Note 13 — Chapter I · Geographical Description of the Sulu Archipelago1

Sulu occupies the most nearly central position of any island in eastern Malaysia. It lies between Mindanao on the east and Borneo on the west, and separates the Sulu Sea from the Celebes Sea. The commercial advantages of this position are unique. To the north lie the Bisayas, Palawan, Luzon, Formosa, China, and Japan; to the east Mindanao and Basilan; to the south, the Moluccas, Celebes, and Java; to the west, Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula. Besides, the Sulus are natural-born sailors, and their famous pearl industry has prompted them to trade since time immemorial. Their boats brought silk, amber, silver, scented woods, and porcelain from China and Japan; gold dust, wax, dyes, saltpeter, slaves, and food stuffs from Luzon, the Bisayas, and Mindanao; gunpowder, cannon, brass, copper, iron, rubies, and diamonds from Malacca and Bruney;13 pepper and spices from Java, the Moluccas, and Celebes. Chinese merchants traded with Sulu long before the arrival of Legaspi, and while Manila and Cebu were still small and insignificant settlements Jolo had reached the proportions of a city and was, without exception, the richest and foremost settlement in the Philippine Islands. Jolo, with the exception of Bruney, had no rival in northeast Malaysia prior to the seventeenth century.