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Panay

Coordinates: 11°09′N 122°29′E / 11.150°N 122.483°E / 11.150; 122.483
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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Lennart97 (talk | contribs) at 17:31, 22 January 2021 (Disambiguated: Libertad → Libertad, Antique, Sebaste → Sebaste, Antique). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the major island in the Visayas, Philippines. For the small island in Bicol Region, Philippines, see Panay Island (Catanduanes). For other uses, see Panay (disambiguation).
"Po-ni" redirects here. For the former state in Borneo, see History of Brunei.
Panay
Panay Island map (in Estonian language) showing adjacent Guimaras and Negros Islands
Panay is located in Philippines
Panay
Panay
Location within the Philippines
Geography
LocationSouth East Asia
Coordinates11°09′N 122°29′E / 11.150°N 122.483°E / 11.150; 122.483
ArchipelagoVisayas
Adjacent to
Area12,011 km2 (4,637 sq mi)
Area rank65th
Coastline764 km (474.7 mi)
Highest elevation2,117 m (6946 ft)
Highest pointMount Madja-as
Administration
Philippines
RegionWestern Visayas
Provinces
Largest settlementIloilo City (pop. 447,992)
Demographics
Population4,477,247 (2015)
Pop. density349.0/km2 (903.9/sq mi)
Ethnic groups

Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth most-populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of 12,011 km2 (4,637 sq mi) and with a total population of 4,477,247 as of 2015. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country.[1] The City of Iloilo is its largest settlement with a total population of 447,992 inhabitants. It is a triangular island, located in the western part of the Visayas. It is about 160 km (99 mi) across. It is divided into four provinces: Aklan, Antique, Capiz and Iloilo, all in the Western Visayas Region. Just closely off the mid-southeastern coast lies the island-province of Guimaras. It is located southeast of the island of Mindoro and northwest of Negros across the Guimaras Strait. To the north and northeast is the Sibuyan Sea, Jintotolo Channel and the island-provinces of Romblon and Masbate; to the west and southwest is the Sulu Sea and the Palawan archipelago[2] and to the south is Panay Gulf. Panay is the only main island in the Visayas whose provinces don't bear the name of their island.

Panay is bisected by the Central Panay Mountain Range, its longest mountain chain. The island has many rivers, the longest being the Panay River at a length of 168 kilometres (104 mi), followed by the Jalaur, Aklan, Sibalom, Iloilo and Bugang rivers. Standing at about 2,117 m (6,946 ft), the dormant Mount Madja-as (situated in Culasi, Antique) is the highest point of the island, with Mount Nangtud (located between Barbaza, Antique and Jamindan, Capiz) following next at 2,073 m (6,801 ft).

History

Etymology

Before 1212, Panay was called Simsiman. The community is located at the shores of the Ulian River and was linked by a creek. The creek provided salt to the Ati people as well as animals which lick the salt out of the salty water. Coming from the root word "simsim", "simsimin" means "to lick something to eat or to drink", thus the place was called Simsiman.

The native Ati called the island Aninipay from words "ani" to harvest and "nipay", a hairy grass abundant in the whole Panay.

Before the arrival of the Europeans

No pre-Hispanic written accounts of Iloilo and Panay island exist today. Oral traditions, in the form of recited epics like the Hinilawod, has survived to a small degree. A few recordings of these epic poems exist. The most notable are the works of noted Filipino Anthropologist Felipe Jocano.[3]

While no current archaeological evidence exist describing pre-Hispanic Panay, an original work by Pedro Alcantara Monteclaro published in 1907 called Maragtas details the alleged accounts of the founding of the various pre-Hispanic polities on Panay Island. The book is based on oral and written accounts available to the author at the time.[4] The author made no claim on the historical accuracy of the accounts.[5]

According to Maragtas, the Kedatuan of Madja-as was founded after ten datus fled Borneo and landed on Panay Island. The book then goes on to detail their subsequent purchase of the coastal lands in which they settled from the native Ati people.

Left to right: Images from the Boxer Codex illustrating members of the ancient Visayan kadatuan or tumao class from Panay: [1] couple from the nobility, [2] a royal couple, and [3] a native binukot.

