Reviews

[Luke Schroeder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warren's book, the Sulu Zone, is helpful for anyone trying to understand the culture and history of the Sama (Bajau). Our modern state boundaries hinder any one researcher's ability to gain a grasp on the former and sometimes present wanderings of the Sama people, their trade, travel, and relationships to places and peoples. The significance of Sulu and its people and products to the Spanish, British, and Dutch is well documented in the book along with its role in the global trade of the time period.

Political issues that exist today are represented in the history of Sulu. A major theme of the book is procuring trade items desired by the Chinese. The British had a trade deficit with China and desired their products, especially tea. Sulu, its maritime and jungle territories had ocean and jungle products that Britain could trade for in order to have something of value to the Chinese. Trading in arms and opium were tactics used to engage the Tausug sultanate with trade and keep the trade from being taken over by the Spanish. The most grievous of the two being the introduction of opium to Sulu and its corruption of the leadership of the Tausug. Knowing this history is a tool for education which has relevance even to the efforts of the Philippines government to combat drugs. Sulu is a critical area where the trade and abuse of drugs effects the areas potential for development and peace.

The second half of the book follows the slave trade and considers it in the light of economics. The European and Chinese trade required more manpower for harvesting the ocean and jungle's wealth. The way in which the Iranun and Balangingi raiders obtained slaves was quite horrific. Warren gives a balanced viewpoint of the function of slavery in Sulu, one in which many of the slaves were better off as slaves in Sulu than they had been in the Philippines since they had chance for upward social mobility. Much of this has to do with the impact of subjugation by the Spanish. Free Filipinos were limited in their ability to achieve economic prosperity due to the claim that the Spanish crown took on their wealth. Some runaway slaves would rather return to Sulu than be rescued to Zamboanga, because they were particularly oppressed by the Spanish in Zamboanga prior to being able to return to their homelands.

The ability for a slave to become a freeman and to adopt the ethnicity of Tausug brings up questions concerning the true ethnic makeup of Tausug society. Those taken as slaves eventually adopted the ethnicity of Tausug in Sulu. Warren also makes claim that the Chavacano population and ethnicity of Zamboanga is partially a result of integrating runaway slaves into the Chavacano ethnicity. Those former slaves who became slave raiders themselves are said to have adopted Balangingi ethnicity. This presents a picture of a heterogeneous make-up of these ethnicities, one which cannot be seen on the surface when interacting with these groups in modern day society.

This book helped connect some of the dots of phenomenon/statements that I have come across ase as a language and culture researcher among the Sama. I have heard that Sama parents in Sulu would teach their children to avoid the Iranun because they are cannibals. Children also are scared with stories of having their heads removed by the Segai. These "boogiemen" used to scare children have elements of truth in them. The Iranun involvement in the slave trade leaves a memory among Sama populations that would have them want to protect their children from these residents of Sulu. Also Segai raiding in Sabah as well as the sale of slaves to Sabah groups to be used in some of their religious ceremonies that involve the taking of a slaves head, leave a memory of fear in the Sama that exists even far away from the jungles of Sabah where this happened.

Current consciousness among the Sama of the world described in this book seems to reach the very end of this history. Older Sama men tell stories of being small children on boats approaching villages of people they did not know to obtain water or supplies only to observe the people flee to the forest. This was done presumably due to memory of raids and slaving that the villages had experienced in the past. Also, an example sentence produced for a not so common word in Sinama by the oldest member of a Sama community went like this: "Trading people for copper in Bulungan." Apparently the last Sulu slave trafficking to remain when the British and Spanish had blocked most of it was that of Sulu to Omadal near Semporna and then on to Bulungan. This is still remembered by the Sama today.

I do recommend James Francis Warren's book the Sulu Zone to anyone with interest in Southeast Asian history, anthropology, or even politics as it gives access to a past not readily available in standard sources. The contemporary society has morphed so much from what it was five or more generations ago. Warren does the groundwork of finding and interpreting elusive historical documents that can build upon any researchers understanding of the peoples, places, and time period involved in the Sulu Zone.

[Bandar Julkiram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whereas Najeeb Saleeby projected a general history of Sulu, from as far back as 15th century up until the late 19th century; Warren on the other hand focused on the period from 1768-1898 with surprising detail--which in turn, clarifies the vague details Saleeby presented. Details ranging from accounts from western observers, to natives themselves; emphasizing the division of tribal groups that form this zone Warren calls 'The Sulu Zone'. The wealth of information is arranged in tables, and presented with maps. This book is an academic work that challenges the conventional colonial history.

[Nolan McDermott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was good