Culture of the Philippines

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Culture of the Philippines

The culture of the Philippines is a combination of cultures of the East and West.

[1]
 Filipino identity was created primarily as a result of pre-colonial cultures, colonial
influences and foreign traders intermixing and gradually evolving together. In pre-
colonial times, the Philippines was a divided set of nations, islands and tribes being
ruled by their own kings, chieftains, lakans, rajahs, datus and sultans. Every nation has
its own identity and some are even part of a larger empire outside of what is now the
Philippines. Manila, for example, was once part of the Islamic Sultanate of Brunei, and
the Sulu Archipelago was also part of the Hindu Majapahit. The advent of colonial rule
in the islands marked the beginning of the Philippines as an entity, a collection of
Southeast Asian countries united under Spanish Empire.
Chinese influence has been felt throughout Southeast Asia through trade, specifically by
the Ming dynasty and other earlier dynasties from as early as the 9th century. The
blending of indigenous, colonial and external influence is very evident in the historic arts
and traditions of the country.
The Philippine archipelago was first settled by Negritos; today, although few in
numbers, they preserve a very traditional way of life and culture. After them,
the Austronesians arrived on the archipelago. The Austronesian culture is strongly
evident in the ethnicities, languages, cuisine, music, dance and almost every aspect of
the culture. These Austronesians engaged in trading with other Austronesians,
particularly in the neighbouring nations in Maritime Southeast Asia. They also traded
with the Mainland Southeast Asia, as well as Japan, China, the Indian
subcontinent and Arabia. As a result, some of these cultures marked their influences on
Filipino culture. This gradually evolved with indigenous belief systems and developed
into Anitism, which became the dominant religion for more than a millennium. [2][3]
Current logo for the Philippine Registry of Cultural Property

The Spanish Empire, via the Viceroyalty of New Spain, conquered the islands between
the 16th and 19th centuries (Batanes being one of the last places to be colonized in the
mid-1800s), resulting in Christianity to spread and dominate throughout the archipelago
and influenced the religion and beliefs of the natives. Then, the Philippines became a
U.S. territory for almost 50 years. Influence from the United States is manifested in the
wide use of the English language, media and in the modern culture and clothing of
present-day Philippines.[4]