Pangasinan

The Pangasinan are an Austronesian people of western Luzon's Lingayen Gulf, named for its salt pans: asin means salt. Their towns lay on maritime routes linking Southeast Asia to India, China and Japan from at least the eighth century. Ming records note embassies from Feng-jia-shi-lan between 1403 and 1405; by the sixteenth century the Spanish called the area the Port of Japan, where silks, porcelain and firearms were exchanged for gold, slaves and deerskins.

In 1571 Martín de Goiti began the Spanish conquest. The Chinese corsair Limahong took refuge in Pangasinan in 1574, but Juan de Salcedo dislodged him after a seven-month siege.

In December 1660 Andres Malong was proclaimed King of Pangasinan, but Spanish forces overthrew him in February 1661. In 1762 Juan de la Cruz Palaris proclaimed independence after the British capture of Manila, holding out until his capture in 1765.