Buayan

Buayan lies inland from Sarangani Bay in southern Mindanao, where river valleys connect the coastal lowland with the mountains. The Blaan people inhabited the area and gave many places their names. Forest, fresh water and fertile ground supported shifting cultivation, hunting and fishing.

The Sultanate of Buayan emerged as a powerful inland polity, controlling routes between the Pulangi basin and Sarangani Bay. Its rulers competed and intermarried with Maguindanao, while boats carried southern Mindanao goods into wider maritime trade. Datu Uto later extended Buayan's influence toward the coast after Maguindanao's decline.

Spanish forces entered the bay region in the nineteenth century, but inland authority remained with local datus and Blaan communities. Buayan therefore represents an interior political centre whose power came from river routes, upland produce and access to the sea rather than a fortified colonial town. Rice, forest produce and woven goods moved from inland villages to Sarangani Bay, while coastal salt and imported cloth moved upstream. Upland communities supplied wax, rattan, forest medicines and rice, while Buayan rulers taxed movement toward the bay. Rivers supplied fish and canoe transport, linking inland settlements with the bay without creating one dominant lowland city.