1 Pre-Hispanic Philippines: A Brief Overview (Barcelona 2015)

The Pre-Hispanic Philippines:

A Brief Overview
Abstract
Prior to the Spanish colonization, the Philippines, according to theories by historians,
had had a budding civilization. Based on the archeological findings, the people of
the unknown archipelago in the middle of the grand Pacific Ocean and South China
Sea had been a trading with the Chinese, Malays, Indians (Hindus), and even the
Arabs in the Far East. While more of them are still nomads, just like the Negritos
(Aetas), believed to be the earliest inhabitants of more than 7,100 islands
constituting the archipelago, there had been some enormous development when it
comes to agriculture, metalwork, mining, and ship-building. There are also proofs,
even as of today, of the elegant architecture, especially with the Moro dwellings in
the islands of Mindanao and Sulu.
This paper intends to provide the readers, especially the new students of
Philippine history, theories and some studies, about what the pre-Hispanic
communities look like, by giving them insights of local and foreign historians who
had expressed their interest in Philippine studies. However, one must not expect a
thorough discussion of the theories regarding how the early Filipinos came here and
developed the lands, for it willhopefullybe discussed on another paper.
Keywords: Early Filipino communities, Pre-Hispanic Philippines, Ancient
Filipino architecture, Early Agricultural Development in the Philippines, archeology,
history of the Filipino nation, theories on the development of the Filipino
communities before the Spanish conquest

2 Pre-Hispanic Philippines: A Brief Overview (Barcelona 2015)

A Matter of Introduction
THE PHILIPPINES is an archipelago which lies between the Pacific Ocean and the
South China Sea. It is composed of more or less, 7, 107 islands and islets in which
only 1, 000 islands are inhabited (Mateo, 2001). It has been referred to as the Pearl
of the Orient Seas, a title allegedly given by a Spanish [religious] missionary, which
later has been popularized by the countrys two patriotsJos P. Rizal and
Apolinario Mabini (Mateo 2001).

Figure 1 Apolinario Mabini, also known

as the "Sublime Paralytic" had used
the term "Pearl of the Orient Seas," to
refer to the Philippines. (Photo from
Wikipedia.com, 2015)

Figure 2 Jose P. Rizal in his writings used

the term Perla del Mar de Oriente,
particularly in his popular verse, "Mi
Ultimo Adios". (Photo from
Wikipedia.com)

3 Pre-Hispanic Philippines: A Brief Overview (Barcelona 2015)

It is undeniable, that current Filipino race, life, society, and culture are a
mixture of East and West. For more than three centuries, these islands had been
under Spanish control, hence our strong Catholic beliefs, Civil Law, architecture,
language, and even the ownership of lands called hacienda, which is still prevalent
today (insert citation here). This happened after Portuguese explorer and navigator,
Ferdinand

Magellan

discovered

the

Philippines

in

1521

(Agoncillo

1990;

Constantino 1975).

Figure 3 Ferdinand Magellan (Biography.com, 2015)

The American colonizers had also introduced their way of life, their culture, a
system of education, their form of government, literature, and even religion
(Encyclopedia Britannica Online, 2015; Constantino 1975). There had also been
some Indian, Chinese, and English influences since there were also attempt of
colonizing the islands by the English crown with the British invasion of Manila,
between the years 1762 up to 1764 (Presidential Museum and Library, Malacaang
Palace, n. d.) and the Philippines relation with the Imperial China as early as 2 nd
Century C. E. (Lonely Planet Online, 2015).

4 Pre-Hispanic Philippines: A Brief Overview (Barcelona 2015)

However, prior the era of colonization, there were no written records of what
the early or the pre-Hispanic Philippines looked like. Nevertheless, the archeological
finds and some of the tribal cultures which are still prevalent today could give us
a little hint on how the pre-Hispanic Philippine communities were developed and
what are the economic, social, and political activities at that time. What we attempt
here is to provide the readers an overview of the Philippines, before the
conquistadores found this beautiful land.

Pre-Hispanic Philippines: Before Everything Was Now

It is believed that the Philippines were once a part of mainland China.
However, the theory, according to historian Teodoro A. Agoncillo, was heavily
refuted.
Up to the early 1970s, it had been assumed that the Philippines was a part
of mainland China, Agoncillo wrote in 1975, in his book, History of the Filipino
People. It was theorized that during the Pleistocene or Ice Age, the waters
surrounding what is now the Philippines fell about 156 feet below the present levels.
As a result, a vast area of land was exposed and became sort of land bridges to the
mainland of Asia. In February 1976, however, this theory of the land bridges to
Asia was disputed by Dr.
Fritjof

Voss,

German

scientist who studied the

geology
Philippines,

of

the
Agoncillo

continued (p. 20).

