The History of The Philippines Before Magellan (3000 BCE - 1521 CE)

On this article I'm going to share to you some interesting facts about Philippines.

The Philippines is an archipelago situated in the Pacific Ocean, comprising over seven thousand islands. It lies on a subduction zone within the geologically active Ring of Fire, which extends from Japan to Alaska and California, making the islands mineral-rich but also prone to destructive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Of the 7,000 islands, only around 1,000 are inhabited, most of them small, roughly one square mile in size. The archipelago is divided into three main island groups: Luzon in the north, the Visayas in the center, and Mindanao in the south. Luzon, home to the capital Manila, is the most populous.

The earliest known human presence in the Philippines dates back approximately 47,000 years, with evidence of earlier hominid species like Homo luzonensis and Homo erectus dating as far back as 134,000 and 700,000 years ago, respectively. The ancestors of the modern native population, who were Austronesian in origin, had settled the islands by around 3,000 BCE, migrating from Taiwan, nearby islands, and the Asian mainland. These early settlements tended to be isolated and organized into small, self-governing communities called barangays, rather than developing a unified political structure.

Trade between the Philippine islands and the mainland was well-established by 2,000 BCE, as evidenced by the presence of Philippine jade artifacts and metal goods produced using techniques common to India. These goods traveled along the extensive Maritime Jade Road trade network, which existed for around 3,000 years until 1,000 CE. This period appears to have been relatively peaceful, with a lack of archaeological evidence of widespread violence.

Written Philippine history begins around 900 CE, with the earliest known document being the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, which records the forgiveness of a debt. By this time, the barangays had begun to organize into larger political confederacies, with rulers known as Datus, and in some cases, Rajahs or Sultans, depending on the level of Indian or Islamic influence in the region.

The early Philippine cultures practiced a polytheistic animism, with a belief in spirits that must be honored to maintain good fortune. Ancestor worship was also common, with ancestors sometimes taking on animal forms. The arrival of Buddhism and Hinduism, likely through trade connections with the Srivijaya and Majapahit empires, influenced the existing belief systems and culture.

Islam first reached the Philippines in the 14th century, introduced by the missionary Makhdum Karim and the Indonesian Prince Rajah Baguinda, who established the Sulu Sultanate. In the early 15th century, Chinese Muslim communities were also founded in the Philippines by the Chinese mariner Zheng He.

Most of the information about the pre-colonial Philippines comes from the records of other countries, particularly China, with whom the various barangays and polities engaged in trade. The oldest documented barangay is Tondo, a large trading center located in modern-day Manila Bay, which was associated with the nearby independent barangay of Maynila. Other major polities include the Sultanate of Sulu and the Rajahnate of Butuan.

In the decades leading up to European contact, the Bruneian Sultanate expanded its influence in the Philippines, establishing the vassal state of Selurong (also known as the Kingdom of Maynila) in 1500. The first documented encounter between the Philippines and Europeans occurred in 1521, when the Spanish expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan arrived and encountered the local ruler Raja Humabon, who converted to Catholicism. However, Datu Lapulapu, a rival chief on the island of Mactan, refused to submit to the Spanish and killed Magellan in a battle. It would be four decades before the Spanish or Portuguese made another attempt to establish a presence in the Philippines.