Ethnic groups in the Philippines
The Philippines is inhabited by more than 175 ethnolinguistic nations, the majority of whose languages are Austronesian in origin Han Chinese Japanese, Indian Filipino European as well as a small number of Americans. Many of these nations converted to Christianity the lowland-coastal nations, adopted many foreign elements of culture. Ethnolinguistic nations include the Ivatan, Kapampangan, Bicolano, Zamboangueño, more. In western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, there are ethnolinguistic nations; 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 human beings to settle the Philippines. The first known were the people of the Callao Man remains; the Negrito population was estimated in 2004 at around 31,000.
Their tribal groups include the Ati, the Aeta. Their ways of life remain free from Western and Islamic influences. Scholars study them to try to understand pre-Hispanic culture. Majority of the Filipinos are related to Malay people, a major family within the Malay language family. Other ethnolinguistic nations form a minority in the Philippine population; these include those of Japanese, Chinese the Hokkien and Cantonese, Indians the Punjabi and Keralites, Spanish. A 2008 genetic study showed no evidence of a large-scale Taiwanese migration into the Philippines; the Leeds University study, published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, showed that mitochondrial DNA lineages have been evolving within Island Southeast Asia since modern humans arrived 50,000 years ago. There is no genetic evidence for large-scale population replacement, displacement, or absorption to suggest replacement of preexisting hunting and gathering populations by farming-voyaging immigrants from Taiwan. Population dispersals occurred at the same time as sea levels rose, which resulted in migrations from the Philippines to as far north as Taiwan within the last 10,000 years.
Examination in the 2000's of mitochondrial DNA lineages showed that the neolithic culture had been evolving within Island Southeast Asia for a longer period than believed. Per co-author Stephen Oppenheimer, from the Oxford University School of Anthropology, population migrations were most to have been driven by climate change—the effects of the drowning of a huge ancient peninsula called Sundaland, that extended the Asian landmass as far as Borneo and Java; this happened during the period 15,000 to 7,000 years ago following the last Ice Age. Rising sea levels in three massive pulses caused flooding and the submergence of the Sunda Peninsula, creating the Java and South China Seas and the thousands of islands that make up Indonesia and the Philippines today. According to a 2008 study by Mark Donohue of the Australian National University and Tim Denham of Monash University, there is no linguistic evidence for an orderly north-to-south dispersal of the malay languages from Taiwan through the Philippines and into Island Southeast Asia.
The Philippine Statistics Department does not account for the racial background or ancestry of an individual. The official population of all types of mestizos that reside inside and outside of the Philippines remains unknown. Although a study provided by Stanford University found that European introgression into the Philippines was evident due to the period of colonization, it only genotyped 28 individuals from the Philippines. Results from such a small sample cannot be used with high confidence to characterize a population of 92 million persons. Old Spanish censuses state that as much as 33.5% or one third of the population of the main island of Luzon had full or partial Hispanic or Latino descent. According to another genetic study done by the University of California, they discovered that a “modest” amount of European genetic ancestry was found among some respondents who self-identified as Filipinos. A 2015, Y-DNA compilation by the Genetic Company: "Applied Biosystems", using samples taken from all over the Philippines, resulted in a 13.33% frequency of the European/Spanish Y-DNA R1b.
According to a massive DNA study conducted by the National Geographic's, "The Genographic Project", based on genetic testings of 80,000 Filipino people by the National Geographic in 2008–2009, they found that the average Filipino's genes are around 53% Southeast Asia and Oceania, 36% East Asian, 5% Southern European, 3% South Asian and 2% Native American. The minority aboriginal settlers in the Philippines were Negrito groups, an Australoid group and a left-over from the first human migration out of Africa to Australia. However, the people of the Philippines along with Papuans and Australian Aboriginals hold sizable Denisovan admixture in their genomes; the Chinese are the descendants of immigrants from Fujian in China after 1898, numbering around 2 million, although there are an estimated 27 percent of Filipinos who have partial Chinese ancestry, stemming from precolonial and colonial Chinese migrants. Intermarriage between the groups is evident in urban areas. On 2015, the Y-DNA compilation by the company, "Applied Biosystems", which used samples all across the Philippines, resulted in a 13.33% frequency of the European/Spanish Y-DN
Negros Island
Negros is the fourth largest island of the Philippines, with a land area of 13,309.60 km2. Negros is one of the many islands that comprise the Visayas, which forms the central division of the nation; the predominant inhabitants of the island region are called Negrenses. As of 2015, Negros' total population is 4,414,131 inhabitants. From May 29, 2015 to August 9, 2017, the whole island was governed as an administrative region, named the Negros Island Region which comprised the urbanized city of Bacolod and the provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, along with its corresponding outlying islands and islets within a total regional area of 13,350.74 km2. It was created on May 29, 2015 by virtue of Executive Order No. 183 issued by Benigno Aquino III, the president at that time. In August 9, 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Executive Order No. 38 dissolving the Negros Island Region. Negros was called Buglas, an old Hiligaynon word thought to mean "cut off", as it is believed that the island was separated from a larger landmass by rising waters during the last ice age.
