1.
Visayan languages
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Visayan or Bisaya or Binisaya is a group of languages of the Philippines that are related to Tagalog and Bikol, all three of which are part of the Central Philippine languages. Some residents of Metro Manila also speak Visayan, over 30 languages constitute the Visayan language family. Native speakers of Visayan languages, especially Cebuano, Hiligaynon and Waray not only refer to their language by their local name and this is misleading or may lead to confusion as different languages may be called Bisaya by their respective speakers despite their languages being mutually unintelligible. However, languages that are classified within the Visayan language family, to speakers of Masbateño, Romblomanon, Surigaonon and Butuanon, the term Visaya usually refers to either Cebuano or Hiligaynon. Since Tausugs are mostly Muslims, they view the term Bisaya as a term referring to Christian Filipinos. There have been no proven accounts to verify the origins of Bisaya, however, there is an ethnic group in Malaysia and Brunei who call themselves with the same name. However, these groups in the Philippines must not be confused with those in Borneo. David Zorc gives the following classification for the Visayan languages. The five primary branches are South, Cebuan, Central, Banton, however, Zorc notes that the Visayan language family is more like a dialect continuum rather than a set of readily distinguishable languages. The South Visayan languages are considered to have diverged first, followed by Cebuan, notably, Baybayanon and Porohanon have Warayan substrata, indicating a more widespread distribution of Waray before Cebuano speakers started to expand considerably starting from the mid-1800s. A total of 36 varieties are listed below, individual languages are marked by italics. South Butuan-Tausug Tausug Butuanon Surigao Surigaonon Tandaganon 2, Central Warayan Waray Baybayanon Kabalian Peripheral Hiligaynon Capiznon Bantayanon Porohanon Ati Romblon Romblomanon Bisakol Masbateño Sorsoganon Southern Sorsogon Central Sorsogon 4. Ethnologue classifies the 25 Visayan languages into five subgroups, David Zorcs reconstruction of Proto-Visayan had 15 consonants and 4 vowels, vowel length, primary stress, and secondary stress are also reconstructed by Zorc. Visayan people Visayan script Bisalog Bislish Bisakol languages Kaipuleohones Robert Blust collection includes materials on Bisaya
2.
Tagalog language
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Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a quarter of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by the majority. Its standardized form, officially named Filipino, is officially the national language, the word Tagalog is derived from the endonym taga-log, composed of tagá- and ilog. Linguists such as Dr. David Zorc and Dr. Robert Blust speculate that the Tagalogs, the first written record of Tagalog is the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, which dates to 900 CE and exhibits fragments of the language along with Sanskrit, Old Malay, Javanese and Old Tagalog. The first known book to be written in Tagalog is the Doctrina Christiana. Tagalog differs from its Central Philippine counterparts with its treatment of the Proto-Philippine schwa vowel *ə, in Bikol and Visayan, this sound merged with /u/ and. In Tagalog, it has merged with /i/, for example, Proto-Philippine *dəkət is Tagalog dikít and Visayan & Bikol dukot. Proto-Philippine *r, *j, and *z merged with /d/ but is /l/ between vowels, Proto-Philippine *ŋajan and *hajək became Tagalog ngalan and halík. Proto-Philippine *R merged with /ɡ/. *tubiR and *zuRuʔ became Tagalog tubig, the first substantial dictionary of the Tagalog language was written by the Czech Jesuit missionary Pablo Clain in the beginning of the 18th century. Clain spoke Tagalog and used it actively in several of his books and he wrote the first dictionary, which he later passed over to Francisco Jansens and José Hernandez. Tagalog was declared the language by the first constitution in the Philippines. In 1939, President Quezon renamed the proposed Tagalog-based national language as wikang pambansâ, in 1959, the language was further renamed as Pilipino. The 1987 constitution designated Filipino as the national language mandating that as it evolves, it shall be developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine. The regional languages are the official languages in the regions. In secondary school, Filipino and English become the primary languages of instruction and it is the first language by a quarter of the population of the Philippines and a second language by the majority. Tagalog is a Central Philippine language within the Austronesian language family, being Malayo-Polynesian, it is related to other Austronesian languages, such as Malagasy, Javanese, Malay, Tetum, and Yami. It is closely related to the languages spoken in the Bicol Region and the Visayas islands, such as the Bikol group and the Visayan group, including Hiligaynon and Cebuano. At present, no comprehensive dialectology has been done in the Tagalog-speaking regions, though there have been descriptions in the form of dictionaries and grammars of various Tagalog dialects. Some example of differences are, Many Tagalog dialects, particularly those in the south, preserve the glottal stop found after consonants
3.
Southeast Asia
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Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies near the intersection of geological plates, with seismic and volcanic activity. Southeast Asia consists of two regions, Mainland Southeast Asia, also known historically as Indochina, comprising Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar. Maritime Southeast Asia, comprising Indonesia, East Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, East Timor, Brunei, Cocos Islands, definitions of Southeast Asia vary, but most definitions include the area represented by the countries listed below. All of the states are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the area, together with part of South Asia, was widely known as the East Indies or simply the Indies until the 20th century. Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea, Papua New Guinea has stated that it might join ASEAN, and is currently an observer. Southeast Asia is geographically divided into two subregions, namely Mainland Southeast Asia and Maritime Southeast Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia includes, Maritime Southeast Asia includes, The Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India are geographically considered part of Southeast Asia. Eastern Bangladesh and the Seven Sister States of India are culturally part of Southeast Asia, the eastern half of Indonesia and East Timor are considered to be biogeographically part of Oceania. Homo sapiens reached the region by around 45,000 years ago, homo floresiensis also lived in the area up until 12,000 years ago, when they became extinct. Austronesian people, who form the majority of the population in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, East Timor. Solheim and others have shown evidence for a Nusantao maritime trading network ranging from Vietnam to the rest of the archipelago as early as 5000 BC to 1 AD. The peoples of Southeast Asia, especially those of Austronesian descent, have been seafarers for thousands of years and their vessels, such as the vinta, were ocean-worthy. Magellans voyage records how much more manoeuvrable their vessels were, as compared to the European ships, Passage through the Indian Ocean aided the colonisation of Madagascar by the Austronesian people, as well as commerce between West Asia and Southeast Asia. Gold from Sumatra is thought to have reached as far west as Rome and this was later replaced by Hinduism. Theravada Buddhism soon followed in 525, in the 15th century, Islamic influences began to enter. This forced the last Hindu court in Indonesia to retreat to Bali, in Mainland Southeast Asia, Burma, Cambodia and Thailand retained the Theravada form of Buddhism, brought to them from Sri Lanka. This type of Buddhism was fused with the Hindu-influenced Khmer culture, very little is known about Southeast Asian religious beliefs and practices before the advent of Indian merchants and religious influences from the 2nd century BCE onwards. Prior to the 13th century CE, Hinduism and Buddhism were the religions in Southeast Asia
4.
Philippines
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The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is a sovereign island 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, Visayas, and Mindanao, the capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. The Philippines has an area of 300,000 square kilometers, and it is the eighth-most populated country in Asia and the 12th most populated country in the world. As of 2013, approximately 10 million additional Filipinos lived overseas, multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelagos earliest inhabitants and they were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Exchanges with Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Islamic nations occurred, then, various competing maritime states were established under the rule of Datus, Rajahs, Sultans or Lakans. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan 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 Philippines became part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. This resulted in Roman 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. Aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until after World War II, since then, the Philippines has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a dictatorship by a non-violent revolution. It is a member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. It also hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank, 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, eventually the name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before that became commonplace, other such as Islas del Poniente. 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 1898 Treaty of Paris, the name Philippines began to appear, since the end of World War II, the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines. The metatarsal of the Callao Man, reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago is the oldest human remnant found in the archipelago to date and this distinction previously belonged to the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 26,500 years ago. Negritos were also among the archipelagos 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
5.
Bohol
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Bohol is a 1st provincial income class island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. With a land area of 4,821 km2 and a coastline 261 km long, to the west of Bohol is Cebu, to the northeast is the island of Leyte and to the south, across the Bohol Sea, is Mindanao. The province of Bohol is a first-class province divided into 3 congressional districts, the province is a popular tourist destination with its beaches and resorts. The Chocolate Hills, numerous mounds of limestone formations, are the most popular attraction, the formations can be seen by land or by air via ultralight air tours. Panglao Island, located just southwest of Tagbilaran, is famous for its diving locations and is listed as one of the top ten diving locations in the world. Numerous tourist resorts and dive centers dot the southern beaches, the Philippine tarsier, amongst the worlds smallest primates, is indigenous to the island. A narrow strait separates the island of Cebu and Bohol, Bohols climate is generally dry, with maximum rainfall between the months of June and October. The interior is cooler than the coast and it was the home province of Carlos P. Garcia, the eighth president of the Republic of the Philippines who was born in Talibon, Bohol. On 15 October 2013, Bohol was devastated by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake whose epicenter was 6 km south of Sagbayan town, the earthquake, which also hit southern Cebu, claimed 156 lives altogether and injured 374 people. It also destroyed or damaged a number of Bohols heritage churches, Bohol was first settled by Australoid people, like the rest of the Philippines. They still inhabit the island today and are known as the Eskaya tribe and their population also was absorbed into the Austronesian or Malayo-Polynesian peoples who later settled the islands and form the majority of the population. The Austronesian people living on Bohol traded with other islands in the Philippines and as far as China, the people of Bohol are said to be the descendants of a group of inhabitants who settled in the Philippines called pintados or tattooed ones. Boholanos already had a culture of their own as evidenced by artifacts unearthed at Mansasa, Tagbilaran, Bohols first indigenous people settled in the Anda peninsula. These people came from northeast Mindanao and these people were responsible for the Anda petrographs which are one of the most important indigenous rock writing in the country. Around the 12th century, a group of people from Northern Mindanao settled in the strait between mainland Bohol and the island of Panglao and those people came from a nation in northern Mindanao called Lutao. They occupied both shores and the island of Panglao. The kedatuan was first built with hardwood on the soft seabed and it engaged it trade with nearby areas and some Chinese merchants. Alcina tales about a nation he called the Venice of the Visayas
6.
Cebu
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Cebu is a 1st provincial income class island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consisting of the main island itself and 167 surrounding islands and islets. Its capital is Cebu City, the oldest city and first capital of the Philippines, Cebu City forms part of the Cebu Metropolitan Area together with four neighboring cities and eight other local government units. Mactan-Cebu International Airport, located in Mactan Island, is the second busiest airport in the Philippines, Cebu is one of the most developed provinces in the Philippines, with Cebu City as the main center of commerce, trade, education and industry in the Visayas. In a decade it has transformed into a hub for shipping, furniture-making, tourism, business processing services. The name Cebu came from the old Cebuano word sibu or sibo and it was originally applied to the harbors of the town of Sugbu, the ancient name for Cebu City. Alternate renditions of the name by traders between the 13th to 16th centuries include Sebu, Sibuy, Zubu, or Zebu, among others, Sugbu, in turn, was derived from the Old Cebuano term for scorched earth or great fire. The Rajahnate of Cebu was a native kingdom which existed in Cebu prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. It was founded by Sri Lumay otherwise known as Rajamuda Lumaya and he was sent by the Maharajah to establish a base for expeditionary forces to subdue the local kingdoms, but he rebelled and established his own independent Rajahnate instead. The arrival of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 established a period of Spanish exploration and colonization, losing favor for his plan of reaching the Spice Islands from king Manuel I of Portugal, by sailing west from Europe, Magellan offered his services to king Charles I of Spain. On 20 September 1519, Magellan led five ships with a crew of 250 people from the Spanish fort of Sanlúcar de Barrameda en route to southeast Asia via the Americas and they reached the Philippines on 16 March 1521. Rajah Kolambu the king of Mazaua told them to sail for Cebu, arriving in Cebu City, Magellan, with Enrique of Malacca as translator, befriended Rajah Humabon the Rajah or King of Cebu and persuaded the natives of allegiance to Charles I of Spain. Humabon and his wife were given Christian names and baptized as Carlos, the Santo Niño was presented to the native queen of Cebu, as a symbol of peace and friendship between the Spaniards and the Cebuanos. On 14 April Magellan erected a wooden cross on the shores of Cebu. Afterwards, about 700 islanders were baptized, Magellan soon heard of datu Lapu-Lapu, a native king in nearby Mactan Island, a rival of the Rajahs of Cebu. It was thought that Humabon and Lapu–Lapu had been fighting for control of the trade in the area. On 27 April the Battle of Mactan occurred where the Spaniards were defeated, according to Italian historian and chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, Magellans body was never recovered despite efforts to trade for it with spice and jewels. Magellans second-in-command, Juan Sebastián Elcano took his place as captain of the expedition and sailed their fleet back to Spain, survivors of the Magellan expedition brought tales of a savage island in the East Indies with them when they returned to Spain. Consequently, several Spanish expeditions were sent to the islands but all ended in failure, in 1564, Spanish explorers led by Miguel López de Legazpi, sailing from Mexico, arrived in 1565, and established a colony
7.