An old manuscript Margitas of uncertain date (discovered by the anthropologist H. Otley Beyer)[6] give interesting details about the laws, government, social customs, and religious beliefs of the early Visayans, who settled Panay within the first half of the thirteenth century.[7] The term Visayan was first applied only to them and to their settlements eastward in the island of Negros, and northward in the smaller islands, which now compose the province of Romblon. In fact, even at the early part of Spanish colonialization of the Philippines, the Spaniards used the term Visayan only for these areas. While the people of Cebu, Bohol, and Leyte were for a long time known only as Pintados. The name Visayan was later extended to them because, as several of the early writers state, their languages are closely allied to the Visayan dialect of Panay.[8]

Grabiel Ribera, captain of the Spanish royal infantry in the Philippine Islands, also distinguished Panay from the rest of the Pintados Islands. In his report (dated 20 March 1579) regarding a campaign to pacify the natives living along the rivers of Mindanao (a mission he received from Dr. Francisco de Sande, Governor and Captain-General of the Archipelago), Ribera mentioned that his aim was to make the inhabitants of that island "vassals of King Don Felipe… as are all the natives of the island of Panay, the Pintados Islands, and those of the island of Luzon…"[9]

During the early part of the colonial period in the Archipelago, the Spaniards led by Miguel López de Legazpi transferred their camp from Cebu to Panay in 1569. On 5 June 1569, Guido de Lavezaris, the royal treasurer in the Archipelago, wrote to Philip II reporting about the Portuguese attack to Cebu in the preceding autumn. A letter from another official, Andres de Mirandaola (dated three days later, 8 June), also described briefly this encounter with the Portuguese. The danger of another attack led the Spaniards to remove their camp from Cebu to Panay, which they considered a safer place. Legazpi himself, in his report to the Viceroy in New Spain (dated 1 July 1569), mentioned the same reason for the relocation of Spaniards to Panay.[10] It was in Panay that the conquest of Luzon was planned, and later launched on 8 May 1570.[11]

The account of early Spanish explorers

A 1734 map of Panay

During the early part of the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, the Spanish Augustinian Friar Gaspar de San Agustín, O.S.A. described Panay as: "…very similar to that of Sicily in its triangular form, as well as in it fertility and abundance of provision. It is the most populated island after Manila and Mindanao, and one of the largest (with over a hundred leagues of coastline). In terms of fertility and abundance, it is the first. […] It is very beautiful, very pleasant, and full of coconut palms… Near the river Alaguer (Halaur), which empties into the sea two leagues from the town of Dumangas…, in the ancient times, there was a trading center and a court of the most illustrious nobility in the whole island."[12] Padre Francisco Colin (1592-1660), an early Jesuit missionary and Provincial of his Order in the Philippines also records in the chronicles of the Society of Jesus (published later in 1663 as Labor euangelica) that Panay is the island which is most abundant and fertile.[13]

The first Spanish settlement in Panay island and the second oldest Spanish settlement in the Philippines was established by the Miguel Lopez de Legazpi expedition in Panay, Capiz at the banks of the Panay River[14] in northern Panay, the name of which was extended to the whole Panay island. Legazpi transferred the capital there from Cebu since it had abundant provisions and was better protected from Portuguese attacks before the capital was once again transferred to Manila.[15]

Miguel de Luarca, who was among the first Spanish settlers in the Island, made one of the earliest account about Panay and its people according to a Westerner's point of view. In June 1582, while he was in Arevalo (Iloilo), he wrote in his Relacion de las Yslas Filipinas the following observations:

The island is the most fertile and well-provisioned of all the islands discovered, except the island of Luzon: for it is exceedingly fertile, and abounds in rice, swine, fowls, wax, and honey; it produces also a great quantity of cotton and abacá fiber.[16]

"The villages are very close together, and the people are peaceful and open to conversion. The land is healthful and well-provisioned, so that the Spaniards who are stricken in other islands go thither to recover their health."[16]

"The natives are healthy and clean, and although the island of Cebu is also healthful and had a good climate, most of its inhabitants are always afflicted with the itch and buboes. In the island of Panay, the natives declare that no one of them had ever been afflicted with buboes until the people from Bohol – who, as we said above, abandoned Bohol on account of the people of Maluco – came to settle in Panay, and gave the disease to some of the natives. For these reasons the governor, Don Gonzalo Ronquillo, founded the town of Arevalo, on the south side of this island; for the island runs north and south, and on that side live the majority of the people, and the villages are near this town, and the land here is more fertile."[16] This probably explains why there are reference of presence of Pintados in the Island.

"The island of Panay provides the city of Manila and other places with a large quantity of rice and meat…".[17].. "As the island contains great abundance of timber and provisions, it has almost continuously had a shipyard on it, as is the case of the town of Arevalo, for galleys and fragatas. Here the ship 'Visaya' was launched."[18]

Another Spanish chronicler in the early Spanish period, Dr. Antonio de Morga (Year 1609) is also responsible for recording other Visayan customs. Customs such as Visayans' affinity for singing among their warrior-castes as well as the playing of gongs and bells in naval battles.