Among its earliest inhabitants were the dark-skinned Ati people, one of several aboriginal Negrito ethnic groups dispersed throughout Southeast Asia that possesses a unique culture. The westernmost portions of the island soon fell under the nominal rule of the Kedatuan of Madja-as from the neighboring islands of Panay and Guimaras, while the easternmost areas were influenced by the Rajahnate of Cebu from neighboring Cebu Island. Upon arriving on the island in April 1565, the Spanish colonizers called the land Negros, after the dark-skinned natives they observed. Two of the earliest native settlements and Ilog, became towns in 1573 and 1584 while other settlements of the period included Hinigaran, Marayo and Candaguit. After appointing encomenderos for the island, Miguel López de Legazpi placed Negros under the jurisdiction of the governor of Oton in Panay. In 1734, the island became a military district with Ilog as its first capital; the seat of government was transferred to Himamaylan until Bacolod became the capital in 1849.
In 1865, Negros and its outlying minor islands along with Siquijor was converted into a politico-military province. In 1890, the island was partitioned into the present-day provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental; the Spanish Governor, D. Isidro Castro y Cinceros, surrendered to the Negros Revolutionaries, led by Aniceto Lacson and Juan Araneta, on 6 Nov. 1898. General Miller appointed Aniceto, Governor of the Island in March 1899. On 9 April 1901, the Second Philippine Commission under the chairmanship of William H. Taft arrived in Dumaguete. Weeks on 1 May, the civil government under American sovereignty was established, on 28 August, Dr. David S. Hibbard founded what is now Silliman University, with the help of Meliton Larena as the first Mayor of Dumaguete, as well as Demetrio Larena. From 3 to 6 November 1898, the Negrense peoples rose in revolt against the local Spanish colonial government headed by politico-military governor Colonel Isidro de Castro; the Spaniards decided to surrender upon seeing armed troops marching in a pincer movement towards Bacolod.
The revolutionaries, led by General Juan Araneta from Bago and General Aniceto Lacson from Talisay, bore fake arms consisting of rifles carved out of palm fronds and cannons of rolled bamboo mats painted black. By the afternoon of 6 November, Col. de Castro signed the Act of Capitulation, thus ending centuries of Spanish colonial rule in Negros Occidental. In memory of this event, every November 5 is observed as a special non-working holiday in the province through Republic Act № 6709, signed by President Corazon Aquino on 10 February 1989. On 27 November 1898, the Cantonal Republic of Negros unilaterally proclaimed independence, but this was short-lived as the territory became a protectorate of the United States on 30 April 1899; the state was renamed the Republic of Negros on 22 July 1899, dissolved by the United States and annexed by the U. S. Military Government of the Philippine Islands on 30 April 1901; the leaders of the short-lived republic were: Aniceto Lacson, November 05, 1898 – July 22, 1899 Demetrio Larena, November 24, 1898 – November 27, 1898 President of the Constituent Assembly José Luzuriaga, July 22, 1899 – November 06, 1899 Secretary of War Juan Araneta Civil Governor Melecio Severino, November 06, 1899 – April 30, 1901 Secretary of Justice Antonio Ledesma Jayme, November 05, 1898 – July 22, 1899 Regions were first formed on September 24, 1972 when the provinces of the Philippines were organized into different 11 regions by Presidential Decree No. 1 as part of the Integrated Reorganization Plan of President Ferdinand Marcos.