Leyte
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Leyte /ˈleɪtɛ/ is an island in the Visayas group of the Philippines. Politically, the island is divided into two provinces, Leyte and Southern Leyte, territorially, Southern Leyte includes the island of Panaon to its south. To the north of Leyte is the province of Biliran. The major cities of Leyte are Tacloban, on the shore at the northwest corner of Leyte Gulf. The island was once the location of Mairete, a community which was ruled by Datu Ete. Before being colonized by Spain, the island was home to indigenous animist Warays to the east. Leyte today is notable for the electric power plants near Ormoc. However, Leyte is most famous for its role in the reconquest of the Philippines in World War II. On 20 October 1944, General Douglas MacArthur waded ashore on Leyte, saying, I have returned, the convergence of naval forces resulted in the four-day Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history. The island measures about 180 kilometres north-south and about 65 kilometres at its widest point, in the north it nearly joins the island of Samar, separated by the San Juanico Strait, which becomes as narrow as 2 kilometres in some places. The island province of Biliran is also to the north of Leyte and is joined to Leyte island by a bridge across the narrow Biliran Strait, to the south, Leyte is separated from Mindanao by the Surigao Strait. To the east, Leyte is somewhat set back from the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, Samar to the northeast, to the west is the Camotes Sea. Leyte is mostly forested and mountainous, but the Leyte Valley in the northeast has much agriculture. The Leyte Provincial capital is the seat of the government where there is a historic mural depicting the First Mass of Limasawa in the Orient. The MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park in Red Beach, Palo and it also has a lagoon where a life-size statue of Gen. MacArthur stands. MacArthurs true landing took place at Dulag, Leyte, lake Danao is a violin-shaped lake hemmed by cloud-capped mountain ranges. Kalanggaman Island in Palompon, Leyte is an island with pure white sand. The ecological atmosphere of the island had been preserved by the municipality, nino Shrine and Heritage Museum boasts the painting of the fourteen stations of the cross done by Filipino artists and a bas-relief of the legend of the first Filipino man and woman
8.
Negros Island
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Negros is an island in the Philippines, which is the fourth largest in the country with a total land area of 13,309.60 km2. Negros is one of the islands comprise the Visayas, which forms the central division of the nation. It was created by virtue of Executive Order No.183 issued by President Benigno Aquino III on May 29,2015, the predominant inhabitants of the island region are mainly called Negrenses. As of 2015, Negros Island Regions total population is 4,414,131. Negros was originally called Buglas, an old Hiligaynon word thought to mean cut off, 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 fell under the nominal rule of the Kedatuan of Madja-as from the neighbouring islands of Panay. Upon arriving on the island in April 1565, the Spanish colonisers called the land Negros after the natives they observed. After appointing encomenderos for the island, Miguel López de Legazpi placed Negros under the jurisdiction of the governor of Oton on Panay, in 1734, however, 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 Philippine Revolutionaries, led by Aniceto Lacson and Juan Araneta, 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, 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 movement towards Bacolod. By the afternoon of 6 November, Col. de Castro signed the Act of Capitulation, 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, the state was renamed the Republic of Negros on 22 July 1899, and eventually dissolved by the United States and annexed by the U. S. Military Government of the Philippine Islands on 30 April 1901,1 as part of the Integrated Reorganization Plan of President Ferdinand Marcos. Negros Occidental was assigned to Western Visayas while Negros Oriental became part of 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. This led to the filing of House Bill No.1477 titled An Act Merging the Province of Negros Occidental and Oriental into One-Island Region
9.
Panay
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Panay Island, is the sixth largest and fourth most populous island in the Philippines. With a total area of 12,011 Sq. km. Iloilo City, is the largest city on the island, with a population of 447,992. It is an island, located in the western part of the Visayas. It is about 160 kilometres across, it is divided into four provinces, Aklan, Antique, Capiz and Iloilo and it is located southeast of the island of Mindoro and northwest of Negros, separated by the Guimaras Strait. Between Panay and Negros lie the island-province of Guimaras, to the north and northeast is the Sibuyan Sea and the islands of Romblon, to the west and southwest is the Sulu Sea and to the south is Panay Gulf. Panay River, is the longest river in the island, Mount Madja-as in Antique, is the second highest peak on the island with an elevation of 2,117 m above sea level. Mount Nangtud, is the highest mountain in Panay, standing at 7,234 ft. above sea level, Located on the border of Barbaza, Antique and Jamindan, before 1212, Panay was called Simsiman. The community is located at the shores of the Ulian river and 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 something to eat or to drink. During the time of Datu Pulpulan, father of the Ati chief Marikudo, the island was called Aninipay from words ani to harvest and nipay, the hair of this grass though short is very sharp and easily prick the skin as barbs and is very difficult to remove. Once the barbs stick to the skin it can cause a skin irritation. For this reason, Datu Pulpulan enacted a law that whoever among the Atis will use the grass to endanger others will face death as punishment. The picturesque mountain which stood majestically in the area was thought to be the place of Bululakaw. The island was so named by the Malay settlers due to the splendid beauty, a Spaniard named Gonzalo Ronquillo reached the island and also gave the name Pan hay which means theres a bread in the island. The place was then called Pan-hay which eventually became Panay, 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 escorted out of the country by the Rajahs Chief Minister. The local folklore says that the name of the Bornean Rajah was Makatunao and 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
10.
Samar
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Samar is an island in the Visayas, within central Philippines and the third largest island in the country. The island is divided into three provinces, Samar province, Northern Samar province, and Eastern Samar province and these three provinces, along with the provinces on the nearby islands of Leyte and Biliran are part of the Eastern Visayas region. Samar is an easternmost island in Visayas, the island is separated from Leyte by the San Juanico Strait, which at its narrowest point is only about 2 kilometres across. This strait is crossed by the San Juanico Bridge, Samar lies southeast of the Bicol Peninsula on Luzon, the countrys largest island, the San Bernardino Strait separates the two. To the south of Samar is the Leyte Gulf, the site of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the gulf opens out into the Philippine Sea, found to the east of Samar and is part of the Pacific Ocean. Samar was the first island of the Philippines sighted by the Spanish expedition of Ferdinand Magellan on 16 March 1521 after having left the Mariana Islands, realizing he had arrived at an archipelago he charted the islands as San Lazaro because they were sighted on Lazarus Saturday. Catbalogan was the central sanitary garbage landfill of Samar province, media related to Samar at Wikimedia Commons Samar Island travel guide from Wikivoyage
11.
Kanlaon
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Kanlaon, also spelled as Kanla-on or sometimes Canlaon, is an active stratovolcano on the island of Negros, Philippines. It is the highest point in Visayas region, with an elevation of 8,087 ft. above sea level, the volcano is a favorite spot for mountain climbers and is the centerpiece of Mount Kanlaon Natural Park, a national park originally established on August 8,1934. It is one of the volcanoes in the Philippines and part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Kanlaon has an elevation of 2,465 m at its highest point. Also its 2,435 m in some sources, with a diameter of 30 km and is dotted with pyroclastic cones. Just below and north of the summit is the active Lugud crater, north of Lugud is a 2 by 0.8 km caldera, known as Margaja Valley, with a small crater lake. The volcano has three hot springs on its slopes, Mambucal Hot Springs on the northwest, Bucalan Hot Spring and its adjacent volcanic edifices are Mount Silay and Mount Mandalagan, north of Kanlaon. Canlaon, the city that has jurisdiction on the Negros Oriental side of the volcano, the most active volcano in the central Philippines, Kanlaon has erupted 28 times since 1919. Eruptions are typically phreatic explosions of small-to-moderate size that produce minor ash falls near the volcano, in 1902, the eruption was classified as strombolian, typified by the ejection of incandescent cinder, lapilli and lava bombs. The age of the volcano is not yet estimated, volcanic activity at Kanlaon is continuously monitored by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, the governments bureau that monitors the volcano and earthquakes in the country. Kanlaon Volcano Observatory is located at the campus of La Carlota City College in the barangay of Cubay, the local authorities rescued 17 others, including 10 Belgians, another British climber and six Filipinos. One of the Belgians, Caroline Verlinde, said she and her group were about to leave a site near the rim when suddenly the volcano ejected ash, stone. She ran to a tree for cover and saw her friends being hit by falling hot stones and she said their Filipino guide told them the smoke billowing out from the crater was just hard. PHIVOLCS noted in a 22 March report that since January 2001 earthquake clusters or occurrences have been recorded by the seismic monitoring network around the volcano. These earthquakes may signify a reactivation of the system at depth and could be a precursor to more vigorous activity. This interpretation is based on similar earthquake clusters manifested prior to the 10 August 1996 phreatic explosion from the summit crater of the volcano. In view of the possibility of an ash ejection, PHIVOLCS recommends the immediate suspension of all treks to the summit crater until further notice. As an additional precaution, the pre-defined 4-km-radius Permanent Danger Zone should be avoided at all times, an increase in seismic activity during February to April 2002 was followed by raising alert on the volcano
12.
Central Visayas
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Central Visayas is a region of the Philippines, designated as Region VII. It is located in the part of the Visayas island group. Cebu City is the regional center, the region is dominated by the native speakers of Cebuano. The land area of the region is 10,102 square kilometres, on May 29,2015, the region was redefined, when Region VII lost the province of Negros Oriental to the newly formed Negros Island Region. By virtue of Executive Order No.183 issued on May 29,2015 by President Benigno Aquino III, in the 2013 electoral roll, it had 4,114,046 registered voters, meaning that 68% of the population are aged 18 and over. According to the 2015 census, it had a population of 6,041,903, the 2015 census showed an average annual population growth rate of 1. 76% from 2010 to 2015, slightly higher than the national average of 1. 72%. Cebuano is the dominant language of the region, the Central Visayas region consists of 3 provinces and 3 independent cities, Negros Oriental was formerly a part of Region VII. President Benigno Aquino III signed the Executive Order No.183, Cebu City is the main media hub for both the region. Most of these stations broadcast local news and public affairs as well as entertainment, aside from the 24 national daily newspapers available, Cebu City also has 20 local newspapers. Among the widely read are the Sun Star Cebu, the countrys main Islamic news journal, The Voice of Islam, was founded in 1961 and published in this city. The Port of Cebu is the main gateway. There are also ports in Tagbilaran in Bohol and Larena in Siquijor, inter-island shipping is served by numerous shipping lines, two of them fastcraft companies which serve all the provinces in the region. The Mactan-Cebu International Airport, located in Lapu-Lapu City, is the second busiest airport. It is the airline hub of Cebu Pacific, and secondary hub for Philippine Airlines and its subsidiaries. It also serves international flights to other Asian and intercontinental destinations, other airports in the region are Tagbilaran Airport, serves Tagbilaran and Bohol with flights to Manila. Media related to Central Visayas at Wikimedia Commons Central Visayas travel guide from Wikivoyage
13.
