Chapter 1: The Philippine Archipelago

Objectives:

At the end of this chapter the reader should be able to:

-Describe the geography of the Philippines

-Narrate the different myths behind the creation of the Philippines

-Enumerate the different theories behind the creation of the Philippine archipelago.

-Formulate his/her own opinion of the origin of the Philippines based on the facts presented in this chapter.

Photo taken from www.southchinasea.org

Motivation: Analyze the map of South East Asia and answer the following questions. 

What are the bodies of water that can be found near the Philippines? 

What are the countries which can be found near the Philippines?

How would you describe the geography of the Philippines?

Geography of the Philippines

          The Philippines is composed of three major islands. These are Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. It is an archipelago composed of 7107 islands. In the east is the vast Pacific ocean while in the west is the West Philippine sea or the South China sea and to the north is the  Philippine sea. Many countries have already discovered the archipelago even before the Spaniards came. China for example have referred to an island in the Visayas as Ma Yi. The Japanese used to call the island of Luzon as Rusun. Some historians also believe that Philippines is the biblical land of Ophir.

Myths on how the Philippines was created

           Once upon a time there was a giant who was carrying a huge boulder. Suddenly the boulder fell from his shoulders and broke into pieces. These pieces eventually became the Philippines islands. 

             Another story is that of the fight between the sea and the sky. Once upon a time there was a bird that was looking for a resting place. In order for it to have a resting place, it told the sky that the sea was trying to drown the sky. The bird went down to the sea and told it the sky was going to throw rocks at it. The sea and the sky quarreled. The sea tried to drown the sky with its waves. The sky threw rocks at the sea until these rocks eventually became the Philippine islands.

                                            Photo taken from www.exoticphilippines.info

Theories on how the Philippines was created

              The Land bridges theory states that the Philippines used to be connected to main land Asia via land bridges. After the ice age the ice melted and the water level rose and the land bridges vanished. The Philippines was then isolated from mainland Asia.

                    The Tectonic Plate Theory states that a strong earthquake and volcanic eruption caused the lava and mud to solidify and formed the Philippine islands.

                     

                     The Lost Continent Theory states that the Philippines used to be part of a huge continent which sunk at the bottom of the sea. The remaining parts of this huge continent are the islands of the Philippines.

Reflection

Which of the following theories do you believe in? 

Why is the Philippines an important trading center for countries such as India and China? 

Check Yourself

Answer the quiz here http://kasaysayan4kids.blogspot.com/2015/02/chapter-1-philippine-archipelago_21.html