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Agta Woman


BLACK PEOPLE IN THE PHILIPPINES

By RUNOKO RASHIDI

DEDICATED TO BROTHER DAVID FAGAN (ANCESTOR)


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"There are black Negroes in this island who pay tribute to no one."
--Early Spanish historian

Although the great majority of the people of the Philippines are Tagalog, the country is not ethnically homogeneous.  In spite of their small numbers the original inhabitants of the Philippines are the Agta (diminutive Africoids), who still live there in some numbers and are commonly and pejoratively called Pygmies, Negritos and Aeta, and a variety of other names based upon their specific locale.  In regards to phenotype, broadly speaking, the Agta can be described as physically small and unusually short in stature, dark-skinned, spiral-haired and broad-nosed.  They are an extremely ancient people and, I believe, close representatives of the world's earliest modern humans.

Very similar groups of Black people in Asia reside in relative small numbers in the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, and in northern Malaysia and southern Thailand in Southeast Asia.  In Thailand they are commonly called Sakai.  In Malaysia they have been called Orang Asli (Original Man).  Pejoratively they are known as Semang, with the connotation of savage.  It is very unfortunate that the contributions of these small Black people to monumental high-cultures characterized by urbanization, metallurgy, agricultural  science and scripts remain essentially unexamined.

The presence of diminutive Africoids (whom Chinese historians called "Black Dwarfs") in early southern China during the period of the Three Kingdoms (ca. 250 C.E.) is recorded in the book of the Official of the Liang Dynasty (502-556 C.E.).  In Taiwan there are recollections of a group of people now said to be extinct called "Little Black Man."

"They were described as short, dark-skinned people with short curly hair....These people, presumably Negritos, disappeared about 100 years ago.  Their existence was mentioned in many Chinese documents of the Ching Dynasty concerning Taiwan."

Similar groups of Black people have been identified in Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia, and it seems almost certain that at one time a belt of Black populations of this type covered much of Asia.

In stark contrast to the Agta (the People), the Tagalog seem to have only entered the Philippines during the last several thousand years, and while almost nothing is known of the early history of the Agta in the Philippines it has been well-documented that they engaged in bitter martial conflicts with the Spanish invaders, whose presence in the islands began in the sixteenth century.  Indeed, the country was named by the Spanish navigator Ruy Lopez de Villalobos for Prince Philip of Asturias, who, as Philip II, became the king of Spain in 1542.  It was also the Spaniards who named the native people of the Philippines "Negritos" (Little Blacks).

The Spanish observed that "The Negritos, which our first conquerors found were, according to tradition, the first possessors of the islands of this Archipelago."  Another account observed that "There are black negroes in this island who pay tribute to no one."  Similar documents affirm the widespread presence and distribution of the Agta in the Philippines at the time of the Spanish intrusion.  "If we are to believe later historians, the shores of some of the islands fairly swarmed with Negritos when the Spaniards arrived."  The Bisayan island of Negroes derives its name from having been an Agta population center.  Today, however, the Agta probably comprise less than one per cent of the total population of the Philippines.

The Agta men amassed quite a reputation as warriors, and although the accuracy of the report is somewhat questionable, it is said that the Agta were "such enemies to the Spaniards, that if they happen to kill one, they invite all their kindred, and rejoice for three days, drinking out of the skull, clear'd for that purpose; by which means, they afterwards get wives the easier, as being more courageous."

Dr. Pedro A. Gagelonia, a Filipino scholar, citing the commentaries of the European colonizers of the Philippines regarding the Agta, wrote that:

"They were the aborigines of the Philippines, and for a long time had been master of Luzon.  At a time not very far distant, when the Spaniards conquered the country, the Aetas levied a kind of blackmail from the Tagalog villages situated on the banks of the lake of Bay (Laguna de Bay).  At a fixed period they quitted their forests, entered the village, and forced the inhabitants to give them a certain quantity of rice and maize....After the conquest of the Philippines by the Spaniards, the latter took upon themselves the defense of the Tagalogs, and the Aetas, terrified by their firearms, remained in the forests, and did not reappear among the Indians."

