Early Civilizations in

the Philippines
(Science, Technology and Society)
The Early Filipino
Inhabitants
Theories on How Filipinos Came to
the Philippine Archipelago
• Many historians and scientists believe that the first
inhabitants of the Philippine islands emerged during
the Pleistocene period. There are two theories on
where the inhabitants came from namely: Beyer’s
“Migration Theory” and Jocano’s “Evolution
Theory”.
Theories on How Filipinos Came to
the Philippine Archipelago
• Noted social scientist Beyer believes that Filipinos
descended from different groups that came from
Southeast Asia in successive waves of migration. Each
group had a distinct culture, with it’s own customs and
traditions. While Jocano believes that Asians, including
Filipinos are the result of a lengthy process
of evolution and migration.
 Migration Theory
• The most widely known theory of the prehistoric peopling of the
Philippines is that of Henry Otley Beyer, founder of the Anthropology
Department of the University of the Philippines. Heading that
department for 40 years, Professor Beyer became the unquestioned
expert on Philippine prehistory, exerting early leadership in the field and
influencing the first generation of Filipino historians and anthropologists,
archaeologists, paleontologists, geologists, and students the world over.
According to Dr. Beyer, the ancestors of the Filipinos came in different
“waves of migration”.
 Henry Otley Beyer
(July 13, 1883 – December 31, 1966)
 First Wave: Dawnmen
• The first migrants were what
Beyer called the “Dawnmen”
(or “cavemen” because they
lived in caves.). The
Dawnmen resembled Java
Man, Peking Man, and other
Asian Home sapiens who
existed about 250,000 years
ago.
 First Wave: Dawnmen
• They did not have any
knowledge of agriculture, and
lived by hunting and fishing. It
was precisely in search of food
that they came to the
Philippines by way of the land
bridges that connected the
Philippines and Indonesia.
 First Wave: Dawnmen
• Owing perhaps to their
migratory nature, they
eventually left the
Philippines for destinations
unknown.
 Second Wave: Negritoes
• The second group of migrants
was composed of dark-skinned
pygmies called “Aetas” or
“Negritoes”. About 30,000
years ago, they crossed the
land bridged from Malaya,
Borneo, and Australia until they
reached Palawan, Mindoro and
Mindanao.
 Second Wave: Negritoes
• They were pygmies who went
around practically naked and
were good at hunting, fishing
and food gathering. They used
spears and small flint stones
weapons.
 Second Wave: Negritoes
• The Aetas were already in
the Philippines when the land
bridges disappeared due to the
thinning of the ice glaciers and
the subsequent increase in
seawater level. This natural events
“forced” them to remain in the
country and become its first
permanent inhabitants.
 Third Wave: Austronesian
• Another ethnic group, known
as the Austronesian or
Malayo-Polynesian people,
originated from the
populations of Taiwanese
aborigines who migrated
from mainland Asia
approximately 6,000 years
ago.
 Third Wave: Austronesian
• Because, of the disappearance of
the land bridge, they came via
boats. They brought new
technologies to the archipelago:
farming, mining, pottery,
jewelry making, weaving,
metal smelting and irrigation
system in rice planting, etc.
Route of the Migration
 Jocano’s Evolution Theory
• Renowned Filipino anthropologist Felipe Landa
Jocano disputes Beyer’s belief that Filipinos descended from
Negritoes and Malays who migrated to the Philippines thousands
of years ago. According to Jocano, it is difficult to prove that
Negritoes were the first inhabitants of this country. The only
thing that can positively concluded from fossil evidence, he says is
that the first men who came to the Philippines also went to New
Guinea, Java, Borneo, and Australia.
Felipe Landa Jocano
(July 13, 1883 – December 31, 1966)
 Jocano’s Evolution Theory
• Renowned Filipino anthropologist Felipe Landa
Jocano disputes Beyer’s belief that Filipinos descended from
Negritoes and Malays who migrated to the Philippines thousands
of years ago. According to Jocano, it is difficult to prove that
Negritoes were the first inhabitants of this country. The only
thing that can positively concluded from fossil evidence, he says is
that the first men who came to the Philippines also went to New
Guinea, Java, Borneo, and Australia.
