8Pre-Hispanic Philippines: A Brief Overview (Barcelona 2015)

The Pre-Hispanic Philippines:

A Brief OverviewAbstract

Prior to the Spanish colonization, the Philippines, according to theories by historians, had had a budding civilization. Based on the archeological findings, the people of the unknown archipelago in the middle of the grand Pacific Ocean and South China Sea had been a trading with the Chinese, Malays, Indians (Hindus), and even the Arabs in the Far East. While more of them are still nomads, just like the Negritos (Aetas), believed to be the earliest inhabitants of more than 7,100 islands constituting the archipelago, there had been some enormous development when it comes to agriculture, metalwork, mining, and ship-building. There are also proofs, even as of today, of the elegant architecture, especially with the Moro dwellings in the islands of Mindanao and Sulu.

This paper intends to provide the readers, especially the new students of Philippine history, theories and some studies, about what the pre-Hispanic communities look like, by giving them insights of local and foreign historians who had expressed their interest in Philippine studies. However, one must not expect a thorough discussion of the theories regarding how the early Filipinos came here and developed the lands, for it willhopefullybe discussed on another paper.

Keywords: Early Filipino communities, Pre-Hispanic Philippines, Ancient Filipino architecture, Early Agricultural Development in the Philippines, archeology, history of the Filipino nation, theories on the development of the Filipino communities before the Spanish conquest

A Matter of Introduction

THE PHILIPPINES is an archipelago which lies between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. It is composed of more or less, 7, 107 islands and islets in which only 1, 000 islands are inhabited (Mateo, 2001). It has been referred to as the Pearl of the Orient Seas, a title allegedly given by a Spanish [religious] missionary, which later has been popularized by the countrys two patriotsJos P. Rizal and Apolinario Mabini (Mateo 2001). Figure 1 Apolinario Mabini, also known as the "Sublime Paralytic" had used the term "Pearl of the Orient Seas," to refer to the Philippines. (Photo from Wikipedia.com, 2015)Figure 2 Jose P. Rizal in his writings used the term Perla del Mar de Oriente, particularly in his popular verse, "Mi Ultimo Adios". (Photo from Wikipedia.com)

It is undeniable, that current Filipino race, life, society, and culture are a mixture of East and West. For more than three centuries, these islands had been under Spanish control, hence our strong Catholic beliefs, Civil Law, architecture, language, and even the ownership of lands called hacienda, which is still prevalent today (insert citation here). This happened after Portuguese explorer and navigator, Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Philippines in 1521 (Agoncillo 1990; Constantino 1975).

Figure 3 Ferdinand Magellan (Biography.com, 2015)

The American colonizers had also introduced their way of life, their culture, a system of education, their form of government, literature, and even religion (Encyclopedia Britannica Online, 2015; Constantino 1975). There had also been some Indian, Chinese, and English influences since there were also attempt of colonizing the islands by the English crown with the British invasion of Manila, between the years 1762 up to 1764 (Presidential Museum and Library, Malacaang Palace, n. d.) and the Philippines relation with the Imperial China as early as 2nd Century C. E. (Lonely Planet Online, 2015).

However, prior the era of colonization, there were no written records of what the early or the pre-Hispanic Philippines looked like. Nevertheless, the archeological finds and some of the tribal cultures which are still prevalent today could give us a little hint on how the pre-Hispanic Philippine communities were developed and what are the economic, social, and political activities at that time. What we attempt here is to provide the readers an overview of the Philippines, before the conquistadores found this beautiful land.

Pre-Hispanic Philippines: Before Everything Was Now

It is believed that the Philippines were once a part of mainland China. However, the theory, according to historian Teodoro A. Agoncillo, was heavily refuted.