Eastern Visayas
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Eastern Visayas is an administrative region in the Philippines, designated as Region VIII. It consists of three islands, Samar, Leyte and Biliran. The region has six provinces, one independent city and one highly urbanized city namely, Biliran, Leyte, Northern Samar, Samar, Eastern Samar, Southern Leyte, Ormoc, the highly urbanized city of Tacloban is the Eastern Visayas Regional Center. These provinces and cities occupy the easternmost islands of the Visayas group of islands, Eastern Visayas faces the Philippine Sea to the east. The region is known for its famous landmark, the San Juanico Bridge, dubbed as the Most Beautifully Designed, as of 2015, the region has a population of 4,440,150 people. Eastern Visayas lies on the east central section of the Philippine archipelago and it consists of three main islands, Leyte, Samar, and Biliran which form the easternmost coast of the archipelago. It has a land area of 2,156,285 hectares or 7. 2% of the country’s total land area. 52% of its land area are classified as forestland and 48% as alienable and disposable land. There are two types of climate prevailing in the region under the Corona system of classification, Type II, Type II climate is characterized by having no dry season but a pronounced maximum rainfall from November to January. Samar Island and the part of Leyte Island fall under this type of climate. Type IV on the hand has an even distribution of rainfall the year round. This type of climate is well exhibited at the half of Leyte island. In November 2013, the region was hit with the highest death toll in the country by Typhoon Haiyan, the regions sea and inland waters are rich sources of salt and fresh water fish and other marine products. It is one of the fish exporting regions of the country, there are substantial forest reserves in the interiors of the islands. Its mineral deposits include chromite, uranium, gold, silver, manganese, magnesium, bronze, nickel, clay, coal, limestone, pyrite and sand and it has abundant geothermal energy and water resources to support the needs of medium and heavy industries. Waray-Waray is the lingua franca of the Eastern Visayas Region spoken on the island of Samar, Biliran, a Sama language, distantly related to the languages of the region, called Abaknon is spoken in the island of Capul in Northern Samar. Cebuano is spoken in western and southern parts of Leyte and in Southern Leyte, Eastern Visayas consists of 6 provinces,1 highly urbanized city,1 independent component city,5 component cities,136 municipalities and 4,390 barangays. Eastern Visayas is primarily an agricultural region with rice, corn, coconut, sugarcane, primary sources of revenue are manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade and services
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Western Visayas
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Western Visayas is an administrative region in the Philippines, numerically designated as Region VI. It consists of five provinces, and one highly urbanized city, the province of Palawan was transferred to Region VI on May 23,2005 by Executive Order 429. The Department of the Interior and Local Government announced in June 2005 that the transfer had been completed, however, Palaweños criticized the move, citing a lack of consultation, with most residents in Puerto Princesa City and all municipalities but one preferring to stay with Region IV-B. Consequently, Administrative Order No.129 was issued on August 19,2005 to address this backlash and this Order directed the abeyance of Executive Order 429 pending the approval of an implementation plan for the orderly transfer of Palawan from Region IV-B to Region VI. Hence, Palawan is currently part of Region IV-B. By virtue of Executive Order No, Western Visayas consists of the major island of Panay and the smaller Guimaras, as well as several outlying islands. The region is bordered to the north by the Sibuyan Sea, northeast by the Visayan Sea, east by the Guimaras Strait, south by the Iloilo Strait and the Panay Gulf, and west by the Sulu Sea. Western Visayas consists of 5 provinces,1 highly urbanized city,2 component cities,98 municipalities and 3,389 barangays, the languages native to the inhabitants of Western Visayas are, Aklanon, spoken in Aklan, northern Antique and northwestern Capiz. Capiznon, spoken in Capiz, northeastern Iloilo and eastern Aklan, hiligaynon, spoken in Iloilo, Guimaras, Capiz, Antique and Aklan. Kinaray-a, spoken in Antique, southern Iloilo, Guimaras, western Capiz, kalibo International Airport Iloilo International Airport Godofredo P. Media related to Western Visayas at Wikimedia Commons Philippine Standard Geographic Code
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Cebu City
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Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu, is the capital city of the province of Cebu in Central Visayas and is the second city of the Philippines after Manila. In the 2016 electoral roll, it had 630,003 registered voters, Cebu City is a significant center of commerce, trade and education in the Visayas. The city is located on the side of Cebu island. It is the first Spanish settlement, the countrys oldest city, and it is considered as the Fount of Christianity in the Far East. Cebu is the Philippines main domestic shipping port and is home to about 80% of the countrys shipping companies. Across Mactan Strait to the east is Mactan Island, Metro Cebu has a total population of 2,849,213 as of 2015, making it the second most-populous metropolitan area of the nation after Metro Manila in Luzon. The name Cebu came from the old Cebuano word sibu or sibo and it was originally applied to the harbors of the town of Sugbu, the ancient name for Cebu City. Sugbu, in turn, was derived from the Old Cebuano term for scorched earth or great fire, before the arrival of the Spaniards, Cebu city was part of the island-rajahnate and trade center of Pulua Kang Dayang or Kangdaya, now better known as the Rajahnate of Cebu. It was founded by a prince of the Hindu Chola dynasty of Sumatra, the name Sugbu refers to Sri Lumays scorched earth tactics against Muslim Moro raiders. On 7 April 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan landed in Cebu and he was welcomed by Rajah Humabon, the grandson of Sri Lumay, together with his wife and about 700 native islanders. Magellan, however, was killed in the Battle of Mactan, the last ruler of Sugbu, prior to Spanish colonization, was Rajah Humabons nephew, Rajah Tupas. They Christianized some natives and Spanish remnants in Cebu, the Spanish arrived in Cebu on 15 April 1565. They then attempted to parley with the ruler, Rajah Tupas, but found that he. Rajah Tupas presented himself at their camp on 8 May, feast of the Apparition of Saint Michael the Archangel, the Treaty of Cebu was formalized on 3 July 1565. López de Legazpis party named the new city Villa de San Miguel de Cebú, in 1567 the Cebu garrison was reinforced with the arrival of 2,100 soldiers from New Spain. The growing colony was then fortified by Fort San Pedro, by 1569 the Spanish settlement in Cebu had become important as a safe port for ships from Mexico and as a jumping-off point for further exploration of the archipelago. Small expeditions led by Juan de Salcedo went to Mindoro and Luzon, one year later, López de Legazpi departed Cebu to discuss a peace pact with the defeated Rajahs. On 14 August 1595, Pope Clement VIII created the diocese of Cebu as a suffragan to the Archdiocese of Manila
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Visayans
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The Visayans is an umbrella term for the Philippine ethnolinguistic groups native to the whole Visayas, to the southernmost islands of Luzon and to most parts of Mindanao. They are speakers of one or more Visayan languages, the most widely spoken being Cebuano and Hiligaynon, many have, at some point in their lives, migrated to Metro Manila out of economic necessity brought about by centralization around it. They comprise the largest grouping in the division of the country. Filipino author and artist John Kingsley Pangan categorized the Visayans into two groups called the Madja-as Visayans and the Sugbu Visayans. Madja-as Visayans are the group from the islands of Panay, Guimaras, Romblon and Negros Occidental. The term comes from the confederacy of the islands called Kedatuan of Madja-as. They originated also from the Austronesian aborigines and the Srivijayan empire, the colonizers also described these Visayans also as white people, who have among them some blacks—the ancient inhabitants of the island and not described as tattooed. They originated from both the Austronesian aborigines and the Tamils through the Chola dynasty, who in turn first settled in Sugbu. ”Kabisay-an refers both to the Visayan people collectively and the lands they have inhabited since prehistory. The Anglicized term Visayas is commonly used to refer to the latter and these should not, however, be confused as dialects, given the lack of mutual intelligibility. Grabiel Ribera, captain of the Spanish royal infantry in the Philippine Islands, the earliest settlements in the Visayan islands were from valley-dwelling Austronesians and highland-dwelling Negrito dated around 30,000 BC. These early settlers were mostly Animist tribes, in the 12th century, Hindu-Buddhist descendants from the late Śrīvijayan maṇḍala, Majapahit and Brunei, settled the islands. By the 14th century, Arab traders and their followers who ventured into Maritime Southeast Asia, Visayans practiced a mixture of Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist beliefs although there were also groups that were varied, some groups exclusively practiced Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism. There is also evidence of trade and immigration between other Asian peoples in the area as early as the 9th century, One of this Westerners account says that the adventures of this ancient hero of Panay was recalled during weddings and in songs. It was said that they originated from an area within the Śrīvijayan maṇḍala during the early 13th century. In an attempt to escape the rule of a Rajah Makatunaw and the subsequent dissolution of the maṇḍala. The island at time was ruled by an Ati chief Marikudo who was later given a golden sadok. It was said that the name for the inhabitants, Bisaya, was derived from their polity of origin, the Visayans first encountered Western Civilization when Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan reached the island of Cebu in 1521. The Visayas became part of the Spanish colony of the Philippines, the 16th century marks the beginning of the Christianization of the Visayan people, with the baptism of Rajah Humabon and about 800 native Cebuanos
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Aklanon people
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The Aklanon people are part of the wider Visayan ethnolinguistic group, who constitute the largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group. Aklanon form the majority in the province of Aklan in Panay and they are also found in other Panay provinces such as Iloilo, Antique, and Capiz, as well as Romblon. Like the other Visayans, Aklanons have also found their way to Metro Manila, Mindanao, the Aklanons are descendants of the Austronesian-speaking immigrants who came to the Philippines during the Iron Age. They got their name from the river Akean, which means there is boiling or frothing. Aklan, originally known as Minuro it Akean, is considered to be the oldest province in the country and is believed to have established as early as 1213 by settlers from Borneo. According to the tales of the Maragtas, Aklan once enjoyed primacy among the carved out in Panay by the 10 Bornean datus. These datus, after fleeing the tyranny of Rajah Makatunaw of Borneo and they then established the sakup of Hamtik, Akean, and Irong-irong, cultivated the land, and renamed the new nation as the Confederation of Madya-as. The datus supposedly landed in Malandog, Hamtik, where a marker commemorates the event which is reenacted in the Binirayan Festival, tradition holds that the first ruler of Aklan was Datu Dinagandan who was dethroned in 1399, by Kalantiaw. In 1433, Kalantiaw III formulated a set of laws that is today as the Code of Kalantiaw. William Henry Scott, a well-known American historian, later debunked the Code of Kalantiaw as a fraud, however, many Filipinos, including Aklanons and other Visayans continue to believe this legend as true. The capital of Akean changed several times, towards the end of the 14th century, Datu Dinagandan moved the capital from the present Batan, which was captured in 1399 by Chinese adventurers under Kalantiaw. Kalantiaw established then a dynasty but it ended when his successor, Kalantiaw III, was slain in a duel with Datu Manduyog. When Manduyog became the new ruler, he moved the back to Bakan in 1437. Several datus succeeded Manduyog and when Miguel Lopez de Legaspi landed in Batan in 1565, during the Spanish era, Aklanons were generally peaceful and did not revolt against Spanish rule in the area. Both were successful in ridding the area of Spaniards, currently, Aklanons enjoy some form of self-reliance since Aklan is now a province of the Philippines. Some Aklanons have also been active in Philippine politics, which includes Alejandro Melchor, Victorino Mapa, and Cardinal Jaime Sin, Aklanons are also known throughout the Philippines due to the location of Boracay, one of the major tourist destinations in the country. They are culturally close to the Karay-a and Hiligaynons and this similarity has been shown by customs, traditions, and language. Aklanons speak the Aklan languages, which includes Aklanon and Malaynon, Ati is also spoken to some extent
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Cebuano people
