History Series / Amaya

** EastIndies: The setting is before any recorded Spanish (or other European) arrival in the islands, so in consequence the local cultures shown here have much in common with cultures and societies to their south and west, in would-be Indonesia. The series is set around the end of the Majapahit Empire as well, shortly before the Portuguese and Dutch began to colonise Indonesia itself.

It is very notable for being one of the few recent examples of Filipino period dramas set during the late ''precolonial'' period of Philippine history: specifically, sometime in the early 16th century, shortly before the first recorded contact with Europeans: the 1521 arrival of Ferdinand Magellan and his Spanish expedition in the Visayas, the central part of the would-be Philippines, where in RealLife he would lose his life fighting against warriors led by Datu Lapu-lapu at the Battle of Mactan Island.

* EnsembleCast: A function of LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, given the series' length.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

''Amaya'' is a [[{{UsefulNotes/Philippines}} Filipino]] live-action TV series, created and aired by local studio Creator/GMANetwork, with writer Suzette Doctolero as {{Showrunner}}. It premiered in early 2011, and put out 165 half-hour episodes, daily on weekdays (following a {{Telenovela}} or SoapOpera format), until mid-2012.

* AbdicateTheThrone: [[spoilers: Bagani, on his younger brother's suggestion, surrenders his title as Rajah to be with Amaya.]]

** Quite ironically, Marian Rivera herself, who in RealLife is a Spanish mestiza, here playing the also presumably all-Austronesian Amaya. ''Binukots'', however, were generally prized for having pale or fair skin, which doesn't necessarily mean they're automatically MixedRace. Rivera certainly fulfills the "very fair/light skin" requirement.

* IronyAsSheIsCast: Marian Rivera plays a precolonial Filipino warrior princess. Dingdong Dantes, today Marian Rivera's real-life husband, cameos in the show as Ferdinand Magellan.

* GorgeousPeriodDress: Most everyone is wearing some ensemble of brightly colourful, densely patterned, woven fabrics, and intricate jewellery of gold, precious stones and other materials—even slaves were entitled to some degree of this, but of course higher-caste members like the ''[[BlueBlood kadatuan, tumao]]'', and warriors wear the most gold and the most intricate patterns. And even where people showed actual skin (more than you'd expect, considering this was the maritime tropics), it's often extensively tattooed; on warriors this was a sign of [[BlingOfWar bravery and victorious conquest]], but many non-warriors like ''babaylan'' sported full-body tattoos too. It's clear much of the series' budget went into the sumptuous costume designs and makeup.