 One such island-hopper was Madjapahit prince Balagtas of Java who sailed to Luzon in the 1400s

A.D. to permanently settle there among his relatives. Balagtas’ son Malangsik is credited as the
founder of the Kapampangan Nation because he organized all the inhabitants around the mouth
of the Pampanga River based on a common culture, descent and language, while the Tagalogs
lived around the mouth of the Pasig River. After only one generation, the Kapampangan nation had
become a Nation-State, sovereign with its own government, society, and military. The
Kapampangans and the Tagalogs lived in harmony until Malangsik’s son Pansomun (born in
Tabungao, Minalin) crossed over from the Kapampangan side to become the lakan dula (ruler)
of Tondo, bypassing his three Tagalog uncles: Si Ache, Si Banau and Ladiamura. It got worse
when Pansomun grabbed Manila as well, following the death of his uncles’ father in 1521.
Kapampangans were now expanding their territory beyond the natural boundary of the Pasig River—
until a twist of fate sealed their defeat that would come 50 years later.

 One of the uncles, Si Banau, fled to Borneo but was captured in open sea by the Spanish ship
Victoria which was sailing westward out of Cebu following Magellan’s death. The released Si
Banau and went on to become the first human beings to circumnavigate the world, while the grateful
Si Banau promised to repay them if and when. His chance came when 50 years later, in 1571, Miguel
Lopez de Legazpi sailed into Manila Bay and met Rajah Matanda (as Si Banau was now known),
his brother Si Ache (now the lakan dula of Tondo) and their nephew Rajah Soliman. Pansomun by
now had returned to his side of the river, and it was the young hothead from Macabebe (Bambalito)
who sailed to Tondo with 2500 warriors on 70 warships to persuade his Tagalog relatives to
decline the Spaniards’ offer of friendship. But Si Banau had a debt of gratitude to pay, so
Bambalito and his Kapampangan warriors were abandoned by their Tagalog allies to face
Martin de Goiti alone at the Battle of Bangkusay. One bullet took Bambalito’s life, and the
demoralized Kapampangans fled in all directions, paving the way for the Spaniards’ colonization
of Manila, Pampanga, Luzon and the rest of the country in the next 300 years.

 The old Pansomun was among the first Kapampangan rulers to be converted to Christianity (he
was baptized Fernando Malang Balagtas), and before he died on March 21, 1589 (in San Carlos,
Pangasinan), he wrote a will that described in great detail the extent of his property which, although
the document is controversial, coincided with the territory of the Kapampangan nation as described by
Dasmariñas and Zuñiga. In the next three centuries, the colonizers chopped up this mega-
province by creating the provinces of Nueva Ecija in 1704, Bataan in 1754, Nueva Vizcaya in
1839, Principe (Aurora) in 1853, Tarlac in 1860, and adding towns like San Miguel de Mayumo,
Calumpit and Hagonoy to Bulacan in the 1800s.

 Today there is only a province called Pampanga and a slightly wider area called the Kapampangan
Region (composed of the province plus Kapampangan-speaking towns in Tarlac, Bulacan,
Nueva Ecija and Bataan).

 But if we go by the definition of “nation” as a large group of people inhabiting a specific place with a
shared history, culture and language, then the Kapampangan Nation lives on.
 When the Spaniards led by Legazpi entered Manila Bay in 1571 and got the fiercely
patriotic Bambalito (“brave youth from Macabebe”) out of the way, they proceeded to
the Pampanga River to claim a land they had heard so much about—the most fertile
region in the islands where the most skilled warriors lived and the most sought-after
weapons of war could be bought (cannon-maker Panday Pira worked in Apalit). They
found the entire stretch of the river populated by Moros—3500 in Betis, 3500 in Lubao,
3000 in Calumpit, 2500 in Macabebe, 2000 in Candaba. The Spaniards quickly claimed
the land, naming it La Pampanga (because they could not pronounce the original name
Capangpangán). There was no resistance from the natives because their armed forces
(army of 2500 soldiers and navy of 70 warships called caracoas) had just disintegrated
following commander-in-chief Bambalito’s death.

 How large was the Kapampangan territory? Gov. Gen. Perez Dasmariñas (1519-
1593) said it was from the northern tip of Zambales and Pangasinan to Tuy (Nueva
Vizcaya), Magat River (Cagayan) and the coast opposite Manila (Tayabas, now
Aurora), while Fray Martinez de Zuñiga (1760-1818) wrote that Pampanga stretched
from the missions of Cagayan to the Baliuag River of Bulacan (except Quingua), and
from Baler (Aurora) to Orion, Balanga, Orani, Pilar, Samal and Abucay of Bataan.

 Where did Kapampangans originate? One theory is that they had always been here
(i.e., did not come from somewhere else), evolving from indigenous (native) hominids
that appeared (not arrived) in Luzon more than 1 million years ago, when Luzon was
still connected to Borneo, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula before sea levels rose. The
other theory is they came from somewhere else, and this is where archaeologists,
anthropologists and linguists offer different theories on the origins, directions and
timetables of migrations but let’s just pick one—they came from Taiwan, crossing the
Formosa-Batanes strait by boat to reach Luzon, where they introduced agriculture (as
opposed to the hunting/gathering lifestyle of the aboriginal Aetas). They were called
Austronesians and they came in 4000 B.C. Some stayed in Luzon, others proceeded to
Visayas, Mindanao, Java and Sumatra. In the next few thousand years, those who had
chosen to stay learned to deal with floods and lahars (from Pinatubo’s ancient eruptions)
by relocating to the Porac/Floridablanca highlands, while those who had proceeded to
Indonesia learned to island-hop between the two archipelagos, eventually trading and
intermarrying with their distant kith and kin in Luzon.