The Lantaka also known as rentaka was a type of bronze portable cannon or swivel gun, sometimes mounted on merchant vessels and warships in Maritime Southeast Asia. It was commonly equipped by native seafaring vessels from the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, and Malaysia. Lela and rentaka are known by the Malays as meriam kecil, the difference is that rentaka is smaller in length and bore than a lela. and Lantakas are often called Kanyon in Filipino.
Two Malay rentaka
18th-century engraving of a Philippine karakoa, a lantaka can be seen mounted on the raised platform. A wheeled cannon is placed on the deck, facing forward.
Collection of Philippine lantaka in a European museum
A Moro brass lantaka from the Sulu Archipelago, Honolulu Museum of Art
A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during the late 19th century. Cannons vary in gauge, effective range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees, depending on their intended use on the battlefield. A cannon is a type of heavy artillery weapon.
Bronze cannon with inscription dated the 3rd year of the Zhiyuan era (1332) of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368); it was discovered at the Yunju Temple of Fangshan District, Beijing in 1935.
A bronze "thousand ball thunder cannon" from the Huolongjing.
Earliest picture of a European cannon, "De Nobilitatibus Sapientii Et Prudentiis Regum", Walter de Milemete, 1326
Western European handgun, 1380