Mapun

Mapun, historically known as Cagayan de Sulu, lies in the island world between the southern Philippines and northern Borneo. Its communities maintained connections across the Sulu Sea, where boats carried people and goods between islands and larger ports.

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the island was inhabited by Sama peoples and participated in the Sulu region's trade. It supplied rice and sago, and rice was cultivated for export in the 1790s. In 1783 the East India Company ship Antelope traded at Cagayan de Sulu and nearby islands, illustrating the reach of these maritime connections.