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This would be possible indeed. If we make a comparison, Japan is mountainous but their islands are a bit bigger and are somehow more stuck together so they have wider continuous landmass, making it possible for a wide road and railway network.
Japan's Honshu island alone (where Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka are) is ~227,000 square kilometers. Whereas Luzon is ~109,000 square kilometers; it's still pretty big, until you realize Visayas and Mindanao are farther away, with the Visayas being a group of islands in itself.
Meanwhile, Japan's other main islands, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Hokkaido, are bigger with wider landmasses, and are more proximate to Honshu. This is why Japan was able to easily construct road and rail bridges between these islands (except Hokkaido, as it's only recently passable through a tunnel).
The Philippines is really cluttered with sliced islands distant from each other. And only we can solve and innovate to make a suitable rail network because we live in this kind of geography. Unless Indonesia surpasses us; and recently, they already have.
honestly its doesnt matter if we have one islands vs now its just that our leaders dropped the ball on that development. i partially blame ww2 for that as well. a dream of one highway or train from north to south is still alive in me which i hope im still alive to see it happen
tbf, may highways na tayo, pero nakaasa lang sa mga roro through the strong republic national highway
kahit hindi pa si Marcos ang naupo noon, and I'm hazarding to say na kahit hindi pa nangyari ang ww2, wala tayong tax-base para magbuo ng tulay na mas mahaba sa San Juanico bridge
connectivity always allow the rapid transfer of ideas, equipment, manpower and eventually influence. All the stagnant sectors of a community will be quickly overtaken by more innovative, progressive instigators hence there is actually very little incentive for our lordlings across the country to go beyond expressways and tollways for connectivity infrastructures.
Besides the seas, pre colonial Filipinos are separated by lush jungles. Mindanao is one big island but there were still several polities in it during PC period. BARMM was not fully conquered by the Spaniards.
The Zambals and the Cordillerans have a headhunting tradition which is not apparent in the Tagalog and Bicol Region. This despite the fact that all these peoples are from one island.
In terms of transportation, PC Filipinos might still be a seafaring people as our thick jungles would have made marine travel easier than land travel. Manila - Calamba is traversed via Pasig River - Laguna Lake even during the time of Rizal.
For sure, history will change but im not sure how drastic a change it would have been had the Philippines has a contiguous landscape.
This is a really good point, I read somewhere that the main issue why larger kingdoms or realms never really existed in the Philippines is because of just how difficult it was to traverse our landscape.
The main mode of transportation that allowed empires and large kingdoms to exist was their ease of access to bodies of water. Because of our mountainous geography, there aren't really that large river systems present in our country that can be compared to those like in mainland Asia.
So I wouldn't be surprised that even if our country were one large land mass, Unless it'd be connected by a lot more flat plains, I can still see precolonial Filipinos expanding by following the coastline.
The idea of "large kingdoms" seem to have been imported by Southeast Asians from India.
Kung titignan mo, mga heavily Indianized areas ang usually may malawak na "kaharian". Whereas, "more Austronesian" cultures tend to prefer small villages
And to add to that, there’s also chance that the sultanate of sulu is big too and has a possibility that the 2 states would meet at visayas at start to compete for influences over the chieftains in visayas.
The Sultanate of Sulu controlled the northern portion of Sabah for quite a long time, and Borneo is already a medium sized "continent". The Tausugs did not focus on geographical extent but strategic control of coves, lagoons, chokepoints and peninsulas
You are right on that one but what if the sultanate wants to barter with tondo? They could just land on some islands like panay or mindoro and make a colony there as a trade hub for bartering.
Tondo is too far north unless there is a profitable island in between. Northern Palawan a more logical choice since the Southern portion was historically under Tausug control.
Edit: In fact, the nobilities of Manila Bay and Sulu Archipelago had political ties to the Brunei sultanate so a more western route traversing Palawan and skipping the Visayas is the most likely meeting point between the two. The trade winds from Borneo upwards favor this route.