 Jocano’s Evolution Theory
• Jocano advances the Evolution Theory, as a better explanation of how our
country was first inhabited by human beings, Jocano believes that the first
people of Southeast Asia were products of a long process
of evolution and migration. His research indicates that they shared more or
less the same culture, beliefs, practices an even similar tools and implements.
These people eventually went their separate ways; some migrated to the
Philippines, the others to New Guinea, Java and Borneo. Jocano says, proof
can be found in the fossils discovered in different parts of Southeast Asia, as
well as the recorded migrations of other peoples from the Asian mainland
when history began to unfold.
Ancient Civilizations
in the Philippines
 Ancient Philippines
• The indigenous people of the Philippines
traded with other Asian countries during the
Prehistoric period. Before the arrival of Islam;
Animism mixed with Hinduism, and Vajrayna
Buddhism. Those were the religions practiced by
various Philippine indigenous kingdoms. Islam
was brought to the Philippines by traders and
proselytizers from Malaysia, and Indonesia.
 Ancient Philippines
• By the 13th century, Islam were established
in the Sulu Archipelago, and spread to
Mindanao, the Visayas, and Luzon by 1565.
Muslims established Islamic communities. By
the early 16th century there were native
villages (Barangays) ruled by Datus, Rajahs,
or Sultans.
 Ancient Philippines
• There was no unifying political state encompassing the entire
Philippine archipelago. Instead, the region were ruled by
competing thalassocracies such as the Kingdom of Maynila,
Namayan, Dynasty of Tondo, Madya-as Confederacy, the
Rajahnates of Butuan, the Visayas, and sultanates of
Maguindanao, and Sulu. Some of these indigenous tribes were
part of the Malayan empires of Srivijaya, Majapahit, and
Brunei. Philippines_map.jpg
 The Maynilad
• One interesting culture developed before the Spanish
conquistadors came, a thriving community flourished on the banks
of the Pasig River. It was called “Maynilad”, after the nilad plant
whose star-shaped flowers clustered in abundance along the low-
lying river banks. The lord of the riverside kingdom was Raha
Sulayman who held court on the south side of the river while
his uncle, Lakandula, ruled on the north side.
Philippines_Bolo_Sword.jpg
 The Maynilad
• The Spaniards were set on
conquering this community. After
the savage Battle of Bangkusay,
where they overtook the natives
with their awesome firepower, the
Spaniards conquered Manila, and in
this battle, Sulayman was killed. MIGUEL LOPEZ DE LEGASPI
THE CONQUISTADOR OF MANILA
 The Tagalogs
• The Tagalogs were the first settlers of Manila and
the “center” of the Tagalog culture and people is
Taal, Batangas, being its birthplace. Most of the
culture of the Tagalog people is passed on by oral
tradition, despite the existence of a writing
system. This is because even if they were literate
and had a written tradition before the Spaniards
arrived, they wrote their ideas on perishable leaves
and branches.
THE TAGALOG ANCIENT
CLOTHING
 The Ilocanos
• The Austronesian ancestors of the present-
day Ilocanos came to the Philippines through
bilogs, or outrigger boats during the Iron Age.
The Ilocanos are primarily of Austronesian
stock, with their homeland being the closest
region in the Philippines to China. Ilocanos
speak the Ilokano language (also called Iloko
language), which is part of the Northern
Philippine subgroup of the Malayo-
Polynesian family of languages.
 The Ilocanos
• In 1572, when the Spanish conquistador
Juan de Salcedo conquered the Ilocanos, he
described them as being more barbarous
than the Tagalogs. During the Spanish
Colonial Era, the Ilocanos were one of the
first ethnic groups to revolt against the
Spaniards. The first Ilocano revolt occurred
during 1661, when the Ilocanos proclaimed
Pedro Almazan as their king.