Their customary method of trading was by bartering one thing for another, such as food, cloth, cattle, fowls, lands, houses, fields, slaves, fishing-grounds, and palm-trees (both nipa and wild). Sometimes a price intervened, which was paid in gold, as agreed upon, or in metal bells brought from China. These bells they regard as precious jewels; they resemble large pans and are very sonorous. They play upon these at their feasts, and carry them to the war in their boats instead of drums and other instruments.[19]

The early Dutch fleet commander Cornelis Matelieff de Jonge called at Panay in 1607. He mentions a town named "Oton" on the island where there were "18 Spanish soldiers with a number of other Spanish inhabitants so that there may be 40 whites in all". He explained that "a lot of rice and meat is produced there, with which they [i.e. the Spanish] supply Manila."[20]

According to Stephanie J. Mawson, using recruitment records found in Mexico, in addition to the 40 Caucasian Spaniards who then lived in Oton, there were an additional set of 66 Mexican soldiers of Mulatto, Mestizo or Native American descent sentried there during the year 1603.[21] However, the Dutch visitor, Cornelis Matelieff de Jongedid, did not count them in since they were not pure whites like him.

Iloilo City in Panay was awarded by the Queen of Spain the title: "La Muy Leal y Noble Ciudad de Iloilo (The Most Loyal and Noble City) for being the most loyal and noble city in the Spanish Empire since it clung on to Spain amidst the Philippine revolution the last nation to revolt against Spain in the Spanish Empire.

Nearby Boracay island was considered the most beautiful island in the world by several travel magazines.

The island lent its name to several United States Navy vessels including the USS Panay (PR-5), sunk in 1937 by the Japanese in the Panay incident.

World War II

Map showing the Japanese invasion of Panay during World War II.

Panay was a target by the Japanese in order to secure the rest of Visayas and so on April 16, 1942, Imperial Japanese Army forces landed on San Jose de Buenavista, Capiz City and Iloilo City.

However, guerrilla forces under Col. Macario Peralta Jr. would later on liberate most of the island and eventually capturing the city of Capiz on December 20, 1944 and therefore the liberation of the entire Capiz Province before the Allied forces land on Iloilo City on March 18, 1945 where they mopprd up the remaining Japanese forces in the island.[22]

Geography

Map of Panay Island

Panay island is the sixth largest island in the Philippines by area, with a total land area of 12,011 km2 (4,637 sq mi) and with a total coastline of 764 km (475 mi). Mount Madja-as is the highest point in Panay with an elevation of 6,946 feet (2,117 m ) above sea level, located in town of Culasi in the northern province of Antique. Central Panay Mountain Range is the longest and largest mountain range in the island with a total length of 170 km (110 mi) north-south. Panay River is the longest river in the island with a total length of 168 km (104 mi) located in the province of Capiz.

Boracay island, with a white sand beach is located 0.86 kilometres (0.53 miles) off the coast of northwest tip of Panay Island, it is part of Aklan province, is a popular tourist destination.

Topography

Panay island List of highest Peaks by elevation

River System

List of major river in Panay island by length.

Waterfalls

List of Waterfalls in Panay Island.

Lakes

List of Lakes in Panay Island

Administrative divisions

The island is covered by 4 provinces, 92 municipalities, and, as of 2014, 3 cities (93 municipalities if the associated islands of Caluya are included), all under the jurisdiction of the Western Visayas region.

Seal Province Population
(2015)[23][24] 		Land area Population Density Capital Municipalities
(including
associated islands*) 		Cities Location
Aklan 574,823 1,821.42 km2
(703.25 sq mi) 		290/km2
(750/sq mi) 		Kalibo
17 towns
 —
Antique 582,012 2,729.17 km2
(1,053.74 sq mi) 		200/km2
(520/sq mi) 		San Jose de Buenavista
18 towns
 —
Capiz 761,384 2,594.64 km2
(1,001.80 sq mi) 		280/km2
(730/sq mi) 		Roxas
16 towns
 Roxas
Iloilo 2,384,415 5,079.17 km2
(1,961.08 sq mi) 		440/km2
(1,100/sq mi) 		Iloilo City
42 towns
Seal Province Population
(2015) 		Land area Density Capital Municipalities Cities Location

Notes: The municipality of Caluya in Antique province is covered by separate islands which are included under the island group of Panay. Iloilo figures include the independent city of Iloilo.