Negros Occidental was assigned to Western Visayas and Negros Oriental was assigned to Central Visayas. The movement for a single-island region started in the 1980s when officials of both provinces proposed a one-island, one-region unit. Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental are the only provinces in the Philippines situated in the same island but belonging to two different administrative regions with regional offices located in neighboring Panay and Cebu; the movement to unite the two provinces in Negros island was sustained in the 2010s. The campaign for the creation of a region in Negros had gains when President Benigno Aquino III directed the Department of the Interior and Local Government to study the establishment of a new region. With the government agency endorsing
Ethnic group
An ethnic group or an ethnicity, is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities such as common ancestry, history, culture or nation. Ethnicity is an inherited status based on the society in which one lives. Membership of an ethnic group tends to be defined by a shared cultural heritage, origin myth, homeland, language or dialect, symbolic systems such as religion and ritual, dressing style, art or physical appearance. Ethnic groups, derived from the same historical founder population continue to speak related languages and share a similar gene pool. By way of language shift, acculturation and religious conversion, it is sometimes possible for individuals or groups to leave one ethnic group and become part of another. Ethnicity is used synonymously with terms such as nation or people. In English, it can have the connotation of something exotic related to cultures of more recent immigrants, who arrived after the dominant population of an area was established; the largest ethnic groups in modern times comprise hundreds of millions of individuals, while the smallest are limited to a few dozen individuals.
Larger ethnic groups may be subdivided into smaller sub-groups known variously as tribes or clans, which over time may become separate ethnic groups themselves due to endogamy or physical isolation from the parent group. Conversely separate ethnicities can merge to form a pan-ethnicity and may merge into one single ethnicity. Whether through division or amalgamation, the formation of a separate ethnic identity is referred to as ethnogenesis; the term ethnic is derived from the Greek word ἔθνος ethnos. The inherited English language term for this concept is folk, used alongside the latinate people since the late Middle English period. In Early Modern English and until the mid-19th century, ethnic was used to mean heathen or pagan, as the Septuagint used ta ethne to translate the Hebrew goyim "the nations, non-Hebrews, non-Jews"; the Greek term in early antiquity could refer to any large group, a host of men, a band of comrades as well as a swarm or flock of animals. In Classical Greek, the term took on a meaning comparable to the concept now expressed by "ethnic group" translated as "nation, people".
In the 19th century, the term came to be used in the sense of "peculiar to a race, people or nation", in a return to the original Greek meaning. The sense of "different cultural groups", in American English "racial, cultural or national minority group" arises in the 1930s to 1940s, serving as a replacement of the term race which had earlier taken this sense but was now becoming deprecated due to its association with ideological racism; the abstract ethnicity had been used for "paganism" in the 18th century, but now came to express the meaning of an "ethnic character". The term ethnic group was first recorded in 1935 and entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1972. Depending on the context, used, the term nationality may either be used synonymously with ethnicity, or synonymously with citizenship; the process that results in the emergence of an ethnicity is called ethnogenesis, a term in use in ethnological literature since about 1950. Depending on which source of group identity is emphasized to define membership, the following types of groups can be identified: Ethno-linguistic, emphasizing shared language, dialect – example: French Canadians Ethno-national, emphasizing a shared polity or sense of national identity – example: Armenians Ethno-racial, emphasizing shared physical appearance based on genetic origins – example: African Americans Ethno-regional, emphasizing a distinct local sense of belonging stemming from relative geographic isolation – example: South Islanders Ethno-religious, emphasizing shared affiliation with a particular religion, denomination or sect – example: JewsIn many cases – for instance, the sense of Jewish peoplehood – more than one aspect determines membership.
