SETTLEMENT OF AUSTRONESIAN PRECOLONIAL IN THE

PHILIPPINES

ABOUT 4,000 YEARS AGO THE AUSTRONESIAN FAMILY

EMERGED IN TAIWAN AND THEN MIGRATED INTO THE
FURTHEST STRETCHES OF THE PACIFIC, AND ITS LASTING
IMPACT WENT BEYOND THE FRINGES OF OCEANIA. NO
LIVING SOCIETY TODAY IS AN EXACT COPY OF WHAT
DEVELOPED IN TAIWAN AROUND 4,500 YEARS AGO AND
BECAME KNOWN AS THE AUSTRONESIAN CULTURE.
LINGUISTS COINED THE TERM ‘AUSTRONESIAN’ TO
DESCRIBE SIMILAR ASIAN AND OCEANIC LANGUAGES
UNDER ONE CULTURAL FAMILY LINEAGE.

THIS MAP SHOWS THE DIRECTION OF THE AUSTRONESIAN EXPANSION FROM TAIWAN INTO THE PACIFIC.

THERE THEY ASSIMILATED WITH EXISTING POPULATIONS AND EVENTUALLY REACHED AS FAR AS EASTER
ISLAND TO THE EAST, MADAGASCAR TO THE WEST, HAWAII TO THE NORTH AND NEW ZEALAND TO THE
SOUTH.

THE AUSTRONESIAN CULTURE DEVELOPED IN THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD OF TAIWAN WITH A UNIQUE SET OF
MATERIAL CULTURES DISTINCTIVE FROM WHAT CAME BEFORE. THIS INCLUDED RED-SLIP POTTERY, WHICH
WOULD BE A SIGNATURE PART OF TRACKING THEIR SPREAD OUTSIDE THEIR HOMELAND. HOWEVER,
PERHAPS THE BEST WAY OF TRACING THESE LINEAGES COMES FROM STUDYING THEIR GENETICS AND
LANGUAGES.

AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES
THE SPREAD OF AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES

STUDIES INTO THE AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGE FAMILY FOUND THAT ITS TENDRILS STRETCHED HALFWAY
AROUND THE WORLD, FROM MADAGASCAR TO EASTER ISLAND AND TAIWAN TO NEW ZEALAND. IT IS THE
FOUNDING ANCESTRAL LANGUAGE OF POLYNESIAN AND DIALECTS IN MELANESIA, MICRONESIA, ISLAND
SOUTHEAST ASIA (ISEA), AND OTHER PARTS OF THE INDIAN OCEAN.

THE PROTO-AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGE IS THEORIZED TO ORIGINATE FROM TAIWAN (FORMOSA). THIS

LANGUAGE IS DIVIDED INTO TWO BRANCHES, MALAYO-POLYNESIAN AND FORMOSAN. MALAYO-
POLYNESIAN MAKES UP MUCH OF THE LANGUAGE FAMILY, SO IT IS THEN DIVIDED AGAIN INTO ITS WESTERN
SUB-BRANCH (INCLUDING MADAGASCAR AND ISEA AS EXAMPLES) AND THE CENTRAL-EASTERN SUB-
BRANCH (OCEANIA, NEW GUINEA, AND MOST OF MICRONESIA).

ISLAND MASS MIGRATION

THE DOMINANT THEORY OF THE AUSTRONESIAN EXPANSION BEGINS IN TAIWAN, APTLY NAMED THE ‘OUT-
OF-TAIWAN’ THEORY. ACCORDING TO THIS MODEL, ATTRIBUTED TO ARCHAEOLOGIST PETER BELLWOOD
AND LINGUIST ROBERT BLUST AROUND 1980, TAIWANESE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES FIRST SAILED FROM TAIWAN
TO THE NORTHERN ISLANDS OF THE PHILIPPINES AROUND 3000 BCE, JUST 1000 YEARS AFTER THEY MIGRATED
FROM MAINLAND CHINA TO TAIWAN. TO FACILITATE THIS LARGE-SCALE MIGRATION, THE AUSTRONESIANS
DEVELOPED NEW SAILING TECHNOLOGIES AND METHODS OF NAVIGATION THAT ARE STILL USED TODAY.
THIS ALLOWED THEM TO TRAVEL LONG DISTANCES ACROSS THE INDO-PACIFIC AND BEYOND, SETTLING
ON ISLANDS AND MAINLANDS ACROSS ALL HEMISPHERES.
A REPLICA OF A TRADITIONAL AUSTRONESIAN SAILING TRIMARAN. GÖRAN HÖGLUND.

FROM LUZON, A MIGRANT GROUP MOVED FURTHER SOUTH TO COVER THE REST OF THE PHILIPPINES,
BORNEO, AND INDONESIA, WHILE OTHERS MOVED WEST TO SOUTHEAST ASIA AND REACHED AS FAR AS
MADAGASCAR. AROUND 1500 BCE, ANOTHER GROUP MOVED EAST TO SETTLE ON THE SMALL ISLANDS OF
THE PACIFIC. 500 YEARS LATER, AUSTRONESIANS BECAME THE FIRST PEOPLE TO SETTLE IN THE REMOTE
ISLANDS OF PALAU AND YAP IN OCEANIA AND CONTINUED SOUTH TO THE AREAS SURROUNDING THE
SOLOMON ISLANDS.