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The Cebuano people The Cebuano people reside in the Cebu Province in the Central Visayas of the Philippines. It may also refer to the group who speak the Cebuano language as their mother tongue in different parts of the country. Oceanic or Austronesian people called Malayo-Polynesians settled Cebu island and the rest of the Philippines around 30,000 years ago, most Cebuanos today have Malayo-Polynesian ancestry. The Cebuano language has been spoken since the Proto-Austronesian era in the Sugbu heartland, pintados was the term used by Spanish colonists to describe the tattooed indigenous Cebuano Visayan people. They were found on the islands of Cebu, Bohol, eastern part of Negros, Samar, the word itself means painted, and was first used during the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. The ancient Cebuanos developed a culture with significant influence from mainly Japan, China, India and they traded pearls and coral for silk, gold, weapons and spices. The early Cebuanos held animist beliefs and worshiped anitos until the introduction of Roman Catholicism, the famous encounter between explorer Magellan and the local chieftain Lapu-Lapu ended in the death of Magellan at the Battle of Mactan. The Cebuanos held off colonization for a while until a Spanish explorer colonized Cebu, along with the rest of the Philippines, Cebu was governed from Spain and Mexico, and as a result received heavy Spanish and Mexican influence. There are thousands of Mexican Spanish loanwords in Cebuano, Mexican and Spanish influence is evident in the cuisine, traditional costumes, dances, music, festivals, traditions and crafts. Cebuano culture is characterized as a blend of Malay and Hispanic traditions with influences from Asia. The majority of Cebuanos are Roman Catholic, among the islands notable festivities are the Sinulog festival, which is a mixture of Christian and native cultural elements, celebrated annually every third week of January. The Cebuano language is spoken by about 25,000,000 people in the Philippines and is the most widely spoken of the Visayan languages. Most speakers of Cebuano are found in Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, Biliran, Western and Southern Leyte, eastern Negros, demographics of the Philippines Ethnic groups in the Philippines Cebu Cebuano language Visayan people Rajahnate of Cebu
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Cuyunon people
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Cuyunon refers to an ethnic group populating Cuyo, northern and central Palawan. The Cuyunons are originally from Cuyo, and the surrounding Cuyo Islands and they are considered an elite class among the hierarchy of native Palaweños. PE, DATU DAVID NEGOSA, DATU ANTONIO J. SABANDO, DATU RODOLFO P. ACOSTA, DATU ASHILON JOYA, DATU KRIS PHILIP ACOSTA, DATU JUAN MARTINEZ, DATU RAMON DAGSA, DATU MELECIO ARQUE, ACOSTA, DATU JUANITO PIO LLEDO, and DATU BOY SABANDO. During the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, Cuyo was one of the territories of Palawan that had the strongest Spanish presence, the first Miss Philippines was a Cuyunon. And, when Vietnam, opened its doors to the world and it was also a Cuyunon who topped the Philippines very first Civil Service Examination- Mr. Procopio Macolor, Sr. Known as Cuyonon, Cuyono, Cuyunon, Kuyunon, Kuyunen etc, the Cuyono originated genetically and linguistically from Panay Island in the central Philippines since 1250’s AD but with Malayan roots from Banjarmaasin in Borneo Island 1,000 years ago. Then they came from Pallavas, India about 2,000 years among the Malayalam people in India who are descents of the Jewish, Arabic, Persian, a Cuyono is highly distinguishable thru his circumcision practice and part of the Malayan sub-language. As an elite group in Palawan, the Cuyono of today is usually a Roman Catholic. His mother home town of Cuyo Group of Islands in Northern Palawan was occupied by Spaniards for about 300 years after the Chinese occupation, due to these connections, the Cuyono is a world class citizen who can easily adapt in most foreign lands and islands. The Cuyonon Tribe, unlike most of the Philippines’ homogeneous tribal groups, is a heterogeneous tribe. The Cuyonon ancestors could be traced back to the ancient migrants and traders who settled down in Palawan like the Chinese, Arabs, Jews, Indians, Malays, Vishayans, Spanish and other Europeans. Therefore, there is also a greater wisdom when the Cuyonon tribe claimed the entire Palawan territories as part, the Cuyonon since in the very beginning is a seafearer, fisherman and aquaculturist. He lives most of his time by the seaside or island in order to do a living. But before reaching back to the island of Cuyo, he still collects bird’s nests in El Nido, the Cuyonon of today is the product of the history of Palawan for about a thousand years. He is the protector of this place as the vanguard of its environment and this tribe, being an elite one, rules Palawan politics for quite some time now. And there is a saying that “the Cuyonon is the denominator of the Palawan’s people of today. MAGPAMATI SA IBA = Listen to everyone, Dont be loud or aggressive in your opinions and views for wisdom is a gift. Blessed are the elders, for the Counsel of Years of their lives makes the edifice of teachings and we will listen to them as we listen to prophets of time
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Eskaya people
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The unique Eskayan language and writing system in particular has been a source of fascination and controversy. Some journalists argued that the Eskaya were historically displaced from the Middle East, according to Eskaya mythology, the language and script was created through divine inspiration by the ancestor Pinay who based it on the human body. Suppressed by the Spanish colonists, Pinays language was said to have resurfaced under the leadership of Mariano Datahan, Today, the Eskaya are officially classified as an Indigenous Cultural Community under The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997. A number of reports have suggested that Eskaya linguistic and cultural education has been in decline since the mid-1980s. The original Eskaya settlement in Biabas, was established in 1902, in 1951, the second township of Taytay was founded by Fabian Baja in accordance with Datahans directions. Significant Eskaya populations are now found in the nearby townships of Canta-ub, Lundag, Tambongan, Cadapdapan. In 1996, the Eskaya community was awarded a certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim by President Fidel Ramos, an official census of the Eskaya population has not yet been made. One report estimates that in 1991 there were 130 Eskaya families living in Bohol, the Eskayas speak a Boholano dialect of Cebuano in daily life. Boholano-Bisaya is the used language among the languages spoken by the members of the Eskayan tribe. However, they are known for an auxiliary language, known as Eskayan, or Ineskaya, which is used for prayers, songs. Lexically, Eskayan shows no relationship with any known language although there is strong. A striking feature of the language is its unusual phonotactics, the Eskayan writing system takes the form of a syllabary of over 1,000 characters, all modeled on parts of the human body including internal organs. This unique script has been compared variously to Phoenician, Etruscan, Hebrew, while there are no mother-tongue speakers of Eskayan, it is taught to both adults and children in volunteer-run cultural schools. The Eskayan language and script has been the object of ongoing controversy, under the direction of Mariano Datahan, the group converted en masse to the nascent Philippine Independent Church in about 1902. Community members revere the entity Suno which is conflated with the Santo Niño, the biki, or bishop, is responsible for performing harvest ceremonies and other rituals such as house blessing. Before a house can be constructed, a ritual is performed in which a spiritual leader asks the permission of the spirits, if permission is not granted, the builder must select a new site. The Eskaya also retain spiritual traditions once widespread in lowland Boholano rural communities, the teaching of Eskayan in the volunteer schools is one of the few remaining cultural practices of the Eskaya community. Formerly, Eskaya men would wear shirts made of raffia with a Chinese-style collar, black breeches
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Hiligaynon people
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Over the years, intermigrations and intramigrations have contributed to the diaspora of the Hiligaynon to different parts of the Philippines. Now, the Hiligaynon form the majority in the provinces of Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Guimaras, Capiz, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, the term Hiligaynon is derived from the Spanish term Yliguenes, which is then derived from the Hiligaynon word Iligan or Iliganon. From here are two divergent proposals of origin for the word, the second proposal puts forth that Iligan or Iliganon is derived from manog-ilig sang kawayan, a phrase that describes bamboo poles that Panay men would float downriver in order to sell the poles. This activity becomes mistaken by the Spanish as the name of the indigenous residents, the term Ilonggo is derived from the Spanish term irong-irong, referring to the Filipino word for nose and an islet in the Batiano River in Panay. Thus, both terms are interchangeable in referring to the culture of the people, or the people themselves. According to a 2000 census,7. 5% of the population is Hiligaynon/Ilonggo, compared to 28. 1% Tagalog. 6% and 80. 7%, respectively. Like many other Filipino ethnic groups such as the Ilocano, there are organized associations of migrant Hiligaynon that aim to celebrate their culture through their own communities, several publicly known organizations are concentrated in California and Hawaii, among other locations in the United States. Most Hiligaynon are Christians, with a majority of these Christians being Roman Catholics, there are also smaller populations of Hiligaynon who are Aglipayan, Protestant, and Muslim. The Hiligaynon language is part of the Visaya family of languages in the islands of the Philippines. Ultimately, it is a Malayo-Polynesian language like other languages spoken by Filipino ethnic groups. This language is marked by its song-like intonation in speech, while also having a more prevalent l sound than r sound and its related language on Panay, Kinaray-a, is similar to Hiligaynon but older. Throughout the nation, the Hiligaynon speak Tagalog and English as second languages, there has also been overlap between the Visayan languages in terms of vocabulary and the knowledge of the languages by the Hiligaynon. The local economy of the Hiligaynon is mostly based on agriculture and fishing, as well as the production of woven cloths, recently, a statue was erected in Iloilo City that celebrates the contributions of the Ilonggo in agriculture and fishing. Ang Linay Sang Iloilo makes references to growing, sugarcane, and fishing, standing to emphasize the economic importance of Iloilo -. Rice and sugarcane are significant agricultural products that are produced in great volume, the Spanish became the catalysts for large-scale agricultural production, dividing Panay into encomienda and enlisting the natives of Panay, including the Hiligaynon, into labor for the haciendas. By the 19th century, the industry became more expansive and modernized due to the confluence of increased port access and new technology. A Spanish royal decree in 1855 ordered that the port be opened, given the safe location of the port, and a long-standing history of trade, Iloilo was an ideal international port, thus becoming integrated into the international trade of the 19th century. The British vice-consul in Iloilo, Nicholas Loney, was instrumental in introducing technological and financial resources to the sugar elites
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Negrito
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The Negrito are several ethnic groups who inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia. The Negrito peoples show strong similarities with the Pygmy peoples of Africa but are genetically closer to surrounding Southeast Asian populations. They may be descended from ancient Australoid-Melanesian settlers of Southeast Asia, the word Negrito is the Spanish diminutive of negro, used to mean little black person. Many on-line dictionaries give the plural in English as either negritos or negritoes, the plural in Spanish is negritos. The appropriateness of using the label Negrito to bundle together peoples of different ethnicity based on similarities in stature, Haplogroup O-P31 is also common among Austroasiatic-speaking Negrito peoples, such as the Maniq and the Semang. Aeta men are of great interest to genetic, anthropological and historical researchers because at least 83% of them belong to haplogroup K2b, in the form of its rare primary clades K2b1* and P*. Most Aeta males carry K-P397, which is uncommon in the Philippines and is strongly associated with the indigenous peoples of Melanesia and Micronesia. Basal P* is rare outside the Aeta and some groups within Maritime South East Asia. The use of single-nucleotide polymorphism shows the genomes of Andamanese people to be closest to those of South Asians and this suggests a relation between Andaman islanders and South Asians. Bulbeck likewise noted that the Andamaneses nuclear DNA clusters with that of other Andamanese Islanders, as they carry Haplogroup D-M174, however, this is a subclade of the D haplogroup which has not been seen outside of the Andamans, a fact that underscores the insularity of these tribes. Analysis of mtDNA, which is inherited exclusively by maternal descent, all Onge belong to M32 mtDNA, a subgroup of M, which is unique to Onge people. Their parental Y-DNA is exclusively Haplogroup D, which is only found in Asia. These were specific mtDNA mutations that are shared exclusively by Australian aborigines and these Indian tribes, a study of human blood group systems and proteins in the 1950s suggested that the Andamanese peoples were more closely related to Oceanic peoples than African Pygmy peoples. Genetic studies on Philippine Negritos, based on polymorphic blood enzymes and antigens, Negrito peoples may descend from Australoid-Melanesian settlers of Southeast Asia. Despite being isolated, the different peoples do share similarities with their neighboring populations. They also show relevant phenotypic variations which require explanation, in contrast, a recent genetic study found that unlike other early groups in Malesia, Andamanese Negritos lack the Denisovan hominin admixture in their DNA. Denisovan ancestry is found among indigenous Melanesian and Aboriginal Australian populations between 4–6%, indeed this sentiment is echoed in a more recent work from 2013 which concludes that at the current level of genetic resolution. There is no evidence of an ancestral population for the different groups traditionally defined as “negritos. ”A number of features would seem to suggest a common origin for the Negritos and Negrillos
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Ati people
