Early Settlement in the Philippines

Early Settlements

Archaeological evidence suggests that the Philippines may have been inhabited many thousands of years before then, but that can't be stated with certainty. The oldest human fossil found so far is 22,000 years old.) Little is known of the early human settlement of the Philippines. Scientific evidence remains inconclusive. There is much written on the Austronesian peoples of the Southeast Asia area and their descendants. These peoples were the seafaring people who traveled to distant parts of the world during this period of history.

The Pleistocene Epoch

It is generally accepted that the first significant human settlement occurred sometime during the most recent ice age. At that time, 300 000 yrs. ago ,sea levels were lower, creating land bridges that connected the Southeast Asian mainland to some of the present-day islands of the Malay Archipelago, south of the Philippine Islands.

Paleolithic hunters from the mainland are said to have followed herds of wild animals across these land bridges, later finding their way to the Philippine Islands.

Aeta and Agta tribes

These people, ancestors, continue to be primarily hunters and food gatherers, much as their ancestors were thousands of years ago. They are one of the world’s few remaining populations of Pygmies, who are characterized by shorter-than-average height. The Spanish colonizers of the 16th century called them Negritos, a term that is still widely used today.

About 3000 B.C.

People of Malay and Indonesian descent, who now make up the majority of the population, are believed to have settled in the Philippines in several waves of migration after the 3rd century BC. Their languages developed independently because they settled in widely scattered villages, or balangay. Each balangay included from 30 to 100 families and was ruled by a datu, or chieftain. The economy was one of subsistence, with each village producing most of what it needed, and land was held in common. The villagers engaged in both shifting (slash-and-burn) and settled agriculture. Religion was animistic, or based on the worship of ancestors and other spirits, such as nature deities.

1300s A.D.

Extensive trade is being conducted with India, Indonesia, China, and Japan. Arab traders from Indonesia introduce Islam to the Filipinos.

Communities in the islands eventually established trade contacts with states in East and Southeast Asia, particularly China. By the 12th century ad the powerful Sumatra-based Malay kingdom of Sri Vijaya had extended its considerable influence to the Philippines. In the 14th century traders and settlers from the Malay Peninsula and Borneo introduced Islam to the southern islands of the Sulu Archipelago. In the 15th century Islam was established on the island of Mindanao. By the 16th century the islands had several Muslim principalities, including one in the Manila area of Luzon. However, no major political entity—kingdom, sultanate, or empire—was established in the islands until the imposition of Spanish rule in the 16th century.

Trading Centers

In the period between the 7th century to the beginning of the 1400s, numerous prosperous centers of trade had emerged, including the Kingdom of Namayan which flourished alongside Manila Bay, , the Rajahnate of Cebu, the Confederation of Panay, the Rajahnate of Butuan, the Kingdom of Sanfotsi situated in Pangasinan, the Kingdoms of Zabag and Wak-Wak situated in Pampangaand Aparri (which specialized in trade with Japan and the Kingdom of Ryukyu in Okinawa).