bandala

B3A1N1D2A1L1A1

noun

A fabric made in Manila from the older leaf sheaths of the abaca (Musa textilis).

Scrabble 10

Meanings

bandala1

nounbandala (countable and uncountable, plural bandalas)

plural bandalas

  1. countableuncountableA fabric made in Manila from the older leaf sheaths of the abaca (Musa textilis).

    Itermediate textile fibers beween lupis and bandala, known as tupus among other names, were also produced and sold, though rarely in great quantities.

    2023, Norman Owen, Prosperity without Progress, page 77
    1 more example

    The fibers of the inner petioles, which are softer but not so strong as the outer, are called tupus, and sold with bandala, or mixed with tapis and used in the native weaving.

    1916, Austin Craig, The Former Philippines Thru Foreign Eyes, page 301
  2. countableuncountableA system imposed by the Spanish colonial government in the Philippines in the early 17th century which required farmers to sell their products to the government for extremely low prices, and sometimes without ever being paid.

    Under the bandala, the sale of the crops and other products of the Filipinos was centralized and controlled by the Spanish authorities.

    1977, Kay Kim Khoo, The History of South-East, South, and East Asia, page 225
    3 more examples

    Another exploitative device was instituted by Governor Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera during the first half of the seventeenth century . This was the bandala.

    1975, Renato Constantino, Letizia R. Constantino, The Philippines: A Past Revisited, page 51

    The province of Pampanga, because of its closeness to Manila, suffered most from the polo services and the bandala since its rice produce and timber were in great demand.

    1999, Manuel A. Caoili, The Origins of Metropolitan Manila, page 28

    Doing so then allows us to understand how new colonial institutions adopted these preexisting forms of power, relying on debt to mobilize labor within the repartimiento, bandala, and tribute systems.

    2023, Stephanie Joy Mawson, Incomplete Conquests

Bandala2

nounBandala (plural Bandala)
  1. The slaves of the Rizeghat and Habbania Arabs and their descendants.

    It was decided that all the Bandala should be settled with their ex-masters in Darfur.

    1989, Northeast African Studies - Volume 11, page 89
    2 more examples

    The Bandala of the Western Bahr el Ghazal have been described in an interesting article by Captain G. K. C. Hebbert in Volume VIII (1925) of Sudan Notes and Records.

    1930, J.G.S. Macphail, “The Bandala Method of Hunting Elephant on Foot”, in Sudan Notes and Records, volumes 13-16, page 279

    Bandala were totally assimilated to the religious and cultural norms of their masters.

    1989, New School for Social Research, Proceedings, page 86

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

bandala. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bandala

MLA

“bandala.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bandala. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bandala,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bandala.

Source: bandala on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.