Up to the early 1970s, it had been assumed that the Philippines was a part of mainland China, Agoncillo wrote in 1975, in his book, History of the Filipino People. It was theorized that during the Pleistocene or Ice Age, the waters surrounding what is now the Philippines fell about 156 feet below the present levels. As a result, a vast area of land was exposed and became sort of land bridges to the mainland of Asia. In February 1976, however, this theory of the land bridges to Asia was disputed by Dr. Fritjof Voss, a German scientist who studied the geology of the Philippines, Agoncillo continued (p. 20).Figure 4 - The Land Bridge theory. (Photo from Migration Theories, no date and author)The early Filipinos were not only the Negritos, but different types of people coming from New Guinea, Java, Borneo, and Australia (Agoncillo 1975; Harrison 1967). It was with the discovery of the Tabon man in Palawan which shed light on the early inhabitants of this country: that the early inhabitants were not exclusively Malayan or coming from Malaya; the Philippines had had its inhabitants before the Malayan peninsula did (Agoncillo 1975).

Figure 5 - The Skull Cap of the Tabon Man (from the Museum of the Filipino People Website, 2014)Though he existed around 50,000 years ago, Tabon man is believed to possess an intelligence of a real man as evidenced by his usage of crude tools, made of hard stones (Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces, 2013). Figure 6 The Tabon Man tools

But this is only a gist of what the people of the unnamed archipelago were; that they have a budding civilization, which later would be replaced by the conquistadores. Early NavigatorsSince the Philippines is surrounded by an irregular coastline, which was about 10,850 statute miles (Agoncillo 1975), it is not unusual that the early inhabitants of this land, would learn how to navigate and become an interisland and international navigator (Solheim II 1993, pp. 6). In an article which appeared in the second edition of The Age of Discovery: Impact on Philippine Culture and Society, edited by Aquino and Alegado (Center for Philippine Studies University of Hawaii at Manoa), an author wrote:About 8,000 years ago, a way of life oriented to the sea began to develop in southern Mindanao and northeastern Indonesia. The people who developed this culture, whom I have called the Nusantao, gradually explored the tides, currents, and coastlines to the north and extended their explorations to Taiwan, coastal South China and northern Viet Nam by around 7000 years ago. This moving around by sea brought to an end the practically complete isolation of the earlier Philippine groups from each other and from outside the Philippines. From this time on there was contact among the peoples of the different Philippine islands, with neighboring islands in Indonesia and, to a lesser extent, with Taiwan (Solheim II 1993, p. 6)One of the finest sea craft that the early Filipinos had made was the balangay, which is believed to be the origin of the word barangaymeaning community or village. It was mentioned in the 16th century chronicle of Antonio Pigafetta (Wikipedia 2015).

Figure 7 - Balangay or the Butuan plank boat. (Photo from http://www.ourawesomeplanet.com/myfiles/balangay.jpg)Aside from this boat, there were also some other vessels which the early Filipino people had developed:Lumbering and shipbuilding were flourishing industries in those pre-colonial days when, according to (Antonio de) Morga, many Filipinos were proficient in building ocean-going vessels. The abundance of thick forests teaming with first class hardwoods, and the insular character of the country probably explains why many Filipinos were good sailors and shipbuilders. The carpenters of some settlements were such good artisans that they were not engaged in any other trade than said occupation. The shipbuilders constructed all kinds of boats for travel, war, and commerce, boats that the Spaniards later called banca, balangay, lapis, caracoa, virey, vinta and prau (Agoncillo 1975, p. 52).Agriculturists, traders, metal smithsWith the rich agricultural lands and thick forests, and with the capability of navigating from island-to-island, this author opines it is not impossible that the early Filipinos would become agriculturists, involved in animal husbandry, cropping, fishing and hunting; that they would become miners and goldsmiths, as well as expert in metalwork; and skillful traders.

One of the evidences of the agricultural practices of the ancient Filipinos was the creation of the Banaue Rice Terraces, which was built more than 2,000 years ago (National Geographic, n. d.). Robert Van Niel wrote in 1992, Their productive base was agricultural: rice-growing in either an irrigated or swidden form was the main crop, supplemented by fish, livestock, and fruits and vegetables. This was very similar to the economic base of most other parts of the East Indian archipelago (p. 10)

