Maharlika (Maharlika Timeline)

The Republic of Maharlika (Maharlikan: Republik Mehardeka) is a country in Maritime Southeast Asia. Bordered by Taiwan to the north, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei to the south, the South China Sea to the west, the Maharlika Sea to the east, Maharlika consists of 1,708 islands, including a portion of northeastern Borneo.

Maharlika's history is very interconnected with that of the neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia. Maharlika's recorded history begins around 800 A.D., with the records of the islands in ancient Chinese, Siamese, Srivijayan, Majapahit and even Indian texts. Many trading kingdoms were established in modern-day Maharlika, with the most well-known being those of Ma-i, Bohol, Madja-as, Maynila (also known by "Selurong"), Tondo and Namayan. Later, Indianized mandalas in Visayas were formed with the arrival of migrants from Sumatra, such as Sugbu, Bohol and Palawan. Islam was introduced in the 1400s, due to the Islamization of the Malay world, and Christianity was introduced in 1521.

The western half of the archipelago resisted the Spaniards, and adopted Islam as their faith. The Muslim sultanates of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, and the Muslim rajahnates of western Visayas, Palawan and south-central Luzon formed a loose confederation that resisted Spanish rule, while the eastern half of the archipelago submitted to Spanish rule and became Christianized, forming the Spanish East Indies, and for decades, the Muslim states went to war against the Christianized native kingdoms, who became vassals for the Spanish Empire to form the Spanish East Indies.