Cuyunon people

Last updated
Cuyonon
Total population
243,384
Regions with significant populations
Flag of the Philippines.svg Philippines: Palawan
Languages
Cuyonon, Hiligaynon, Filipino
Religion
Roman Catholic
Related ethnic groups
other Filipino peoples, other Austronesian peoples

Cuyunon refers to an ethnic group populating the Cuyo Islands, along with northern and central Palawan. The Cuyunons hail originally from Cuyo and the surrounding Cuyo Islands, a group of islands and islets in the northern Sulu Sea, to the north east of Palawan. They are considered an elite class among the hierarchy of native Palaweños.

Cuyo, Palawan Municipality of the Philippines in the province of Palawan

Cuyo, officially the Municipality of Cuyo,, is a 4th class municipality in the province of Palawan, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 22,360 people.

Palawan Province in Mimaropa, Philippines

Palawan, officially the Province of Palawan, is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of MIMAROPA. It is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of jurisdiction. Its capital is the city of Puerto Princesa, but the city is governed independently from the province as a highly urbanized city.

Sulu Sea A sea in the Philippines between Palawan, the Sulu Archipelago, Borneo and Visayas

The Sulu Sea is a body of water in the southwestern area of the Philippines, separated from the South China Sea in the northwest by Palawan and from the Celebes Sea in the southeast by the Sulu Archipelago. Borneo is found to the southwest and Visayas to the northeast.

Contents

The Cuyonon jurisdictions during Pre-Hispanic times include Cuyo under the powerful Datu Magbanua, Taytay under the gracious Cabaylo Royal Family who met the remnants of Magellan's fleet who fled Mactan after Ferdinand Magellan died in battle, Paragua (Palawan) under Datu Cabangon who ruled south of Taytay and Busuanga under the peaceful Datu Macanas.

During Spanish colonization of the Philippines, Cuyo was one of the territories of Palawan that had the strongest Spanish presence, even being the capital of the entire Palawan province as one point.

They are part of the wider Visayan ethnolinguistic group, who constitute the largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group.

Visayans Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups originated from Visayas, in the Philippines

Visayans, are a Philippine ethnolinguistic group native to the whole Visayas, the southernmost islands of Luzon and most parts of Mindanao. They are the largest ethnic group in the geographical division of the country, numbering at more than 33,463,654. Those particularly within the Visayas broadly share a sea-based culture with strong Roman Catholic traditions merged with cultural elements through centuries of interaction and inter-migrations mainly across the seas of Visayan, Sibuyan, Camotes and Bohol, and in some secluded areas merged with ancient animistic-polytheistic influences. Most Visayans are speakers of one or more Bisayan languages, the most widely spoken being Cebuano, followed by Hiligaynon (Ilonggo) and Waray-Waray.

Cuyonon culture

Significant populations

Although the Cuyonon language is so closely related to Kinaray-a in Panay, very few Cuyonons actually live or speak Cuyonon in Panay, they instead settled west to the island of Palawan where the ethnic group is so closely associated now, this being the Province of Palawan declared Cuyonon as its official language. The fact also remains that most of the other ethnic groups of Palawan can fluently speak this language because Cuyonon had been the lingua franca of the Province of Palawan for many centuries already.

Lingua franca languages used to facilitate trade between groups without a common native language

A lingua franca, also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language or dialect systematically used to make communication possible between groups of people who do not share a native language or dialect, particularly when it is a third language that is distinct from both of the speakers' native languages.

Indigenous Cuyonon Religion

Diwata ng Kagubatan (literally goddess of the forest) was worshiped by the ancient Cuyunon people, an ethnic group that predominantly lives in the Cuyo Archipelago and nearby areas such as northern Palawan and Antique. As the most powerful of the supernatural Cuyonon beings, she is honored in a celebrated feast, periodically held atop of Mount Caimana in Cuyo Island. When most of the natives were converted to Christianity during the Spanish Era, about 2/3 of the converted Cuyunon were still celebrating her feast, angering the Spanish imperialists. The situation led the Spanish authorities to intensify their evangelization and governance efforts, which included the forced Roman Catholic conversion of the Cuyonon people, burning of houses of non-Catholic Cuyonons, and massive slavery. Later, the Spanish called Diwata ng Kagubatan as Virgen Del Monte, in another bid to rebrand the deity as 'Catholic'. [1]

Cuyo Archipelago group of islands in Palawan, Philippines

The Cuyo Archipelago or Cuyo Islands, is a group of about 45 islands lying to the northeast of the Philippines island of Palawan. It lies south of Mindoro and between Northern Palawan and Panay. It is centered on the largest island of the archipelago, Cuyo Island, with an area of 22 square miles (57 km2) and is about 9 miles (14 km) long.

Antique old collectable item

A true antique is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old, although the term is often used loosely to describe any object that is old. An antique is usually an item that is collected or desirable because of its age, beauty, rarity, condition, utility, personal emotional connection, and/or other unique features. It is an object that represents a previous era or time period in human history. Vintage and collectible are used to describe items that are old, but do not meet the 100-year criteria.

Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Its adherents, known as Christians, believe that Jesus is the Christ, whose coming as the messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, called the Old Testament in Christianity, and chronicled in the New Testament. It is the world's largest religion with about 2.4 billion followers.

