HISTORY

The cultural achievements of pre-colonial Philippines include those covered by prehistoryand early historyof the Philippines archipelago and its inhabitants, which are the indigenous forebears of today's Filipino people.

Agriculture

The Banaue Rice Terraces, they are part of the Rice Terraces of thePhilippine Cordilleras, ancient sprawling man-made structures from 2,000 to 6,000 years old, which are aUNESCO World Heritage Site.

Early Filipinos were good agriculturists. A report during the time of Miguel López de Legazpinoted of the great abundance of rice, fowls, wine as well as great numbers of carabaos, deer, wild boar and goats in Luzon. In addition, there were also great quantities of cotton and colored clothes, wax, honey and date palms produced by the natives. In the Visayas, according to another early report, rice, cotton, swine, fowls, wax and honey abound. Leytewas said to produce two rice crops a year, and Pedro Chirino commented on the great rice and cotton harvests that were sufficient to feed and cloth the people

Duck culture was also practiced by the natives, particularly those around Pateros and Taguig City. This resembled the Chinese methods of artificial incubation of eggs and the knowledge of every phase of a duck's life. This tradition is carried on until modern times.[1]

The Ifugaos of the mountainous region of the Cordilleras built irrigations, dams and hydraulic works and the famous Banaue Rice Terraces as a way for assisting in growing crops around 1000 BC.[1]

Art of War

High quality metal casting, artillery, and other metal works had been traditions throughout the ancient Philippines. The metal smith, or panday piray of Pampangawas skilled at making weapons, and many individuals with the surnames Viray and Piray are said to be descendants of people who were once members of the guild of smiths who followed the tradition of the panday pira.[1]

Early Filipinos used small arquebuses, or portable cannons made up of bronze. Larger cannons, on the other hand, were made of iron and resembling culverins provided heavier firepower. The iron cannon at Rajah Sulaiman III's house was about 17 feet long and was made from clay and wax moulds.[1]

Guns were also locally manufactured and used by the natives. The most fearsome among these native guns was the lantaka, or swivel gun, which allowed the gunner to quickly track a moving target.[1] Some of the weaponry used by the natives was quite unusual. For instance, one weapon was the prototype of the modern-day yo-yo, and it returned to is owner after being flung at an opponent.

Swords were also part of the native weaponry. Making of swords involved elaborate rituals that were based mainly on the auspicious conjunctions of planets. The passage of the sword from the maker entailed a mystical ceremony that was coupled with superstitious beliefs.[1] The lowlanders of Luzon no longer use of the bararao, while the Moros and animists of the South still continue the tradition of making kampilan and kris.[1]

In addition to weaponry, the early Filipinos made good armor for use in the battlefield and built strong fortresses called kota or moog to protect their communities. The Moros, in particular, had armor that covered the entire body from the top of the head to the toes. The Igorots built forts made of stone walls that averaged several meters in width and about two to three times the width in height around 2000 BC.[1][2]

Education and writing

Laguna Copperplate Inscription (c. 900), a thin copperplate document measuring less than 8x12 inches in size, shows heavy Hindu-Malayan cultural influences present in the Philippines during the 10th Century.

Early Filipinos devised and used their own system of writings from 300 BC, which derived from theBrahmic family of scripts of Ancient India. Baybayin became the most widespread of these derived scripts by the 11th century.

Early chroniclers, who came during the first Spanish expeditions to the islands, noted the proficiency of some of the natives, especially the chieftain and local kings, in Sanskrit, Old Javanese, Old Malay,and several other languages.[3][4][5]

Maritime culture and aquaculture[edit]

Native boats and outriggers as depicted in The history and conquest of the Philippines and our other island possessions; embracing our war with the Filipinos by Alden March, published in 1899. Caption (cropped out) read: "Boats of the upper type were used to land the U.S. troops at Manila. One of those in which the Astor Battery landed sank in the surf just before reaching shore. The natives carried the men ashore on their shoulders. The lower boat is a fisherman's craft used by the Negritos, who shoot fish in the clear water with bows and arrows."

Early Filipinos, being descendants of the balangay-borne Austronesian migrants from Maritime Southeast Asia,[6] were known for their navigational skills. Some of them used compass similar to those used among maritime communities of Borneo and traders of China, although most had no need for such devices. In modern times, some fishermen and traders in the Visayas, Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan can still navigate long distances over open water without the use of modern navigational instruments.[1] Philippine ships, such as the karakao or korkoawere of excellent quality and some of them were used by the Spaniards in expeditions against rebellious tribes and Dutch and British forces. Some of the larger rowed vessels held up to a hundred rowers on each side besides a contingent of armed troops.[4] Generally, the larger vessels held at least one lantaka at the front of the vessel or another one placed at the stern.[1] Philippine sailing ships called praos had double sails that seemed to rise well over a hundred feet from the surface of the water. Despite their large size, these ships had double outriggers. Some of the larger sailing ships, however, did not have outriggers.