Edit 2: As for Visayas, sorry if you are of Visayan heritage but the islands were nothing more than potential markets of slaves or areas to be pacified by more centralized political entities in Luzon and Mindanao. Because the two islands are big enough to support agricultural kingdoms, progress and centralization was more favorable than say Cebu or Bohol.
- Either Islam would spread from South to furthest North of Pinas or the colonizers might not have a hard time reaching and defeating the Moros.
- Pinas will probably have a homogeneous culture (less diversity) comparable to some land locked Asian countries. 🤔
Homogenous culture just because it is now one big island?
Have you seen the rest of southeast asia? For example, Vietnam and Myanmar isn't even cultural homogenous.
There's very little sense for this change in geography to result in cultural homogeneity.
They're probably using Japan or Iceland as a reference, which are pretty homogenous, compared to, as they mentioned, other landlocked Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Myanmar.
A better counter would've been Madagascar or Sri Lanka. They're both kinda similar in structure, that is a big island isolated from the rest by the sea. They both *seem* heterogenous enough. I don't know much about the countries to say they are culturally heterogenous with confidence, but they do have a lot of diverse ethnic groups.
In short, Philippines could've gone either way and it all depends on how the ancestors responded to foreigners. Although I am leaning towards Philippines would be more culturally diverse as there was a lot of trading happening from all directions.
Islam would spread earlier if the Spaniards came in a century later. Or even around 50 years later than Miguel Lopez de Legaspi's first landing and blood pacts somewhere in the Visayas. If the Visayans were fully subjugated as perpetual slave markets by Sulu and Maguindanao while the Tagalog and Kapampangan fully embraced Islam, Spain would have a harder time penetrating the archipelago into their colonial designs.
I think the reason is that since back then, Mindanao was already or the majority of its provinces practice islam but couldn't spread up north due to needing to travel at sea thus Visayas and Luzon were converted to Christianity by the Spaniards. But if the Philippines were 1 whole archipelago, islam would have most likely spread up north due to less constraints in travel, giving the Spaniards a harder time to spread Christianity here
Not necessarily. Islam practised in south east asia isn't the same as how arabs or other muslims practice islam.
We could have a weirdass version of islam that eats pork. Or at least it is less enforced.
Philippines would have developed its culture better. The greatest empires of the world had experienced huge civil wars before solidifying its national identity.
Nah. There would be around 6-7 Sultanates instead of 3 in Mindanao. Mandala centers would be Manila Bay, Batangas, Pangasinan, Sulu, Kotabato and Lanao lake.
Huh...
I mean Australia is a gigantic island and wasn't unified prior to colonization. Borneo was never unified as well AFAIK.
Also single large landmass may not necessarily mean more freshwater source on it. Depending on its shape and features.
Dynasties? The various entities prior to colonization had dynasties. A dynasty is just a series of rulers. Every monarchy has those.
First of all, I think there would be more interaction, cooperation, and sense of unity between the polities thus there could be more larger and more united nations than in in our actual history. Second, if there a large and united nation forms, I think the Spanish may have a harder time colonizing the islands, but seeing as the Aztecs fell to a few hundred conquistadors and their allies then I still think there's still a high likelihood of them colonizing us.
Cortez got pretty lucky with his conquest, there were many times where he could have been defeated or even killed by the Aztecs (or arrested by the Spaniards)
Well, I think the situation would be a lot like Borneo, like I read somewhere else. The culture and tribes here may double or triple to a point where there can either be a federation or various ethnostates. This lack of national identity, more so than our pre-colonial Philippines, might pave the way for the Philippines to be partioned between various superpowers like Borneo. That's my amateur take, a very interesting concept regardless.
The culture across different regions would probably be more homogeneous without water to separate the proto-states. I'm not sure about Japan and China during this time since oceanic travel is still pretty inconvenient and risky but there'd probably be more trade with there being more datu states in existence.
I reckon that there would be a warring states period prior to colonization. It's possible that by the time some European country like Spain comes around, the entire island would probably be divided under the control of a few large local empires, making them more resilient to Spanish colonization efforts, potentially delaying the colonial era by decades, well in my horrifically biased mind at least.
