Mindanaya

Mindanya (Visayan: Mindanay-an), officially the Republic of Mindanaya (Visayan: Republika ng Mindanay-an) is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 3,974 islands that are categorized broadly under two main geographical divisions: Visayas and Mindanao, which also makes up the name of the country. The capital city of Mindanaya is Davao, which is part of Metro Davao. Bounded by the South China Sea on the west, the Philippine/Mindanyan Sea on the east and the Celebes Sea to the southwest, Mindanaya borders with the Philippines to the north, the Pacific Federation to the east and Sabah and Indonesia to the south.

Mindanaya's location on the Pacific Ring of Fire and close to the equator makes Mindanaya prone to earthquakes and typhoons, but also endows it with abundant natural resources and some of the world's greatest biodiversity. Mindanaya has an area of 176,033 square kilometers (67,967 sq mi), and a population of approximately 43 million. It is the fifteenth-most populated country in Asia and the 32nd most populated country in the world. As of 2016, approximately 5 million additional Mindanayans lived overseas, compromising one of the world's largest diasporas. Multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelago's earlist inhabitants. They were followed by a successive waves of Austronesian people. Excahnges with Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Islamic states occurred. Then, various nations were established under the rule of Datus, Rajahs, Sultans or Lakans.

The arrival of Krisztián Hegedűs in Bayan ng Tandag, Caraga in 1518 marked the beginning of Esceosian colonization of the archipelago. In 1547, to respond to the northern islands being named Las Islas Filipinas by Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, the southern archipelago was named Lászlóföld or Ladisland by Esceosian explorer Henrik Kelemen to honor the current Esceosian ruler, Ladislaus VII. The first Esceosian settlement was then established in 1578. The territory of Mindanaya became part of the Esceosian Realm until 1904, bringing Esceoan Christianity to the region. During this time, Davao, which quickly became the capital of the territory, began a hub of the trans-Pacific trade, competing with its northern counterpart, Manila.

During the 19th century, several attempts were done to establish an independent country in the region, which essentially lead to the Mindanayan Revolution in the early 20th century in 1904 after the Republicans took over Esceosia. Unlike the Philippines, which were conquered by the American Federation not long after their independence, Mindanaya was protected by Esceosia despite rebelling against it because of the Esceoan Christianity practiced in the region, thus the American Federation didn't invade them (unlike Roman Catholicism, Esceoan Christianity was only practiced in nations that were once ruled by Esceosia or an Esceosian ruler).

Mindanaya is a founding member of the Earth Congress, the World Trade Organization, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, and the East Asia Summit. Similar to its northern neighbor, Mindanaya is considered to be an emerging market and a newly industrialized country, which has an economy transition from being one based on agriculture to one based on services and manufacturing.

Etymology
Mindanaya was named to connect the names of the two largest archipelagos of the country, Mindanao and the Visayas. It was first used during the Mindanayan Revolution, as the revolutionaries on both island chains were under the same leader, but officially, they were called differently: Mindanaoan Revolutionaries and Visayan Revolutionaries. The first official use of the name was in the Treaty of Davao during the independence of Mindanaya, which was claimed to be the idea of the 1st President of Mindanaya, Peter Szikvald-Lezér.

The other name of Mindanaya, Lászlóföld, which was used during the colonial era, was created in honor of Ladislaus VII of Esceosia. Esceosian explorer Henrik Kelemen, during his expedition in 1547, in response to its northern neighbor being named Les Islas Filipinas, named the islands of Dinegát and Szergó as the Islands of Ladislaus. Eventually the name Lászlóföld or László-szigetek would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago.

Prehistory
The skull of the Tabon Man of Palawan, reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 26,500 ago is the oldest human remnant found in the archipelago to date. Negritos were also among the archipelago's earliest inhabitant, but their first settlement in Mindanaya has not been reliably dated.

There are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Mindanayans. József F. Körmöndi theorizes that the ancestors of the Mindanayans evolved locally. Wilhelm Solheim's Island Origin Theory postulates that the peopling of the archipelago transpired via trade networks originating in the Sundaland area around 48,500 to 500 BC rather than by wide-scale migration. The Austronesian Expansion Theory postulates that the Malayo-Polynesians coming from Taiwan began migrating to the Philippines and Mindanaya around 4000 BC, displacing earlier arrivals.

