Panday Pira ( Kapampángan: ''Pandeng Pira''; c. 1488–1576) was a Filipino kapampángan

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

His name's literal translation is "Blacksmith Pira", ''panday'' being the Tagalog word for "blacksmith". Panday Pira was a native of the southern islands of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. He migrated to

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

in 1508 and established a

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

on the northern bank of the

Pasig River The Pasig River (; ) is a water body in the Philippines that connects Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay. Stretching for , it bisects the Philippine capital of Manila and Metro Manila, its surrounding urban area into northern and southern halves. Its m ...

Rajah Sulayman Sulayman, sometimes referred to as Sulayman III (Arabic script: سليمان, Abecedario: ''Solimán'') (d. 1590s), was a Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Luzon in the 16th century and was a nephew of Rajah Ache of Luzon. He was the commander of ...

commissioned Panday Pira to cast the

cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...

that were mounted on the palisades surrounding his kingdom. In 1570, Castilian forces under the command of

Martin de Goiti Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...

captured Manila and took these artillery pieces as

war booty Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

, presenting them to

Miguel López de Legazpi Miguel López de Legazpi (12 June 1502 – 20 August 1572), also known as ''Adelantado, El Adelantado'' and ''El Viejo'' (The Elder), was a Spanish conquistador who financed and led an expedition to conquer the Philippines, Philippine islan ...

, the first Spanish

Governor-General of the Philippines The governor-general of the Philippines (; ; ) was the title of the Executive (government), government executive during the colonial period of the Philippines, first by History of the Philippines (1521–1898), the Spanish in Mexico City and l ...

. Legazpi eventually established a permanent Castilian settlement in Manila on May 19, 1571, and on June 3 of the same year,

Tarik Sulayman Tarik Sulayman, also spelled Tarik Soliman (from Arabic طارق سليمان ''Tāriq Suleiman, Sulaiman''), is the most popular of several names attributed by Kapampangan people, Kapampangan historians to the individual that led the forces of Ma ...

waged the

Battle of Bangkusay Channel The Battle of Bangkusay (; ), on June 3, 1571, was a naval engagement that marked the last resistance by locals to the Spanish Empire's occupation and colonization of the Pasig River delta, which had been the site of the indigenous polities of t ...

to recapture his kingdom from the Spaniards. Sulayman failed in this and perished in the battle. Panday Pira then fled to

Pampanga Pampanga, officially the Province of Pampanga (; ; ), is a province in Central Luzon in the Philippines. Lying on the northern shore of Manila Bay, Pampanga is bordered by Tarlac to the north, Nueva Ecija to the northeast, Bulacan to the east, ...

where he attempted to begin a new life in ''

sitio A ''sitio'' ( Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a ''sitios location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own barangay if its popu ...

'' Capalangan in the town of Apalit, working as a blacksmith forging farm implements. He was, however, summoned by Legazpi back to Manila and put to work forging cannons for the Spaniards. He established his foundry in what is now Santa Ana. Santiago de Vera, the sixth Governor-General, commissioned him to cast cannon for the defenses of a fortress he built, the fortress of ''Nuestra Señora de Guía'' (Spanish, "Our Lady of Guidance"), now called

Intramuros Intramuros () is the historic walled area within the city of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. It is administered by the Intramuros Administration with the help of the city government of Manila. Intramuros comprises a centuries-old hist ...

. To the Spaniards, Panday Pira was known as Pandapira, and they exempted him from paying tribute and forced labor. In 1576, Panday Pira died at the age of 88. His death was a great loss to the Spaniards who had to petition the King of Spain for a blacksmith to take his place. It was not until 1584, that a Spanish blacksmith from

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

arrived.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pira, Panday Blacksmiths People from the Malay Archipelago People from the Spanish colonial Philippines Filipino Muslims Filipino metalsmiths Kapampangan people 1576 deaths 1480s births

See also

References