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The Ati are a Negrito ethnic group in the Visayas, the central portion of the Philippine archipelago. Their small numbers are concentrated in the islands of Boracay, Panay. They are genetically related to other Negrito ethnic groups in the Philippines such as the Aeta of Luzon, the Batak of Palawan, in the Philippines the Aetas or Aeta ancestors were the aboriginals or the first inhabitants of this Archipelago. They most probably arrived from Borneo 20-30,000 years ago, according to some oral traditions, they also predate the Bisaya, who now inhabit most of the Visayas. The hills were left to the Atis while the plains and rivers to the Malays and 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. Currently, the tribe is threatened due to encroachments into their territory, another problem they face is discrimination. The Aeta of the north speak Sambalic languages, which are part of the Central Luzon family, the Ati speak a Visayan language known as Inati. As of 1980, the speakers of Inati numbere about 1,500, visaya and Kinaray-a are also commonly used. The Ati practice a form of animism that involves good and evil spirits and these spirits are nature spirits that often guard rivers, the sea, the sky, as well as the mountains. Sometimes, they may cause disease or comfort, the Ati from Negros refer to them as taglugar or tagapuyo, which literally means inhabiting a place. Christianity has also been adopted due to 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 out of bark cloth. However today T-shirts, pants, and rubber sandals are common as daily clothes, some jewelry objects involve plants such as flowers, while others use animal bones, particularly the teeth of pigs. Ati are known in Panay as practitioners of herbal medicine, locals often seek their help in removing leeches from a persons 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, Tina and Badiang (San Jose de Buenavista. Very 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 the Ati-atihan festival, a festival named in their honor and 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
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Ethnic groups in the Philippines
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The islands of the Philippines are inhabited by more than 175 Ethnolinguistic Nations, the majority of whose own languages are Austronesian languages in origin. Many of these nations converted to Christianity, particularly the lowland-coastal nations, in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, there are ethnolinguistic nations who practice Islam. The Spanish called them Moros after the Moors, in the Agusan Marsh and the highlands of Mindanao, there are native ethnic groups collectively known as the Lumad. Unlike the Moros, these people do not practice Islam, and maintain their animistic beliefs, the Negrito are a pre-Austronesian people who migrated from mainland Asia and were one of the earliest human beings to settle the Philippines, around 90,000 years ago. 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, and the Aeta and their ways of life remain mostly free from Western and Islamic influences. Scholars study them to try to understand pre-Hispanic culture, most Filipinos are Malayo-Polynesian, a major family within the Austronesian language family. Other ethnolinguistic nations form a minority in the Philippine population, mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity individuals are known as mestizo. A2008 genetic study showed no evidence of a large-scale Taiwanese migration into the Philippines, 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 of mitochondrial DNA lineages showed that the culture had been evolving within Island Southeast Asia for a longer period than previously believed. This happened during the period 15,000 to 7,000 years ago following the last Ice Age, 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, 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 island of Luzon had full or partial Hispanic or Latino descent. Prehistoric Tabon Man, found in Palawan in 1962 was, until 2007, archaeological evidence indicates similarities with two early human fossils found in Indonesia and China, called the Java Man and Peking Man. In 2007, a metatarsal from an earlier fossil was discovered in Callao Cave, Peñablanca. That earlier fossil was named as Callao Man, the Negritos, several ethnolinguistic nations of the Australoid race, 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 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, by the 14th century, the Malayo-Polynesian ethnolinguistic nations had dominated and displaced the Negrito population in most areas
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Island groups of the Philippines
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The geographical divisions of the Philippines are the three island groups of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Luzon and Mindanao are both named after the largest island in their groups, while the Visayas is an archipelago. If a province is reassigned into a new region, it can also be reassigned to a new group, as is the case with Palawan. The island groups themselves do not have governments of their own, but are divided into provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays. Although the island groups do not have local governments, hence capitals, certain cities have become the political, economic, Manila is the national capital and is the de facto capital of Luzon, though neighbouring Quezon City, a former capital, has more inhabitants than Manila. Cebu, on the province and island of the name, is the chief city of the Visayas. Mindanaos main city is Davao, towards its southeast
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Luzon
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Luzon (/luːˈzɒn/, Tagalog pronunciation, is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. It is ranked 15th largest in the world, with a population of 52.99 million as of 2015, it is the fourth most populous island in the world, containing about 53% of the countrys total population. Luzon may also refer to one of the three island groups in the country. The name Luzon is thought to derive from the Tagalog word lusong, from just before the first millennium, the Tagalog and Kapampangan peoples of south and central Luzon had established several Indianized kingdoms, notably among them those of Tundok and Namayan. The Laguna Copperplate Inscription, the first Philippine document written in 900AD, names places in and these kingdoms were based on leases between village rulers and landlords or Rajahs, to whom tributes and taxes were levied. These kingdoms were coastal thalassocracies based on trade with neighboring Asian political entities at that time, some parts of Luzon were Islamized when the Sultanate of Brunei expanded its realms from Borneo to the Philippines and set up the Kingdom of Maynila as its puppet-state. In addition, other kingdoms like the Wangdom of Pangasinan had become tributary states to China and were largely Sinified kingdoms, certain kilns were renowned over others and prices depended on the reputation of the kiln. Of this flourishing trade, the Burnay jars of Ilocos are the large clay jar manufactured in Luzon today with origins from this time. The Yongle Emperor instituted a Chinese Governor on Luzon during Zheng Hes voyages, China also had vassals among the leaders in the archipelago. China attained ascendancy in trade with the area in Yongles reign, in the 1500s, people from Luzon were called Lucoes and were actively employed in trading, seafaring and military campaigns across Southeast Asia. The Portuguese were the first European explorers who recorded it in their charts as Luçonia or Luçon, edmund Roberts, who visited Luzon in the early 19th century, wrote that Luzon was discovered in 1521. Many people from Luzon had active-employment in Portuguese Malacca and his father and wife carried on his maritime trading business after his death. Another important Malacca trader was Curia de Raja who also hailed from Luzon, the surname of de Raja or diraja could indicate that Regimo and Curia, and their families, were of noble or royal descent as the term is an abbreviation of Sanskrit adiraja. Pinto noted that there were a number of Lucoes in the Islamic fleets that went to battle with the Portuguese in the Philippines during the 16th century, the Sultan of Aceh gave one of them the task of holding Aru in 1540. Pinto also says one was named leader of the Malays remaining in the Moluccas Islands after the Portuguese conquest in 1511, pigafetta notes that one of them was in command of the Brunei fleet in 1521. However, the Luções did not only fight on the side of the Muslims, pinto says they were also apparently among the natives of the Philippines who fought the Muslims in 1538. On Mainland Southeast Asia, Lusung/Lucoes warriors aided the Burmese king in his invasion of Siam in 1547 AD, at the same time, Lusung warriors fought alongside the Siamese king and faced the same elephant army of the Burmese king in the defence of the Siamese capital at Ayuthaya. Scholars have thus suggested that they could be valued by all sides
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Mindanao
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Mindanao is the second largest and southernmost major island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three groups in the country, consisting of the island of Mindanao and smaller outlying islands. As of the 2010 census, the population itself is 20,281,545 people, while the Mindanao island group has 21,968,174 inhabitants. Davao City is the most populous city in Mindanao hosting 1,632,991 people, followed by Zamboanga City, Cagayan de Oro City, the island has seen a communist insurgency as well as armed Moro separatist movements. Mindanao is considered the food basket of the Philippines, eight of the top 10 agri-commodities exported from the Philippines come from here. Mindanao is also dubbed with the monikers The Philippines Land of Promise, although many attempts made, it was never occupied by Spain for their 333 years of stay in Luzon and Visayas. Yet during Spains defeat and Treaty of Paris in 1898, they illegally included by coordinates Mindanao, evidence of human occupation dates back tens of thousands of years. In prehistoric times the Negrito people arrived, sometime around 1500 BC, Austronesian peoples spread throughout the Philippines and far beyond. Native people of the Maluku Islands refer the island as Maluku Besar, the evidence of old stone tools in Zamboanga del Norte may indicate a late Neolithic presence. Ceramic burial jars, both unglazed and glazed, as well as Chinese celadons, have found in caves, together with shell bracelets, beads. Many of the objects are from the Yuan and Ming periods. Evidently, there was a history of trade between the Subanon and the Chinese long before the latter’s contact with Islam. In the Classic epoch of Philippine history, the people of Mindanao were heavily exposed to Hindu and Buddhist influence and beliefs from Indonesia, artifacts found from this era include the Golden kinnara, Golden Tara, and the Ganesh pendant. These cultural traits passed through Mindanao into the Visayas and Luzon, in coastal areas, the Hindu-Buddhist cultural revolution was strongest, whereas in interior parts, influences were indigenized into local animist beliefs and customs and appeared more subtly. The Darangen epic of the Maranao people harkens back to this era as the most compete local version of the Ramayana. The Maguindanao at this also had strong Hindu beliefs, evidenced by the Ladya Lawana epic saga that survives to the modern day. The Rajahnate of Butuan, a kingdom mentioned in Chinese records as a tributary state in the 10th century AD, was concentrated along the northeastern coast of the island around Butuan. The coming of Islam happened in the 14th century, the first mosque in the Philippines was built in the mid-14th century in the town of Simunul
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Archipelago
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An archipelago, sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster or collection of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi-, in Italian, possibly following a tradition of antiquity, the Archipelago was the proper name for the Aegean Sea and, later, usage shifted to refer to the Aegean Islands. It is now used to refer to any group or, sometimes. Archipelagos may be isolated in large amounts of water or neighbouring a large land mass. For example, Scotland has more than 700 islands surrounding its mainland which form an archipelago, archipelagos are often volcanic, forming along island arcs generated by subduction zones or hotspots, but may also be the result of erosion, deposition, and land elevation. Depending on their origin, islands forming archipelagos can be referred to as oceanic islands, continental fragments. Oceanic islands are mainly of volcanic origin, continental fragments correspond to land masses that have separated from a continental mass due to tectonic displacement. Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, New Zealand, Maldives, the Bahamas, Greece, Hawaii, the largest archipelagic state in the world by area and population is Indonesia. Island arc List of landforms List of archipelagos by number of islands List of archipelagos List of islands Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Archipelago
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Sulu Sea
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Borneo is found to the southwest and Visayas to the northeast. Sulu Sea contains a number of islands, the Cuyo Islands and Cagayan Sulu are part of the province of Palawan whereas Mapun and the Turtle Islands are part of the province of Tawi-Tawi. Sulu Sea is also where the Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park, the Panay Gulf is an extension of the Sulu Sea. The IHO defines its limits as follows, On the Northwest, from Tanjong Sempang Mangayau, the North point of Borneo, along the Eastern limit of South China Sea to Cape Calavite, the Northwest point of Mindoro. The North coast of Borneo between Tanjong Labian and Tanjong Sempang Mangayau, the Star Trek character Hikaru Sulu is named after the Sulu Sea. According to Sulu actor George Takei, Roddenberrys vision for Sulu was to represent all of Asia, in the radio serial Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy, the Sulu Sea was the locale for the episodes of The Luminous Dragon Eye Ring. Sulu Pirates Media related to Sulu Sea at Wikimedia Commons
