Kingdom of Bolaang Mongondow

The kingdom was founded in 1670 AD by a Mongondow prince Datu Loloda Mokoagow (died 1695). He was the son of the paramount chief of Mongondow, Tadohe (1600–1670), seated in Kotobangon in the heartland of the Mongondow plateau, while the prince established himself at the port settlement of Bola'ang and went to conquer many of the northern shores and inland settlements of the present-day Minahasa regencies of northern Celebes peninsula. When he succeeded his father in 1670, he titled himself datu (king) instead of the traditional Mongondow title of punu (paramount chief). This marked the beginning of the Kingdom of Bola'ang.

At its peak, the kingdom covered Bola'ang (present-day Bola'ang village), the Mongondow plateau (the present-day Kotamobagu city and its vicinity), Kotabunan (the present-day Kotabunan of Bola'ang Mongondow Timur regency), Mandolang port (the present-day Belang in the Southeast Minahasa Regency), the banks of Ranoyapo river including Tumpa'an, Tareran, Tanawangko, and Tateli (the present-day South Minahasa Regency), Umuda (the present-day town of Amurang), Manarow (the present-day Manado-Tua island), and Wenang (the present-day Manado city).

However, on September 21, 1694, a contractual agreement to establish new territorial borders was signed between the Kingdom of Bola'ang and the newly unified federation of Minahasan tribes, backed by the Dutch. The borders were established along the Poigar river as the northern border and along the Buyat river as its southerly counterpart. The border thus divided the west side territory for Bola'ang and the east side territory for the Minahasan people, which made the kingdom of Bola'ang lose all of its territories and subjects on the east side of the border. Thus it left only the Mongondow plateau and the adjacent Kotabunan as the territory of the Bola'ang, hence the name Kingdom of Bola'ang-Mongondow was used thereafter.

Etymology

The name "Bola'ang" came from the name of the settlement where the Datus ruled the realm from. Bola'ang alternatively spelled Gola'ang is an Old-Mongondow word meaning "enlightened due to a glimpse of sunlight pierce through the canopy of dense forest". "Mongondow" came from the name used to refer to the various groups of people living in the plateau of the same name. The people of the plateau got their name from their custom of momondow, which is "shouting signal words to communicate to peers in the jungle, or shouting a victorious battlecry".