Historical Research:

The Discovery of the Philippines

Problem
• Did Magellan discover the Philippines? If not, why was
it said that he “discovered” the Philippines?
• If not Magellan, then who discovered the Philippines?
• When was the Philippines discovered?
Hypothesis
Magellan did not discover the Philippines.
The first people to discover the Philippines are actually
traders from China, India, Middle East and the
neighboring countries in the South East Asia.
Discovery happened centuries prior the arrival of
Europeans.
Location of relevant sources
• Library
• Scribd
• The Internet
Summary of information based from
sources
I. Arrival of Magellan
• Ferdinand Magellan and his crew caught sight of and
landed on the Philippine shores in March 1521.
• This was the first recorded sighting of the Philippines by
Europeans.
• Magellan claimed the islands he saw for Charles I of Spain
and named them Islas de San Lazaro.
Summary of information based from
sources
II. Pre-Magellan’s Arrival
• There had been contact between early settlers of the
Philippines and the Hindus, Chinese, Japanese and Arabs
before the 16th century.
Summary of information based from
sources
II. Pre-Magellan’s Arrival - Hindu
• Archeological findings like the image of Siva and clay
medallion with image of Garuda engravings were proof of
connection between Philippines and Hindus.
• Spaniards, upon arrival, found systems of writing
developed from the alphabet then used by Hindu people
at Java that were being used by Filipino people.
Summary of information based from
sources
II. Pre-Magellan’s Arrival - Chinese
• Prior to the coming of Spaniards, trade had already
existed between China and Philippines according to
Chinese scholars Ma Tuan-Li and Chau Ju-Kua.
• The Chinese had the connection in the Philippines even in
the early years during the Tang era (618-906)
• Trade became active during the Sang Dynasty (960-1279),
which greatly flourished during the Yuan (1271-1368) and
Ming (1368-1662) Dynasties.
Summary of information based from
sources
II. Pre-Magellan’s Arrival - Japanese
• At the time of Spain’s early occupation, there were
already active communities of Japanese settlers and
traders in Manila and parts of Northern Luzon.
Summary of information based from
sources
II. Pre-Magellan’s Arrival - Arab
• Prior to arrival of Spaniards, Islam, an Arab influence, was
already extending its influence beyond Maguindanao and
the Sulu Archipelago.
• The Sultanate of Sulu was established in Jolo in1450.
Summary of information based from
sources
II. Pre-Magellan’s Arrival - LCI
• The Laguna Copperplate Inscription, the earliest known
written document found in the Philippines, is written in an
ancient Indonesian script called Kavi.
• The language used was a mixture of Sanskrit, old
Javanese, old Malay and old Tagalog.
Summary of information based from
sources
III. Models of Migration – H. Otley Beyer
• Wave Migration Theory: the first migrants are the “Dawn
Man” who resembled the Java Man, Peking Man and
other Asian Homo sapiens that existed about 250,000
years ago followed by the Negritos who arrived about
30,000 years ago, then the Indonesians and Malays who
came to the islands in boats about 2,000 years ago.
• No archeological or historical evidence to support this
theory.
Summary of information based from
sources
III. Models of Migration – Wilhelm Solheim
• Nusantao Maritime Trading and Communication Network:
People with distant origins from 50,000 years ago in the
area of present-day coastal eastern Vietnam and Southern
China had moved to the area of the Bismarck Islands
south and east of Mindanao and later spread among
seafarers from the area to the rest of Island Southeast
Asia.
Summary of information based from
sources
III. Models of Migration – Peter Bellwood
• Out of Taiwan: the first Austronesians reached the
Philippines at around 2200 BC from Taiwan
Summary of information based from
sources
IV. Archeological Discoveries (Paleolithic)
• Tabon Man (Palawan, 1962) – possibly the oldest Homo
sapiens sapiens fossil evidence in Southeast Asia in the
form of a tibia fragment dating to 47,000 (+/- 11,000)
years ago
• Callao Man (Cagayan, 2007) – a hominin third metatarsal
discovered and dated to 66,700 (+/-1000) years ago. The
unknown hominin was later identified as a new species,
the Homo luzonensis
Summary of information based from
sources
IV. Archeological Discoveries (Paleolithic)
• Cache of butchered rhino bones and dozens of stone tools
are discovered in Kalinga in 2018 which proves that there
has been human occupation in the Philippines more than
700,000 years ago.
• Most likely used by Homo erectus, an archaic human
species that first evolved 2 million years ago and the first
member of our genus to expand out of Africa. Homo
erectus bones have been found in China and Java.
Sources
1. Calilung F.C ., Jaime V.G. (2013) Kamalayan; Kultura't
Kasaysayan. 79-90
2. Garcia, C. (2015). Philippine History and Government for
College Students. 28-31
3. Wiley, J. (2009). A Short History of South-East Asia. 213-214
4. Marvin, U. (2016). History and Culture of Philippines, Early
History. 23-25
5. Barrows, D. (1905). History of the Philippines. 99-131
Sources
6. Morrow, P. (2006). The Laguna Copperplate Inscription.
Retrieved from http://paulmorrow.ca/lcieng.htm
7. Alvarez, A. (2019). The First “Filipinos”. Retrieved from
https://www.philippine-history.org/early-filipinos.htm
8. Solheim II, W. (2006). Origins of Filipinos and Their
Languages. 5-11
9. Bellwood, P. (2007). Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian
Archipelago. 213-214
Sources
10.NCCA. (2006). The Tabon Cave Complex and all of Lipuun.
Retrieved from
http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1860/
11.Mijares, A. et al. (2010). New evidence for a 67,000-year-
old human presence at Callao Cave, Luzon, Philippines.
Journal of Human Evolution. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.04.008
Sources
12.Greshko, M. et al. (2019). New species of ancient human
discovered in the Philippines. National Geographic.
Retrieved from
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/04/ne
w-species-ancient-human-discovered-luzon-philippines-
homo-luzonensis/
Sources
13.Wade, L. (2018). Ancient humans settled the Philippines
700,000 years ago. Science. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/05/ancient-
humans-settled-philippines-700000-years-ago-new-fossils-
reveal
Evaluation of historical sources
• External Criticism
All the books that we used as sources except
Barrows have been published in the last 15 years.
Evaluation of historical sources
• Internal Criticism
Information from all sources are the same.
The author of Philippine History and Government for
College Students is a Doctor of Education and Dean of
College of Liberal Arts, Criminology and Education at
Jose Rizal University.
Evaluation of historical sources
• Internal Criticism
Kamalayan; Kultura't Kasaysayan (FC Calilung, VG
Jaime, 2013) cited multiple and well-known
historians/references (Agoncillo, Constantino, Zaide).
John Wiley and Sons is a well-established international
publisher.
Evaluation of historical sources
• Internal Criticism
Uzo Marvin is a historian and has published multiple
books on history of different countries.
The-Philippine-History.org, though cannot be edited by
users as it is handled by a single admin, still relies on
multiple sources and users’feedback.
All other sources from the world wide web are well-
known publications and/or recognized organizations.
Limitation of research study
• We have very little information about the arrival of the
ancient people and their discovery of the Philippines.
• The earliest written document in the Philippines dates back
to 900 A.D. only.
• No human bones were found in Kalinga which is crucial in
establishing the presence of a human species older than
the Callao man.
• Once older fossils are discovered, conclusion becomes
invalid.
Conclusion
Magellan did not discover the Philippines. He was, however,
among the first Europeans to set foot in our country.
The ancient men (most likely Homo erectus) who used the
stone tools found in Kalinga could have been part of the
group that discovered the country 700,000 years ago.