See also

Tagalog people major ethnolinguistic group of the Philippines

The Tagalog people are the second largest ethnolingustic group in the Philippines after the Visayan people, numbering at around 30 million. They have a well developed society due to their cultural heartland, Manila, being the capital city of the Philippines. Most of them inhabit and form a majority in the Metro Manila and Calabarzon regions of southern Luzon, as well as a plurality in the provinces of Bulacan, Bataan, Zambales, Nueva Ecija and Aurora in Central Luzon and in the islands of Marinduque and Mindoro in MIMAROPA.

The Kapampangan People, also known as Pampangueños or Pampangos, are the sixth largest ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines, numbering about 2.89 million. They live mainly in the provinces of Pampanga, Bataan and Tarlac, as well as Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Zambales.

Ilocano people ethnic group

The Ilocanos, Ilokanos, or Iloko people are the third largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group that mostly reside within the Ilocos Region in the northwestern seaboard of Luzon, Philippines.

Related Research Articles

Visayas one of the three island groups of the Philippines

The Visayas, or the Visayan Islands, are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the central part of the archipelago, it consists of several islands, primarily surrounding the Visayan Sea, although the Visayas are also considered the northeast extremity of the entire Sulu Sea. Its inhabitants are predominantly the Visayan peoples.

Busuanga, Palawan Municipality of the Philippines in the province of Palawan

Busuanga, officially the Municipality of Busuanga,, is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Palawan, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 22,046 people.

Coron, Palawan Municipality of the Philippines in the province of Palawan

Coron, officially the Municipality of Coron,, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Palawan, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 51,803 people.

Ratagnon is a regional language spoken by the Ratagnon people, an indigenous group from Occidental Mindoro. It is a part of the Bisayan language family and is closely related to other Philippine languages. Its speakers are shifting to Tagalog, and it is nearly extinct.

Cuyonon is a regional Bisayan language spoken on the coast of Palawan, and the Cuyo Islands in the Philippines. Cuyonon had been the lingua franca of the province of Palawan until recently when migration flow from Southern Tagalog region rapidly increased. 43% of the total population of Palawan during the late 1980s spoke and used Cuyonon as a language. Later studies showed a significant decrease in the number of speakers due to an increase of Tagalog-speaking immigrants from Luzon.

Culion Municipality of the Philippines in the province of Palawan

Culion, officially the Municipality of Culion,, is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Palawan, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 20,139 people.

Agutaya Municipality of the Philippines in the province of Palawan

Agutaya, officially the Municipality of Agutaya,, is a 5th class municipality in the province of Palawan, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 12,545 people.

Cagayancillo Municipality of the Philippines in the province of Palawan

Cagayancillo, officially the Municipality of Cagayancillo,, is a 6th class municipality in the province of Palawan, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 6,285 people.

Dumaran Municipality of the Philippines in the province of Palawan

Dumaran, officially the Municipality of Dumaran,, is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Palawan, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 23,734 people.

Taytay, Palawan Municipality of the Philippines in the province of Palawan

Taytay, officially the Municipality of Taytay,, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Palawan, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 75,165 people.

Ethnic groups in the Philippines

The Philippines is inhabited by more than 175 ethnolinguistic nations, the majority of whose languages are Austronesian in origin. Many of these nations converted to Christianity, particularly the lowland-coastal nations, and adopted foreign elements of culture. Ethnolinguistic nations include the Ivatan, Pangasinan, Kapampangan, Tagalog, Bicolano, Visayan people, Zamboangueño, Subanon, and more.

Peoples of Palawan

Palawan, the largest province in the Philippines, is home to several indigenous ethnolinguistic groups namely, the Kagayanen Who are the Kagayanens? - Indigenous People Movement, Tagbanwa, Palawano, Taaw't Bato, Molbog, and Batak tribes. They live in remote villages in the mountains and coastal areas.

The Karay-a, are an ethnolinguistic group who inhabited the islands of Panay and Palawan. The name of this group was derived from the word iraya, which means "upstream". Karay-a people speak the Karay-a language, also known as Kinaray-a. The term Hamtikanon, is incorrectly substituted to generally refer to all ethnic Karay-a; however, it pertains to the Karay-a people living in Antique and deals more with location of residence than ethnicity. They are part of the wider Visayan ethnolinguistic group, who constitute the largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group.

Cebuano people subgroup of the Visayan people

The Cebuano people are the largest subgroup of the larger ethnolingustic group Bisaya, who constitute the largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group in the country. Their primary language is the Cebuano language, an Austronesian language. They originated in the province of Cebu in the region of Central Visayas, but then later spread out to other places in the Philippines, such as Siquijor, Bohol, Negros Oriental, southwestern Leyte, western Samar, Masbate, and large parts of Mindanao. It may also refer to the ethnic group who speak the same language as their native tongue in different parts of the archipelago.

The Suludnon, also known as the Tumandok, Panay-Bukidnon, or Panayanon Sulud, are an indigenous Visayan group of people who reside in the Capiz-Lambunao mountainous area and the Antique-Iloilo mountain area of Panay in the Visayan islands of the Philippines. They are one of the two only culturally indigenous group of Visayan language-speakers in the Western Visayas, along with the Iraynon-Bukidnon of Antique. Also, they are part of the wider Visayan ethnolinguistic group, who constitute the largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group.

References

  1. ↑ "Cuyunon Island by Lydia Mary De Leon". Archived from the original on 2010-03-04. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.