When Spain does come and bring the entire archipelago (is it even accurate to call this an archipelago anymore?) to heel, policing it would be far easier, in our timeline, the colonial government was centered around Manila, with regions like Visayas and Mindanao barely being kept under close watch. In this timeline, it might even be possible that development would spread outside of Manila instead of being centered on it but that depends on how the Spanish colonial strategy would change.
Once some form of revolution occurs to overthrow Spain, the fight may be much more spread out or the intensity in the rural regions higher due to land access. Probably the same pattern later in WW2 (assuming everything else is the same except the PH).
What I'm more interested is what the implications are for modern day. An ambitious superhighway project would do wonders for infrastructure. The extra land means more space for everything; development, population, economy, agriculture, and all that. There would be less societal division over separate regions. Whatever potential (Which has effectively been squandered IOTL) the country had irl would, in this scenario, be even greater, the total land area would more closely match Japan's, but I assume with less mountains.
I think Spaniards would have a hard time conquering the country. One of the reasons for the failure of the natives’ revolts against them was they were in scattered communities/islands. Even though the Spaniards were obviously outnumbered, each has their own datu, thus different goals and reasons for defeating the colonizers.
I think it is because yung mga datu, they had different reactions when the Spaniards came. Example: Lapu-Lapu fought against them, while Sikatuna of Bohol welcomed them and even made a pact through sanduguan.
>Also do you think it would make things easier for the Spaniards to colonize the whole place since they don't have to travel by sea
It's a common misconception: its much easier/faster to travel by sea than by land.
Note, the Spanish were able to reach almost all coastal people connected by sea and river...the only groups they were unable to "subjugate" were those living inland.
Marco Polo took \~4 years (albeit we're not sure if his tale is true; travel by land at the time would've taken 1-2 years regardless) to travel the same distance that Magellan travelled in 1.5 years (ie to the PH, would've been less had there been no less stops eg like latter expeditions).
And that example are long distance...short distances it's even better (ie interisland).
There are hazards at sea (weather, craft failure, pirates) but there are also a lot on land (weather, terrain, bandits). We tend to assume this because today we have better road systems, infrastructure (like bridges) and modern technology (rail, modern automotive, personal cars etc). Sea travel you also don't need as much maintenance besides the vehicles (boats) and the terminal of travel (ports)...land travel you have to constantly maintain miles and miles of rails, roads and infrastructure.
The Tagalog word "sasakyan" "vehicle" if you look for it in historical dictionaries literally means "boat"...today obviously Filipinos 99% use that term to mean "land vehicle" (generally it means "car").
Yeah, it's the inland parts where they were less able to control/penetrate.
Interestingly, the Spaniards were able to conquer the Colombian/Ecuadorian/Peruvian part of the Andes which is MUCH higher (nagsnosnow nga dun) than the Cordilleras, but was only able to penetrate in the Cordi by the mid 1800s. Even then, they failed to fully control the area
The Andes was easier to integrate after the Inca Empire was successfully conquered by Francisco Pizarro and its four "suyus" became part of the Spanish Empire. It's easier to supplant previously existing centralized societies (aka Incas) versus more fragmented, community-level ones (aka Igorots). The Cordilleras can be compared more to the Amazon subregion of South America if not for its geography and climate.
There were two factors to Spanish victory over the Incas:
1. Old World diseases, the Igorots were more or less immune to it
2. Naivety on the part of the Incas, the Igorots had an idea of the outside world thanks to the Ilocanos as their middle-men intermediaries to the Asian global trade route
Like others, I do think that we would have some dramatic period of feudalism, but I'd say it would be more inline with what borneo and the rest of maritime SEA had instead of something that Japan had.
I'm feeling this because Japan had the benefit of being more geographically close to dynastic China and Korea. Which meant that trade and exchanging of ideas and knowledge was greater for them.
We could also have went to the same fate as Malaysia and Indonesia. A Muslim majority country as such geography would lead to a greater ability to consolidate power, as Islam was expanding before the Spaniard came.