Ethnography begins in classical antiquity. The Greeks at this time did not describe foreign nations but had developed a concept of their own "ethnicity", which they grouped under the name of Hellenes. Herodotus gave a famous account of what defined Greek ethnic identity in his day, enumerating shared descent, shared language shared sanctuaries and sacrifices shared customs. Whether ethnicity qualifies as a cultural universal is to some extent dependent on the exact definition used. According to "Challenges of Measuring an Ethnic World: Science and reality", in Challenges of Measuring an Ethnic World: Science and Reality: Proceedings of the Joint Canada-United States Conference on the Measurement of Ethni
Central Africa
Central Africa is the core region of the African continent which includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda. Middle Africa is an analogous term that includes Angola, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of the Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe. All of the states in the UN subregion of Middle Africa, plus those otherwise reckoned in Central Africa, constitute the Economic Community of Central African States. Since its independence in 2011, South Sudan has been included in the region; the Central African Federation called the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, was made up of what are now the nations of Malawi and Zimbabwe. The Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa covers dioceses in Botswana, Malawi and Zimbabwe, while the Church of Central Africa, Presbyterian has synods in Malawi and Zimbabwe; these states are now considered part of East or Southern Africa. The basin of Lake Chad has been ecologically significant to the populations of Central Africa, with the Lake Chad Basin Commission serving as an important supra-regional organization in Central Africa.
Archeological finds in Central Africa have been discovered dating back over 100,000 years. According to Zangato and Holl, there is evidence of iron-smelting in the Central African Republic and Cameroon that may date back to 3000 to 2500 BCE. Extensive walled settlements have been found in Northeast Nigeria 60 km southwest of Lake Chad dating to the first millennium BCE. Trade and improved agricultural techniques supported more sophisticated societies, leading to the early civilizations of Sao, Bornu, Shilluk and Wadai. Around 1000 BCE, Bantu migrants had reached the Great Lakes Region in Central Africa. Halfway through the first millennium BCE, the Bantu had settled as far south as what is now Angola; the Sao civilization flourished from ca. the sixth century BCE to as late as the sixteenth century CE in northern Central Africa. The Sao lived by the Chari River south of Lake Chad in territory that became part of Cameroon and Chad, they are the earliest people to have left clear traces of their presence in the territory of modern Cameroon.
Today, several ethnic groups of northern Cameroon and southern Chad but the Sara people claim descent from the civilization of the Sao. Sao artifacts show that they were skilled workers in bronze and iron. Finds include bronze sculptures and terra cotta statues of human and animal figures, funerary urns, household utensils, jewelry decorated pottery, spears; the largest Sao archaeological finds have been made south of Lake Chad. Note: BCE is the same as BC and CE is the same as AD; the Kanem-Bornu Empire was centered in the Chad Basin. It was known as the Kanem Empire from the 9th century CE onward and lasted as the independent kingdom of Bornu until 1900. At its height it encompassed an area covering not only much of Chad, but parts of modern southern Libya, eastern Niger, northeastern Nigeria, northern Cameroon, parts of South Sudan and the Central African Republic; the history of the Empire is known from the Royal Chronicle or Girgam discovered in 1851 by the German traveller Heinrich Barth.
Kanem rose in the 8th century in the region to the east of Lake Chad. The Kanem empire went into decline, in the 14th century was defeated by Bilala invaders from the Lake Fitri region; the Kanuri people led by the Sayfuwa migrated to the west and south of the lake, where they established the Bornu Empire. By the late 16th century the Bornu empire had expanded and recaptured the parts of Kanem, conquered by the Bulala. Satellite states of Bornu included the Damagaram in the west and Baguirmi to the southeast of Lake Chad; the Shilluk Kingdom was centered in South Sudan from the 15th century from along a strip of land along the western bank of White Nile, from Lake No to about 12° north latitude. The capital and royal residence was in the town of Fashoda; the kingdom was founded during the mid-fifteenth century CE by Nyikang. During the nineteenth century, the Shilluk Kingdom faced decline following military assaults from the Ottoman Empire and British and Sudanese colonization in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.
