The history of the Philippines is believed to have begun with the arrival of the first humans using rafts or boats at least 67,000 years ago as the 2007 discovery of Callao Man suggested. Negrito tribes first inhabited the isles. Groups of Austronesians later migrated to the islands.
Eventually various groups developed, separated into hunter-gatherer tribes, warrior societies, petty plutocracies and maritime-oriented harbor principalities which eventually grew into kingdoms, rajahnates, kedatuans, huangdoms and sultanates. These small nations were either greatly influenced by the Indian Hindu religion, language, culture, literature and philosophy from India through many campaigns from India including South-East Asia campaign of Rajendra Chola I,Islam from Arabia or were Sinified tributary states allied to
China. The nations included the
Indianized Rajahnates of
Butuan and
Cebu, the dynasty of
Tondo, the kingdoms of
Namayan and
Maynila, the
Kedatuan of Madja-as, the
sinified Huangdom of Ma-i and Huangdom of Pangasinan, as well as the sultanates of
Sulu,
Lanao and Maguindanao. These small maritime states flourished from the 1st millennium. These kingdoms traded with what are now called China, India, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia.The remainder of the settlements were independent
barangays allied with one of the larger states.
The first recorded visit by Europeans is the arrival of
Ferdinand Magellan. He sighted
Samar Island on March 16, 1521 and landed the next day on
Homonhon Island, now part of
Guiuan, Eastern Samar.
Spanish colonization began with the arrival of
Miguel López de Legazpi's expedition on February 13, 1565 from Mexico. He established the first permanent settlement in
Cebu.Much of the archipelago came under Spanish rule, creating the first unified political structure known as the
Philippines. Spanish colonial rule saw the introduction of Christianity, the
code of law and the oldest modern university in Asia. The Philippines was ruled under the Mexico-based
Viceroyalty of New Spain until Mexican independence. After which, the colony was directly governed by Spain.
Spanish rule ended in 1898 with Spain's defeat in the
Spanish–American War. The Philippines then became a territory of the United States.
In the 21st century, the Philippines is the 12th most populous country of the world, part of
ASEAN, a key ally of the United States, with an economy dominated by fishing and agriculture with a growing
business process outsourcing (BPO) industry and nearly 10% of the population abroad as
overseas Filipino workers.
Source : WIKIPEDIA