Clare S.

Gacad
GCU 114
Mrs. Nice
Early Settlements in The Philippines
Last weeks assignment dealt with the understanding of Jared Diamonds, Guns, Germs,
and Steel. Diamonds main point was to explain that there are many influences and factors that
ultimately led to the prosperity/progress of some cultures, as well as the failures of some
cultures. Factors such as animal domestication, food production, metal technology, climatology,
land conditions, and agricultural conditions all contribute to how cultures and countries thrive or
suffer. All of these factors are also seen into how people create settlements in different countries.
In order to better understand the early settlements of the Philippines, It is important to
know key details about the country itself. The Philippines is an island country located in the
western Pacific Ocean, a country of Southeast Asia. It consists of about 7,100 islands and islets
(Philippines| history-geography). In relations to Diamonds, Guns, Germs, and Steel the
Philippines is a country that is made up of mountainous regions and consists of moist fertile
soils. The Philippines climate can be described as tropical wet- dry with seasons of monsoons.
Overall, its climate remains relatively constant from north to south during the year. The
Philippines is also home to more than 200 species of mammals, a variety of birds, as well as a
numerous variety of fish species (Philippines| history-geography). It is safe to say that the
present day Philippines is home to many ethnically diverse people.
As the Philippines is ethnically diverse today, the Philippines would not be as populated
as it is today without the start of the first aboriginal inhabitants of the islands. Through research,
it has been identified that the Philippines begun with the arrival of humans that used rafts/
primitive boats. As gathered from several sources, the first people of the Philippines were the

Negritos or Aeta. The early Filipino settlement was called Barangay, which derived from the
word balangay, meaning sailboats that brought family groups over to the Philippines (Barangay|
Filipino settlement). These units of settlements were led by a Datu (Chief) and dispersed into
divisions such as nobles, freemen, dependent and landless agricultural workers, as well as slaves.
As far as reasoning behind early settlements, trading, proselytizers, and religion were a few of
the main reasons. According to a brief history timeline regarding the Philippines, waves of new
inhabitants from Indonesian, and other Asian countries slowly added to the early settlements of
the Philippines. The Indonesian migrants introduced Islam to the Filipinos (people of the
Philippines). From the introduction of Islam, came the introduction of Christianity from the next
set of early settlers (The Spanish). Malayan people were also a part of the early settlers of the
Philippines. Of the early settlers, the Malayan people were the ones who brought over a more
advanced culture; dairy, iron melting skills as well as production, pottery techniques, and a
system for rice fields ("The first inhabitants of the Philippines").
The locations of these early settlers varied widely. Ranging from 13000-1000 years ago,
most settlers lived widespread throughout the Philippines. The ones who introduced Islam to the
Philippines were located in the southern parts. Most small communities were of hunter- gatherer
tribes. The settlers lived in places where they were able to cultivate rice from rich soiled areas, as
well as raise animals. Most early settlers traveled from land bridges that connected with the
islands of the Asian mainland, and they settled in isolated mountainous parts of the Philippines.
Relating back to Diamonds videos, one thing that was able to make early settlers thrive was
their ability to possess, use, and make iron tools and weapons. Early settlers were described as
fearsome warriors that had great speed and accuracy using the bow and arrow (Philippines|
history-geography).

The early settlement of the Philippines can be dated back as far as about 25,000 B.C.
continuing on through 1300s A.D there was a repetition of new inhabitants that came in from
neighboring countries as well as extensive trades with neighboring countries. These diverse early
inhabitants maintained little contact with each other. At around the year of 1521, was when the
Spanish Period took over the Philippines. During March of 1521, a Portuguese navigator and
explorer by the name of Ferdinand Magellan landed in what is known today as Cebu,
Philippines. After exploring the Philippines, he claimed the islands for the King of Spain. By the
year 1542, the Spanish military claimed the island for Spain and named it the Philippines after
Prince King Philip II of Spain (Philippines| history-geography). After the Spanish had claimed
the Philippines their colonization objectives were to introduce and convert the population to
Roman Catholicism.
Overall, the early inhabitants of the Philippines came in successive waves of migration.
Each group who settled in the Philippines brought in their own distinct culture. The most
common way of transportation they shared was using land bridges and having the skills in
seafaring. The early inhabitants of the Philippines were people who grew in agricultural
knowledge and started out with hunting, fishing, and food gathering. Since the Philippines was
an island and contained places where it had good soil, settlers were able to learn how to utilize
their surroundings and resource to survive. As time went on, settlers soon realized that they were
able to create tools and engage in activities such as pottery, metal smelting, and find an irrigation
system in rice planting (The First Filipinos). Overtime, the diffusion theory was well present
since the settlers were able to get used to the climate and spread to regions and areas of the
Philippines that were well suited for living. Early inhabitants had opportunities to utilize land
that was suitable for agriculture, as well as find animals that were able to be domesticated.

Citations
Barangay | Filipino settlement. (n.d.). Retrieved February 2, 2015, from
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/52606/barangay
Philippines | history - geography. (n.d.). Retrieved February 1, 2015, from
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/456399/Philippines
The first Filipinos. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.philippinehistory.org/early-filipinos.htm
The first inhabitants of the Philippines. (n.d.). Retrieved February 2, 2015, from
http://www.philippines.hvu.nl/history1.htm