The Philippine archipelago was settled at least 30,000 years ago, when migrations from the

Indonesian archipelago and elsewhere are believed to have occurred. Additional migrations took
place over the next millennia. Over time, social and political organization developed and
evolved in the widely scattered islands. The basic unit of settlement was the barangay (a Malay
word for boat that came to be used to denote a communal settlement). Kinship groups were led
by a datu (chief), and within the barangay there were broad social divisions consisting of nobles,
freemen, and dependent and landless agricultural workers and slaves. Over the centuries, Indo-
Malay migrants were joined by Chinese traders. A major development in the early period was
the introduction of Islam to the Philippines by traders and proselytizers from the Indonesian
islands. By A.D. 1500, Islam had been established in the Sulu Archipelago and spread from
there to Mindanao; it reached the Manila area by 1565. In the midst of the introduction of Islam
came the introduction of Christianity, with the arrival of the Spanish.
Spanish Control: Ferdinand Magellan was the first European recorded to have landed in the
Philippines*. He arrived in March 1521 during his circumnavigation of the globe. He claimed
land for the king of Spain but was killed by a local chief. Following several more Spanish
expeditions, the first permanent settlement was established in Cebu in 1565. After defeating a
local Muslim ruler, the Spanish set up their capital at Manila in 1571, and they named their new
colony after King Philip II of Spain. In doing so, the Spanish sought to acquire a share in the
lucrative spice trade, develop better contacts with China and Japan, and gain converts to
Christianity. Only the third objective was eventually realized. As with other Spanish colonies,
church and state became inseparably linked in carrying out Spanish objectives. Several Roman
Catholic religious orders were assigned the responsibility of Christianizing the local population.
The civil administration built upon the traditional village organization and used traditional local
leaders to rule indirectly for Spain. Through these efforts, a new cultural community was
developed, but Muslims (known as Moros by the Spanish) and upland tribal peoples remained
detached and alienated.