Luzones (Portuguese: Luções, pronounced [luˈsõjʃ]; also Luzones in Spanish) was a demonym[1] used by Portuguese sailors in Malaysia[2] during the early 1500s, referring to the Kapampangan and Tagalog people who lived in Manila Bay, which was then called Lusong (Kapampangan: Lusung, Portuguese: Luçon).[3][4][5][2] The term was also used for Tagalog settlers in Southern Tagalog region, where they created intensive contact with the Kapampangans.[6]
Eventually, the term "Luzones" would refer to the inhabitants of Luzon island, and later on, would be exclusive to the peoples of the central area of Luzon (now Central Luzon).
None of the Portuguese writers who first used the term in the early 1500s had gone to Lusong themselves, so the term was used specifically to describe the seafarers who settled in or traded with Malay Archipelago at that time.[2] The last known use of the Portuguese term in surviving records was in the early 1520s, when members of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, notably Antonio Pigafetta, and Rodrigo de Aganduru Moriz used the term to describe seafarers from Lusong whom they encountered on their journeys.[7] This included a "young prince" named Ache[7] who would later become known as Rajah Matanda.
There have proposals to rename the current Central Luzon region into Luzones[Notes 1] or an abbreviation of the current provinces of the region.[2][8]
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