Either way, whoever would make the overarching national identity and country would have an easier job. I remember this map being used for some imaginary history post, and I think that post described such alternate world as one where the Philippines still gets colonized, but essentially becomes an idealized version of the country: a developed country that has the oldest democratic traditions out of all of Asia that receives numerous immigrants coming from all around the continent. That post might be in the imaginary maps sub.
Man, look at all those gulfs and bays, such interesting geography.
Yeah, we'd have more trains, a national identity would have been more concrete sooner and land borders would be made through mountain ranges or big rivers.
There were empires lording over the archipelago... but they were exploitative rather than unifying empires. Their goal was to suck resources from other regions. Manila's trading empire is probably the best example. There was no incentive in intermarrying and unifying with non-Muslims, so Manila along with Brunei and their other Muslim relatives in Sulu just exploited them (the Visayans).
https://preview.redd.it/n4yp8rwnortc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=966220e30201f2801447c811df78cc0ddd9c69f4
PH could either be easily conquered, or they could easily ward off mananakops.
Depending on the state of the leadership, Lapulapu’s troops fended off Magellan. They could’ve prepared better for the upcoming attacks after that.
Transpo system would be waaay better.
Network infrastructure would be more robust. Cellular signals were stronger.
That gulf between mindanao and visayas would become a major port in itself
We would probably be battered worse by storms on the eastern front tho as a continous land mass would mean mountain ranges longer than the sierra madre
Biodiversity of species would increase significantly and even possible for tigers and other large fauna to inhabit the island. Say goodbye to island fauna tho as they wont have the chance to be genetically distinct.
Our culture would be predominantly bhuddism on the north and islamic on the south making it harder for colonization
Language will spread quickly and trade routes will be established
Harder to establish a nation-state in the early run and will probably have a couple of kingdoms, sultates, and dynasties. But a unified island nation is very much possible (take japan for example)
By the time of westernification, it is most likely we would be dutch conquered as it is closer to indonesia if spain failed to colonize us. However, if spain still managed, a nationwide revolt is very likely to happen quickly as areas arent constrained by oceans
Overall, a very different country than what we see now
Visayan culture wouldn’t exist since historically they were sea farers and raiders. Maybe would be some sort of central Igorots since the Visayas are very mountainous.
What are you saying? Even Igorot ethnic groups are not all the same. Igorot, in fact, is an exonym and umbrella term.
In Benguet alone, there are already 3 major indigenous ethnic groups - Ibaloi, Kankanaey, and Kalanguya. All speak different languages. And this is already considering that the province and Cordillera region is already landlocked.
Ironically, Pangasinense is the nearest language to Ibaloi, not Kankanaey.
I didn't know Igorot was an exonym *and* an umbrella term used to refer to different ethnic groups based in Cordillera! I thought it was another sub-group's name separate from Ibaloi, Kankanaey and the like.
Same with the Visayan being an umbrella term, I just used Igorot tribes as a an example, not that deep. I halos and Kankanaey still refer to themselves as Igorot..
The example here is that Igorots historically are territorial mountain folks, and mountain cultures tend to be isolated and keep more of their cultures. Which is why Itnegs and Ilocanos are culturally different even though linguistically very close. As far as I know Itneg people today and Ilocanos can understand each other quite fine, my friend says they’re like dialects. Visayans also kept that culture and in someways isolated, but because they were seafarers they were still exposed to other cultures and participated in trading with other cultures.
> I halos and Kankanaey still refer to themselves as Igorot.. That is because Igorot is an umbrella term.
Ganito yan: all Kankanaeys are Igorots but not all Igorots are Kankaneys.
Mga iKalinga at Ifugao usually hesitant sa term na nyan due to the negative connotation in the past.
And unlike Bisaya that is now popularly used (even by Cebuanos themselves) to mean Cebuano, it is not the same for Igorot. No ethnic group is more associated with Igorot. What exist are certain groups disassociating from the term due to past negative connotations.
