3. Theories Concerning the Peopling
of the Philippines
According to the early Spanish friar-chroniclers:
1. The ancestor of the Filipinos sprang from the
soil like wild plants
2. The early Filipinos were created by the sun,
their father
3. They were produced from certain base metals
by the magic of alchemy
4. They descended from Adam of Asia
4. Theories Concerning the Peopling
of the Philippines
Other popular stories of the origin of the Filipinos are the
following:
1. Lalake and Babae or Malakas and Maganda stepped out
of a bamboo nodule after a bird had pecked on it.2. A god and a goddess were so
lonely that they decided to bake
people out of clay. The first and
second attempt came
overcooked, the black race, and
undercooked, the white race.
The third attempt was perfectly
cooked which came the brown
race.
5. Theories Concerning the Peopling
of the Philippines
B. Archaeological and Scientific Theories
1. The “Land Bridge” Theory
a. During the Pleistocene or Ice Age, the waters
surrounding what is now Philippines fell about
156 feet below, the present level, exposing
certain sections of land (land bridges)
connected to mainland Asia.
b. The land bridges were used by a group of
people to reach the Philippines.
7. Theories Concerning the Peopling
of the Philippines
2. Negritos as the aboriginal inhabitants of the
Philippines
a. They moved to the Philippines through land bridges
25,000 to 30,000 years ago (H. Otley Beyer)
b. Severely criticized by F. Landa Jocano, because fossils
of ancient men showed they also went to New Guinea,
Java, Borneo, and Australia but it is uncertain whether
or not they were Negritos.
8. Theories Concerning the Peopling
of the Philippines
c. Tabon man, the
earliest human fossil
remain in the
Philippines was
discovered in Palawan.
It is estimated to be
more than 20,000 y.o.
It is also uncertain
whether or not he was
a Negrito.
9. Theories Concerning the Peopling
of the Philippines
3. Waves of Migration
Theory
a. People came to the
Philippines on waves of
migration (Beyer)
b. Malays came to the
archipelago in three
waves from 200 B.C. to
about 1500 A.D.
10. Theories Concerning the Peopling
of the Philippines
c. Indonesian settlers had also come in two waves
about 3,500 to 5,000 years ago.
d. Questioned by Jocano and young
anthropologists because of the discovery of
Tabon Man who came to the Philippines as
early as 21,000 or 22,000 years ago whereas
migration to the Malay Peninsula was dated to
be around 5,000 B.C. only
11. Theories Concerning the Peopling
of the Philippines
4. Long process of evolution
a. Theorize by Jocano
b. Present Filipinos, Indonesians, and Malays
of Malaysia are “end results” of both long
process of evolution and later movements
of people
c. Differences of people are due to
differences of their responses to their
environment
13. Inter-Island and Intra-Island
Trading
Early Filipinos
traded among
themselves.
People in coastal
areas bartered
with one another
and also with
those in upland
areas
Commercial
exchanges
between and
among islands in
the Philippines
also developed
14. Relation with the Orang
Dampuans, Banjarmasin, Siam,
and Tonkin
The Orang Dampuans or Men of Champa from
Southern Annam came to the southern past of
the Philippines between 900 and 1200 AD
where they established trading posts in Sulu.
Men of Banjars from Banjarmasin, Borneo
succeeded in putting Sulu under their
influence through diplomatic coup. Sulu
developed into an emporium.
15. Relation with the Orang
Dampuans, Banjarmasin, Siam,
and Tonkin
Trade with Siam and Tonkin developed in the
middle of 14th century in which they
exchanged their porcelain products for
Philippine native wares
16. Relation with the Indians and the
Chinese
Trade with the Chinese
started in the 10th
century and reached its
zenith in the 14th and
15th centuries.
Chinese writer Chao Ju-
Kua, sometime in 1209
and 1214, described the
Chinese trade with Ma-i
(presumably Mindoro)
and praised the honesty
of the Filipinos
17. Relation with the Indians and the
Chinese
Early Chinese trading junks brought goods
and immigrants to the Philippines
Under Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), China
exercised suzerainty over the Philippines, and
some of the Filipinos paid tribute to China
The last Filipino tribute embassy came to
China in 1421
18. Early Relations with the
Japanese
Japanese pirates (wako), kingdom builders, and
settlers had come to Luzon before and immediately
after the Spanish colonization.
Japanese traders, especially from Nagazaki frequently
bartered Japanese goods for Filipino gold, pearls, and
native earthen jars.
According to Japanese records, the early Spaniards
found Japanese settlement in Manila and Agoo, La
Union Province
19. Early Relation with the Arabs
In 1380, according to the tarsilas (Muslim
chronicle), the Arab missionary-scholar
Mudum landed in Sulu and there laid thee
foundation of Islam in the Philippines
In 1390, Raja Baginda, prince of Menankabaw,
Sumatra, led an army of Muslim invaders to
Sulu, and overcame native opposition with
firearms
20. Early Relation with the Arabs
Abu Bakr, Muslim leader from Palembang,
Sumatra, reached Sulu in 1450 and married
the daughter of Rajah Baginda. After
Baginda’s death, he founded the Sultanate of
Jolo with himself as sultan.
Sharif Kubungsuan, Muslim leader of Johore
who landed in Cotabato in 1475, conquered
Maguindanao. Married the native princess and
founded the first Sultanate of Maguindanao. It
is instrumental in the Islamization of
Mindanao.
22. Unification of Mindanao and
Sulu
Establishment of a common
religion.
The founding of sultanate system facilitated
the unification of the people
Promoted common language – Arabic.
In the 16th century, it brought about close
correspondence between the royal
houses of Sulu and Brunei.
23. The Spread of Islam to the Visayas
and Luzon
Kingdoms of Rajah Soliman and Rajah
Lakandula in Tondo and Manila were
under the sway of Islam. Influence also seen
Mindoro and Batangas.
If not for the Spaniards, Islam could have
established itself in the northern part of the
Philippines.
25. The Successful Resistance of the
Muslim to Spanish Colonialism
Spaniards failed miserably in
controlling Mindanao and Sulu
Alliances were formed among
different Muslim groups to fight against the
Spaniards
Enmity and animosity further
developed between Muslim and Christian
Filipinos who helped the Spaniards
26. The present secessionist
movement in Mindanao and
Sulu, and the protracted conflict
between the Philippine
Government and the Moro rebels
may be understood as partly as
offshoot of earlier conflicts
between Christians and Muslims.