page_title: Cebuano people
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Cebuano people / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A Visayan Freemen couple
context_page_description: The Cebuano people are the largest subgroup of the larger ethnolingustic group Bisaya, who constitute the largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group in the country. Their primary language is the Cebuano language, an Austronesian language. They originated in the province of Cebu in the region of Central Visayas, but then later spread out to other places in the Philippines, such as Siquijor, Bohol, Negros Oriental, southwestern Leyte, western Samar, Masbate, and large parts of Mindanao. It may also refer to the ethnic group who speak the same language as their native tongue in different parts of the archipelago.
context_section_description: The earliest European record of Cebuanos was by Antonio Pigafetta of the Magellan expedition. He provided some descriptions of their customs as well as samples of the Cebuano language. Ferdinand Magellan was killed in Cebu during the Battle of Mactan against the forces of Lapu-Lapu.
  Later early Spanish colonists referred to the Cebuanos (and other Visayans) as the pintados ("the painted ones"), due to their widespread practice of tattooing to record battle exploits.
caption: A Visayan freemen (or timawa) couple, depicted in the Boxer Codex (c. 1595).
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