Religion in the Philippines without Spanish Colonization?

I'd say paganism with a few Islamized regions and pockets of Christianity, if Spain finds its way to Taiwan and establishes its colony there instead. The sultanates of Manila and Tondo were established around the turn of the 16th century, so southern Luzon could become slowly Islamized. Most of the rest of the region would more or less remain pagan until a different colonial power comes along.
 
I'd imagine that Islam would be the dominant religion in the Philippines, albeit heavy syncretism with local faiths will happen.
 
There are archeological evidences of buddhism being present in some parts of the archipelago, mostly in form of Buddhist artefacts. Some Kingdoms were tributaries of Srivijaya which was buddhist, so it might have spread the religion there. So some kingdoms may have been Buddhist. I think the Philippines may be religiously diverse place, with high level of syncretism. Also some archaeological evidences of Hinduism exist as well.
 
The North(Luzon) will pick up Islam from Borneo, Aceh and Java...Visayas will stay pagan..

The Northern part is affiliated with Majapahit...
 
Oh, I misread the POD. I apologise for that. Was Visayan Paganism more indigenous in its development or influenced by Hinduism? I am unfortunately unfamiliar with that area, nor I am really familiar with the history of Philippines all that much.
 
Oh, I misread the POD. I apologise for that. Was Visayan Paganism more indigenous in its development or influenced by Hinduism? I am unfortunately unfamiliar with that area, nor I am really familiar with the history of Philippines all that much.

I also apologize: when I say paganism, I mean the native religions that aren't Islam or Christianity. Pre-colonial things are a bit misty here, considering our main sources are all scattered about or lost.

The archaeological things about Hindu-Buddhism in the Philippines are a bit of a mystery, really.

In any case, Islam came late to the Philippines, and Visayas was a source of slaves and loot to the southern sultanates. Only in the beginning of the 1500s did Sultan Bolkiah go north, subjugate the ostensibly Buddhist Ma-i, and conquer Manila to place a cousin on its throne. According to various early records of the late 1500s when Legazpi firmly established the colony, the common people were still pagan, with only the nobles like Soliman, Lakandula, and Rajah Matanda holding to that faith, and tenuously at that.

So we can roughly conclude that Islam was mostly restricted to the south, i.e. Mindanao. Perhaps a couple of centuries would change that, but who knows?
 
you have maybe 200 years without European contact at most. I think the Dutch and eventually the French and English will colonize it. Islam will probably head North, but island hoping will take a while due to tribal warfare. These are the same people that killed Magellan. Buddhism and maybe some Hinduism might be established in the northern parts, that is up in the air. Eventually the Europeans would come and divide up the Philippines for themselves and in the non-Islamic areas various forms of Christianity will take over.
 
you have maybe 200 years without European contact at most. I think the Dutch and eventually the French and English will colonize it. Islam will probably head North, but island hoping will take a while due to tribal warfare. These are the same people that killed Magellan. Buddhism and maybe some Hinduism might be established in the northern parts, that is up in the air. Eventually the Europeans would come and divide up the Philippines for themselves and in the non-Islamic areas various forms of Christianity will take over.

A thing to mention: Magellan had gotten the allegiance, such as it was, of the Rajah of Cebu, Humabon. And he was killed by the chieftain of Mactan, the tiny island right next to it.

That gives a bit of an idea of what the Philippines is like before the Spaniards, for the most part. small local polities with occasional loose hegemonies. The closest things to actual states would be the polities in the south.

As for dividing up the islands, I don't think it would make much sense to. Not that that's ever stopped the Europeans. :p
 
A thing to mention: Magellan had gotten the allegiance, such as it was, of the Rajah of Cebu, Humabon. And he was killed by the chieftain of Mactan, the tiny island right next to it.

That gives a bit of an idea of what the Philippines is like before the Spaniards, for the most part. small local polities with occasional loose hegemonies. The closest things to actual states would be the polities in the south.

As for dividing up the islands, I don't think it would make much sense to. Not that that's ever stopped the Europeans. :p
Me as well honestly, I think that the area will fall first to the Dutch, then the British, instead of having and instead of having a colony in Borneo you would see a British Philippines.
 
If the French or the English colonize the Philippines, wr might see a scenario similar to the US happen there, like the natives being slowly displaced by European immigrants.
 
If the French or the English colonize the Philippines, wr might see a scenario similar to the US happen there, like the natives being slowly displaced by European immigrants.

I kind of doubt that. Look at British Malaya, or French Indochina.

The East Indies are not Australia or the Americas, where genocide is easy because of plagues. These lands are already deeply connected to the rest of Eurasia.
 
Plus it's certainly not very good land for making a settler colony, being tropical and already full of people. Look at how many Dutch died in Batavia over the centuries--huge numbers.
 
Plus it's certainly not very good land for making a settler colony, being tropical and already full of people. Look at how many Dutch died in Batavia over the centuries--huge numbers.

Guns, Germs, and Steel. We had the first, and the second actually worked against the Europeans. :p
 
If the French or the English colonize the Philippines, wr might see a scenario similar to the US happen there, like the natives being slowly displaced by European immigrants.

I kind of doubt that. Look at British Malaya, or French Indochina.

The East Indies are not Australia or the Americas, where genocide is easy because of plagues. These lands are already deeply connected to the rest of Eurasia.
And the climate itself, FYI.
 
Yea, turning the Philippines, or any part of SEA into a European-dominated settler colony is ridiculously hard. However, it's quite likely for a non-native group to form significant communities here. OTL, both the Chinese and various Indian groups form significant populations throughout SEA. The southern Chinese, in particular, have that potential, mainly in terms of numbers and adaptability to the climate here. I don't think it can be more obvious when it's home to the only Chinese-majority country that isn't claimed by China, and yet just a fraction of the size of the largest Chinese community in SEA, the Thai Chinese.

On topic though, you'll probably see the Philippines look a lot more like Indonesia, with Islam coexisting with Hinduism, Buddhism and paganism.
 
If the Dutch colonize the Philippines, could we see the Archipelogo as part of Indonesia or would it be its own nation?

No, it'll be too big to manage. They might still become separate colonies.

Going back to religion, I think northern Luzon might become Buddhist, while the southern half and Visayas would be a mix of Hinduism, paganism, and Islam.
 
If the Dutch colonize the Philippines, could we see the Archipelago as part of Indonesia or would it be its own nation?

It would likely be a large province of Indonesia, I think. It depends on how the European powers go about in their dealings with the region. If the Eighty Years War goes worse for the Dutch, Spain may end up getting these islands regardless. Or maybe the whole region ends up in the loose hands of the VOC, while the local princes establish themselves under them. :p
 
No, it'll be too big to manage. They might still become separate colonies.

Going back to religion, I think northern Luzon might become Buddhist, while the southern half and Visayas would be a mix of Hinduism, paganism, and Islam.
Northern Luzon will become Muslim since it is affiliated with Majapahit, before that it was affiliated with Northern Sumatra, the Majapahit affiliation is what caused the delay to Islam...

What happened is that Majapahit's destruction was 40 years before Legaspi came...so the area was mostly Hindu/Pagan..A few decades more might make it more muslim..
 
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