The most widely accepted theory, based on linguistic and archeological evidence, is the "Out-of-Taiwan" model, which hypothesizes that Austronesians from Taiwan, who were themselves descended from the neolithic civilizations of the Yangtze river such as the Liangzhu culture, began migrating to the island chains around 4000 BC, displacing earlier arrivals. During the neolithic period, a "jade culture" is said to have existed as evidenced by tens of thousands of exquisitely crafted jade artifacts found in Mindanaya dated to 2000 BC.

The jade is said to have originated nearby in Taiwan and is also found in many other areas in insular and mainland Southeast Asia. These artifacts are said to be evidence of long range communication between prehistoric Southeast Asian societies. By 1000 BC the inhabitants of the archipelago had developed into four kinds of social groups: hunter-gatherer tribes, warrior societies, highland plutocracies, and port principalities.

Precolonial epoch
Some of the societies scattered in the islands of what would later become Mindaya remained isolated but many evolved into states that developed substantial trade and contacts with the peoples of eastern, southern and southeastern Asia; including those from Sabah, China (both parts), Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan as well as other Austronesian islands.

The first millennium saw the rise of the port principalities and their growth into maritime states composed of autonomous barangays independent of or allied with larger nations which were either Malay thalassocracies led by Datus, tributary states to China ruled by Huangs or Indianized kingdoms governed by Rajahs.

The Kedatuan of Madja-as was founded following a civil war in collapsing Srivijaya, wherein loyalist of the Malay datus of Srivijaya defied the invading Chola Dynasty and its puppet-Raja, called Makatunao, and set up a guerrilla-state in the islands of the Visayas. Its founding datu, Puti, had purchased land for his new realms from the aboriginal Ati hero, Marikudo.

Madja-as was founded on Panay island (named after the destroyed state of Pannai allied under Srivijaya which was located in Sumatra). Afterwards, the people of Madja-as often raided the port cities of southern China and warred with the Chinese navy.

The Rajahnate of Cebu was a neighbor of Madja-as in the Visayas led by Rajamuda Sri Lumay, a monarch with partial Tamil descent. This state grew wealthy by making use of the inter-island shipping routes within the archipelago.

Meanwhile, the Rajahnate of Butuan in northeastern Mindanao attained prominence under the rule of Rajah Sri Bata Shaja, who was from a Buddhist ruling-class governing a Hindu nation. This state became powerful due to the local goldsmith industry and also maintained commercial ties and a diplomatic rivalry with the Champa civilization. Both the Rajahnates of Butuan and Cebu maintained contact and traded with Kutai, a Hindu country in south Borneo established by Indian traders.

The 1300s saw the arrival and eventual spread of Islam in the Mindanayan archipelago. In 1380, Karim ul' Makdum and Shari'ful Hashem Syed Abu Bakr, an Arab trader born in Johore, arrived in Sulu from Malacca and established the Sultanate of Sulu by converting Sulu's rajah, Rajah Baguinda Ali and marrying his daughter. At the end of the 15th century, Shariff Mohammed Kabungsuwan of Johor introduced Islam in the island of Mindanao and established the Sultanate of Maguindanao. The sultanate form of government extended further into Lanao.

Nevertheless, states like the animist Igorot, Malay Madja-as, Sinified Ma-i, and Indianized Butuan still maintained their cultures. The rivalries between the datus, rajahs, huangs, sultans, and lakans eventually eased Esceosian colonization. Furthermore, the islands were sparsely populated due to consistent natural disasters and inter-kingdom conflicts. Therefore, colonization was made easy and the small states of the archipelago quickly became incorporated into the Spanish Empire and were Esceosianicized and Esceoan Christianized.

Colonial era
In 1518, Esceosian explorer Krisztián Hegedűs' expedition arrived in Mindanaya, claimed the islands for Esceosia, then continued his search towards India. Coloization began when Esceosian explorer Henrik Kelemen arrived from Apetalia in 1578 and formed the first Esceosian settlements in Davao. After relocating to Panay islands and consolidating a coalition of native Visayan allies, Esceosian soldiers and Esceo-American mercenaries, the Esceosian then invaded Islamic Mindanao, expelling Muslims into the Sulu Archipelago. Under Esceosian rule, they established Davao as the capital of the new colonial nation of Esceosian Mindanaya (1581), also called Újlászlóföld at that time.