Figure 8 - The Banaue Rice Terraces (Photo courtesy of John Javellana/Reuters as it appeared in National Geographic Online)As traders, the early Filipinos had trade relations with China, India, and the other nearby regions. One archeologist wrote in an article appeared in the Archeology International, The archaeological record at Yap is similar to that of Tanjay, farther north on the east coast of Negros, and Cebu City on the northeast coast of the neighbouring island of Cebu two other centres of late-prehistoric Visayan chiefdoms, which suggests a fairly long history for the material expression of the status of chiefs. The chiefs at Yap also participated, either directly or indirectly, in long-distance trade, as is indicated by the presence of Asian tradewares (Bacus 1998).While some historians say that barter, or the exchange of goods for goods are the widest or the commonest form of trading that time, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said that the pre-Hispanic Filipinos had also developed some form of monetary exchange. Archaeological evidence indicates that small seafaring communities existed throughout the Philippine Archipelago for at least 2000 years, prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. The chief means of trading was barter. Records show that Chinese merchants came to the Philippines to trade porcelain, silk and metalware in exchange for gold, pearls, beeswax and medicinal plants, which the Philippines is naturally rich in (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, 2010).

Figure 9 10: The "money" used in the pre-Hispanic Filipino trading (Photo courtesy of the BSP, 2010)

Figure 11 - The sample of gold accessories being purchased or sold during the pre-Hispanic times. (Photo from the Kapwa-Kaluluwa.tumblr.com)The above presented photos indicate, this author believes, the extent of the creativity and ingenuity of the early Filipino people not only as artisans (e.g. goldsmiths) but as traders as well. The early Filipinos: their society, culture, and governmentThe Filipino people, before being Christianized, had different religious beliefs. It depends of what tribe or what community one belongs to. In the South, most of the inhabitants were Muslims, as early Islamic missionaries had visited Mindanao. A website, citing the work of Dr. C. A. Majul had stated:

The coming of Islam to Mindanao could be traced to the trading of Arab Merchants from the Arabian Peninsula passing thru Malaysia, Borneo and Sulu onward to the Visayas and Luzon and ultimately to China. This trade route existed in the later part of the tenth century and historians called it the second route, with the first route being from Malaysia passing thru the coast of Indo-China then to the shores of ChinaBy the second half of the tenth century, traders were welcomed again to China and it is during this period that the second trade route had been used by Arab and Muslim traders. In 977, Borneo begun to be known to Muslim traders when Pu-Ni (Brunei) sent an embassy to China headed by a certain Pu Ali (Abu Ali). Earlier, in the same year, a Chinese merchant named Pu Lu-hsieh arrived in the mouth of the river of Pu-Ni. According to Majul, if this is about the earliest time that the Muslim traders became acquainted with Borneo, it can be presumed that it would not be long after that they would come to know about or even pass by Sulu. According to Chinese sources, in the year 982 a ship with valuable merchandise from Ma-i (an island in the Philippine archipelago) arrived in Canton. This is the first actual recorded mention of the Philippine archipelago in Chinese written history (as so far available) as far as Arab trade route between China and the Southeast Asia is concerned. It is assumed then that this ship had passed by Borneo and Sulu (Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication, 2011).

While major portions of Mindanao and Sulu as well as other parts of the Visayas and Luzon had been Islamized, there were tribes that remained animists. The Babaylans, or the priestesses in the Visayas region, were considered as mediators between this world and the world of the spirits. The cosmological or religious models differ from region to region. Among Tagalogs, Bathala is their chief god; for the Ifugaos, they still consider Kabunyian as the highest god, which created this world and had designed the other worlds. Works CitedApolinario Mabini. (2013, March 12). Wikipedia, Retrieved March 11, 2015 from http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Apolinario_Mabini&oldid=4290863.

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Van Niel, R. (1992). The Philippines Before 1521 A.D. in Aquino B. A. & Alegado D. T. (eds.), The Age of Discovery: Impact on Philippine Culture and Society: SECOND EDITION, pp. 10 12. PDF. Honolulu: Center for Philippine Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa and Filipino Historical Society of Hawaii. Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces. (2013). Tabon stone tools, website. Retrieved March 11, 2015, from http://masterpieces.asemus.museum/masterpiece/detail.nhn?objectId=10667.