Communities of ancient Philippines were active in international trade, and they used the ocean as natural highways.[4] Early Filipinos were engaged in long-range trading with their Asian neighbors as far as west as Maldives and as far as north as Japan.[1] Some historians even proposed that they also had regular contacts with the people of Western Micronesia because it was the only area in the Oceania that had rice crops, tuba (fermented coconut sap), and tradition of betel nut chewing when the first Europeans arrived there. The uncanny resemblance of complex body tattoos among the Visayans and those of Borneo also proved some interesting connection between Borneo and ancient Philippines.[1] Magellan's chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, mentioned that merchants and ambassadors from all surrounding areas cameto pay tribute to the king of Sugbu (Cebu) for the purpose of trade. While Magellan's crew were with the king, a representative from Siam was paying tribute to the king.[1]Miguel López de Legazpi also wrote how merchants from Luzon and Mindorohad come to Cebu for trade, and he also mentioned how the Chinese merchants regularly came to Luzon for the same purpose.[1] The Visayan Islands had earlier encounter with the Greektraders in 21 AD.[7] Its people enjoyed extensive trade contacts with other cultures. Indians, Japanese, Arabs, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Thais, Malays and Indonesians as traders or immigrants.[8][9]

Aside from trade relations, the natives were also involved in aquaculture and fishing. The natives make use of the salambao, which is a type of raft that utilizes a large fishing net which is lowered into the water via a type of lever made of two criss-crossed poles. Night fishing was accomplished with the help of candles made from a particular type of resin similar to the copal of Mexico. Use of safe pens for incubation and protection of the small fry from predators was also observed, and this method astonished the Spaniards at that time.[1] During fishing, large mesh nets were also used by the natives to protect the young and ensure future good catches.

Mining and jewelry making[edit]

Mining in the Philippines began around 1000 BC. The early Filipinos worked various mines of gold, silver, copper and iron. Jewels, gold ingots, chains, calombigas and earrings were handed down from antiquity and inherited from their ancestors. Gold dagger handles, gold dishes, tooth plating, and huge gold ornamets were also used.[1] In Laszlo Legeza's "Tantric elements in pre-Hispanic Philippines Gold Art", he mentioned that gold jewelry of Philippine origin was found in Ancient Egypt.[1] According to Antonio Pigafetta, the people ofMindoro possessed great skill in mixing gold with other metals and gave it a natural and perfect appearance that could deceive even the best of silversmiths.[1] The natives were also known for the jewelries made of other precious stones such as carnelian, agate and pearl. Some outstanding examples of Philippine jewelry included necklaces, belts, armlets and rings placed around the waist.

Pottery[edit]

The ancient Philippines had a very rich tradition of pottery as verified by the finds at Ayub Cave in South Cotabato and other parts of the islands. Japanese texts mentioned trading expeditions to the island of Rusun (Luzon) for the highly-prized Rusun and Namban jars occurred. Japanese texts were very specific about these jars being made in Luzon. The Tokiko, for example, calls the Rusun and Namban jars, Ru-sun tsukuru or Lu-sung ch'i (in Chinese), which means simply "made in Luzon."[1] These Rusun jars, which hadrokuru (wheel mark), were said to be more precious than gold because of its ability to act as tea canisters and enhance the fermentation process.[1]

Philippine History

25,000 - 30,000 BC: Beyer's Migration Theory. The Aeta (Negrito), a short dark skinned, kinky-haired Pygmy, hailing from Central Asia, traveled to the Philippines by foot by way of the land bridges. The Aeto is purported to have brought to the archipelago skills in the use of the blow-gun and the bow and arrow.

22,000 BC: The approximated date of the remnats of the Tabon Cave Dweller which have been associated with te species knows as the Austroloid.

3,500 - 5,000 BC: Beyer's Migration Theory - The next two groups or waves of people arriving in the Philippines are Indonesian A and B. They are said to have introduced to the islands the home-edged weapons of the stone dager, stone-tipped spear and hand-held shield.

500 BC: Jocano's Theory - During the end of the Incipient Period, about the turn of the Millenium AD, Filipino contacts with the outside world became intensified, the major impetus being a relatively efficient maritime transportation.

200 BC: Beyer's Migration Theory - Three succesive waves of Malays arriving in the Philippines. The first Malays brought metal dagers, swords and spears.