THE ERUPTIONS OF MT. PINATUBO

The violent volcanic eruptions of Mt. Pinutabo in June 1991 were particularly devastating for the Agta.  Alternately ignored and discriminated against, many Agta lived on the slopes of the long-dormant volcano that is regarded as the center of their cosmology.  Forced down the mountain slopes by the eruptions, numbers of Agta, who have historically relied on the herbal medicines now buried under tons of mud and ash, have perished from dreadful epidemics of measles, diarrhea and pneumonia.

SOURCES:
The Filipinos of Yesterdays, by Pedro A. Gagelonia
The African Presence in Early Asia, edited by Runoko Rashidi

"There are black Negroes in this island who pay tribute to no one."

So are they complaining about us being in the philippines or what...

Apart from dark skin and curly hair, Negritos have little in common with any African population, including the African pygmies.

You mean there are actually black people in the philippines. What would they think of next iraqi and afghan people.

I understand that but my inital reaction to this thread is why should it even matter if there is though. I mean this is 2005 isn't it?

Runoko Rashidi is a classic afrocentrist!

PLEASE STUDY A SUBJECT BEFORE U SPEAK ON IT, ASIANS HAVE AFRICAN ANCESTRY ITS A FACT


igronant people who know nothing about this topic are sitting here stressing this it, its not that serious ppl, first of all u don't have to be african to be BLACK the aborigines from australia and many southasians eithinic groups like the ppl of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra,( i've been there some of the tribal ppl worship african gods) and in northern Malaysia and southern Thailand In Thailand they are commonly called Sakaiare these ppl living proof that that u don't have to be african to be BLACK any educated person should know this and "Black" people did not only remain on the contient of africa they spread out through out the world. any anthropologist will tell u the first ppl on the contient of asia where black africans.

like there are many different caucasian races theres the Nordics who are the scandinavian and germanic people who manly have blond hair blue/green eyes and have the lights skin of all the white races, theres the western and central europeans whos hair and eyes color mostly range from dark to light then there Alpine and iberians the darkest of the caucasians the have olive and tan skin with dark hair and eyes.

when many people think of the negroid race they think all black ppl are the same and they think of the bantu africans their decendants are the african americans, haitians jamaicans etc. they have wooly or curl hair with the broad nose. but the bantu's physical features does not represent thoese of all the other black races there are many other negroid ppl, theres even who have european features like the aborigines of Australia, many east africans ethinic groups as well as central africans. who  have dark skin but often have the "pointy european nose" the straight hair'. therefore being black does not mean u have to be african or have bantu features. ASIANS HAVE AFRICAN ANCESTRY ITS A FACT

^exactly. and nobody is denying that. but isn't it funny how he say that people are ignorant, when this guy calls the people of the negrito race african just on the mere fact that they look like they're black africans, when it is proven through genetics and paleontology that the negritos are in fact "less african" than many other asians.

Could you direct me to this genetic and paleontology study of Negritos?  I'm interested in learning more about them.

^there's a book (it's not paleontology, but a huge part of it deals with it) o forgot the isbn but the truth is that earlier theories even included caucasian mixture among the negrito, esp. the looks of some tribes ie the new guinea and australian aborigines and some melanesian islanders as well having blonde hari, "caucasoid" facial structure esp. with the prominent cheek bones and wide nose.

First man’s children in Andamans
G.S. MUDUR
 
New Delhi, May 12: Two tribes in the Andamans may be the direct descendants of the earliest modern humans who trudged out of Africa over 70,000 years ago, scientists will announce tomorrow.

A study by Indian scientists has revealed the African origins of the Great Andamanese and the Onge tribes and may force researchers to revise current theories about prehistoric human migration.

The Great Andamanese and the Onge are both Negrito tribes and scientists have suspected that their roots lie in Africa. But previous studies had hinted that they are closer to Asians than to Africans.

Now, scientists at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad have reported that the two tribes have remained isolated on the islands for tens of thousands of years.

“Ancient genetic mutations in these tribes make them closer to Africans than any other populations in the world,” said Dr Lalji Singh, CCMB director.

Scientists believe that all people alive today are descendants of modern humans who migrated out of east Africa about 70,000 years ago to replace ‘early humans’ elsewhere.

The reigning theory is that modern humans first moved north along the Nile, across the Sinai peninsula, into central Asia before heading east towards India.

