| Native Name: | Pat a Pangampong sa Ranao |
| Conventional Long Name: | Confederate States of Lanao |
| Common Name: | Sultanate of Lanao |
| Iso3166code: | omit |
| Government Type: | Confederacy Monarchy (1616–1904) |
| Event Start: | Secession from the Sultanate of Maguindanao |
| Year Start: | 1616 |
| Event End: | End of the Battle of Taraca |
| Date End: | April |
| Life Span: | 1616–1904 |
| Year End: | 1904 |
| P1: | Sultanate of Maguindanao |
| Flag P1: | Flag of Maguindanao.svg |
| S1: | Insular Government of the Philippine Islands of the Philippines |
| Image Map Caption: | The map of the Lanao Confederacy in 1616 after its separation from Maguindanao. |
| Common Languages: | Maranao, Iranun, Maguindanaon, Subanen languages |
| Religion: | Sunni Islam |
| Demonym: | Maranao |
| Leader1: | Balindong Bzar of Masiu |
| Year Leader1: | 1640 – ? |
| Title Leader: | Sultan |
| Legislature: | Piyakambaya ko Taritib (Decider of Laws) |
| Today: | Philippines |
The Confederate States of Lanao (Maranao: Pat a Pangampong sa Ranao, "Four States of Lanao") is a legislative confederation of the four Maranao states (pangampong) of Bayabao, Masiu, Unayan, and Balo-i centered around Lake Lanao in the center of the island of Mindanao, Philippines.[1]
This confederation is also sometimes inaccurately referred to as simply the Lanao Sultanate or Sultanate of Lanao.
Before the Maranaos were invaded by the Sultanate of Maguindanao, it already existed as a separate nation. The Chinese chronicle Zhufan Zhi (諸蕃志) published in 1225, described it as a country southeast of Shahuagong (Sanmalan) in present-day Zamboanga City, a country called "Maluonu", of which this is what the chronicles have to say.[2]
Eventually, the Lanao nation fell under the power of the Maguindanao Sultanate. The lords of Bayabao, Masiu, Unayan, and Baloi seceded from the Maguindanao Sultanate in 1616.
Unlike in Sulu and Maguindanao, the Sultanate system in Lanao was uniquely decentralized. The area was divided into Four Principalities of Lanao or the Pat a Pangampong a Ranao which are composed of a number of royal houses (Sapolo ago Nem a Panoroganan or The Sixteen (16) Royal Houses) with specific territorial jurisdictions within mainland Mindanao. This decentralized structure of royal power in Lanao was adopted by the founders, and maintained up to the present day, in recognition of the shared power and prestige of the ruling clans in the area, emphasizing the values of unity of the nation (kaiisaisa o bangsa), patronage (kaseselai) and fraternity (kapapagaria).
Overall, the Lanao Sultanate consisted of traditional leaders and forty-three sultans. Fifteen of these sultans headed the fifteen royal houses of Lanao.
As of 2004, the sultanates of Lanao govern themselves within the Republic of the Philippines as the Sultanate League of Lanao.[3] On February 9, 2007, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo issued Executive Order No. 602, which founded the Lanao Advisory Council to facilitate the Philippine national government's relations with 16 royal houses in the Lanao area.[4] [5]