5 Pre-Hispanic Philippines: A Brief Overview (Barcelona 2015)

Figure 4 - The Land Bridge theory. (Photo from Migration Theories, no date and
author)

The early Filipinos were not only the Negritos, but different types of people
coming from New Guinea, Java, Borneo, and Australia (Agoncillo 1975; Harrison
1967). It was with the discovery of the Tabon man in Palawan which shed light on
the early inhabitants of this country: that the early inhabitants were not exclusively
Malayan or coming from Malaya; the Philippines had had its inhabitants before the
Malayan

peninsula

did

(Agoncillo

1975).

Figure 5 - The Skull Cap of the Tabon

Man (from the Museum of the Filipino
People Website, 2014)

Though

he

existed

around

50,000

years ago, Tabon man is believed to possess an intelligence of a real man as

evidenced by his usage of crude tools, made of hard stones (Virtual Collection of
Asian Masterpieces, 2013).

Figure
tools

The

Tabon

Man

But this is only a gist of what

the people of the unnamed

6 Pre-Hispanic Philippines: A Brief Overview (Barcelona 2015)

archipelago were; that they have a budding civilization, which later would be
replaced by the conquistadores.

Early Navigators
Since the Philippines is surrounded by an irregular coastline, which was about
10,850 statute miles (Agoncillo 1975), it is not unusual that the early inhabitants of
this land, would learn how to navigate and become an interisland and international
navigator (Solheim II 1993, pp. 6). In an article which appeared in the second
edition of The Age of Discovery: Impact on Philippine Culture and Society, edited by
Aquino and Alegado (Center for Philippine Studies University of Hawaii at Manoa),
an author wrote:
About 8,000 years ago, a way of life oriented to the sea began to develop in southern
Mindanao and northeastern Indonesia. The people who developed this culture, whom
I have called the Nusantao, gradually explored the tides, currents, and coastlines to
the north and extended their explorations to Taiwan, coastal South China and
northern Viet Nam by around 7000 years ago. This moving around by sea brought to
an end the practically complete isolation of the earlier Philippine groups from each
other and from outside the Philippines. From this time on there was contact among
the peoples of the different Philippine islands, with neighboring islands in Indonesia
and, to a lesser extent, with Taiwan (Solheim II 1993, p. 6)

One of the finest sea craft that the early Filipinos had made was the balangay,
which is believed to be the origin of the word barangaymeaning community or
village. It was mentioned in the 16th century chronicle of Antonio Pigafetta
(Wikipedia 2015).

7 Pre-Hispanic Philippines: A Brief Overview (Barcelona 2015)

Figure 7 - Balangay or the Butuan

plank boat. (Photo from

http://www.ourawesomeplanet.com/myfiles/balangay.jpg)

Aside from this boat, there were also some other vessels which the early Filipino
people had developed:
Lumbering and shipbuilding were flourishing industries in those pre-colonial days
when, according to (Antonio de) Morga, many Filipinos were proficient in building
ocean-going vessels. The abundance of thick forests teaming with first class
hardwoods, and the insular character of the country probably explains why many
Filipinos were good sailors and shipbuilders. The carpenters of some settlements
were such good artisans that they were not engaged in any other trade than said
occupation. The shipbuilders constructed all kinds of boats for travel, war, and
commerce, boats that the Spaniards later called banca, balangay, lapis, caracoa,
virey, vinta and prau (Agoncillo 1975, p. 52).

Agriculturists, traders, metal smiths

With the rich agricultural lands and thick forests, and with the capability of
navigating from island-to-island, this author opines it is not impossible that the early
Filipinos would become agriculturists, involved in animal husbandry, cropping,
fishing and hunting; that they would become miners and goldsmiths, as well as
expert in metalwork; and skillful traders.
One of the evidences of the agricultural practices of the ancient Filipinos was
the creation of the Banaue Rice Terraces, which was built more than 2,000 years
ago (National Geographic, n. d.). Robert Van Niel wrote in 1992,

8 Pre-Hispanic Philippines: A Brief Overview (Barcelona 2015)

Their productive base was agricultural: rice-growing in either an irrigated or swidden
form was the main crop, supplemented by fish, livestock, and fruits and vegetables.
This was very similar to the economic base of most other parts of the East Indian
archipelago (p. 10)

