Philippines

Abstract

Pottery was being made on the Philippine archipelago from at least 3000 BC, probably by people of Malay origin, and metals were being worked by the first millennium BC. Merchants from south China reached the islands during the 10th century AD (T’ang Dynasty), heralding centuries of Chinese trade with the region. Arab traders brought Islam from the Malay peninsula via Borneo and the Sulu archipelago in the late 13th century, and by the 15th century Islamic influence had spread as far north as Luzon. Most islanders lived in barangays, communities of 30–100 households based largely on kinship.