ACCORDING TO HISTORIANS, SOME 5,000 TO 6,000 YEARS AGO, GROUPS OF PEOPLE FROM INDONESIA
AND MALAYSIA ARRIVED IN THE ISLANDS OF THE PHILIPPINES TO BE ITS FIRST SETTLERS. BOTH OF THESE
COUNTRIES BELONG TO THE AUSTRONESIAN REGION AND THEY BROUGHT WITH THEM THEIR OWN
CULTURES, TRADITIONS AS WELL AS LANGUAGES.

SCIENTISTS ALL AGREE THAT PEOPLE SPEAKING AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES STARTED OUT FROM TAIWAN
AND SETTLED THE PHILIPPINES AROUND 4,000 YEARS AGO. THEY USED SAILS AS EARLY AS 2,000 YEARS AGO.
TOGETHER WITH OTHER MARITIME TECHNOLOGIES, THIS ALLOWED THEM TO DISPERSE TO THE ISLANDS OF
THE INDO-PACIFIC OCEAN.
3500 BCE

AUSTRONESIANS (MEANS “SOUTHERN ISLAND”) WERE THE FIRST HUMANS TO INVENT OCEAN-GOING
SAILING TECHNOLOGIES. THEY ARRIVED IN FORMOSA (PRESENT DAY TAIWAN) FROM MAINLAND ASIA OF
THE MALAY-POLYNESIAN ANCESTRY. USING THEIR CANOES, THEY LANDED TO FORMOSA. THEY BROUGHT
WITH THEM THE CULTURE OF SAILING AND AGRICULTURE FROM THEIR DOMESTICATED PLANTS AND
ANIMALS.

AUSTRONESIANS ARE CATEGORIZED AND BY THEIR LANGUAGE AND CULTURE AND MORE RECENTLY, THEIR
DNA. STUDYING THE INDIGENOUS CULTURE OF THE AUSTRONESIAN PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY THE HISTORY,
REVEALS STRIKING SIMILARITIES. SIMILARITIES CAN BE FOUND IN THEIR MUSIC, DANCING, HUNTING,
SINGING, WEAVING, WEAPONRY AND TRADITIONS. ACCORDING TO ROBERT BLUST (1999), AUSTRONESIAN
IS DIVIDED INTO SEVERAL PRIMARY BRANCHES, ALL BUT ONE OF WHICH ARE FOUND EXCLUSIVELY IN
TAIWAN. THE FORMOSAN LANGUAGES OF TAIWAN ARE GROUPED INTO AS MANY AS NINE FIRST-ORDER
SUBGROUPS OF AUSTRONESIAN. ALL AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES SPOKEN OUTSIDE TAIWAN (INCLUDING
ITS OFFSHORE YAMI LANGUAGE) BELONG TO THE MALAYO-POLYNESIAN BRANCH. A TRADITIONAL STONE
WEAPON KNOWN AS THE “BATU” OR “PATU” CAN BE FOUND IN TAIWAN, NEW ZEALAND, POLYNESIA, AND
EVEN PERU, WITH SIMILAR SIZE AND SHAPE INCLUDING THE SIMILARITY OF THEIR LANGUAGE.

AUSTRONESIAN DWELLINGS

THE ARCHITECTURAL SYSTEM THAT PREDOMINATE THE AUSTRONESIAN REGION IS THAT OF A RAISED
WOODEN STRUCTURE TYPICALLY CONSISTING OF A RECTANGULAR STRUCTURE, ELEVATED ON POSTS, WITH
A THATCHED ROOF AND DECORATIVE GABLE-FINIALS SHAPED LIKE “CARABAO” HORNS. THE USE OF
REEDS, FIBERS AND LEAVES IS A TYPICAL TRADITION IN THE AUSTRONESIAN VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE.
THE MOST APPARENT PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTIC IS THE RAISED FLOOR SUPPORTED BY TIMBER PILES OR
STILTS. ANOTHER PROMINENT FEATURE OF THE STYLE IS THE SADDLE-BACKED ROOF, OF WHICH THE RIDGE-
LINE EXTENDS BEYOND THE GABLE WALLS.

FURTHERMORE, THE GABLES ARE USUALLY DECORATED WITH FINIALS OFTEN BUT NOT ALWAYS IN THE FORM
OF CROSS HORNS. MANY AUSTRONESIANS SAILED OUT FROM PAIWAN, SOUTH MOST OF FORMOSA USING
THEIR CANOES IN SEARCH FOR BETTER FORTUNE AND DISCOVERED RYUKU ISLAND IN JAPAN AND BATANES
ISLANDS OF THE PHILIPPINES WHEN THEY DEVELOPED NAVIGATION AND SEAMANSHIP SKILLS.

AUSTRONESIAN CANOES

THEY USED SAILS AS EARLY AS 2,000 YEARS AGO. TOGETHER WITH OTHER MARITIME TECHNOLOGIES, THIS
ALLOWED THEM TO DISPERSE TO THE ISLANDS OF THE INDO-PACIFIC OCEAN.
AS NAVIGATORS, THEY USE A ‘STAR COMPASS’ TO IDENTIFY DIRECTIONS AND LOCATIONS. COURSES WERE
STEERED BY THE RISING AND SETTING OF STARS AND BY THE SUN, WIND, AND WAVES.