The Origins
The earliest vestige of human presence in the Phillippines, a skull, dates from more than 22 000 years ago and was found in the Tabon Cave, in Palawan. These lands hold signs of settlements for over 30 500 years, as several stone flake tools were found in the area. Jar burials were also found in these parts and show that the Phillipines remained under the same influence as other asian regions like Laos, Japan or even Sri Lanka. (see famous jar burial in the National Museum of the Philippines) Around 30 000 B.C., a new people arrived to the Phillipines: they were the Negritos, the ancestors of the actual Aetas. Coming from Central Asia, they cross all the subcontinent through India, Malaysia, Borneo and finally reaching the Phillippines. They were nomades who lived from the forest, with special skills for hunting. A very different culture of fisherman-farmers arrived to the archipelago around 3 000 B.C. - the Austronesians. Their expansion is quite remarkable for both its extension and speed. They seem to have the same origins as the people from Laos, north Thailand and east of Burma. In the Philippines, their descendants became the Luzon and Mindanao tribes. A few thousands years later, the Austronesians had spread as far as the Moluccas, Madagascar, Easter Islands, Hawaii to finally reach New Zeland. Today, the family languages and dialects are estimated between 900 and 1200, making them one of the largest group languages in the world.

The Islam
As elsewhere in Southeast Asia, the 14th century brought the muslim faith to the Philippines through missionaries who reached these far lands with the traders. Islam had found a new home. Through the years, several sultanates were created and became extremely powerful. The Phillippines' territory was shared between many tribes that were in relation with other foreign forces, like China, Sri Vijaya or even Majapahit (Indonesia).

The West in the East
These lands quickly interested Western countries: Fernão de Magalhães, from Portugal, first saw the islands in 1541 and claimmed them as spanish territory under the name of Islas de San Lazaro. New Spain (México) conducted also several expeditions, including the one leaded by López de Villalobos who will name the archipelago the Philippines, in honor of the spanish infant - Philip, later king Philip II. The conquest of the Philippines didn't start right after its discovery by Magalhães. Almost 50 years later, another expedition conducted attacks against the local independent tribes to control the territory and years later the city of Manila was created. Meanwhile, a new religion arrived, Catholicism, and with it new missionaries who converted most of the people in the islands with the exception of the Mindanao. From 1565 the Spanish permanentely occuppied the territory and 6 years later, the entire country, with the exception of the Sulu archipelago (islamic faith), was under their control. Many foreigners disputed New Spain's domination over the Phillipines, like the Portuguese who wanted to control the Eastern Asia trade or even Japan during the 16th century for the very same reasons. Long before the coming of any western foreigners, the Filipinos had been already trading with China who had a fundamental role in the economic development of this new colony. A viceroy is stablished in 1589 and Manila will florish with the intense trade with other regions in Asia, becoming the commercial center of Eastern Asia.

The Independance
Much later, during the 19th century, the Filipinos started to claim their independance and fought with the Americans against Spain during the Spanish-American war. After Spain was defeated, they proclaimed their independance but the United States had other plans and bought the archipelago from Spain. It is only in 1946, after the japanese occupation and the end of the WWII that the Philippines received full independance.

Land of contrasts, an amaizing melting pot of cultures gathered all along their history, the Philippines are too easily forgotten when they have so much to offer and fascinate the visitor as they already did, so long ago, when the first men arrived to those islands and decided to build there their homes.

Philippine History Timeline
Philippine Culture and History
History of the Philippines
Encyclopedia: The Philippines
Philippine History
Wikipédia: Philippines

Rice fields photo and Siqijor dawn by Preetam Rai
Merida photo by loki_hound
Kalaw Place photo by rumelo amor
Under the Creative Commons.