Sarangani, not to be confused with a namesake province in mainland Mindanao, is more than just an island group off the Davao Region in the Sulawesi Sea. It almost became the capital of the proto-Philippines. It also witnessed the fulfillment of the objective of the first circumnavigation of the world in reaching the Maluku (in the present-day Indonesia, just south of Mindanao) and the tug-of-war of European control over the region of spices. Because it was a significant island group between Mindanao and the northern Indonesian island clusters, the Sarangani Island Group was frequented by the Europeans and was controlled by the Sangirs or the natives of the Sangihe Island Group in the present-day Indonesia and the Sultanate of Maguindanao based in Cotabato. Although claimed by the Spaniards to be part of the Philippines, it was only colonized in the 1870s. Today, traces of active Philippine-Indonesian ties in the island group continues, while folklores embedded in the silsilas (genealogies) of the culanos (noblemen) reminisce the ancient connection of the Sarangani Islands with the Indonesians of Sangihe.

1. Sarangani Islands (Philippines) ? History. 2. Cities and towns - Sarangani Islands (Philippines) ? History.