See also

References

  1. ^ Boquet, Yves (2017). The Philippine Archipelago. Springer. p. 16. ISBN 9783319519265.
  2. ^ C.Michael Hogan. 2011. Sulu Sea
  3. ^ Jocano, Felipe Landa; Hugan-an (2000). Hinilawod: Adventures of Humadapnon Tarangban I. Quezon City: Punlad Research House, Inc. ISBN 971-622-010-3.
  4. ^ Ma. Cecilia Locsin-Nava (2001). History & Society in the Novels of Ramon Muzones. Ateneo de Manila University Press. pp. 46. ISBN 978-971-550-378-5.
  5. ^ Originally titled Maragtás kon (historia) sg pulô nga Panay kutub sg iya una nga pamuluyö tubtub sg pag-abut sg mga taga Borneo nga amó ang ginhalinan sg mga bisayâ kag sg pag-abut sg mga Katsilâ, Scott 1984, pp. 92–93, 103
  6. ^ Scott, William Henry, Pre-hispanic Source Materials for the study of Philippine History, 1984: New Day Publishers, pp. 101, 296.
  7. ^ G. Nye Steiger, H. Otley Beyer, Conrado Benitez, A History of the Orient, Oxford: 1929, Ginn and Company, p. 122.
  8. ^ G. Nye Steiger, H. Otley Beyer, Conrado Benitez, A History of the Orient, Oxford: 1929, Ginn and Company, pp. 122–123.
  9. ^ Cf. BLAIR, Emma Helen & ROBERTSON, James Alexander, eds. (1911). The Philippine Islands, 1493–1803. Volume 04 of 55 (1493–1803). Historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord BOURNE. Cleveland, Ohio: Arthur H. Clark Company. ISBN 978-0554259598. OCLC 769945704. "Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century.", pp. 257–260.
  10. ^ Cf. BLAIR, Emma Helen & ROBERTSON, James Alexander, eds. (1911). The Philippine Islands, 1493–1803. Volume 03 of 55 (1493–1803). Historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord BOURNE. Cleveland, Ohio: Arthur H. Clark Company. ISBN 978-0554259598. OCLC 769945704. "Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century.", pp. 15–16.
  11. ^ Cf. BLAIR, Emma Helen & ROBERTSON, James Alexander, eds. (1911). The Philippine Islands, 1493–1803. Volume 03 of 55 (1493–1803). Historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord BOURNE. Cleveland, Ohio: Arthur H. Clark Company. ISBN 978-0554259598. OCLC 769945704. "Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century.", p. 73.
  12. ^ Mamuel Merino, O.S.A., ed., Conquistas de las Islas Filipinas (1565–1615), Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 1975, pp. 374–376.
  13. ^ Francisco Colin, S.J., Labor euangelica, ministerios apostolicos de los obreros de la Compañia de Iesus : fundacion, y progressos de su Prouincia en las islas Filipinas historiados, Madrid:1663, Lib. I, Cap. VII, p. 63.
  14. ^ Location of the Panay River Basin
  15. ^ "The First Spanish Settlement in Panay" By Henry F. Funtecha PUBLISHED IN: The News Today.
  16. ^ a b c Miguel de Loarca, Relacion de las Yslas Filipinas (Arevalo: June 1582) in BLAIR, Emma Helen & ROBERTSON, James Alexander, eds. (1903). The Philippine Islands, 1493–1803. Volume 05 of 55 (1582–1583). Historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord BOURNE. Cleveland, Ohio: Arthur H. Clark Company. ISBN 978-0554259598. OCLC 769945704. "Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century.", p. 67.
  17. ^ Miguel de Loarca, Relacion de las Yslas Filipinas (Arevalo: June 1582) in BLAIR, Emma Helen & ROBERTSON, James Alexander, eds. (1903). The Philippine Islands, 1493–1803. Volume 05 of 55 (1582–1583). Historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord BOURNE. Cleveland, Ohio: Arthur H. Clark Company. ISBN 978-0554259598. OCLC 769945704. "Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century.", p. 69.
  18. ^ Miguel de Loarca, Relacion de las Yslas Filipinas (Arevalo: June 1582) in BLAIR, Emma Helen & ROBERTSON, James Alexander, eds. (1903). The Philippine Islands, 1493–1803. Volume 05 of 55 (1582–1583). Historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord BOURNE. Cleveland, Ohio: Arthur H. Clark Company. ISBN 978-0554259598. OCLC 769945704. "Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century.", p. 71.
  19. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-10-09. Retrieved 2014-09-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. ^ Peter Borschberg, Journal, Memorials and Letters of Cornelis Matelieff de Jonge. Security, Diplomacy and Commerce in 17th-century Southeast Asia, ed. BORSCHBERG, Peter (2015) Singapore: NUS Press, ISBN 978-9971-69-798-3, p. 565-6.
  21. ^ Convicts or Conquistadores? Spanish Soldiers in the Seventeenth-Century Pacific By Stephanie J. Mawson
  22. ^ "The Seizure of Panay" from General Douglas MacArthur's report s
  23. ^ Census of Population (2015). Highlights of the Philippine Population 2015 Census of Population. Philippine Statistics Authority. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  24. ^ "PSGC Interactive; List of Provinces". Philippine Statistics Authority. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Panay.
Look up Panay in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Panay.

Bibliography

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