 The Bicolanos
• The Bicolanos live in the southeastern
peninsula of Luzon and many
Bicolanos also live in the province of
Quezon. The Bicolanos are descended
from the Austronesian-speaking
immigrants who came from South
China during the Iron Age.
The Bicolano Epic Hero-King,
Handyong
 Sultanate of Maguindanao
• During the indigenous era, there were two brothers
named Mamalu and Tabunaway, who lived peacefully in
Mindanao, specifically the Cotabato valley. When
Shariff Kabungsuwan preached Islam in the area in the
16th century, Tabunaway converted, while Mamalu
decided to hold fast to the beliefs of their elders.
 Sultanate of Maguindanao
• The brothers parted ways afterwards; Tabunaway
to the lowlands and Mamalu to the mountains,
but they vowed to honor their kinship, and thus an
unwritten pact of peace between Muslims and
indigenous peoples was forged through the two
brothers.
 Sultanate of Maguindanao
• During the Spanish colonial period, the Sultanate
of Maguindanao was able to defend its territory,
preventing the Spaniards from colonising the
entire Mindanao and ceding the island of Palawan
to the Spanish government in 1705. maguindanao-
datus.png
 Pangasinan and Urduja

• The Pangasinan are the indigenous peoples of the

Province of Pangasinan, one of the provinces of the
Republic of the Philippines, located on the west
central area in the island of Luzon along Lingayen
Gulf
• Urduja was a legendary woman warrior who is regarded
as a heroine to the Pangasinan. Urduja was said to be
lived circa 1350 C.E – 1400 C.E.
• The Kapampangans may have descended from
Austronesian-speaking immigrants to Luzon during the
Iron Age. The province of Pampanga is traditional
homeland of the Kapampangan people. Once occupying
a vast stretch of land that extends from Tondo to the rest
of Central Luzon.
• The oldest artifact ever found in the Province of Pampanga
is a 5000 year old stone adze found in Candaba. It is said to
be a tool used in building boats. Earthenware and trade ware
dating back to 1500 BC have also been found in Candaba and
Porac.
• Before the arrival of the Spaniards in the late 16th century,
the Kapampangan people made up the bulk of the
population of what the Ming Dynasty texts referred to as the
Luzon Empire (Lusòng Guó) or “The Lesser Song Empire”.
• Extensive farming and fishing were the main industries
of the Kapampangan people. But at the height of the
Luzon Empire’s importance in the China trade in the
16th century, maritime trading, and perhaps even piracy,
became the main source of profit. As one of the
Luções (people of Luzon), many Kapampangans
worked as mercenaries for the various states and
kingdoms in Southeast Asia.
• The Kapampangan people sense of self-importance must
have risen in direct proportion to the Luzon Empire’s
growth and rise to prominence in the 16th century China
trade.
• The Visayans primarily live in the Visayas, and some part
of Mindanao but others have migrated elsewhere in the
Philippines, including Luzon; conversely, permanent
migrants to the Visayas are also referred to as Visayans.
• Visayans identify their ethnic group based on their language,
ancestry, or geography location. For instance, a Visayan of
pure indigenous ancestry; and a Visayan mestizo (multiracial
individual) of Spanish, Chinese, or other foreign descent, and
among others, may identify their ethnic background based on
their native language, or others. Cebuano, and among other
Visayan dialects; are the most common native languages
spoken in Central Philippines, and some parts of Mindanao.
• Some scholars have proposed that the identity of the
Visayan has roots in an ancient political unity—that of
the ancient Srivijaya empire, a thalassocracy which came
to power in the coastal areas of Southeast Asia.
• There were trade relation with other Asian countries in
the 9th century. Muslim, Chinese, and Hindu traders
brought Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism to Southeast
Asia in the 12th century. By the 14th century, Islam made
inroads in the Visayas, although most Visayan tribes were
still pagan when the Spaniards arrived.