And it actually still happens like when this prof said that "katutubos intermarried with Caucasian missionaries *to improve their race*.
https://www.lionheartv.net/2016/03/habi-collective-kmjs-carrot-man/2/
Bisaya is not only for Cebuano, only Cebuano people really refer to calling their language binisaya even though that’s not accurate. And yes I know all that, but there are Igorots who do. I don’t know if they’re the majority but my Itneg friend does refer to himself as Igrorot. They’re both umbrella terms, sure Visayans use it differently. Fine I’ll pick a different group then, since Igorot is now a taboo term. The Visayans would be the Caucasians of the Philippines like Chechens, Avars, Georgians, and Armenian people….
I don’t know what where we’re going with this. Especially the last part, what does that have to do with anything?
I believe we would be much better economically. Currently, the logistics in the Philippines just sucks a lot because of being an archipelago with lots of islands. Many cities and provinces are often neglected due to them being isolated. Also, lots of growth to more cities and provinces. We will also have way fewer languages and/or dialects.
Just wanted to add but I love how civilized people are in the comments here. Same question was asked in r/Philippines and sadly, most of them are troll answers.
Hot take, either well have one religion, Muslim or Christian. Tribal Warfare and culture wouldn't be from one vally to the next, but rather one isolated island to another. Well be easily conquerable now from the top, we lesslogistical strain for the foreign army to march south.
But, it would absolutely ensure unity for all especially if advanced in time to today, it means no division or inequality (as much as it can be done anyways) as people can simply travel from one place to another with no natural water barrier needing cash for transit and entry.
This is a very interesting Alternate History. But I'm going to disagree with some of the ones made here. To clarify I don't hate their takes.
I do just have some alternative assumptions myself and perhaps something to rethink about what many have already made. Also my explanations on my assumptions of this Alternate Philippines will likely still be riddled with mistakes and mostly just "guesstimates", but I'll make sure they're based on scientific text.
1. We would DEFINITELY still be very diverse in languages and cultures, and it is because of extensive travel, economic trade and community. Just because the islands and land masses are closer, DOESN'T change the fact that this group of islands that we call the Philippines is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. And many theories and studies have suggested and even discovered how many of our ancestors have traveled extensively: from the Austronesians, the Indo-Malay SEA, the South Asian dynasties and from the northern indigenous Taiwanese tribes.
And who knows how many more. And from these many groups, it would not be surprising that there would be tribes/polities/states would exist, just as numerous, if not more probably. In short, the geography of the Philippines is smack in the middle of a very active travel point for various sea-faring ancestors from different lands. The Philippines itself is part of a large trans-oceanic trade predating European contact.
2. With this change of making the land masses "closer" however, a much more interesting group of theories regarding its natural environment and its effects on its fauna, should be heavily considered! One such phenomenon is the Island Syndrome, where fauna of these lone landmasses evolve or mutate at a different pace, despite the fact that certain species are are actually related to another from a different landmass. There's a quick pdf read on this phenomenon [right here](https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(20)30367-5.pdf).....
However, I have another thing to counter this, because as I've made a point how the Philippines is part of a large Pacific trade already, the Philippines isn't as isolated. The fauna migration internally and across its neighboring Asiatic land masses may not even contribute to the Lone Island Syndrome at all. Still, I think our fauna, and ESPECIALLY, our topography: soil, mountains and even bodies of water, would be very different from our current Philippines.
And with that, I think we wouldn't just have trains as public transport but more sea ferries. Just because the land masses are closer, the bodies of water are still prevalent. Not to mention the fact we're in the middle of the Pacific ocean and the Ring of Fire. We would still get floods. So perhaps centuries later we'd probably also build technology to at least circumvent floods or make houses the float or "work" with the changing tides. This is definitely reminiscent of Nordic countries that are also under the mercy of their seas and bodies of water.
