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Southeast Asia is the location of a small country called the Philippines. Formally, Republic of the Philippines, the archipelago consists of roughly 7, 100 islands that are located in the southwest Pacific Ocean just Southeast of China. Natives of the country are called Filipinos. The term formerly originated when lowland Christian Spaniards, called indio's, began referring to themselves as Filipinos (Dolan 76). The ethnic background of a modern day Filipino is as complex as a typical Americans; it is a combination of numerous cultures. So the term Filipino means little more than does the term American (Bullen 36).
The first known settlers on the islands were the Negritos, the aboriginal Filipinos, who arrived about 30, 000 years ago (Guillermo 2). Since then, many different types of people have continuously inhabited the islands such as Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian, Japanese, Spanish, as well as American for over 25, 000 years (Levinson 153). Therefore, through centuries of interracial mating, the modern Filipino has become a unique blend of various cultures, resulting in a diverse population. The Land: Pre-History of the Philippine Archipelago Around 65 million years ago, scientists believe that the Philippines and the island of Borneo were one landmass that was thrown up by volcanic eruptions in the ocean bed (Bullen 36). The eruptions were one of many processes of Plate Tectonics, which refers to changes in the configuration of Earths crust as a result of internal forces (Christopherson 323). In time, the islands detached from each other, becoming unoccupied territory for inviting settlers.
However, during that time, the human species was still in the process of evolution, so the land was settled by tenants other than human. According to Jared Diamond, the origin of human history began in central Africa about 7 million years ago. Humans were confined in the continent for the next 5 million years (36). Homo erectus was the first human ancestor to spread beyond the continent of Africa toward the Southeast Asian region about 1 million years ago. After detaching from the landmass, the archipelago became its own isolated and independent country (Diamond 37).
The Land: Facts on the Philippines Officially called Republic of the Philippines, this small island country in Southeast Asia is an archipelago consisting of some 7, 100 islands and islets lying about 500 miles off the coast. The total land area of the Philippines is 115, 800 square miles. It lies in the southwest Pacific Ocean bounded by the Philippine Sea to the east, the Celebes Sea to the south, and the South China Sea to the west and north. During the Spanish rule, the archipelago was named Islas Filipinas, or Philippine Islands, in honor of Philip II of Spain. Filipino is the term for the citizens of the country and originated when lowland Christians referred to themselves as Filipinos (Dolan 76). Because of the separation of the isolated islands, Philippines has many different sub-languages, depending on certain regions.
Almost each island has its own language, but the main language used is Tagalog, a large ethno linguistic group indigenous to central and southern Luzon, particularly around Manila, which is the nations capital (Britannica). The Land: The Main Sectioned Island Regions Of the 7, 100 islands, eleven have an area of more than 2, 600 square miles each and contain the bulk of the population (Dolan 53). The eleven islands are divided into three primary regions. The largest island, located in the north, is Luzon, which has a land area of 40, 420 square miles and contains major cities such as Manila, the national capital, Quezon City, and Baguio. Luzon is also home of the well known Mount Pinatubo. Mindanao is the second largest island, with an area of 36, 537 square miles and lies in the south.
Mount Apo and cities like Davao, Isabela, and Button can be found in Mindanao. The third region is a group of nine islands located in the center between Luzon and Mindanao called the Visayas or the Visayan group. The nine islands are Mindoro, Bohol, Cebu, Leyte, Masbate, Negros, Panay, Samar, and Palawan in the west (Guillermo 10). Although the islands have been continuously inhabited for over 25, 000 years, the Negrito, Proto-Malay and Malay peoples were the principal inhabitants of the Philippine archipelago (Dolan 16). First and Early Migrations of Humans onto the Land: Migrations by Land Known as the aboriginal Filipinos, the Philippine Negritos were the original settlers on the land. The Negritos, in reference to their darker skin, are short, kinky-haired, Mongoloid people and are believed to be descendants of the Asian pygmies.
A local tribe called the Aeta were the first humans who lived in the Philippines. Anthropologists believe they arrived from the Southeast Asian mainland by way of land bridges, that no longer exist, through the Malay peninsula about 30, 000 years ago, during the last glacial period. Traditionally they were hunter-gatherers, but with the arrival of the Malays 20, 000 years later, the Negritos entered into a pattern of trade relations that persists to this day. The Aeta, or sometimes referred to as Baluga, is only one of four remaining Negrito tribes (Aeta, Atis, Ita's, and Tasaday) in the Philippines left today (Grossholtz). The best known of the Negritos are the world famous Tasaday, the last Stone Age people. In June 1971, Philippine government officials announced the shocking discovery of a new group of Filipinos, the Tasaday, in the rain forests of Mindanao Island.
The discovery was made by Manuel Elizalde, a local hunter, while he was hunting for wild boar in the rain forest. Researchers presumed that the tribe lived in isolation for hundreds of years resulting in their prehistoric lifestyle. The Tasaday's lived in caves, ate wild fruits and vegetables, hunted wild animals as their main source of food, and wore leaves and vines for clothing, utilizing the jungles resources. There are only twenty-eight Tasaday's left and they still reside in the caves of the luscious rain forests of Mindanao today, (Bullen 23). Since the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16 th century, the Negritos have been pushed toward assimilation and extinction, decreasing the total population of Negritos. In a 1990 Census, statistics show that there are only about 15, 000 Negritos remaining, organized into some 25 groups on the islands of Luzon, Palawan, Panay, Negros, Cebu, and of course Mindanao (Levinson 123).
First and Early Migrations of Humans onto the Land: Migrations by Water After the disappearance of the land bridges at the end of the glacial period, the Proto-Malays and the Malays were the next immigrants of the Philippines (Levinson 130). They arrived via barangay's, which is a Malay term for a large sailboat (Guillermo 37), from the Malay Peninsula, mainly from Malaysia and Indonesia. Therefore, most Filipinos are primarily Malaysian and Indonesian descent (Levinson 131). Today, various ethnic tribes still choose to live isolated from modern civilization, preserving their culture and abiding by their traditional laws. They still live in the mountainous regions of the country or in the vast and luscious rain forests.
Each tribe consists of 15 to 40 people in the immediate group ranging from infants to elders. Mangayan is the collective name given to Mindoros indigenous Proto-Malayan people. The Mangayans can also be found on the islands of Pa...
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