They weren't brutes.

Coney Island, New York, USA, circa 1900s. Indigenous people of colonized territories were put on display for the Western World to see. Human Zoos. The Americans imported natives from their newly acquired colony of the Philippines (among other territories such as Guam) and put them on show for locals to gawp and jeer at. 

Image: Filipino baby in bondage. Coney Island, 1906. Source: Rare Historical Photos

The premise of the exhibit was to prove to Americans, and the rest of the Western World, the might of American colonial expansion and justification of their conquest after winning the Spanish-American war. Previously enslaved by the Spanish, the natives of the Philippine Islands were, after all, brute savages without any sense of civilization. 

Image: President McKinley gives the Filipino his 'first bath". (est. 1899)

According to the Americans, it was their God given right to bring order and advance development to the islands. The tentacles of "Manifest Destiny" reached the Isles of Southeast Asia. The primitive Filipinos were to be saved and America was their salvation. Pax Americana.

Except the Filipinos weren't primitive. They weren't brutes. 

The Filipinos (of that era) were an advanced civilization governed by Indianized Malayo-Polynesian kingdoms and polities. They were literate in Old Malay and used a writing system that closely resembled old-Devanagari. They were skilled in agriculture, stone masonry, metallurgy, shipbuilding and were masters of seafaring exploration.

Image: The Laguna Copperplate Inscription (est. 900 CE)

Pre-colonial Philippine borders look very different from modern day. In fact, there were no borders. The Filipinos' mastery over maritime transportation made them a constituent of interconnected states allowing trade, commerce and intellect to flow through the islands of Southeast Asia, from Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and the mainland, including Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. 

Image: Greater Nusantara Map (est. 1500CE)

When the Spaniards arrived, the Majapahit Empire (situated in modern day Java, Indonesia), ruled Southeast Asia through the Nusantara Oath. 

Nusantara. United Islands. 

Although the Majapahit weren't physically present in the Philippine archipelago, they extended their reign via tributary vassal states from Borneo to Luzon. The Philippines was once part of the Greater Nusantara Bloc.

Image: King Hayam Wuruk of the Majapahit Empire (Short Bio)

The Boxer Codex. We can credit the Spaniards for historical record keeping of pre-colonial Philippines. Written and compiled circa 1590 by Spanish authors, the Boxer Codex was a manuscript that contained illustrations and written accounts of the different ethnicities situated in the Philippines (among other Southeast Asian islands) prior to colonization. 

The Boxer Codex is considered a primary source and is used by historians studying Southeast Asian History even today. I will refer to this source to drive home my point - colonial era Filipinos were not brutes. Please refer to the image below and judge for yourself. Note the similarities to other costumes of Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Indonesia. Further note the similarities to Hindu Kingdom costumes of South Asia (for example, the Chola Empire).

Image: Boxer Codex depictions of Pre-colonial Filipinos and current day recreations (from the Filipino television series Amaya, 2013).

Gone are the days of pre-colonial Philippines. Centuries of colonization, wars, and natural disasters have forced Filipinos to continually adapt their self-identity and given rise to what is today's Republic of the Philippines. North of the Philippines, the Filipinos' Hindu-Buddhist identity has eroded almost completely and this in turn has isolated them from the rest of Southeast Asia. 

While Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand retain their Indianized (and Islamic) heritage, Philippines is predominantly Spanish-Catholic mixed with folk syncretism. However, Mindanao (South Philippines) is an exception. Minority groups such as the Maranao and Tausug are examples of clans that have preserved their Indianized identity and continue to amplify it to this day. More on that later.

I am writing this because I wanted people to know there is more to the Philippines than what is known through mainstream avenues. The Philippine Islands are as diverse and plenty in culture as there are marine life in the Pacific Ocean. Through this essay, I wanted to prove that despite 1900s era American gaslighting, Filipinos are not, and never were, brutes.

I hope you agree with me.