Creation Stories of the 16th and 17th Centuries: Original Theories on the Peopling of the Philippines

How the first humans settled the archipelago now called the Philippines is contentious. Theories have been devised, but none can give a gratifying scholarship. The natives of the Philippines in the 16th and 17th centuries nurtured creation stories which narrated that their ancestors came from the archipelago itself. However, those stories are still disparaged today as primitive myths, despite that fact that those natives were no longer cave peoples. They already lived in tribal societies, were governed by kings, wore gold, produced wine, built ships, and traded with foreign merchants. By using classic Spanish chronicles about the Philippines and other library materials, this paper moves away from what has become cliché about those creation stories: that they are primitive myths. It also departs from the common perception that migrations in the distant past formed what are now the Filipino people. Altogether, this paper will not attempt to dislodge the existing theories on the peopling of the Philippines. It will rather add the creation stories as original theories.