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When we speak of Southeast Asia, our mental maps often follow the borders of modern nation states marked by colonial legacies in the region. Yet, the Sulu Zone reminds us that history does not always conform to those lines. Situated around the Sulu and Celebes Seas, this maritime region flourished during the 18^th and 19^th centuries as a hub of trade, cultural exchange, and political negotiation prior to the demarcation of modern boundaries.

In the 18^th and 19^th centuries, the Sulu Zone was a space where people, goods, and ideas were exchanged with Chinese merchants arriving from the north, Bugis traders from the south, while European colonial powers sought access to trade goods. The island of Jolo acted as an entrepôt, exchanging weapons, textiles, porcelain, bird’s nests, and sea products with networks that reached across Asia and beyond. The seasonal winds carried prahus (ships) between Borneo, Mindanao, and Sulawesi, and reached other important ports such as those in the Straits of Malacca. 

The spread of Islam added a religious and cultural dimension that shaped its identity. Islam added an additional layer to the region’s political and cultural landscape. It is believed to have been introduced by Karim ul-Makhdum in 1380, a Sufi who brought the faith to Simunul Island, where the Sheikh Makhdum Mosque still stands as the oldest in the region. Over time, Islam became deeply woven into the zone’s governance, trade networks, and social life, giving the Sulu Sultanate a religious identity amidst economic developments. Islam also positioned the Sulu Zone within the extended ummah (religious community) that linked the zone to the wider Muslim world, from the Middle East to the Malay Archipelago, and gave the region a distinctive identity for both Spanish and British dealings. 

More Than An Economic Region

Historian James Warren described the Sulu Zone as a “multi-ethnic pre-colonial Malayo-Muslim state, and an ethnically heterogeneous set of societies of diverse political backgrounds and alignments” (Warren, 1981, pp. xix–xxvi). The region had a complex of kinship-oriented stateless societies, nomadic fishers, forest dwellers, and powerful polities like the Sulu Sultanate. Trade was not just transactional; it was embedded in shared cultural and political relationships. Sama (often referred to as Bajau) sea-faring communities, for example, navigated both physical and social waters, linking settlements in Zamboanga, Semporna, and beyond. Iranun raiders and traders had 30-metre-long lanong (large outrigger ships), and were in Sulawesi and Sabah, moving goods such as gongs and kettles throughout the region. The Iranun established settlements in West Sabah around present-day Kota Belud, and communities today identify Lake Lanao (in Mindanao) as the homeland of their ancestors and the Maranao.

From Centre to Margin

The fortunes of the Sulu Zone shifted in the late 19^th and 20^th centuries. As colonial control tightened and new national boundaries emerged, the zone found itself split between three countries. Manila, Kuala Lumpur, and Jakarta became the centres of economic and political life during the 20^th century, while the Sulu Zone became a periphery, at times a marginalised space at the edge of each nation.

Yet, marginalisation did not erase its legacy. Today, the Sulu Zone remains united by a shared tangible and intangible cultural heritage, the living threads of a once-thriving maritime socio-economic entity. 

A Cultural Complex in the 21^st Century

In contemporary scholarship, the Sulu Zone can be understood as a cultural complex, a region bound by enduring aesthetic sensibilities, performance traditions, and material culture distinct to this region. Kulintang music, as a gong ensemble, continues to serve as a link for communities across the Sulu and Celebes Seas. Similarly, dance traditions and visual motifs also carry forward this shared heritage. Events like the Regatta Lepa festival in Sabah, where elaborately decorated lepa houseboats sail in celebration, showcase such continuity and regional solidarity within postcolonial and postnational contexts. Here, heritage is not just remembered; it is performed, adapted, and reimagined, reaffirming various identities of the Sulu Zone.

The Sulu Zone, as a present-day cultural complex, is characterised by shared tangible and intangible cultural heritage and continues its positionality at the margin of three historical centres (Luzon, Malaya, and Java), and the current location of capital cities (Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta) for the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. A look at oral and written histories, ethnographic accounts, language groups, archaeological projects, religious and spiritual practices, and music and dances focused on the Sulu Zone allows the conceptualisation of this cultural complex. In the 2024 edited volume published by ������Ƶ University Press, we have argued for coherence, understanding and recognising local disjunctures and overlaps with other areas, yet recognising influences and solidarities by the people of the extended Sulu Zone that continue to celebrate and produce its heritage and identity.

A Lens for Understanding the Region

The value of studying the Sulu Zone lies in its methodological potential. It is more than an object of historical curiosity. It becomes a lens through which to understand Southeast Asia beyond rigid political borders and national histories. Looking at the Sulu Zone in transnational terms allows us to see the region as a web of maritime connections, where identity is shaped as much by sea routes as by land boundaries.

In the 21st century, this approach resonates strongly. Globalisation, migration, and cultural hybridity are not new phenomena; they are the continuation of patterns that the Sulu Zone exemplified centuries ago. Recognising this deep history can help us rethink cultural identity, heritage preservation, and regional cooperation today. It tells us that the tides of history do not just stop at the shore.

Image

Figure 1 Location and Global International Waters Assessment (GIWA) assessment boundaries of Sulu-Sulawesi (Celebes) Sea and adjacent GIWA subregions.

Source: Devantier et al. (2004)

Cover image credit: YoyChen (Pixabay)

References

Devantier, L., Alcala, A. C., & Wilkinson, C. (2004). The Sulu-Sulawesi Sea: Environmental and socio-economic status, future prognosis and ameliorative policy options. AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, 33(1–2), 88–97.