The Kingdom of Baguirmi existed as an independent state during the 16th and 17th centuries southeast of Lake Chad in what is now the country of Chad. Baguirmi emerged to the southeast of the Kanem-Bornu Empire; the kingdom's first ruler was Mbang Birni Besse. In his reign, the Bornu Empire conquered and made the state a tributary; the Wadai Empire was centered on the Central African Republic from the 17th century. The Tunjur people founded the Wadai Kingdom to the east of Bornu in the 16th century. In the 17th century there was a revolt of the Maba people. At first Wadai paid tribute to Bornu and Durfur, but by the 18th century Wadai was independent and had become an aggressor against its neighbors. Following the Bantu Migration from Western Africa, Bantu kingdomes and empires began to develop in southern Central Africa. In the 1450s, a Luba from the royal family Ilunga Tshibinda married Lunda queen Rweej and united all Lunda peoples, their son Mulopwe Luseeng expanded the kingdom. His son Naweej expanded the empire further and is known as the first Lunda emperor, with the title Mwata Yamvo, the "Lord of Vipers".
The Luba political system was retained, conquered peoples were integrated into the system. The mwata
Panay
Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth most-populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of 12,011 km2 and with a total population of 4,477,247. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City of Iloilo is its largest settlement with a total population of 447,992 inhabitants, it is a triangular island, located in the western part of the Visayas. It is about 160 km across, it is divided into four provinces: Aklan, Antique and Iloilo, all in the Western Visayas Region. It is located southeast of the island of northwest of Negros across the Guimaras Strait. Just off the mid-southeastern coast lies the island-province of Guimaras. To the north and northeast is the Sibuyan Sea, Jintotolo Channel and the islands of Romblon and Masbate. Panay is the only main island in the Visayas. Panay is bisected by the Central Panay Mountain Range, its longest mountain range; the island has many rivers, the longest being the Panay River at a length of 152 kilometres, followed by the Jalaur, Sibalom and Bugang rivers.
Standing at about 2,117 m, the dormant Mount Madia-as is the highest point of the island of Panay, with Mount Nangtud following next at 2,073 m. Before 1212, Panay was called Simsiman; the community was linked by a creek. The creek provided salt to the Ati people as well as animals which lick the salt out of the salty water. Coming from the root word "simsim", "simsimin" means "to lick something to eat or to drink", thus the place was called Simsiman. During the time of Datu Pulpulan, father of the Ati chief Marikudo, the island was called Aninipay from words "ani" to harvest and "nipay", a hairy grass abundant in the whole Panay; the hair of this grass though short is sharp and prick the skin as barbs and is difficult to remove. Once the barbs stick to the skin it can cause an extreme skin irritation. For this reason, Datu Pulpulan enacted a law that whoever among the Atis will use the nipay grass to endanger others will face death as punishment; when the Malay settlers arrived, they call the island Madia-as or Madja-as after the highest mountain in Panay, thought to be the sacred dwellings of the deities Bulalakaw and Kaptan and the divine lovers Sidapa and Bulan, as well as the abode of the judgement of the dead.
The picturesque mountain which stood majestically in the area was thought to be the sacred place of Bululakaw, their supreme god or bathala. The island was so named by the Malay settlers due to the splendid beauty and allure of Mount Madiaas / Madja-as. A Spaniard named Gonzalo Ronquillo reached the island and gave the name Pan hay which means "there's a bread" in the island; the place was called Pan-hay which became Panay. Panay was the seat of the ancient Confederation of Madja-as—the first pre-Hispanic Philippine state within the Visayas, the second Srivijayan colony in the archipelago, next to the Sulu Archipelago between Mindanao and Sabah; the island is purportedly named after the state of Pannai, a militant-country fronting the strait of Malacca and responsible for policing the shipping of the area as well as expelling invasions from Arabs and Chinese until the state was felled by a surprise attack from the back-flank emanating from the Tamil-occupied capital of Srivijaya. Madja-as was established by nine rebel datus or high officials connected with the court of Brunei, who were forced to leave that are on account of enmity of the Rajah at that time ruling the land.
The datus, together with their wives and children, as well as few faithful servants and followers were secretly escorted out of the country by the Rajah's Chief Minister, whose name was Datu Puti. The local folklore says, their ultimate origins may be traced to the sacking of the kingdom of Pannai at North Sumatra by the Chola dynasty who had placed puppet Rajahs on the throne after their invasion.. The island of Panay having been named after the dissolved kingdom of Pannai, they embarked on sailing rafts of the type used by the Visayans in Borneo. According to tradition, which survive in the local culture of Western Visayas, this seafaring vessel is called Balangay, from which Barangay—the smallest social unit in the present-day Philippines—came from; the semi-democratic confederation reached its peak during the 15th century under the leadership of Datu Padojinog when it warred against the Chinese Empire, the Rajahnate of Butuan, the sultanates of Sulu and Maguindanao. It was feared by the people of the Kingdom of Maynila and Tondo kingdoms.