“But our findings suggest that they also traced a coastal route along east Africa and the Arabian peninsula into south Asia,” said Kumarasami Thangaraj, a senior scientist at the CCMB.

Thangaraj studied genetic mutations to construct a human family tree spanning 70,000 years with the migrants from Africa at the top, and their descendants branching off into populations across Asia. Mutations in genetic material called mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited only from mothers, can help scientists determine the proximity between different populations.

The CCMB analysed complete mitochondrial DNA sequences from five Great Andamanese, five Onges and five Nicobarese — and compared them with mutations in other populations.

The analysis revealed that the genetic branches M31 and M32 in the Great Andamanese and the Onges emerged directly from a “founder population” about 65,000 years ago. “And they have remained trapped there since then,” said Singh.

An independent investigation by British and Malaysian scientists has corroborated the CCMB findings. Both studies appear in Friday’s issue of the US journal Science.

Glasgow University’s Vincent Macaulay and his colleagues found that an aboriginal tribe named Orang Asli in Malaysia had branched off 60,000 years ago. Macaulay’s team also calculated that the 12,000-km trek along the coast from India to Australia was made at speeds between 0.7 km to 4 km per year.

Thangaraj said the move from coastal India to the islands may have been made on primitive boats fashioned out of tree trunks. The CCMB scientists have observed that even today, the Onges build boats from trees.

“We hope these findings inspire archaeological exploration between the Arabian peninsula and Southeast Asia in search of the remains of the first Eurasians,” Peter Forster, an anthropologist from Cambridge University, said.

The CCMB study has also thrown up a surprise.

Genetic analysis of 6,500 people on mainland India showed that no one had the M31 or M32 mutations. “If the tribes had moved from India, we would have expected to find the mutations in some people on the mainland, too,” said Thangaraj.

they're still not Negroids tho

PLEASE STUDY A SUBJECT BEFORE U SPEAK ON IT, ASIANS HAVE AFRICAN ANCESTRY ITS A FACT


igronant people who know nothing about this topic are sitting here stressing this it, its not that serious ppl, first of all u don't have to be african to be BLACK the aborigines from australia and many southasians eithinic groups like the ppl of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra,( i've been there some of the tribal ppl worship african gods) and in northern Malaysia and southern Thailand In Thailand they are commonly called Sakaiare these ppl living proof that that u don't have to be african to be BLACK any educated person should know this and "Black" people did not only remain on the contient of africa they spread out through out the world. any anthropologist will tell u the first ppl on the contient of asia where black africans.

like there are many different caucasian races theres the Nordics who are the scandinavian and germanic people who manly have blond hair blue/green eyes and have the lights skin of all the white races, theres the western and central europeans whos hair and eyes color mostly range from dark to light then there Alpine and iberians the darkest of the caucasians the have olive and tan skin with dark hair and eyes.

when many people think of the negroid race they think all black ppl are the same and they think of the bantu africans their decendants are the african americans, haitians jamaicans etc. they have wooly or curl hair with the broad nose. but the bantu's physical features does not represent thoese of all the other black races there are many other negroid ppl, theres even who have european features like the aborigines of Australia, many east africans ethinic groups as well as central africans. who  have dark skin but often have the "pointy european nose" the straight hair'. therefore being black does not mean u have to be african or have bantu features. ASIANS HAVE AFRICAN ANCESTRY ITS A FACT

There are 4 kinds of race according to the 4 race theory
1. Negroid
2. Causcasoid
3. Mongoloid
4. Australoid

The Negrito is an Australoid which evolved directly from the Negroid and the Causcasoid and Mongoloid also evolved directly from the Negroid so scientifically we all evolved directly from the Negroid.

they're still not Negroids tho

lol @ the guy making words up

No, your mother made up that stuff about how she "loved you." What she did to you wasn't love, okay? Incest is ALWAYS wrong. You really should report her.
Anyway, here are some screencaps of the lovely PM's you sent me. I suppose you're the first "family" to have a computer in your part of the trailer park, so you didn't realize these new fangled things could do that.

Yhelothar's PM's



You know YellowBelly, life is hard. It's even harder when you're "stoopid."
Now everyone can admire your eloquence, even the site admins. We can also see why you didn't post these kind remarks in the thread. Oh well, I don't mind doing it for you.