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Visayan people
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The Visayans is an umbrella term for the Philippine ethnolinguistic groups native to the whole Visayas, to the southernmost islands of Luzon and to most parts of Mindanao. They are speakers of one or more Visayan languages, the most widely spoken being Cebuano and Hiligaynon, many have, at some point in their lives, migrated to Metro Manila out of economic necessity brought about by centralization around it. They comprise the largest grouping in the division of the country. Filipino author and artist John Kingsley Pangan categorized the Visayans into two groups called the Madja-as Visayans and the Sugbu Visayans. Madja-as Visayans are the group from the islands of Panay, Guimaras, Romblon and Negros Occidental. The term comes from the confederacy of the islands called Kedatuan of Madja-as. They originated also from the Austronesian aborigines and the Srivijayan empire, the colonizers also described these Visayans also as white people, who have among them some blacks—the ancient inhabitants of the island and not described as tattooed. They originated from both the Austronesian aborigines and the Tamils through the Chola dynasty, who in turn first settled in Sugbu. ”Kabisay-an refers both to the Visayan people collectively and the lands they have inhabited since prehistory. The Anglicized term Visayas is commonly used to refer to the latter and these should not, however, be confused as dialects, given the lack of mutual intelligibility. Grabiel Ribera, captain of the Spanish royal infantry in the Philippine Islands, the earliest settlements in the Visayan islands were from valley-dwelling Austronesians and highland-dwelling Negrito dated around 30,000 BC. These early settlers were mostly Animist tribes, in the 12th century, Hindu-Buddhist descendants from the late Śrīvijayan maṇḍala, Majapahit and Brunei, settled the islands. By the 14th century, Arab traders and their followers who ventured into Maritime Southeast Asia, Visayans practiced a mixture of Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist beliefs although there were also groups that were varied, some groups exclusively practiced Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism. There is also evidence of trade and immigration between other Asian peoples in the area as early as the 9th century, One of this Westerners account says that the adventures of this ancient hero of Panay was recalled during weddings and in songs. It was said that they originated from an area within the Śrīvijayan maṇḍala during the early 13th century. In an attempt to escape the rule of a Rajah Makatunaw and the subsequent dissolution of the maṇḍala. The island at time was ruled by an Ati chief Marikudo who was later given a golden sadok. It was said that the name for the inhabitants, Bisaya, was derived from their polity of origin, the Visayans first encountered Western Civilization when Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan reached the island of Cebu in 1521. The Visayas became part of the Spanish colony of the Philippines, the 16th century marks the beginning of the Christianization of the Visayan people, with the baptism of Rajah Humabon and about 800 native Cebuanos
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Masbate
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Masbate, officially the Province of Masbate is an island province in the Philippines located near the middle of the nations archipelago. Its capital is Masbate City and consists of three islands, Masbate, Ticao and Burias. Masbate is at the crossroads of two groups, Luzon and Visayas. Being administratively assigned to the Bicol Region, it is part of the Luzon island group. However, from a biogeographic and sociolinguistic perspective, Masbate has an affiliation with Visayas. Masbate is one of the oldest settlements in the Philippines, archaeological records show that Batungan and Bagumbayan were major settlement sites during the Bronze Age. The development of metallurgy in South-East Asia coincided with an increasingly hierarchical society. A fine stone chisel from Mount Batungan is dated to the twelfth century BC. Of the age of Philippine neoliths it is possible to say that polished stone adzes from Masbate have been dated from 2710 BC to AD179.2 Kalanay was an island site from 1000 BC-AD850. Masbate burial jars and a small pottery skull box found in dated to the beginning of the Christian era. Productive mines in Benguet, Butuan, Masbate, and Paracale were in operation, during the Spanish regime, San Jacinto in Ticao Island was an anchorage point for the Manila-Acapulco-Manila galleons. The course as described by the standard pilot’s guide of Cabrera Bueno was substantially that followed by all the galleons. The largest variations were in the height at which the crossing was made. At this point, according to Cabrera, “the rapid currents require skillful pilot work. ”The galleon was now in the open sea. From the chronicles of the years of Spanish colonization, a relacion about Masbate first appeared in Fray Martin de Rada‟s letter dated July 1569 to the Viceroy of New Spain. He mentioned that in a place called Masbat there were plenty of gold mines, other later documents such as Artieda‟sRelacion and Andres de Mirandaola‟s letter refer to a place called Masbat or Masbad. It wasn‟t until 1582 that Miguel de Loarca wrote about a place called Masbate, in the same year that the Augustinian Fray de Rada wrote about Masbat‟s gold mines, his fellow Augustinian Fray Alonzo Jimenez landed in Burias and baptized its chieftain Buaya. This baptism is said to be the very first baptism in Luzon, Fray Jimenez also built a church in Burias before he sailed on to Ibalon in 1570
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Romblon
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Romblon is an archipelagic province of the Philippines located in the Mimaropa region. The province lies south of Marinduque and Quezon, east of Oriental Mindoro, north of Aklan and Capiz, according to the 2015 census, it has a total population of 292,781. Romblon has been inhabited by aboriginal Filipinos prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1569, archaeological artifacts recovered by the National Museum in 1936 indicate that the aborigines of Romblon already have a rich and advanced culture. With arrival of the Americans in 1901, Romblon was declared a province and it lost its provincial status for a short while between 1907 and 1945, but regained it in 1946, just after World War II. The inhabitants of Romblon are divided into three groups, Romblomanon, Onhan and Asi. These groups occupy specific islands in the province and have their own language, Romblomanon is mainly spoken in the town of Romblon, in all of three towns of Sibuyan Island, and the town of San Agustin in Tablas Island. Onhan is mainly spoken in the municipalities in the part of Tablas Island as well as in the island municipality of San Jose. The northwestern part of Tablas Island (in Odiongan and Calatrava, as well as the municipalities of Corcuera, Banton. Currently, the province relies on agriculture, particularly rice and copra farming as well as fishing and it also has a lucrative marble industry due to an abundance of Italian-quality marble, hence, its moniker as the Marble Capital of the Philippines. In recent years, the province has become an ecotourism destination, with several white sand beaches, diving spots, mountains. According to legend, the name Romblon was derived from the Romblomanon word Nagalumyom, meanwhile, local historians Roland Madeja and Evelyn Reyes relate the origin of the name Romblon to the shape of Romblon Island. Madeja claims that the name was derived from the Spanish word ronblon, another term for tornillo, according to him, the Spanish claimed to have observed the screw-like shape of Romblon Island. Meanwhile, Reyes claims Romblon originated from doubloon, which refers to the Spanish coin used by Moro pirates in paying dowries for their brides-to-be, the Spanish might have named the island after the shape of the coin. Romblons aboriginal inhabitants were the Negritos from Panay and Mangyans from Mindoro, ancient wooden coffins discovered in the Guyangan Cave System of Banton Island in 1936 signify a rich ancient civilization and culture in the province before the arrival of the Spaniards in 1569. These artifacts are currently on display at the National Museum in Manila, the islands were later organized into three encomiendas and were administered from Arevalo. De Loarca visited Romblon in 1582 and conducted the first census of the islands, in 1635, Recollect missionaries arrived in Romblon to establish Catholic missions and settlements. They helped the Spanish authorities establish peace and order in the islands, in 1637, they established seven missionary centers at Romblon, Badajoz, Cajidiocan, Banton, Looc, Odiongan and Magallanes. Romblon was separated from the jurisdiction of Arevalo and annexed to Capiz, in 1853, the islands were organized into a politico-military commandancia administered from Capiz and continued to be so until the end of the Spanish rule in 1898
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Palawan
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Palawan, officially the Province of Palawan, is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the Mimaropa region. It is the largest province in the country in terms of area of jurisdiction. Its capital is the City of Puerto Princesa, but it is governed independently from the province as an urbanized city. The islands of Palawan stretch between Mindoro in the northeast and Borneo in the southwest and it lies between the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea. The province is named after its largest island, Palawan Island, measuring 450 kilometres long, the province is composed of the long and narrow Palawan Island, plus a number of other smaller islands surrounding it, totalling roughly 1,780 islands and islets. The Calamianes Group of Islands to the northeast consists of Busuanga, Coron, Culion, Balabac Island is located off the southern tip, separated from Borneo by the Balabac Strait. In addition, Palawan covers the Cuyo Islands in the Sulu Sea, the disputed Spratly Islands, located a few hundred kilometres to the west, are considered part of Palawan by the Philippines, and is locally called the Kalayaan Group of Islands. Palawans almost 2,000 kilometres of coastline is lined with rocky coves. It also harbors a vast stretch of forests that carpet its chain of mountain ranges. The mountain heights average 3,500 feet in altitude, with the highest peak rising to 6,843 feet at Mount Mantalingahan, the vast mountain areas are the source of valuable timber. The terrain is a mix of coastal plain, craggy foothills, valley deltas, the province has a total land area of 14,649.73 square kilometres. When Puerto Princesa City is included for geographical purposes, its area is 17,030.75 square kilometres. The land area is distributed to its mainland municipalities, comprising 12,239 square kilometres, and the island municipalities, the province has two types of climate. The first, which occurs in the northern and southern extremities, the other, which prevails in the eastern coast, has a short dry season of one to three months and no pronounced rainy period during the rest of the year. The southern part of the province is virtually free from tropical depressions but northern Palawan experiences torrential rains during the months of July, summer months serve as peak season for Palawan. Sea voyages are most favorable from March to early June when the seas are calm, the average maximum temperature is 31 °C with little variation all year. Palawan comprises 433 barangays in 23 municipalities and the capital City of Puerto Princesa, as an archipelago, Palawan has 13 mainland municipalities and 10 island towns. The remaining island municipalities are, Busuanga, Coron, Linapacan and Culion, Cuyo, Agutaya and Magsaysay, Araceli, Cagayancillo, Balabac and Kalayaan
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Regions of the Philippines
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In the Philippines, regions, ISO 3166-2, PH) are administrative divisions that serve primarily to organize the provinces of the country for administrative convenience. Currently, the republic of the Philippines is divided into 18 regions. Most government offices are established by region instead of individual provincial offices, the regions themselves do not possess a separate local government, with the exception of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which has an elected regional assembly and governor. The Cordillera Administrative Region was originally intended to be autonomous, since that time, other regions have been created and some provinces have been transferred from one region to another. June 22,1973, Pangasinan was transferred from Region III to Region I, july 7,1975, Region XII created and minor reorganization of some Mindanao regions. July 25,1975, Regions IX and XII declared as Autonomous Regions in Western, august 21,1975, Region IX divided into Sub-Region IX-A and Sub-Region IX-B. Minor reorganization of some Mindanao regions, november 7,1975, Metropolitan Manila created. June 2,1978, Metropolitan Manila declared as the National Capital Region, july 15,1987, Cordillera Administrative Region created. August 1,1989, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao created, Region XII reverted to an administrative region. October 23,1989, First creation of Cordillera Autonomous Region, ratification rejected by residents in a plebiscite. October 12,1990, Executive Order 429 issued by President Corazon Aquino to reorganize the Mindanao regions, february 23,1995, Region XIII created and minor reorganization of some Mindanao regions. Sultan Kudarat transferred to Region XI,1997, Minor reorganization of some Mindanao regions. December 22,1997, Second creation of Cordillera Autonomous Region, ratification rejected by residents in a plebiscite. December 18,1998, Sultan Kudarat returned to Region XII, september 19,2001, Most Mindanao regions reorganized and some renamed. May 17,2002, Region IV-A and Region IV-B created from the former Region IV region, may 23,2005, Palawan transferred from Region IV-B to Region VI, Mimaropa renamed to Mimaro. August 19,2005, Transfer of Palawan to Region VI held in abeyance, may 29,2015, Negros Island Region created. Negros Occidental and Bacolod from Region VI and Negros Oriental from Region VII transferred to form new region, july 17,2016, Republic Act No.10879 established the Southwestern Tagalog Region from the former Region IV-B. As of May 2015, the Philippines comprises 18 administrative regions and these regions are geographically organized into the three island groups of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao
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Negros Island Region
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Negros is an island in the Philippines, which is the fourth largest in the country with a total land area of 13,309.60 km2. Negros is one of the islands comprise the Visayas, which forms the central division of the nation. It was created by virtue of Executive Order No.183 issued by President Benigno Aquino III on May 29,2015, the predominant inhabitants of the island region are mainly called Negrenses. As of 2015, Negros Island Regions total population is 4,414,131. Negros was originally called Buglas, an old Hiligaynon word thought to mean cut off, 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 fell under the nominal rule of the Kedatuan of Madja-as from the neighbouring islands of Panay. Upon arriving on the island in April 1565, the Spanish colonisers called the land Negros after the natives they observed. After appointing encomenderos for the island, Miguel López de Legazpi placed Negros under the jurisdiction of the governor of Oton on Panay, in 1734, however, 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 Philippine Revolutionaries, led by Aniceto Lacson and Juan Araneta, 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, 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 movement towards Bacolod. By the afternoon of 6 November, Col. de Castro signed the Act of Capitulation, 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, the state was renamed the Republic of Negros on 22 July 1899, and eventually dissolved by the United States and annexed by the U. S. Military Government of the Philippine Islands on 30 April 1901,1 as part of the Integrated Reorganization Plan of President Ferdinand Marcos. Negros Occidental was assigned to Western Visayas while Negros Oriental became part of 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. This led to the filing of House Bill No.1477 titled An Act Merging the Province of Negros Occidental and Oriental into One-Island Region
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Negros Occidental
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Negros Occidental, also known as Occidental Negros or Western Negros, is a province in the Philippines located in the Negros Island Region. It occupies the half of the island of Negros, with Negros Oriental comprising the southeastern half. Bacolod City is the capital, seat of government and the most populous city of the province, across the Panay Gulf and the Guimaras Strait to the northwest is the island-province of Guimaras and the province of Iloilo on Panay Island. Known as the Sugarbowl of the Philippines, Negros Occidental produces more than half the nations sugar output, the primary spoken language is Hiligaynon and the predominant religious denomination is Roman Catholicism. Negros was originally known to the natives as Buglas, meaning cut off in old Hiligaynon, when the Spaniards arrived in April 1565, they named it Negros because of the dark-skinned natives they found. Two of the earliest native settlements were Binalbagan and Ilog which later became towns in 1572 and 1584, other settlements were Hinigaran, Bago, Marayo, Mamalan and Candaguit. Ilog was made the first capital of the province in 1743 and this was later transferred to Himamaylan. Bacolod finally became the capital in 1849, the island was divided into Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental in 1890. The two provinces were united as an independent Republic of Negros with Bacolod as the capital on November 27,1898. It became a protectorate of the United States until 1901, when the republic was dissolved, economic growth continued especially with Philippine sugar having a part of the US market. The socio-economic lives of the island of Negros, from the 1950s up to the late 1980s, depended as before, during World War II, both Negros provinces invaded by Imperial Japanese forces and many residents resorted to flee to the inland mountains. Negros Island was liberated by combined Filipino & American troops with the local Negrense guerillas attacking the Japanese on August 6,1945 and they started the engagements of the Anti-Japanese Imperial Military Operations in Negros from 1942 to 1945 against the Japanese Imperial forces. Global sugar prices dropped during the 1970s and 1980s, which impacted the production of sugar in the island. Quality of life and sugar production were intertwined, so lower production meant lower quality of life for thousands that relied on the industry for sustenance, the province saw a dangerous spike in the percentage of malnourished infants which was as high as 78%. Negros Occidentals problem on malnourished infants gained global prominence among the press in 1985, during the 1970s and 1980s, atrocities against peasants were committed, with one such harrowing example being the Escalante Massacre. Negros del Norte was created from Negros Occidental on January 3,1986, but its creation was declared unconstitutional on July 11,1986, towards the end of 1987, after the successful overthrow of the Marcos regime, the overall economic situation started to show a positive upturn. Investments upswing became apparent by 1988, the participation of the industrial sector accelerated the consumer-led economic growth and development manifested with the increase in sales of consumer goods and by-products. Negros Occidental is located in the side of Negros Island
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Bacolod
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Bacolod /bɑːˈkɔːləd/, officially City of Bacolod and often referred to as Bacolod City, is a highly urbanized city in the Philippines. It is the capital of the province of Negros Occidental where it is geographically situated but governed administratively independent from it. Having a total of 561,875 inhabitants as of 2015 census, it is the most populous city in the Negros Island Region and the second most populous city in the Visayas after Cebu City. It is the center of the Bacolod Metropolitan Area, which includes the cities of Silay and Talisay with a total population of 791,019 inhabitants. It is notable for its MassKara Festival held during the week of October and is known for being a relatively friendly city. In 2008, Bacolod topped a survey by MoneySense Magazine as the Best Place to Live in the Philippines, the city has also been declared by the Department of Science and Technology as a center of excellence for information technology and business process management operations. It was officially called Ciudad de Bacólod when Municipalidad de Bacólod was converted into a city in 1938, historical church accounts provide a glimpse of the early years of Bacolod as a mere small settlement by the riverbank known as Magsung̃ay. When the neighboring settlement of Bago was elevated into the status of a town in 1575, it had several religious dependencies. The early missionaries placed the village under the care and protection of San Sebastián sometime in the middle of the 18th century. A corregidor by the name of Luis Fernando de Luna, donated a relic of San Sebastián for the mission, and since then. Bernardino de los Santos became the first gobernadorcillo, by 1790, slave raids on Bacolod by Moro pirates had ceased. Eusebio Laurencio became acting parish priest of Bacolod, león Pedro was appointed interim parish priest and the following year became the first regular parish priest. In September 1817, Fray Julián Gonzaga from Barcelona was appointed as the parish priest and he encouraged the people to settle once again near the sea. He also encouraged migration to Bacolod and the opening of lands to agriculture, in 1846, upon the request of Msgr. Romualdo Jimeno, bishop of Cebu and Negros at that time, a decree of 20 June 1848 by Gobernador General Clavería ordered the restructuring of Negros politically and religiously. Transfer of Bacolod to the Recollects, however, took place only in 1871, Fray Mauricio Ferrero became the first Augustinian Recollect parish priest of Bacolod and successor to the secular priest, Fr. Mariano Ávila. In 1863, a primary public school system was set up. In 1889, Bacolod became the capital of Occidental Negros when the Province of Negros was politically divided into the provinces of Occidental Negros
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Negros Oriental
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Negros Oriental, also called Oriental Negros or Eastern Negros, is a province in the Philippines located in the Negros Island Region. It occupies the half of the island of Negros, with Negros Occidental comprising the northwestern half. It also includes Apo Island, a dive site for both, local and foreign tourists. Negros Oriental faces Cebu to the east across the Tañon Strait, the primary spoken language is Cebuano and the predominant religious denomination is Roman Catholicism. Dumaguete City is the capital, seat of government and most populous city of the province. Negros Island, the fourth largest island in the Philippines, is believed to have once been part of a larger landmass, among the early inhabitants of the island were Negritos and later the Austronesians, as well as Han Chinese, who are mainly merchants. They called the island Buglas, a word which is believed to mean cut off. Spanish explorers on the expedition of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi first came to the island in April 1565, Legazpi dropped anchor in Bohol and sent his men to scout the island. Because of the currents of the Tañon Strait between Cebu and Negros, they were carried for several days and forced to land on the western side of the island. They reported seeing many dark-skinned inhabitants, and they called the island Negros, the island was sparsely settled at the time, except for a few coastal settlements including Ilog and Binalbagan. In 1571, Legaspi assigned encomiendas on the island to 13 of his men, augustinian friars began the Christianization of the island the next year. The island was administered as part of the jurisdiction of Oton until 1734 when it became a military district, the capital was transferred to Himamaylan in 1795. Negros became a province in 1865 and the capital was transferred to Bacolod. Due to its proximity to Mindanao, the coasts of Negros was in constant threat from Moro marauders looking for slaves. The Moro raids and Negros Orientals distance from the Negros capital of Bacolod induced 13 Recollectionist priests to petition for the division of the island in July 1876. The island of Negros was then divided into the provinces of Negros Oriental, Dumaguete was made the first capital of Negros Oriental. In 1892, Siquijor became a part of Negros Oriental, having previously been administered by Spain under the province of Bohol. The Philippine Revolution reached the province in 1898, disrupting government functions but without extreme violence, revolutionary troops in the province were composed mostly of farm labourers and other prominent people of the province of Negros Oriental, who were organized and led by Don Diego de la Viña
39.
Srivijaya
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Srivijaya was a dominant thalassocratic city-state based on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 8th to the 12th century, Srivijaya was the first unified kingdom to dominate much of Malay archipelago. In Sanskrit, śrī means fortunate, prosperous, or happy, the earliest reference to it dates from the 7th century. A Tang Chinese monk, Yijing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 CE for six months, the earliest known inscription in which the name Srivijaya appears also dates from the 7th century in the Kedukan Bukit inscription found near Palembang, Sumatra, dated 16 June 682 CE. Between the late 7th and early 11th century, Srivijaya rose to become a hegemon in Southeast Asia and it was involved in close interactions, often rivalries, with the neighbouring Java, Kambuja and Champa. Srivijayas main foreign interest was nurturing lucrative trade agreements with China which lasted from the Tang to the Song dynasty, Srivijaya had religious, cultural and trade links with the Buddhist Pala of Bengal, as well as with the Islamic Caliphate in the Middle East. The kingdom ceased to exist in the 13th century by various factors, including the expansion of the rival Javanese Singhasari, after Srivijaya fell, it was largely forgotten. It was not until 1918 that French historian George Cœdès, of École française dExtrême-Orient, little physical evidence of Srivijaya remains. There had been no continuous knowledge of the history of Srivijaya even in Indonesia, Cœdès noted that the Chinese references to Sanfoqi, previously read as Sribhoja, and the inscriptions in Old Malay refer to the same empire. The Buddhist pilgrim Yijings account is important on describing Srivijaya. The 7th-century siddhayatra inscriptions discovered in Palembang and Bangka island are also vital primary historical sources, also, regional accounts that some might be almost tales and legends, such as the Legend of the Maharaja of Javaka and the Khmer King also provides a glimpse of the kingdom. Besides, some Indian and Arabic accounts also describes vaguely about the riches, Srivijaya had become a symbol of early Sumatran importance as a great empire to balance Javas Majapahit in the east. Srivijaya, and by extension Sumatra, had been known by different names to different peoples, the Chinese called it Sanfoqi or Che-li-fo-che, and there was an even older kingdom of Kantoli, which could be considered the predecessor of Srivijaya. Sanskrit and Pali texts referred to it as Yavades and Javadeh, the Arabs called it Zabag or Sribuza and the Khmers called it Melayu. While the Javanese called them Suvarnabhumi, Suvarnadvipa or Malayu and this is another reason why the discovery of Srivijaya was so difficult. While some of names are strongly reminiscent of the name of Java. According to the Kedukan Bukit inscription, dated 605 Saka, Srivijaya was first established in the vicinity of todays Palembang and it mentions that Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa came from Minanga Tamwan. The exact location of Minanga Tamwan is still a subject of discussion, the Palembang theory as the place where Srivijaya was first established was presented by Cœdes and supported by Pierre-Yves Manguin
40.
