Indeed, Leyte had a thriving economy that already bordered on the fringes of agriculture, using hand tools to cultivate rice fields and workable irrigation systems in some places. When the Spaniards came, trading settlements were already flourishing in the coastal areas of Carigara, Ogmuc, Dulaque and Hilongos. From China, Siam, Cambodia, Sumatra and other places, the natives bought porcelain, iron vases, silk, fabrics, fish nets, tine, silk umbrellas and various animals. In return, they bartered cotton, sinamay, coconuts, wax, camotes, mats (petates), pearls, rare shells, betel nuts (which they chewed endlessly), cattle, fowl and hogs.
They knew ship-building, mining of iron, manufacture of war implements, gold trinkets, jewelry, native wine and cotton textiles. They fished with nets and corrals. Hog and poultry raising were common as also noted by Legaspi in Cabalian in 1565
Women on the other hand engaged themselves
in needlework and weaving of cotton fabrics. (Braganza, Vicente, Unpublished
Manuscript)
Settlements were small barangays not very far from each other. But there were no pueblos or town centers as the natives tended to live close to their sources of food: their fields, palm groves, river. Whoever was powerful enough became their ruler,"and not one man alone but almost everyone could come to exercise such power and authority", said Chirino.
"Each of these (groups) kept his own armed camp in constant preparedness, for among them, even among those occupying the same vicinity or district, there was constant hostility, with ceaseless ambushes, raids, robberies, slayings and captures", he continued.(Chirino)
The typical barangay was a settlement of 30 to 100 families, virtually independent of each other, with a datu acting as head. Some brangays formed a bigger unit or a village. In pre-Spanish times, a village formed by Datu Amahawin today comprises the five municipalities of Inopacan, Hindang, Hilongos, Bato and Matalom.
Another settlement in Cabalian, fell under Rajah Siagu, whose domain extended as far as Cagayan of Mindanao. A subordinate datu ruled in his stead in Cabalian.
Due to the fierce independent stance of each barangay settlement, large groups rarely came together in friendship, for mutual assistance and alliance against others, although there were a few of such large settlements developing towards the end of the 16th century in the island of Leyte. There were blood compacts (casi- casi), of course, but these did not have the force of a law.
Rather, it was not tribal agreements that brought settlements together. It was trade. (Braganza)
Next
Settlements were small barangays not very far from each other. But there were no pueblos or town centers as the natives tended to live close to their sources of food: their fields, palm groves, river. Whoever was powerful enough became their ruler,"and not one man alone but almost everyone could come to exercise such power and authority", said Chirino.
"Each of these (groups) kept his own armed camp in constant preparedness, for among them, even among those occupying the same vicinity or district, there was constant hostility, with ceaseless ambushes, raids, robberies, slayings and captures", he continued.(Chirino)
The typical barangay was a settlement of 30 to 100 families, virtually independent of each other, with a datu acting as head. Some brangays formed a bigger unit or a village. In pre-Spanish times, a village formed by Datu Amahawin today comprises the five municipalities of Inopacan, Hindang, Hilongos, Bato and Matalom.
Another settlement in Cabalian, fell under Rajah Siagu, whose domain extended as far as Cagayan of Mindanao. A subordinate datu ruled in his stead in Cabalian.
Due to the fierce independent stance of each barangay settlement, large groups rarely came together in friendship, for mutual assistance and alliance against others, although there were a few of such large settlements developing towards the end of the 16th century in the island of Leyte. There were blood compacts (casi- casi), of course, but these did not have the force of a law.
Rather, it was not tribal agreements that brought settlements together. It was trade. (Braganza)
Next
No comments:
Post a Comment