Philippine History

The Evolution and Technological Advancements of the Early Filipino People

• The first migrants to the Philippines were the "Dawnmen" who lived by hunting and fishing and had no knowledge of agriculture.
• The second wave of migrants were dark-skinned pygmies called "Aetas" who were skilled in hunting, fishing, and food gathering.
• The third wave of migrants were the Indonesians who were more advanced, engaged in farming and mining, and used materials made of brass.
• Malays came to the Philippines 2000 years ago from Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Malay Peninsula, with more advanced technology in pottery, weaving, jewelry making, metal smelting, and irrigation systems for rice planting.
• Bones found in the Tabon Caves of Palawan were tested to be 21,000 to 22,000 years old, proving that man came earlier to the Philippines than the Malay Peninsula.
• The first people of Southeast Asia were products of a long process of evolution and migration, with proof found in fossils discovered in different parts of Southeast Asia.
• Stone age inhabitants formed settlements in various parts of the Philippines, some of which engaged in pottery making, adze production, and seashell ornament-making.
• Filipinos learned to make metal tools, engage in agriculture, and cultivate lowland rice in diked and terraced fields, and building boats had become a highly developed technology.
• Filipinos traded with Vietnam, China, Borneo, and the Malay Peninsula, with the alliance between the rulers of Manila and Brunei strengthened by marriage.
• The Philippines was influenced by Hindu-Buddhist, Malay-Sanskrit, and Arab-Muslim cultures and technologies.
• Settlements along coastal areas attained a more sophisticated technology while interior and mountain settlements still lived as hunters and gatherers and traded forest products with lowland and coastal people.
• Filipinos had their own system of writing and weights and measures, counted the years by moons and from one harvest to another, and were still highly superstitious with little pressure for invention and innovation.