Qualla: Tawi-Tawi https://qualla.com/tawi-tawi en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:37 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Tawi-Tawi https://qualla.com/tawi-tawi Tawi-Tawi: Introduction https://qualla.com/tawi-tawi/ The name comes from jawi-jawi, the Sinama word for the banyan tree, and the island has them in abundance, their aerial roots dropping like curtains from branches that spread wide enough to shade a village meeting. Tawi-Tawi is the Philippines' southernmost province, closer to the Malaysian state of Sabah than to Manila, a scatter of 107 islands and islets at the southwestern tip of the Sulu Archipelago where the Sulu Sea meets the Celebes Sea. People have lived here since at least 6,810 BC. The bones, jars, and shells excavated from the Bolobok Rock Shelter Cave have been declared an Important Cultural Treasure. This is not a frontier. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in Southeast Asia.

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/8/v/m/tawi-tawi-wp/w8vm-tawi-tawi-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Tawi-Tawi: Where Islam First Took Root https://qualla.com/tawi-tawi/ In 1380, an Arab trader and missionary named Makhdum Karim established the first mosque in the Philippines on the island of Simunul. The Sheik Karimol Makhdum Mosque still stands, its four 17th-century wooden pillars the oldest known Islamic artifacts in the country. Islam spread...

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/8/v/m/tawi-tawi-wp/w8vm-tawi-tawi-where-islam-first-took-root.mp3 0:06 2 full Tawi-Tawi: Sultanates, Empires, and Contested Waters https://qualla.com/tawi-tawi/ Tawi-Tawi's history reads like a ledger of colonial ambitions. In 1761, Sultan Muizz ud-Din signed trade agreements with Alexander Dalrymple of the British East India Company. In 1878, Baron von Overbeck of the British North Borneo Company leased the Sultan's Borneo lands for 5,0...

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/8/v/m/tawi-tawi-wp/w8vm-tawi-tawi-sultanates-empires-and-contested-waters.mp3 0:06 3 full Tawi-Tawi: The Father of a Province https://qualla.com/tawi-tawi/ Until 1973, Tawi-Tawi's municipalities fell under the jurisdiction of Sulu province. When President Marcos asked Commodore Romulo Espaldon why the young men of Tawi-Tawi were being recruited by the Moro National Liberation Front, Espaldon's answer was blunt: the Sama were tired o...

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/8/v/m/tawi-tawi-wp/w8vm-tawi-tawi-the-father-of-a-province.mp3 0:06 4 full Tawi-Tawi: Islands at the Edge https://qualla.com/tawi-tawi/ The province comprises 11 municipalities spread across the archipelago. Sitangkai is the southernmost municipality in the Philippines. Sibutu is home to descendants of Malay royalty from Borneo and contains Saluag Island, the country's southernmost point of land. Simunul holds th...

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/8/v/m/tawi-tawi-wp/w8vm-tawi-tawi-islands-at-the-edge.mp3 0:06 5 full Tawi-Tawi: A Crossroads of Languages and Livelihoods https://qualla.com/tawi-tawi/ Walk through a market in Bongao and you will hear Tausug, the lingua franca of the Sulu Archipelago, alongside multiple Sinama dialects, Chavacano, Cebuano, Yakan, Filipino, English, and Sabah Malay. The linguistic diversity mirrors the province's position at the intersection of ...

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/8/v/m/tawi-tawi-wp/w8vm-tawi-tawi-a-crossroads-of-languages-and-livelihoods.mp3 0:06 6 full