It was integrated to the Spanish Empire through pacts and treaties by Miguel López de Legazpi and his grandson Juan de Salcedo. During the time of their hispanization, the principalities of the Confederation were developed settlements with distinct social structure, culture and religion. Among the archaeological proofs of the existence of this Hiligaynon nation are the artifacts found in pre-Hispanic tombs from many parts of the island, which are now in display at Iloilo Museum. Another testimony of the antiquity of this civilization is the longest and oldest epic in the region, the Hinilawod. According to Beyer and other historians, the migration of the settlers from the collapsing Srivijayan Empire to Panay happened i
Ati people
The Ati are a Negrito ethnic group in the Visayas, the central portion of the Philippine archipelago. Their small numbers are principally concentrated in the islands of Boracay and Negros, they are genetically related to other Negrito ethnic groups in the Philippines such as the Aeta of Luzon, the Batak of Palawan, the Mamanwa of Mindanao. In the Philippines the Aetas or Aeta ancestors were the aboriginals or the first inhabitants of this Archipelago, they most arrived from Borneo 20-30,000 years ago, through what is thought to be an isthmus that in the prehistoric epoch connected the Philippine archipelago to Borneo via a land bridge. According to some oral traditions, they predate the Bisaya, who now inhabit most of the Visayas. Legends, such as those involving the Ten Bornean Datus and the Binirayan Festival, tell tales about how, at the beginning of the 12th century when Indonesia and Philippines were under the rule of Indianized native kingdoms, the ancestors of the Bisaya escaped from Borneo from the persecution of Rajah Makatunaw.
Led by Datu Puti and Datu Sumakwel and sailing with boats called balangays, they landed near a river called Suaragan, on the southwest coast of Panay, bartered the land from an Ati headman named Polpolan and his son Marikudo for the price of a necklace and one golden salakot. The hills were left to the Atis while the rivers to the Malays; this meeting is commemorated through the Ati-atihan festival. This legend, though, is challenged by some historians. During the Spanish colonization, the tribe made contact with the conquistador Legazpi and were made useful in his colonization of Panay. Although Atis were aboriginal inhabitants of Boracay island, as the island gained fame for its white sand beaches and tourism developed apace in the latter years of the 1970s they lost their ancestral lands and many became homeless and faced discrimination. Many migrated to the mainland and around nearby Caticlan. However, in November 2018, land titles of 3.2 hectares were handed over to Atis. The Aeta of the north speak Sambalic languages.
The Ati speak a Visayan language known as Inati. As of 1980, the speakers of Inati number about 1,500. Hiligaynon and Kinaray-a are commonly used; the Ati practice a form of animism that involves evil spirits. These spirits are nature spirits that guard rivers, the sea, the sky, as well as the mountains. Sometimes, they may cause comfort; the Ati from Negros refer to them as taglugar or tagapuyo, which means "inhabiting a place." Christianity has been adopted due to less isolation and more contact with "outsiders". Not too long ago, like other Negritos in the country, their clothing was simple, with women wearing wraparound skirts, sometimes made out of bark cloth, men wearing loincloths; however today T-shirts and rubber sandals are common as daily clothes. Jewelry is simple in nature; some jewelry objects involve plants such as flowers. Ati are known in Panay as practitioners of herbal medicine. Locals seek their help in removing leeches from a person's body; the Aetas traditionally were nomadic people, with the Aetas of Panay being known as the most mobile.
Now they live in more permanent settlements like Barotac Vejo, island of Guimaras, Igkaputol and Badiang. The famous island of Boracay is still regarded as their ancestral land as the area known as Takbuyan, between the municipalities of Tobias Fournier and San Joaquin, on the southwestern coast of Panay. Few of them are now nomadic. Ati men traditionally join'sacadas' workers on time of harvest of sugar plants in places such as Negros or Batangas; the Ati are the central attraction in a festival named in their honor. It is said that the festival is held to commemorate the first appearance of the Roman Catholic Church and the Spaniards in the province of Aklan. According to oral tradition, the Ati helped the Spaniards conquer the native Visayans and, as a reward, the tribe was given a statue of the Santo Niño. In the Dinagyang festival of Iloilo City on Panay, performers are painted to look like Ati and are organized into "tribes", called "tribus", to perform dances with drums, as the Atis are supposed to have done when the Malay arrived and bought Panay from the Ati.
