Iranun

The Iranun are an Austronesian Muslim people of southwestern Mindanao, on Illana Bay, the Pulangi delta and Polloc harbor, with roots probably around Lake Lanao. With the Maranao and Maguindanao they form the Danao-speaking group, and their name means people of the lake.

As Islam took root in the Cotabato lowlands in the early 1500s, the Iranun became Muslims and vassals and key maritime allies of the Sultanate of Maguindanao, fighting under its flag while keeping their own datus.

From the 1770s Iranun fleets raided across the Sulu and Celebes seas, plundering Spanish-held coasts for slaves and goods so widely that their exonym Ilanun entered Malay as lanun, meaning pirate. In the 1700s and 1800s Iranun colonies appeared in Sabah and in Riau and Jambi on Sumatra, and their knowledge of regional waters is preserved in the Carta Indigena Filipina, a chart from their sailing experience.