Figure 8 - The Banaue Rice Terraces (Photo courtesy of John Javellana/Reuters as

it appeared in National Geographic Online)

As traders, the early Filipinos had trade relations with China, India, and the other
nearby regions. One archeologist wrote in an article appeared in the Archeology
International,
The archaeological record at Yap is similar to that of Tanjay, farther north on the east
coast of Negros, and Cebu City on the northeast coast of the neighbouring island of
Cebu two other centres of late-prehistoric Visayan chiefdoms, which suggests a fairly
long history for the material expression
of the status of chiefs. The chiefs at Yap
also participated, either directly or
indirectly, in long-distance trade, as is
indicated by the presence of Asian
tradewares (Bacus 1998).

9 Pre-Hispanic Philippines: A Brief Overview (Barcelona 2015)

While some historians say that barter, or the exchange of goods for goods are the
widest or the commonest form of trading that time, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
said that the pre-Hispanic Filipinos had also developed some form of monetary
exchange.
Archaeological evidence indicates that small seafaring communities existed
throughout the Philippine Archipelago for at least 2000 years, prior to the
arrival of the Spaniards. The chief means of trading was barter. Records show
that Chinese merchants came to the Philippines to trade porcelain, silk and
metalware in exchange for gold, pearls, beeswax and medicinal plants, which
the Philippines is naturally rich in (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, 2010).
Figure 9 10: The "money" used in the
pre-Hispanic
Filipino
trading
(Photo
courtesy of the BSP, 2010)

Figure 101 - The sample of gold

accessories being purchased or sold
during the pre-Hispanic times. (Photo
from
the
KapwaKaluluwa.tumblr.com)

The above presented photos indicate,

this author believes, the extent of the
creativity and ingenuity of the early
Filipino people not only as artisans
(e.g. goldsmiths) but as traders as
well.

10 Pre-Hispanic Philippines: A Brief Overview (Barcelona 2015)

The early Filipinos: their society, culture, and government

The Filipino people, before being Christianized, had different religious beliefs. It
depends of what tribe or what community one belongs to. In the South, most of the
inhabitants were Muslims, as early Islamic missionaries had visited Mindanao. A
website, citing the work of Dr. C. A. Majul had stated:
The coming of Islam to Mindanao could be traced to the trading of Arab Merchants
from the Arabian Peninsula passing thru Malaysia, Borneo and Sulu onward to the
Visayas and Luzon and ultimately to China. This trade route existed in the later part
of the tenth century and historians called it the second route, with the first route
being from Malaysia passing thru the coast of Indo-China then to the shores of
China
By the second half of the tenth century, traders were welcomed again to China and it
is during this period that the second trade route had been used by Arab and Muslim
traders. In 977, Borneo begun to be known to Muslim traders when Pu-Ni (Brunei)
sent an embassy to China headed by a certain Pu Ali (Abu Ali). Earlier, in the same
year, a Chinese merchant named Pu Lu-hsieh arrived in the mouth of the river of PuNi. According to Majul, if this is about the earliest time that the Muslim traders
became acquainted with Borneo, it can be presumed that it would not be long after
that they would come to know about or even pass by Sulu. According to Chinese
sources, in the year 982 a ship with valuable merchandise from Ma-i (an island in the
Philippine archipelago) arrived in Canton. This is the first actual recorded mention of
the Philippine archipelago in Chinese written history (as so far available) as far as
Arab trade route between China and the Southeast Asia is concerned. It is assumed
then that this ship had passed by Borneo and Sulu (Asian Institute of Journalism and
Communication, 2011).

While major portions of Mindanao and Sulu as well as other parts of the Visayas and
Luzon had been Islamized, there were tribes that remained animists. The Babaylans,
or the priestesses in the Visayas region, were considered as mediators between this
world and the world of the spirits. The cosmological or religious models differ from
region to region. Among Tagalogs, Bathala is their chief god; for the Ifugaos, they
still consider Kabunyian as the highest god, which created this world and had
designed the other worlds.

11 Pre-Hispanic Philippines: A Brief Overview (Barcelona 2015)

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for Southeast Asian Studies, School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific StudiesUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa.
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Mindanao.

Website.

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11,

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from

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Bacus, E. A. (1998). Later prehistory of the Philippines: colonial images and
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