History of the Philippines

History The first humans in the Philippine Islands are thought to havecomefromChinaandthe Malayan Archipelago some 250,000 years ago, during theIceAge,butfewremains from that time have been discovered.Afterward,otherpeoplesmigratedto the islands, among them Negritos, who probablyarrivedabout25,000yearsago. A Mongoloid people from Southeast Asia followedabout10,000yearslater.All are thought to have reached the islands across alandbridge thatnolongerexists. Larger groups of people from the regionsofpresent-dayChinaandVietnam arrived about 7000 bc and again about 2000 bc.Thelargestmigrationstothe islands, however, occurred about the 3d century bc.Theselastarrivalswerepeople from the Malay Peninsula and the islands ofIndonesia.TheMalaysbroughtwith them their iron tools and a technologythatincludedglassmakingandtie-and-dye weaving. They are thought to havehadextensivecontactswithArabia, India, and China. Cultural Influences By the 5th century ad a new Filipino civilization had emergedfromthemixtureofNegrito, Indonesian, and Malay cultures. Indian andArabtradersbecamefrequentvisitors to the islands, and competing influences fromtheMiddleEast,India,and China brought many changes in the economy andsociallife.Someprimaryindustries—mining, metallurgy, lumbering—came into being,andgoldandcoins wereintroduced as an instrument of exchange. By the12thcenturythepowerfulSumatra-based kingdom of Sri Vijaya had alsoextendeditsconsiderableinfluenceto the Philippines. Competition between theArabs andtheChinesefinally drovethe former out of the area in the late 13thcentury, andbythe14th century theChinese had firmly established theirhegemony.Throughoutthe15th century theChinese Ming maintained resident governorson theislands,whoexacted tributeand exercised nominal rule. European Colonization The islands were first seen by a European in March1521,whenthePortuguesenavigator Ferdinand Magellan discoveredthemduringhiscircumnavigation of theearth in the service of Spain.ThefollowingmonthMagellan was killed on theisland of Mactan, when heattemptedtoimposeChristianity and Spanishsovereignty on the local chief,Lapu-Lapu.Therout ofthe Spanish subsequentlynullified the allegiance Magellan.

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