Batanes
Batanes province is a small group of islands that can make a great destination. Located north of Luzon they compose the northernmost part of the archipelago with Batan (35sqkm), Itbayat (95sqkm), Sabtang (41sqkm), and 7 smaller islets: Dequey, Siayan, Mabudis, Ibuhos, Diogo, North Island, and Y'ami, the northernmost point of the Philippines. Because it is a windy place, Batanes is referred to as the Home of the Winds.
Towards the south, closer to the mainland, are the Babuyan Islands, including the islands of Babuyan, Calayan, Camiguin, Fuga, and Dalupiri. Although this group of islands is under the political administration of Batanes there is less contact between the two island groups than there is between the Babuyan Islands and the north coast of Luzon. There are no towns and few people on the Babuyan islands.
The original inhabitants of Batanes were the Ivatan tribes, but most Ivatans today are mestizos some of whose forefathers were Spanish conquistadores and Formosans. In more recent times, a large number of Ilocanos have migrated to Batanes, making Ilocanos the majority group and the Ilocano language widely spoken. However, the natives continue to speak Ivatan and other tribal dialects still peculiar to the different villages and islands.
Though some Ivatans still practice animism, the majority of the population of Batanes are Roman Catholic. Centuries-old Spanish churches can be found in all the towns. The Sto. Dominican clergy continue to have a strong influence.
The islands group was formally discovered for the West by the English voyager William Drapier on August 16, 1687. However, previously on October 4, 1598, the Spanish ship Almirante sent by Governor Dasmarinas to Cambodia had already been swept ashore on Calayan Island. The cannon carried by the ship is preserved.
The provincial capital, Basco on Batan, was named for the Spanish governor general, Jose Basco y Vargas, who brought the islands under Spanish rule in 1788. The Ivatans first ignored the Spanish and clung to their mountain villages until, using the threat of armed force, Governor Joaquin del Castillo compelled the natives to move to the lowlands in 1790 and to adopt western dress.
A century later many Ivatans migrated to Manila to seek work or attend college. The returnees brought back revolutionary ideas. The Ivatan Katipuneros joined with the local military in September 1898 and killed Governor Fortea thus ending Spanish rule.
The US took over in 1899, inaugurated a public school, improved communications with a regular mail boat and wireless telegraphy by 1920, installed an air-strip in the 1930's and built highways to replace Spanish trails.
The Batanes Islands are so far flung out in the China Sea that from Y'ami one can see Taiwan (the island of Formosa). People say that the Batanes group even belonged to Taiwan at one time.
Although the sea distance between Y'ami and Itbayat is about the same as from Itbayat to Basco, the islands north of Itbayat are so sparsely populated and independent of each other that there is no regular transportation or communication among them.
To illustrate the remoteness of Y'ami, locals relate the story of a young man from Y'ami who, as dictated by his elders, was to marry a girl from Itbayat, the bigger island to the south, with relatively regular connection to Basco, the capital. To reach her, he first had to go to Taiwan, then fly to Manila, then fly to Basco; from there take the more or less regularly scheduled boat to Itbayat, marry his betrothed and then take her with him on the same trip in reverse. The route taken by the dutiful young man was the simplest and most certain.
The isolation of these islands due to distance and the forces of nature has encouraged heavy emigration. The 1980 Batanes province population of just over 12,000 was only a 6% increase over the 1948 population. The estimated 1989 population of 14,000 was a 6% decrease from the 1988 estimate. At 54 persons/sqkm, the population density is far below the national average of 122 persons/sqkm. The 1990 national census established the following population figures for the six municipalities of the province (x 1000): Basco 6, Itbayat 3, Ivana 1, Mahatao 2, Sabtang 2, Uyugan 1.
More on Batanes:
This page: http://www.cockatoo.com/english/philippines/philippines_islands_batanes.htm
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