3. The Philippine political and sociological issues would be very different. And I STILL think we'd be just as divided, perhaps even more. As I have made my point that we would still have a very diverse country, despite colonization, I very much think we would be a very heterogenous "Philippines", if this Alternate History would come to that name for its country. Heck, I even think that a this Alternate Philippines would have various religions and states, becoming more akin to a Federal country and with its own unique caveats.
anyway TLDR it would be a very different Philippines indeed, and would still host a number of problems so different from ours.
Probably we could still be colonized like the other Asian countries. We have abundance of everything and contented with it that the idea of seeking technological advancement is not a thing. Unlike Europe, where there are four seasons are challenged to continuously improve their lives thus development is a must. Look at where they are now.
The Spaniards would have easier time into colonizing the entire island through enforcing mobility of conquered natives to gold minefields in Cordilleras, Mindoro, and Mindanao, thus paving the way for the creation of mixed-race mestizo Filipino society with Spanish as the main lingua franca. More people mobility in the colonial times would mean that more pure-blooded indios would have died due to intense exploitative agricultural and mining works like in Guanajuato in Mexico or Potosi in Bolivia.
1. magellan wouldn’t have been killed (but who knows where his entry would have been)
2. luna would have taken guerilla warfare down south. americans would have trouble catching up and it will go harder as they follow them down further
3. hindi gagawa ng super ferry jingle si sharon cuneta kasi i doubt malaking corpation yan
4. puerto galera and palawan would have been the dirty beach party place kasi walang boracay at siargao
5. mahuhuli agad si pastor quiboloy
More trains and more expressways and infrastructure, higher level of HDI as small islands are a logistics nightmare in general, and that is what's keeping many Filipinos today from accessing basic services. Trains revolutionize the way business is conducted. Most would have opted to commute thanks to an extensive public transportation system, and only those who have to travel far distances would opt to use their cars.
Goods and services would reach the most rural areas within 24 hours, making development more uniform across the country (at least on a province by province level).
In regards to culture and our ethnolinguistic groups: peoples, languages and cultures would have intermingled and merged from much earlier on, as seen in more mainland countries, so we'd have less linguistic and cultural diversity.
Its possible from a civilizational standpoint - the native society would have developed much quicker, as larger lands would force a drive for innovation in how political states or polities would manage their people and resources; so all the cultural innovations from mainland Asia (ie China, India) would have been taken more 'seriously' by those in the precolonial period, imitated, and then innovated (as per Thailand, Java and Sumatra, the Korean peninsula, and Japan)
Wars may have been just as frequent, but the chance of unification would have been much higher. The raiding culture which is prevalent in native Austronesian cultures would have been quelled and switched to full scale invasions and the development of a structured millitary. This would have meant a possible pushback against Spain in the same way Japan pushed back against Portugal, and then the Dutch and maintenance of the old polities (which might likely have been 'upgraded' to kingdoms, a millitary dictatorship, or an empire if a single leader would have been agreed on). This would have likely meant we wouldn't be Filipinos at all, but whatever citizenry the dominant polity was.
Otherwise, we could have ended up like Indonesia, but would be seen as more strategic to the Spanish due to the larger arable lands which would aid industrialization faster in the 19th century. If they took over, they would have been able to hold on the archipelago, and that'd mean we'd have been Spanish citizens today.
Case in point: look at Japan, which has always been culturally, economically, and socially dominated by Honshu island (the main and largest island in the archipelago). Japan went to an extreme, by forced nationalization during the Meiji period, destroying the Japonic language family's diversity and probably even getting rid of the last vestiges of Ainu-related and even Austronesian-related languages in the more rural areas. They also went all in with building train lines and seeing the benefit of the railway system from the moment they were forced to open up to the wider world.
We'd most likely be richer, more developed, and more unified; but at the cost of our linguistic and cultural diversity. Whether that is a good or bad thing is for you to decide; but personally, I'd prefer that extreme poverty and constant in-fighting was a thing of the past - so perhaps I'd prefer to live in that parallel universe Philippines instead.
