Ma-i

Ma-i, or Maidh (also spelled Ma'I, Mai, Ma-yi or Mayi; Baybayin: ; Hanunoo: ; Hokkien ; Mandarin ), was an ancient sovereign state located in what is now the Philippines. Its existence was first documented in 971 in the Song dynasty documents known as the History of Song, and it was also mentioned in the 10th-century records of the Bruneian Empire. Based on these and other mentions until the early 14th century, contemporary scholars believe Ma-i was located either in Bay, Laguna, or on the island of Mindoro. Research by Fay Cooper Cole for the Field Museum in Chicago in 1912 showed that the ancient name of Mindoro was Mait. Mindoro's indigenous groups are called Mangyans, and to this day, the Mangyans call the lowlands of Bulalacao in Oriental Mindoro Mait. For most of the 20th century, historians generally accepted the idea that Mindoro was the political center of the ancient Philippine polity. However, a 2005 study by Filipino-Chinese historian Go Bon Juan suggested that the historical descriptions better match Bay, Laguna (pronounced Ba-i), which is written similarly to Ma-i in "Chinese orthography". According to Go Bon Juan's understanding, in Hokkien Chinese, the literary reading for the first character, 麻, is "mâ", while the vernacular reading could also be pronounced and read as "bâ" or "môa" but the second character, 逸, has the literary reading of "i̍t", while a vernacular reading of "ia̍k" (Quanzhou) or "e̍k" (Amoy & Zhangzhou) or "ia̍t" (Amoy). For many years, scholars believed that Ma-i was likely to have been on the island of Mindoro within the municipality of Bulalacao, as there is an old settlement there named Mait. However, recent scholarship casts doubt on this theory, arguing that historical descriptions better match Bay, Laguna (whose name is pronounced Ba-i), which once occupied a large territory on the eastern coasts of Laguna de Bay. Both sites have names that sound similar to Ma-i. The pre-colonial name of Mindoro was "Ma-it", whereas historical variants of the name of Bay, Laguna include "Bae", "Bai", and "Vahi".