100 BC: Beyer's Migration Theory - The second migratory wave was responsible for introducingthe ancient Visayan Baybayin Alphabet to the Philippines.

3 AD: Origin of the kris; believed to have beencrafted as a Hindu religous weapon with mystical powers.

200 AD: Francisco suggest that Baybayin Alphabet (aka Alibata) was brought to the archipelago by the Hindu Tamil by way of Malaysia around this time.

618 AD: Philippine - chinese contacts intesified during the Tang dynasty and peaked aroud the 14th to 15th centuries. It is believed that the Chinese introduced their fighting arts of kun-tao to the Royal Families as a gesture of good faith to trade relations. The practice of kun-tao has been maintained among the Samal Tausug, where it is known as langka-kuntaw.

977 AD: The Philippine island of Mindoro (known as Mai in Chinese) was known as a place of hospitality to Chinese traders and merchants.

1293 AD: The Srivijaya was succeeded by the Majapahit empire. During this time,Philipine-Indonesian relations intensified, and much of the so-called Indian cultural influences reached the Philippines.

1270 AD: Early evidence of an Islamic presence is furnished by a tombstone of a trader msissionary, in Indanan, Sulu. It bears the inscription "710 AH", using the Islamic dating system,which, in relation to the Christian calendar, approximates to this date.

1250 AD: Beyer's Migration Theory - The third wave of Malays believed to have been headed by the ten Bornean Datus whosettled in Panay. Legends of the 13th Century, as recorded in Maragtas (a written history of Panay) maintain that ten Dyak Datus (Muslim Chieftains) fled their homeland of Borneo - running from the cruel Sultan Makatunaw who had seized their property and ravaged their wives - sttled on Panay Island. The ten datus established the Confederation of Madyaas with Datu Sumakwel as its ruler. Sumakwel ruled this confederation through his Penal Code which was outlined in his book Maragtas. Known as the Maragtas Code, these are the oldest body of Laws believed to have existed in the Philippines.

1450 AD: Through the efforts of the trader, Sharif ul-Hasim Abubakr, Islam took deep roots in Sulu. Abubakr settled in Bwansa where he lived with its king, Rajah Baginda. Here Abubakr converted Baginda to Islam, married his daughter Paramisuli, and established Islam as the official religin of Sulu.

Pre-Colonial

Early Times - 1564

Filipinos often lose sight of the fact that the first period of the Philippine literary history is the longest. Certain events from the nation's history had forced lowland Filipinos to begin counting the years of history from 1521, the first time written records by Westerners referred to the archipelago later to be called "Las islas Filipinas". However, the discovery of the "Tabon Man" in a cave in Palawan in 1962, has allowed us to stretch our prehistory as far as 50,000 years back. The stages of that prehistory show how the early Filipinos grew in control over their environment. Through the researches and writings about Philippine history, much can be reliably inferred about precolonial Philippine literature from an analysis of collected oral lore of Filipinos whose ancestors were able to preserve their indigenous culture by living beyond the reach of Spanish colonial administrators.

The oral literature of the precolonial Filipinos bore the marks of the community. The subject was invariably the common experience of the people constituting the village-food-gathering, creature and objects of nature, work in the home, field, forest or sea, caring for children, etc. This is evident in the most common forms of oral literature like the riddle, the proverbs and the song, which always seem to assume that the audience is familiar with the situations, activities and objects mentioned in the course of expressing a thought or emotion. The language of oral literature, unless the piece was part of the cultural heritage of the community like the epic, was the language of daily life. At this phase of literary development, any member of the community was a potential poet, singer or storyteller as long as he knew the language and had been attentive to the conventions f the forms.

In settlements along or near the seacoast, a native syllabary was in use before the Spaniards brought over the Roman alphabet. The syllabary had three vowels (a, i-e, u-o) and 14 consonants (b, d, g, h, k, l, m, n, ng, p, r, s, t, w, and y) but, curiously enough, had no way of indicating the consonantal ending words. This lends credence to the belief that the syllabary could not have been used to produce original creative works which would all but be undecipherable when read by one who had had no previous contact with the text. When the syllabary fell into disuse among the Christianized Filipinos, much valuable information about precolonial culture that could had been handed down to us was lost. Fewer and fewer Filipinos kept records of their oral lore, and fewer and fewer could decipher what had been recorded in earlier times. The perishable materials on which the Filipinos wrote were disintegrate and the missionaries who believed that indigenous pagan culture was the handicraft of the devil himself destroyed those that remained.