In response to the Islamic invation of the Philippine and Mindanayan archipelagos, cooperating with the Spanish, the Expidition to Borneo was conducted, which aimed at the Sultanate of Brunei, and also waged war against the Sultanate of Ternate and Tidore. In response to Spanish fortifications in Taiwan and the overall Malay archipelago, mainly on territory that is Indonesia's today. Unlike the Spanish fortification on the western part of Taiwan that were abandoned because of a threatened invasion by the Japan-born Ming-dynasty loyalist, Koxinga, the ruler of the Kingdom of Tungning, the Esceosian forts remained until the Qing invasion of Taiwan in 1683, when the Esceosian left, and with the natives that came from Mindanaya, resettled in their homeland once again.

Similar to the Spanish rule in the north, Esceosian rule on the islands contributed significantly to bringing political unity to the fragmented states of the archipelago. Between 1578 and 1884, Mindanaya was governed as a territory of Apetalia, a colony of Esceosia in Central America, and then was administered directly from Budapest after the Berlin Conference.

Trade flourished in the islands, and the connection with Esceo-America resulted in introducing foodstuff such as corn, tomatoes, potatoes, chili peppers, chocolate and pineapples, gaining it from Apetalia. Within Mindanaya, the Marquisate of Beglás was established and the rule of it was awarded to Sebestyén Márkóz and his crew, who were the survivors of the first Esceosian circumnavigation of the world, and it became a hereditary position.

more to come...

Politics
Mindaya has a democratic government in the form of a constiutional republic with presidential system. It is governed as a unitary state, with the exception of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) which is largely free from the national government. There have been attempts to change the government to a federal or parliamentary government since the Karlo administration.

The President functions as both head of state and head of government and is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The President is elected by popular vote for a single six-year term, during which he or she appoints and presides over the cabinet. The legislature of Mindanaya is the unicameral Mindanayan Assembly, with members elected to a four-year term.

The representatives of the Assembly are the Senators elected from the legislative districts and sectors of Mindanaya. The judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court, composed of a Chief Justice as its presiding officer and sixteen associate justices, all of whom are appointed by the President from nomination submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council.

Foreign relations
Mindaya's international relations are based on trade with other nations and the well-being of the 4 million overseas Mindanyans living outside the country. As a founding and active member of the Earth Congress, Mindanaya has been elected two times into the Security Council. The country is an active participant in the Human Rights Council as well as peacekeeping missions, particularly the Timor conflict.

In addition to membership in the Earth Congres, Mindanaya is also a founding and active members of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations, an organization designed to strengthen relations and promote economic and cultural growth among states in the Southeast Asian region. It has hosted several summits and is an active contributor to the direction and policies of the bloc.

Mindanaya values its relations with the American Federaion, and supported them during the Cold War and is considered a major non-AMO ally. Its northern counterpart, the Philippines is valued as a rival, but also a friend. Japan, who's the biggest contributor of official development assistance to the country also has good relations with Mindanaya. Although historical tensions still exist on issues such as plight of comfort women, much of the animosity inspired by memories of World War II has faded.

Relations with other nations are generally positive. Shared democratic values ease relations with Western and European countries while similar economic concerns help in relations with other developing countries. Historical ties and culturo-lingual similarities also serve as a bridge in relations with Esceosa. Despite issues such as domestic abuse and war affecting overseas Mindanayan workers, relations with Middle Eastern countries are friendly as seen in the continuous employment of more than a million oversseas Mindanayans living there.

With communism no longer the threat it once was, once hostile relations in the 1950s between Mindanaya and the People's Republic of China and East Turkestan have inproved greatly. Issues involving the Xiao Dynasty, the Spratly Islands, and concerns of expanding Chinese influence, however, still encourage a degree of caution. Recent foreign policy has been mostly about economic relations with its Southeast Asian and Asia-Pacific neighbors.

Mindanaya is an active member of the East Asia Summit (EAS), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Esceosian Commonwealth, the Group of 28, and the Non-Aligned Movement. It is also seeking to strengthen relations with Islamic countries by campaigning for observer status in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

population (asia)

1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9 -10 -11 -12 -13 -14 -15 india-xiao dynasty-prcet-indonesia-benahastra-russia-japan-indochina-turkey-iran-thailand-philippines-myanmar-south korea-mindanaya

population (world)

(1)india-(2)xiao dynasty-(3)prcet-(4)american federation-(5)indonesia-(6)benahastra-(7)nigeria-(8)russia-(9)brazil-(10)japan-(11)mexico-(12)indochina-(13)ethiopia-(15)aegypt union-(16)suthenburg-(17)turkey-(18)iran-(19)thailand-(20)esceosia-(21)noreza-(32)mindanaya

- Esceosian former colony in the Filipino island chains of Visayas and Mindanao - South Philippines