WHAT IS HISTORY

Philippine History
WHAT IS HISTORY
 It is a continuous and systematic narrative of
past events as relating to a particular people,
country, period, person, etc. usually written as a
chronological account
 Chronicle of records
 It studies the past and the legacies of the past in
the present
WHAT IS HISTORY
 Revisiting and studying history is important because it
allows us to know and appreciate our past, which in
turn allows understanding our present and the present
will be our foundation for the future
 Studying history can provide us a vision into our
cultures of origin as well as cultures with which we
might be less familiar
WHAT IS HISTORY
 It will increase our cross-cultural
awareness and understanding of
things we do not know from our past
WHAT IS HISTORY
 If this subject History were taken with
a multiple approach then it can
explain a lot as you look under
different compass such as Psychology,
Political Science, Sociology and even
Economics
WHAT IS HISTORY
 Philippine History:
 Some prominent Filipinos continuously conduct their
research like Renato Constantino who supposed that our
Philippine History is a story of struggle
 We need to reevaluate some of our story from the past
to capture a clearer picture of those events and
patriotism and heroism of those early Filipinos
WHAT IS HISTORY
 Another is the famous Filipino Anthropologist Felipe
Landa Jocano who disputed Henry Otley Beyer regarding
Filipinos who descended from Negritos and Malays
through Beyer’s Migration Theory
 According to Jocano , “ it is difficult to prove that the
first inhabitants of this country were Negritos “
WHAT IS HISTORY
 Filipino Historian Teodoro A. Agoncillo quoted as
saying “ there is a great similarity between legal
evidence and historical evidence “
 The only difference lies in the fact that in legal
evidence it is the judge who determines whether
the account of a witness is acceptable or not
WHAT IS HISTORY
 “The historian is a prosecuting attorney and
defense attorney and the judge rolled all into
one, and he is the narrator and interpreter”
 A big part of how history is explained depends
greatly on how historians plot and narrate the
historical facts
WHAT IS HISTORY
 The Birth of Philippine History
 According to H.O. Beyer’s Migration Theory ,
the history of the Philippines is believed to have
taken off with the arrival of the first humans
using rafts or boats at least 67,000 years ago as
the 2007 discovery of Callao Man suggested
WHAT IS HISTORY
 Negrito tribes first inhabited the isles
and more groups later migrated to the
islands like the story of the Ten
Bornean Datus
WHAT IS HISTORY
 But the written record of the Philippine Islands
started with the coming of the Spaniards
 Not because they had no history , culture and
literature before but many believed that Spaniards
destroyed the earlier records as completely as
possible
WHAT IS HISTORY
 The same scenario happened when the
Philippines was under the American and
Japanese colonization
 Many pre-colonial records were lost and
were no longer retrieved
WHAT IS HISTORY
 Therefore much of what is known about pre-
Spanish days is still insufficient. There is still
much to be uncovered
 Others said that some of our recovered records
came from other countries which were in touch
with the islands
WHAT IS HISTORY
 Murillo-Velarde Map:
 It was a hydrographical chart of the Philippine
Island drawn by Jesuit Father Pedro Murillo
Velarde (1696-1753) and published in Manila in
the year 1734
 It was the first and believed to be the most
important map of the Philippines
WHAT IS HISTORY
 It shows that our country that time was a
vital part of Spain and it illustrates the
maritime routes from Manila to Spain and
to those colony of Spanish Empire in the
New World
WHAT IS HISTORY
 The Map contains captions
 It also shows of great interest from the
geographic point of view, and as an
ethnographic document
WHAT IS HISTORY
 Importance of Studying Philippine
History:
 Studying our own history is a gateway to
know who we are through our past
 It can give us ideas why we call ourselves
Filipinos and why do we need to stand by
it
WHAT IS HISTORY
 Our history will serve as a guide for us
in dealing with the present times and
in preparing our future
WHAT IS HISTORY
 Some problems in studying Philippine History:
 1. why do most students nowadays lack interest
in studying our Philippine History?
 A. Some teachers do not dig deeper in the
discussion of Philippine History to hopefully
trigger enthusiasm of students about our history
WHAT IS HISTORY
 B. Lack of training and seminar to opportunities for both
teachers and students learning together about Philippine
History
 C. Presentation of topics in textbooks, at times, no
longer fit the interest of the students
 D. The pedagogy of teaching Philippine History must
help students become critical thinkers rather than
being just passive recipient of lessons