Before European colonialism, Timor was included in Indonesian/Malaysian, Chinese, and Indian trading networks, and in the 14th century was an exporter of aromatic sandalwood, slaves, honey, and wax. From the 1500s, the Timorese people had military ties with the Luções of present-day northern Philippines. It was the relative abundance of sandalwood on Timor that attracted European explorers to the island in the early 16th century. At around that time, European explorers reported that the island had a number of small chiefdoms or princedoms.