There are two ways by which the uniqueness of indigenous culture survived colonization. First, by resistance to colonial rule. This was how the Maranaws, the Maguindanaws, and the Tausogs of Mindanao and Igorots, Ifugao, Bontocs and Kalingas of the Mountain Province were able to preserve the integrity of their ethnic heritage. The Tagbanwas, Tagabilis, Mangyans, Bagobos, Manuvus, Bilaan, Bukidnons, and Isneg could cling on the traditional way of life because of the inaccessibility of settlements. It is to these descendants of ancient Filipinos who did not come under the cultural sway of Western colonizers that we turn when we look for examples of oral lore. Oral lore they have been preserve like epics, tales, songs, riddles, and proverbs that are now windows to a past with no written records which can be studied.

Ancient Filipinos possessed great wealth of lyric poetry. There were many songs of great variety in lyrics and music as well as meter. Each mountain tribe and each group of lowland Filipinos had its own. Most of the may be called folksongs in that there can be traced in them various aspects of the life and customs of the people.

Precolonial poetry were composed of poems composed of different dialects of the islands. The first Spanish settlers themselves found such poetry, reproduced them, and recorded in their reports and letters to Spain. Although precolonial poems are distinct from the lyrics of the folksongs the said poems were usually chanted when recited, as is still the custom of all Asiatic peoples and Pacific Ocean tribes. It is true that many of the precolonial poetry is crude in ideology and phraseology as we look at it with our present advanced knowledge of what poetry should be. Considering the fact that early Filipinos never studied literature and never had a chance to study poetry and poetic technique, it is surprising that their spontaneous poetic expression had some rhythmic pattern in the use of equal syllabic counts for the lines of stanza, and have definitely uniform rhyming scheme. Spanish missionaries writing grammars and vocabularies had made good use of these early beginnings of Filipino poetry to illustrate word usage according to the dictionary and grammatical definitions they had cast.

Thousands of maxims, proverbs, epigrams, and the like have been listed by many different collectors and researchers from many dialects. Majority of these reclaimed from oblivion com from the Tagalos, Cebuano, and Ilocano dialects. And the bulk are rhyming couplets with verses of five, six seven, or eight syllables, each line of the couplet having the same number of syllables. The rhyming practice is still the same as today in the three dialects mentioned. A good number of the proverbs is conjectured as part of longer poems with stanza divisions, but only the lines expressive of a philosophy have remained remembered in the oral tradition. Classified with the maxims and proverbs are allegorical stanzas which abounded in all local literatures. They contain homilies, didactic material, and expressions of homespun philosophy, making them often quoted by elders and headmen in talking to inferiors. They are rich in similes and metaphors. These one stanza poems were called Tanaga and consisted usually of four lines with seven syllables, all lines rhyming.

The most appreciated riddles of ancient Philippines are those that are rhymed and having equal number of syllables in each line, making them classifiable under the early poetry of this country. Riddles were existent in all languages and dialects of the ancestors of the Filipinos and cover practically all of the experiences of life in these times.

Almost all the important events in the life of the ancient peoples of this country were connected with some religious observance and the rites and ceremonies always some poetry recited, chanted, or sung. The lyrics of religious songs may of course be classified as poetry also, although the rhythm and the rhyme may not be the same.

Drama as a literary from had not yet begun to evolve among the early Filipinos. Philippine theater at this stage consisted largely in its simplest form, of mimetic dances imitating natural cycles and work activities. At its most sophisticated, theater consisted of religious rituals presided over by a priest or priestess and participated in by the community. The dances and ritual suggest that indigenous drama had begun to evolve from attempts to control the environment. Philippine drama would have taken the form of the dance-drama found in other Asian countries.

Prose narratives in prehistoric Philippines consisted largely or myths, hero tales, fables and legends. Their function was to explain natural phenomena, past events, and contemporary beliefs in order to make the environment less fearsome by making it more comprehensible and, in more instances, to make idle hours less tedious by filling them with humor and fantasy. There is a great wealth of mythical and legendary lore that belongs to this period, but preserved mostly by word of mouth, with few written down by interested parties who happen upon them.

The most significant pieces of oral literature that may safely be presumed to have originated in prehistoric times are folk epics. Epic poems of great proportions and lengths abounded in all regions of the islands, each tribe usually having at least one and some tribes possessing traditionally around five or six popular ones with minor epics of unknown number.

Filipinos had a culture that linked them with the Malays in the Southeast Asia, a culture with traces of Indian, Arabic, and, possibly Chinese influences. Their epics, songs, short poems, tales, dances and rituals gave them a native Asian perspective which served as a filtering device for the Western culture that the colonizers brought over from Europe.

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