The Butuanon, also known interchangeably by the endonym Lapaknon, are an

ethnolinguistic group An ethnolinguistic group (or ethno-linguistic group) is a group that is unified by both a common ethnicity and language. Most ethnic groups share a first language. However, "ethnolinguistic" is often used to emphasise that language is a major bas ...

who primarily inhabit the region of

Caraga Caraga, officially the Caraga Administrative Region (or simply known as Caraga region) and designated as Region XIII, is an Regions of the Philippines, administrative region in the Philippines occupying the northeastern section of Mindanao. Th ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. They are part of the wider

Bisaya people Visayans ( Cebuano: ''mga Bisayà'' ) are a Philippine ethnolinguistic family group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, to the southernmost islands south of Luzon, and to a significant portion of Mindanao. They are composed of numerous di ...

Area

Butuanons live in the provinces of

Agusan del Norte Agusan del Norte, officially the Province of Agusan del Norte (; Butuanon: ''Probinsya hong Agusan del Norte''; ), is a province in the Caraga region of the Philippines. Its ''de jure'' capital is the city of Cabadbaran with several government o ...

and

Agusan del Sur Agusan del Sur, officially the Province of Agusan del Sur (; Butuanon: ''Probinsya hong Agusan del Sur''; ), is a province in Caraga region, Mindanao, Philippines. Its capital is the municipality of Prosperidad. It is bordered on the northwest ...

. Some live in

Misamis Oriental Misamis Oriental (; ; ), officially the Province of Misamis Oriental, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province located in the Regions of the Philippines, region of Northern Mindanao in the Philippines. The provincial capital, as well as its ...

or in

Surigao del Norte Surigao del Norte ( Surigaonon: ''Probinsya nan Surigao del Norte''; ; Tagalog: ''Hilagang Surigao''), officially the Province of Surigao del Norte, is a province in the Philippines located in the Caraga region of Mindanao. The province was fo ...

, all of which are in the northeastern corner of

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...

Demographics

Butuanons number about 1,420,000. They are the descendants of Austronesian-speaking immigrants who came from South China during the Iron Age. The native language of Butuanons is the

Butuanon language Butuanon (Binutwanon, ) is an Austronesian language spoken by the Butuanon people in Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur, with some native speakers in Misamis Oriental and Surigao del Norte. It is a part of the Bisayan language family and is ...

, but most younger Butuanon nowadays primarily speak the

Cebuano language Cebuano ( )Cebuano
on Merriam-Webster.com is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language spoken i ...

, because of the mass influx of Cebuano settlers to Mindanao, and Filipino and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

as second or third languages. They founded the Butuan Kingdom in the 10th century. While historically Hindu, Buddhist and animist, today most are

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

due to missionary activity under Spanish colonization, and a few are Protestant (including the

Philippine Independent Church The Philippine Independent Church (; ), officially referred to by its Philippine Spanish name (IFI) and colloquially called the Aglipayan Church, is an independent catholic Christian denomination, in the form of a nationalist church, in the ...

Area

Demographics

See also

References

Further reading