Sanskrit language
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Sanskrit is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, a philosophical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and a literary language and lingua franca of ancient and medieval South Asia. As a result of transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia and parts of Central Asia, as one of the oldest Indo-European languages for which substantial written documentation exists, Sanskrit holds a prominent position in Indo-European studies. The body of Sanskrit literature encompasses a rich tradition of poetry and drama as well as scientific, technical, philosophical, the compositions of Sanskrit were orally transmitted for much of its early history by methods of memorization of exceptional complexity, rigor, and fidelity. Thereafter, variants and derivatives of the Brahmi script came to be used, Sanskrit is today one of the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which mandates the Indian government to develop the language. It continues to be used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals and Buddhist practice in the form of hymns. The Sanskrit verbal adjective sáṃskṛta- may be translated as refined, elaborated, as a term for refined or elaborated speech, the adjective appears only in Epic and Classical Sanskrit in the Manusmṛti and the Mahabharata. The pre-Classical form of Sanskrit is known as Vedic Sanskrit, with the language of the Rigveda being the oldest and most archaic stage preserved, Classical Sanskrit is the standard register as laid out in the grammar of Pāṇini, around the fourth century BCE. Sanskrit, as defined by Pāṇini, evolved out of the earlier Vedic form, the present form of Vedic Sanskrit can be traced back to as early as the second millennium BCE. Scholars often distinguish Vedic Sanskrit and Classical or Pāṇinian Sanskrit as separate dialects, although they are quite similar, they differ in a number of essential points of phonology, vocabulary, grammar and syntax. Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, a collection of hymns, incantations and theological and religio-philosophical discussions in the Brahmanas. Modern linguists consider the metrical hymns of the Rigveda Samhita to be the earliest, for nearly 2000 years, Sanskrit was the language of a cultural order that exerted influence across South Asia, Inner Asia, Southeast Asia, and to a certain extent East Asia. A significant form of post-Vedic Sanskrit is found in the Sanskrit of Indian epic poetry—the Ramayana, the deviations from Pāṇini in the epics are generally considered to be on account of interference from Prakrits, or innovations, and not because they are pre-Paninian. Traditional Sanskrit scholars call such deviations ārṣa, meaning of the ṛṣis, in some contexts, there are also more prakritisms than in Classical Sanskrit proper. There were four principal dialects of classical Sanskrit, paścimottarī, madhyadeśī, pūrvi, the predecessors of the first three dialects are attested in Vedic Brāhmaṇas, of which the first one was regarded as the purest. In the 2001 Census of India,14,035 Indians reported Sanskrit to be their first language, in India, Sanskrit is among the 14 original languages of the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. The state of Uttarakhand in India has ruled Sanskrit as its official language. In October 2012 social activist Hemant Goswami filed a petition in the Punjab. More than 3,000 Sanskrit works have been composed since Indias independence in 1947, much of this work has been judged of high quality, in comparison to both classical Sanskrit literature and modern literature in other Indian languages
41.
Sanskrit
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Sanskrit is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, a philosophical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and a literary language and lingua franca of ancient and medieval South Asia. As a result of transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia and parts of Central Asia, as one of the oldest Indo-European languages for which substantial written documentation exists, Sanskrit holds a prominent position in Indo-European studies. The body of Sanskrit literature encompasses a rich tradition of poetry and drama as well as scientific, technical, philosophical, the compositions of Sanskrit were orally transmitted for much of its early history by methods of memorization of exceptional complexity, rigor, and fidelity. Thereafter, variants and derivatives of the Brahmi script came to be used, Sanskrit is today one of the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which mandates the Indian government to develop the language. It continues to be used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals and Buddhist practice in the form of hymns. The Sanskrit verbal adjective sáṃskṛta- may be translated as refined, elaborated, as a term for refined or elaborated speech, the adjective appears only in Epic and Classical Sanskrit in the Manusmṛti and the Mahabharata. The pre-Classical form of Sanskrit is known as Vedic Sanskrit, with the language of the Rigveda being the oldest and most archaic stage preserved, Classical Sanskrit is the standard register as laid out in the grammar of Pāṇini, around the fourth century BCE. Sanskrit, as defined by Pāṇini, evolved out of the earlier Vedic form, the present form of Vedic Sanskrit can be traced back to as early as the second millennium BCE. Scholars often distinguish Vedic Sanskrit and Classical or Pāṇinian Sanskrit as separate dialects, although they are quite similar, they differ in a number of essential points of phonology, vocabulary, grammar and syntax. Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, a collection of hymns, incantations and theological and religio-philosophical discussions in the Brahmanas. Modern linguists consider the metrical hymns of the Rigveda Samhita to be the earliest, for nearly 2000 years, Sanskrit was the language of a cultural order that exerted influence across South Asia, Inner Asia, Southeast Asia, and to a certain extent East Asia. A significant form of post-Vedic Sanskrit is found in the Sanskrit of Indian epic poetry—the Ramayana, the deviations from Pāṇini in the epics are generally considered to be on account of interference from Prakrits, or innovations, and not because they are pre-Paninian. Traditional Sanskrit scholars call such deviations ārṣa, meaning of the ṛṣis, in some contexts, there are also more prakritisms than in Classical Sanskrit proper. There were four principal dialects of classical Sanskrit, paścimottarī, madhyadeśī, pūrvi, the predecessors of the first three dialects are attested in Vedic Brāhmaṇas, of which the first one was regarded as the purest. In the 2001 Census of India,14,035 Indians reported Sanskrit to be their first language, in India, Sanskrit is among the 14 original languages of the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. The state of Uttarakhand in India has ruled Sanskrit as its official language. In October 2012 social activist Hemant Goswami filed a petition in the Punjab. More than 3,000 Sanskrit works have been composed since Indias independence in 1947, much of this work has been judged of high quality, in comparison to both classical Sanskrit literature and modern literature in other Indian languages
42.
Sulu Archipelago
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The Sulu Archipelago is a chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean, in the southwestern Philippines. The archipelago forms the limit of the Celebes Sea and southern limit of the Sulu Sea. The Sulu Archipelago islands are within the Mindanao island group, consisting of the provinces of Basilan, Sulu, the archipelago is not, as is often supposed, the remains of a land bridge between Borneo and the Philippines. Tawi-Tawi, the southernmost island of the group, has a serpentine basement-complex core with a limestone covering and this island chain is an important migration route for birds. The largest municipalities in the area are on Maimbung and Jolo, the archipelago is the home of the indigenous Tausug people, various group of Samal people including the semi-nomadic Badjaw, the land-based Sama, the related Yakan people, and the Jama Mapun people. The Tausug language is widely in the Sulu Archipelago as both first and second languages throughout these islands. The Yakan language is mainly in Basilan Island. Numerous dialects of Sinama are spoken throughout the archipelago, from the Tawi-Tawi Island group, to the Mapun island group, to the coast of Mindanao, the archipelago is geographically subdivided into several groups, most significantly those around the main islands Basilan, Jolo and Tawi-Tawi. After that, it part of the Bruneian Empire before gaining its own independence on 1578. The region then part of the independent Sultanate of Sulu. The arrival of Western powers later became a conflict when the Spanish start to impose the rule of Spanish East Indies over the Sulu Archipelago, Spanish military expeditions against the sultanate were launched over the centuries of the colonial Philippines period. The Moro Rebellion independence movement continued the Islamic Moro conflict, against the United States occupation in areas of the Moro people in the archipelago, the Sulu Archipelago was part of the Islamic Sultanate of Sulu, founded in 1405 by Shari’ful Hashem Syed Abu Bak’r. The sultanate also included portions of Borneo, Mindanao, Palawan, from the first Spanish encounters with Jolo island, the Spanish–Moro conflict met firm and organised resistance from the Sultanate of Sulu. Miguel López de Legazpi had established a colony in Cebu in May 1565, the following year, Figueroa was awarded the sole right to colonise Mindanao. In 1587, during a campaign against Borneo launched by Sande, the Spaniards left Jolo after a few days. The Joloanos resolved to resist Spanish intrusions, in response to attacks, Joloanos raided Spanish settlements and reducciones. In November 1593, the Spanish Empire sent Juan Ronquillo to Tampakan to thwart the slave raiders, the following year, the Spanish Army troops relocated to Caldera Bay, Mindanao. In 1598, another expedition was launched against Jolo, but was repelled by the Joloanos, in late 1600, Captain Juan Gallinato with a group of about 200 Spanish soldiers attacked Jolo but were unsuccessful
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Austronesian peoples
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Austronesians, Austronesian peoples or Austronesian-speaking peoples are various populations in Asia, Oceania and Africa that speak languages of the Austronesian family. The territories populated by Austronesian-speaking peoples are known collectively as Austronesia, most Austronesians bare similar features such as the light brown to brown skin with curly or wavy hair. Before the Southward expansion of the Han dynasty and of Vietnam and it has been argued that these patterns are best explained by dispersal of an agricultural people from Taiwan into insular Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and, ultimately, the remote Pacific. Although this model—termed the “express train to Polynesia” – is broadly consistent with available data, alternatives to this model posit an indigenous origin for the Austronesian languages in Melanesia or Southeast Asia. Genomic analysis of cultivated coconut has shed light on the movements of Austronesian peoples, by examining 10 microsatelite loci, researchers found that there are 2 genetically distinct subpopulations of coconut – one originating in the Indian Ocean, the other in the Pacific Ocean. However, there is evidence of admixture, the transfer of genetic material, given that coconuts are ideally suited for ocean dispersal, it seems possible that individuals from one population could have floated to the other. However, the locations of the events are limited to Madagascar and coastal east Africa. This pattern coincides with the trade routes of Austronesian sailors. Other research has suggested that, according to dates, Austronesians may have migrated from mainland China to Taiwan as late as 4000 BC. Before Taiwan, Austronesian speakers are thought to have descended from the neolithic cultures of Southeastern China. According to the mainstream model, a large-scale Austronesian expansion began around 5000–2500 BC. Population growth primarily fuelled this migration, over the next thousand years, Austronesian peoples migrated southeast to the rest of the Philippines, and into the islands of the Celebes Sea, Borneo, and Indonesia. The Austronesian peoples of Maritime Southeast Asia sailed eastward, and spread to the islands of Melanesia and Micronesia between 1200 BC and 500 AD respectively, the Austronesian inhabitants that spread westward through Maritime Southeast Asia had reached some parts of mainland Southeast Asia, and later on Madagascar. Sailing from Melanesia, and Micronesia, the Austronesian peoples discovered Polynesia by 1000 BC and these people settled most of the Pacific Islands. They had settled Rapa Nui by 300 AD, Hawaii by 400 AD, there is evidence, based in the spreading of the sweet potato, that they reached South America where they traded with the Native Americans. In the Indian Ocean they sailed west from Maritime Southeast Asia and this out of Taiwan model has been recently challenged by a 2008 study. Examination of mitochondrial DNA lineages shows that they have been evolving within Island Southeast Asia for a period than previously believed. Population dispersals occurred at the time as sea levels rose
. PMID 11170891. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-11.
Media related to Visayas at Wikimedia Commons
Visayas travel guide from Wikivoyage
The dictionary definition of visayas at Wiktionary