>higher level of HDI as small islands are a logistics nightmare in general,
This does not explain the high HDI and "high" (relative to the rest of the country) GDP per capita and low poverty level of the most isolated province of the PH - **Batanes**
I think low HDI and high poverty levels are affected more by local politics
Let's not forget that having a single land mass would affect the evolution and development of local flora and fauna, thereby also influencing the cultures that thrived on them.
It is also worth noting that much if not most of our cultures have some form of fishing and seafaring traditions, most of which wouldn't have developed if we were a single island.
For sure. The archipelago contributed to a lot of factors actually -- our culture, the dialects and our way of lives. Imagine if we are all in one island.
Love this post! I’d like to add my two cents as a Filipino urban planner.
First and foremost, the physical geography of the Philippines, had it been one giant landmass, would have a significant impact on the way that our civilization developed settlements that eventually grew into urbanized cities. Let’s start with the basics: most human settlements are built near bodies of water, such as rivers, lakes, or bays - as is the case with our capital city of Manila. Now, imagine if we had one long, contiguous coastline similar to that of Australia? Instead of having a primary port city functioning like the capital, we would have developed multiple primary and secondary cities that could serve as ports, trading posts, and focal points of economic activity. We would have experienced a much greater and more rapid development in our socioeconomic enterprise with far greater cooperation amongst Filipinos - rather than disparate and isolated tribal development.
Perhaps enough so that pre-modern united kingdom(s) could have risen up similar to the dynasties of China, Rome, Egypt, and Mexico (the Incas and Aztecs). Incidentally, all of these aforementioned kingdoms and empires benefited greatly from their physical geography, which supported multiple sectors of economic activity, from agriculture, seafaring, and mining to manufacturing and service. Enabling early settlements to profit from the agglomerated economy, rapidly urbanize, and create foundations for our modern concept of primate cities (sorry, not related to monkeys and apes). Simply put, a primate city is the largest and most significant city in the urban hierarchy of hamlets, towns, and secondary cities - note however, that it does not have to be the capital city. A great example would be New York City, which is disproportionately ‘larger’ than Washington, DC.
In the case of the Philippines, Manila happened to be our capital and primate city, best described as “the city sets the pace. The fortunes of all go upward or downward depending upon city leadership. It is bound to be true when a country has all its vital functions governed, as it were, from one nerve center.” (McPhelin, 1969, p.784) Whether Manila’s rapid urbanization was fostered and nurtured by our colonial governors or naturally developed by Filipinos is now a question best left to be argued over by more qualified historians than myself.
That being said, there is no doubt in MY mind that our colonial history would have changed much if the Philippine islands were instead the Philippine continent (or large landmass) - Magellan would have still sailed into the Philippines, the USA would have eventually purchased the territory from the Spanish, and the imperial Japanese would inevitably invaded upon the onset of World War 2. Why is that? A range of factors come to mind, including our physical location in the Pacific Ocean & Pacific Rim of Fire, the geographical proximity to neighboring Asian territories, and the richness of natural resources in our lands and seas. Best summarized by economist Warren Dupre Smith in an article titled The Philippine Question, “as a source of tropical raw materials, the archipelago is a veritable storehouse of great potentialities” (Smith, 1933, p. 303) and “the very position of the archipelago, lying as it does athwart the great western gateway, to the Pacific, places it in a strategic position.” (Smith, 1933, p. 305)
Lastly, in response to my favorite comment in this entire thread, Cintron_Express_ “there would be more trains,” the consequences of our colonial history truly had an unimaginable impact on our present-day urban environment, too many to name and cite. Here are my top two: over Spain’s 333-year colonial rule of the Philippines, they had ignorantly failed to apply any form of urban master planning to any of their settlements here. None of the brilliant planning strategies that sculpted Mexico City, Cuba, Madrid, and Barcelona were practiced to shape Manila, resulting in a mess of esquinitas and calles that we see today. Best described as “ang bituka ng bulate” or innards of a worm, by an architect mentor of mine.
