Culture of the Philippines | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 2018-11-06

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Culture of the Philippines

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SUMMARY
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The culture of the Philippines is a combination of cultures of the East and West. Filipino identity was created primarily as a result of pre-colonial cultures, colonial influences and Chinese traders intermixing together; gradually evolving into a uniquely Filipino identity. In pre-colonial times, the Philippines was a divided set of nations, islands and tribes being ruled by their own kings, chieftains, lakans, rajahs, datus and sultans. Every nation has its own identity and some are even part of a larger empire outside of what is now the Philippines. Manila, for example, was once part of the Bruneian Empire, while many parts of Mindanao is theorized to be part of the Majapahit Empire, with its capital being located in East Java in modern-day Indonesia. The advent of colonial rule in the islands marked the beginning of The Philippines as a colony that would later evolved into a country after independence, a collection of Southeast Asian countries united under Spain. Chinese influence has been felt throughout Southeast Asia through trade, even before the colonization of the region; specifically by the Ming dynasty and other earlier Chinese dynasties, from as early as the 9th century. But it was during Spanish colonization that Chinese-Filipino influence truly left their mark on what is now the Philippines. The blending of indigenous, colonial and external influence is very evident in the historic arts and traditions of the Philippines.
The Philippines was first settled by Negritos; today, although few in numbers, they preserve a very traditional way of life and culture. After them, the Austronesians arrived on the archipelago. Today, the Austronesian culture is strongly evident in the ethnicities, languages, cuisine, music, dance and almost every aspect of the culture. These Austronesians engaged in trading with other Austronesians, particularly in the neighbouring nations of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. They also traded with the mainland Southeast Asia, as well as Japan, China, the Indian subcontinent and Arabia. As a result, some of these cultures marked their influences on Philippine culture.The Spanish Empire then gradually colonized the islands between the 16th and 19th centuries (Batanes being one of the last places to be colonized in the mid-1800s), after more than three centuries of colonization, Roman Catholicism spread throughout the archipelago and  influenced the religion of the native people. Then, after being colonized by Spain, the Philippines became a U.S. territory for almost 50 years. Influence from the United States is manifested in the wide use of the English language, media and in the modern culture and clothing of present-day Philippines.