Cuyonon refers to an ethnic group populating the
Cuyo Islands, along with northern and central
Palawan
Palawan (, ), officially the Province of Palawan (; ), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of . The capital and largest c ...
. The Cuyonons hail originally from
Cuyo and the surrounding Cuyo Islands, a group of islands and islets in the northern
Sulu Sea
The Sulu Sea (; Tausug: ''Dagat sin Sūg''; ; ) is a body of water in the southwestern area of the Philippines, separated from the South China Sea in the northwest by Palawan and from the Celebes Sea in the southeast by the Sulu Archipela ...
, to the northeast of Palawan. They are considered an
elite class among the hierarchy of native
Palaweños. They are part of the wider
Visayan ethnolinguistic group, who constitute the largest
Filipino ethnolinguistic group.
History
The Cuyonon jurisdictions during Pre-Hispanic times include Cuyo under the powerful Datu Magbanua, Taytay under the gracious Cabaylo Royal Family who met the remnants of Magellan's fleet who fled Mactan after Ferdinand Magellan died in battle, Paragua (Palawan) under Datu Cabangon who ruled south of Taytay and Busuanga under the peaceful Datu Macanas.
During Spanish colonization of the Philippines, Cuyo was one of the territories of Palawan that had the strongest Spanish presence, even being the capital of the entire Palawan province as one point.
Cuyonon culture
Significant populations
Although the Cuyonon language is so closely related to Kinaray-a in Panay, very few Cuyonons actually live or speak Cuyonon in Panay, they instead settled west to the island of Palawan where the ethnic group is so closely associated now, this being the Province of Palawan declared Cuyonon as its official language. The fact also remains that most of the other ethnic groups of Palawan can fluently speak this language because Cuyonon had been the
lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...
of the Province of Palawan for many centuries already.
Indigenous Cuyonon Religion
Immortals
*Diwata ng Kagubatan: goddess of the forest honored on top of Mount Caimana in Cuyo island
*Neguno: the god of the sea that cursed a selfish man by turning him into the first shark
[Malay, P. C. (1957). The First Shark. Weekly Women's Magazine.]
See also
*
Tagalog people
The Tagalog people are an Austronesian Ethnic groups in the Philippines, ethnic group native to the Philippines, particularly the Metro Manila and Calabarzon regions and Marinduque province of southern Luzon, and comprise the majority in the p ...
*
Kapampangan people
The Kapampangan people (), Pampangueños or Pampangos, are the sixth largest ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines, numbering about 2,784,526 in 2010. They live mainly in the provinces of Pampanga, Bataan and Tarlac, as well as Bulacan, Nuev ...
*
Ilocano people
The Ilocano people (), also referred to as Ilokáno, Iloko, Iloco, Iluku, or Samtoy, are an Austronesian peoples, Austronesian ethnolinguistic group native to the Philippines. Originally from the Ilocos Region, located on the northwestern coa ...
*
Ivatan people
The Ivatan people are an Austronesian ethnolinguistic group native to the Batanes and Babuyan Islands of the northernmost Philippines. They are genetically closely related to other ethnic groups in Northern Luzon, but also share close linguis ...
*
Igorot people
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Pangasinan people
The Pangasinan people (), also known as Pangasinense, are an ethnolinguistic group native to the Philippines. Numbering 1,823,865 in 2010, they are the tenth largest ethnolinguistic group in the country. In the 2020 census Pangasinan speaking h ...
*
Bicolano people
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Negrito
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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 ...
**
Aklanon people
The Aklanon people are the ethnolinguistic group who lived in the province of Aklan. They are part of the wider Bisaya ethnolinguistic group, who constitute the largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group.
Area
Aklanon form the majority in the provi ...
**
Boholano people
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**
Capiznon people
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**
Cebuano people
The Cebuano people () are the largest subgroup of the larger ethnolinguistic group Visayans, who constitute the largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group in the country. They originated in the province of Cebu in the region of Central Visayas, ...
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Eskaya people
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Hiligaynon people
The Hiligaynon people (), often referred to as Ilonggo people () or Panayan people (), are the second largest subgroup of the larger Bisaya people, Visayan Ethnic groups in the Philippines, ethnic group, whose primary language is Hiligaynon lan ...
**
Karay-a people
The Karay-a are a Visayan ethnic group native to the islands of Panay and Palawan in the Philippines. They speak the Karay-a language ().
Etymology
The ethnonym ''Karay-a'' was derived from the word ''iraya'', which means "upstream". The term , l ...
**
Masbateño people
The Masbateño people refers to the people who lived in the Masbate province of the Philippines, which is part of the Bicol Region. They are part of the wider Visayan ethnolinguistic group, who constitute the largest Filipino ethnolinguistic grou ...
**
Romblomanon people
The Romblomanon people are the indigenous inhabitants of Romblon province. They are part of the Visayan metaethnicity.
Area
Romblomanons live mainly in the province of Romblon. However, due to population increase, which the island province's s ...
**
Suludnon
The Suludnon, also known as the Panay-Bukidnon, Pan-ayanon, or Tumandok, are a Visayan group of people who reside in the Capiz-Antique-Iloilo mountainous area of Panay in the Visayan islands of the Philippines. They are one of the two only mos ...
**
Waray people
The Waray people (or the Waray-Waray people) are a subgroup of the larger ethnolinguistic group Bisaya people, who constitute the 4th largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines. Their primary language is the Waray language (als ...
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Lumad
The Lumad are a group of Austronesian indigenous peoples in the southern Philippines. It is a Cebuano term meaning "native" or "indigenous". The term is short for Katawhang Lumad (Literally: "indigenous people"), the autonym officially ado ...
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Moro people
The Moro people or Bangsamoro people are the 13 Muslim-majority ethnolinguistic Austronesian groups of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan, native to the region known as the Bangsamoro (lit. ''Moro nation'' or ''Moro country''). As Muslim-majority ...
References
{{Ethnic groups in the Philippines
Ethnic groups in Palawan