The term "Pangasinan" is toponymic, as it derives from the root word 'asin' (salt) with the prefix 'pang-' or 'panag-a' and suffix '-an', denoting place. Therefore, Panag-aasinan or Pangasinan meant "land of salt", suggesting that Pangasinan was a coastal region where salt was found. Pangasinan was also referred by the natives as "luyag ed dapit-baybay" (place near the coast).[2]
History
Territory
Pangasinan's territory occupied the entirety of the coasts of Lingayen Gulf, spanning from near Bolinao in Zambales to Balaoan in La Union. Due to Bolinao's proximity with the rest of Pangasinan, Miguel de Loarca assumed that the people of Bolinao and the rest of Pangasinan spoke the same language.[5] Ancient potteries were also found in Bolinao during the precolonial period, suggesting active trade with the Chinese in the region.[3]Agoo, the most prosperous port of Pangasinan, engaged in frequent trade with the Igorots in exchange for their gold. The Igorots then received carabaos and pigs which they took back to the mountains. This prosperity attracted many traders from Japan, eventually earning the name "Port of Japan".[5][6][7] There were several chiefs who also ruled in Calasiao, Lingayen and Binmaley.
Culture
The locals wore apparel typical of other maritime Southeast Asian ethnic groups in addition to Japanese and Chinese silks. Even common people were clad in Chinese and Japanese cotton garments. They also blackened their teeth and were disgusted by the white teeth of foreigners, which were likened to that of animals. They used porcelain jars typical of Japanese and Chinese households. Japanese-style gunpowder weapons were also encountered in naval battles in the area.[8] In exchange for these goods, traders from all over Asia would come to trade primarily for gold and slaves but also for deerskins, civets and other local products. Other than a notably more extensive trade network with Japan and China, they were culturally similar to other Luzon groups to the south, especially the Kapampangans and the neighboring Ilocanos.
During the late 16th and 17th centuries, Spanish records often stated that the region of Pangasinan were war-like. They were often deemed rebellious, unconquered or "fond of blood" by conquistadors. Bishop Domingo de Salazar described them as "really the worst people–the fiercest and the cruelest in the land–an unconquered tribe who's fiestas were cutting off one another's heads".[5]
Chinese records
Possible inhabitants of Pangasinan with kampilan sword, depicted in the Boxer Codex (1590) surmised to come from Taimei Anchorage, Lingayen Gulf, Luzon
According to some historians, places in the present-day province of Pangasinan like Lingayen Gulf were mentioned as early as 1225, when Lingayen, then known as Li-ying-tung or Li-yin[9], was listed in Chao Ju-kua's Chu Fan Chih (an account of the various barbarians) as one of the trading places along with Ma-i.[10]
Pangasinan as a place was first mentioned as early as 1406 when it was recorded to have sent emissaries to China in 1406–1411.[4] The emissaries reported three successive paramount leaders of Pangasinan to the Chinese: Kamayin on September 23, 1406, Taymey ("Tortoise Shell"), and Liyli in 1408 and 1409, and on December 11, 1411, the emperor tendered the Pangasinan party a state banquet.[11]
Limahong's conquests and early Spanish period
After the conquest of Pangasinan by Juan de Salcedo in 1572, Pangasinan was founded as an encomienda.[12]
Limahong, a Chinese corsair and warlord, briefly invaded the polity after his failure in the Battle of Manila (1574). He then set up an enclave of wokou (Japanese and Chinese pirates) in Pangasinan. Nevertheless, the Mexico-born Juan de Salcedo and his force of Tagalog, Visayan, and Latino soldiers assaulted and destroyed the pirate kingdom and then incorporated the Pangasinan people and their polity into the Spanish East Indies of the Spanish Empire. To escape, the pirate Limahong dug up a canal in the Agno river delta as a means of escape on August 4, 1575.[2]: 383
^ abScott, William Henry (1989). "Filipinos in China in 1500"(PDF). China Studies Program. De la Salle University. p. 8.
^ abcScott, William Henry (1994). Barangay Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society. Ateneo de Manila University Press. pp. 248–249. ISBN9789715501354.
^de Loarca, Miguel (1582). Relacion de Las Yslas Filipinas.
^Sals, Florent Joseph (2005). The history of Agoo : 1578-2005. La Union: Limbagan Printhouse. p. 80.
^Scott, William Henry (1994). Barangay. Manila Philippines: Ateneo de Manila University Press. p. 187.
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