Dinagyang is held to celebrate this purchase as well as the arrival in Iloilo of the Santo Niño statue. When the statue first arrived in 1967, a tribe from the Ati-atihan festival was invited to Iloilo to mark the occasion. Atis information Single-page rendering of the same book Ati and Aeta fotos Boracay Island from the eyes of an Ati | Boracay Island
Philippines
The Philippines the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Situated in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon and Mindanao; the capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. Bounded by the South China Sea on the west, the Philippine Sea on the east and the Celebes Sea on the southwest, the Philippines shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Vietnam to the west, Palau to the east, Malaysia and Indonesia to the south; the Philippines' location on the Pacific Ring of Fire and close to the equator makes the Philippines prone to earthquakes and typhoons, but endows it with abundant natural resources and some of the world's greatest biodiversity. The Philippines has an area of 300,000 km2, according to the Philippines Statistical Authority and the WorldBank and, as of 2015, had a population of at least 100 million.
As of January 2018, it is the eighth-most populated country in Asia and the 12th most populated country in the world. 10 million additional Filipinos lived overseas, comprising one of the world's largest diasporas. Multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants, they were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Exchanges with Malay, Indian and Chinese nations occurred. Various competing maritime states were established under the rule of datus, rajahs and lakans; the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer leading a fleet for the Spanish, in Homonhon, Eastern Samar in 1521 marked the beginning of Hispanic colonization. In 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. With the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi from Mexico City, in 1565, the first Hispanic settlement in the archipelago was established.
The Philippines became part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. This resulted in Catholicism becoming the dominant religion. During this time, Manila became the western hub of the trans-Pacific trade connecting Asia with Acapulco in the Americas using Manila galleons; as the 19th century gave way to the 20th, the Philippine Revolution followed, which spawned the short-lived First Philippine Republic, followed by the bloody Philippine–American War. The war, as well as the ensuing cholera epidemic, resulted in the deaths of thousands of combatants as well as tens of thousands of civilians. Aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until after World War II, when the Philippines was recognized as an independent nation. Since the unitary sovereign state has had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a dictatorship by a non-violent revolution; the Philippines is a founding member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the East Asia Summit.
It hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank. The Philippines is considered to be an emerging market and a newly industrialized country, which has an economy transitioning from being based on agriculture to one based more on services and manufacturing. Along with East Timor, the Philippines is one of Southeast Asia's predominantly Christian nations; the Philippines was named in honor of King Philip II of Spain. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, during his expedition in 1542, named the islands of Leyte and Samar Felipinas after the then-Prince of Asturias; the name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before that became commonplace, other names such as Islas del Poniente and Magellan's name for the islands San Lázaro were used by the Spanish to refer to the islands; the official name of the Philippines has changed several times in the course of its history. During the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic.
From the period of the Spanish–American War and the Philippine–American War until the Commonwealth period, American colonial authorities referred to the country as the Philippine Islands, a translation of the Spanish name. Since the end of World War II, the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines. Philippines has gained currency as the common name since being the name used in Article VI of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, with or without the definite article. Discovery in 2018 of stone tools and fossils of butchered animal remains in Rizal, Kalinga has pushed back evidence of early hominins in the archipelago to as early as 709,000 years. However, the metatarsal of the Callao Man, reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago remains the oldest human remnant found in the archipelago to date; this distinction belonged to the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 26,500 years ago. Negritos were among the archipelago's earliest inhabitants, but their first settlement in the Philippines has not been reliably dated.
There are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Filipinos. F. Landa Jocano theorizes. Wilhelm Solheim's Island Origin Theory postulates that the peopling of the archipelago transpired via trade networks originating in the Sundaland area around
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Malaysia
Philippines
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Negritos". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the 
