page_title: Ethnic groups in the Philippines
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Ethnic groups in the Philippines / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Inside the firth chamber of Callao Cave in Peñablanca, Cagayan. Photo was taken during Schadow1 Expeditions mapping project in Cagayan Valley.
context_page_description: The Philippines is inhabited by more than 175 ethnolinguistic nations, the majority of whose languages are Austronesian in origin. Many of these nations converted to Christianity, particularly the lowland-coastal nations, and adopted foreign elements of culture. Ethnolinguistic nations include the Ilocano, Ivatan, Pangasinan, Kapampangan, Tagalog, Bicolano, Visayans, Zamboangueño, Subanon, and more.
  In western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, there are ethnolinguistic nations who practice Islam. The Spanish called them Moros after the Moors, despite no resemblance or cultural ties to them apart from their religion. In the Agusan Marsh and the highlands of Mindanao, there are native ethnic groups collectively known as the Lumad. Most maintain their animistic beliefs and traditions, though some of them have converted to Christianity as well.
  The Negrito were among the earliest humans to settle the Philippines. The first known were the people of the Tabon man remains. The Negrito population was estimated in 2004 at around 31,000. Their tribal groups include the Ati, and the Aeta. Their ways of life remain mostly free from Western and Islamic influences.
context_section_description: Prehistoric Tabon Man, found in Palawan in 1962 was, until 2007, the oldest human remains discovered by anthropologists in the Philippines. Archaeological evidence indicates similarities with two early human fossils found in Indonesia and China, called the Java Man and Peking Man. In 2007, a single metatarsal from an earlier fossil was discovered in Callao Cave, Peñablanca, Cagayan. That earlier fossil was named as Callao Man.
  The Negritos arrived about 30,000 years ago and occupied several scattered areas throughout the islands. Recent archaeological evidence described by Peter Bellwood claimed that the ancestors of Filipinos, Malaysians, and Indonesians first crossed the Taiwan Strait during the Prehistoric period. These early mariners are thought to be the Austronesian people. They used boats to cross the oceans, and settled into many regions of Southeast Asia, the Polynesian Islands, and Madagascar.
  By the 14th century, the Malayo-Polynesian ethnolinguistic nations had dominated and displaced the Negrito population in most areas. Traders from southern China, Japan, India and Arabia, also contributed to the ethnic, and cultural development of the islands.
  In the 16th and 17th centuries, thousands of Japanese people traders also migrated to the Philippines and assimilated into the local population.
  By the 16th century, Spanish colonization brought new groups of people to the Philippines mainly Spaniards and Mexicans. Many settled in the Philippines, and intermarried with the indigenous population. This gave rise to the Filipino mestizo or individuals of mixed Austronesian and Hispanic descent.
  Far more numerous were Chinese immigrant workers, known as sangley, as many Chinese historically had been traders. They intermarried with native Filipinos, and their children and descendants were called mestizo de sangley. By the 19th century, the more successful among them had risen to become wealthy major landowners. They could afford to have their children educated in elite institutions in the Philippines and Europe.
  By the opening of the Suez Canal in the 1800s, the Spanish opened the Philippines for foreign trade. Europeans such as the British, Germans, and French settled in the islands to do business. By the end of the Spanish colonial period, the native ethnic groups of the Philippines began calling themselves Filipinos, a term that had begun as self-identification for persons of Spanish descent born in the Philippines.
  Following its victory in the Spanish–American War, the United States created a colonial authority in the Philippines in 1898. Military troops and businessmen made their way to the country, bringing in new culture and language.
caption: Inside the firth chamber of Callao Cave, where the remains of the Callao Man were discovered.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot D20", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2017-09-26T22:43+08:00", "Image Artist": "Ervin Malicdem", "Image Copyright": "\u00a9 Ervin Malicdem, 2013. All rights reserved.", "Image ExifOffset": "322", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[17, 212259/5000, 0]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "E", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[121, 245751/5000, 0]", "GPS GPSProcessingMethod": "[85, 78, 73, 67, 79, 68, 69, 0, 77, 0, 65, 0, 78, 0, 85, 0, 65, 0, 76, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "772", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/13", "EXIF FNumber": "39/10", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "3200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:03:29 09:05:52", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:03:29 09:05:52", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "59/16", "EXIF ApertureValue": "63/16", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "63/16", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "73/8", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3000", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1000000/61", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1000000/61", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Night"}