BEFORE SURVIVING WRITTEN RECORDS
🌿 Indigenous Panay and the Ati
Panay was inhabited before Spanish colonization and before the island enters surviving European written accounts. The National Commission for Culture and the Arts identifies the Ati as an Indigenous people of Panay and Negros and records Ati communities in Panay provinces including Antique, Iloilo, Aklan and Capiz.
Because this earliest period predates surviving local written records, archaeology, linguistics, cultural studies and oral traditions are important to understanding Panay's deeper past.
NCCA — The Ati of Negros and Panay ↗NCCA — Negrito peoples ↗ORAL / CULTURAL TRADITION
📖 The Maragtas Tradition
One of Panay's best-known traditional narratives tells of Bornean datus arriving on the island and reaching an agreement with Ati inhabitants for settlement in the lowlands. Familiar names in versions of the story include Datu Puti, Datu Sumakwel, Datu Paiburong, Datu Bangkaya and the Ati figures Marikudo and Maniwangtiwang.
The narrative has become an important part of Panay cultural memory. For historical accuracy, Miag-ao & Beyond does not present a precise date for the datus' arrival as an independently established fact. NCCA material itself refers to the Ten Bornean Datus story as a folk account.
NCCA — Hiligaynon Literature ↗Province of Iloilo — Historical Background ↗1570
⛵ Spanish forces reach Panay
Government historical accounts place Spanish activity on Panay in the early colonial period. The Province of Capiz records the arrival of Spanish forces under Martín de Goiti in Panay in 1570. This period marks the beginning of much more extensive surviving colonial documentation about the island.
Province of Capiz — Brief History ↗1569–1572
🏛️ Araut / Dumangas and early missionary activity
The National Historical Commission of the Philippines records Araut, now Dumangas, as an early center of Augustinian missionary activity. Mission work is recorded there in 1569, followed by a stone church and convent dedicated to San Agustin in 1572. The surviving Ermita Chapel ruins connect modern visitors to this early documented colonial period.
NHCP — Ermita Chapel Ruins ↗1898
🇵🇭 Revolution and government in the Visayas
Panay became an important center of revolutionary activity during the struggle against Spanish rule. NHCP records the inauguration of the Revolutionary Government of the Visayas at Santa Barbara, Iloilo, on November 17, 1898, with Martin Teofilo Delgado as its highest-ranking general.
NHCP — Revolutionary Government of the Visayas ↗MARCH 1945
🕊️ Liberation of Panay
The NHCP historical registry records the liberation campaign in Panay near the end of World War II. Iloilo City was liberated on March 20, 1945, and the liberation of Panay was declared on March 22, 1945.
NHCP — Liberation of Panay ↗📚 Source Standard
This page prioritizes Philippine government and national cultural/historical institutions: the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), and official provincial-government histories.
Where a government page repeats a traditional narrative, we still distinguish that narrative from independently documented historical events. This page can grow as additional archaeological, museum and government records are verified.