22/05/2026
History of the Ancient Mindoro (Mait)
Mait (also spelled Maidh, Ma'I, Mai, Ma-yi, or Mayi; Baybayin: ᜋᜁ; Hanunoo: ᜫᜡ; Hokkien Chinese: 麻逸; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: mâ-i̍t; Mandarin Chinese: 麻逸; pinyin: máyì; ) is recorded in historical texts as Ma-i, was an organized, medieval sovereign state and thriving indigenous polity located in the pre-Hispanic Philippines.
While early twentieth-century scholars initially debated its exact location, modern historians generally accept that it was situated on the island of Mindoro, a connection supported by the indigenous Mangyan people who still refer to the lowlands of Bulalacao as "Mait". Research by Fay Cooper Cole for the Field Museum in Chicago in 1912 showed that the ancient name of Mindoro was Mait. Mindoro's indigenous groups are called Mangyans, and to this day, the Mangyans call the lowlands of Bulalacao in Oriental Mindoro Mait.
For most of the 20th century, historians generally accepted the idea that Mindoro was the political center of the ancient Philippine polity.The polity's existence was first documented by the Chinese in 971 AD during the Song Dynasty, marking what historians consider the first positive reference to a political state in the region. According to detailed accounts from 1225 AD by Chinese official Zhao Rukuo, Mait operated as a major maritime trading hub where locals bartered valuable commodities like beeswax, cotton, pearls, tortoiseshell, and betel nuts in exchange for Chinese porcelain, silk, and metal vessels. Although official mentions of Ma-i ceased in Chinese chronicles after the mid-fourteenth century , historians believe it continued to exist under different names, likely facing regional disruptions such as raids from the Bruneian Empire around 1498–1499.
By the 1570s, the arrival of Spanish conquerors led by Martín de Goiti and Juan de Salcedo brought an end to the independent state; despite encountering advanced local defenses, including stone walls and fortified earthen forts equipped with artillery, the Spanish destroyed these fortifications and eventually absorbed the territory into the Spanish Empire.