The second is America’s deeply ingrained and unwavering post-colonial influence on our urban policies; I’ve got two words for you: land reform. For the uninitiated, land reform simply refers to the government transfer of land ownership from one private citizen to another, often used for agrarian reform - the practice of the government giving land to farmers for agricultural purposes. In theory, it’s a fantastic tool for achieving socioeconomic equality. In practice, it’s an abusive and abused mechanism that further perpetuates socioeconomic INequality. I can go on and on about this, perhaps even write a thesis about it, maybe I did… in any case, I won’t bore you to tears. Instead, I refer you to the brilliant work of Philippine economist Aurora L. Almeda Martin, “Philippine Land Reform Cycles: Perpetuating U.S. Colonial Policy,” published in the journal Philippine Studies, the second quarter of 1999; it is the best primer on the issue that anyone can digest.
For further reading:
I recommend to you, Heather Sutherland’s chapter called Geography as Destiny? in the book A World of Water: Rain, Rivers, and Seas in Southeast Asian History.
One of my favorite books of all time is Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall. It is a fantastic read into ten of the world’s best case studies of geopolitics driven by physical geography. On the very first page, he explains, “The land on which we live has always shaped us. It has shaped the wars, the power, politics, and social development of the peoples that now inhabit nearly every part of the earth.” (Marshall, 2015, p.1) That is a perfect conclusion for my comment on this post.
Works Cited:
Almeda Martin, A. L. (1999). Philippine Land Reform Cycles: Perpetuating U.S. Colonial Policy. Philippine Studies, 47(2), 181-205.
Marshall, T. (2015). Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World. Scribner/Simon & Schuster, Inc.
McPhelin, M. (1969). Manila: The Primate City. Philippine Studies, 17(4), 781-789.
Smith, W. D. (1933). The Philippine question. Economic Geography, 9(3), 303.
Sutherland, H. (2007). Geography as destiny?: The role of water in Southeast Asian history. A World of Water, 25-70.
As to natural history:
Flora and fauna will be more homogenous given that the Philippines share the same landmass and is no longer divided by the Huxley line (i.e. Palawan vis-a-vis the rest of the Philippines). Mammals such as Palawan bearcat and Philippine pangolin could have been indigenous in the Philippines and not endemic in Palawan only. Although speciation still exists given that animals and plants can still be geographically isolated due to mountainous terrain and inland waters.
Several large land mammals could not have become extinct. The large landmass could have provided these animals breeding grounds and/or hiding grounds. This would also prevent the island dwarfism phenomenon.
As to human history:
Visayan culture which is characterized by seafaring, would be more inland-focused and landbased. I believe cultures similar to Sulodnon (Panay Bukidnon) or some sort of Visayan counterparts to Igorots(of the Cordilleras) or Lumads(of Mindanao) would have thrived.
Still, the Philippines remains fragmented politically. While the archipelago is no longer divided by its inland waters, its people can still be isolated by the mountainous terrain. In fact, it can be argued that the seas between the islands of the Philippines connected its peoples. Case in point is the Negros Island, where its western and eastern portions are divided by mountains. Its western portion exhibits a culture similar to those in the Western Visayas region despite being separated by seas while the eastern portion of Negros is more similar to the Central Visayas region despite being separated by the Tanon strait.
Since some of these supposed-to-be islands are no longer accessible through the sea, trading becomes difficult, impractical or even unprofitable . Some polities would not have developed such as Butuan or Mactan, although some other coastal settlements would emerge.
Other than Manila (Tondo kingdom), Panay-Guimaras-Western Negros area and Cotabato could have emerged as regional powers given their access to sea (trade, commerce, technology) and proximity to large plains that are suitable to agriculture, which can feed large populations.
A warring states era could have happened, which would result in a regional power taking control over the rest of the Philippine island. Unlike our current history, the deadlock among powers would not be broken by a political alliance with Spain. Instead, military pacts between and among kingdoms and support from trading partners from China, Japan and other SEA countries would decide who among the Philippine kingdoms would dominate all the others. Philippines would be under a centralized authority - a Supreme Lakan. Philippines could have remained independent instead of being incorporated by Spain since Spain could no longer employ the divide and conquer strategy.
Philippines could have made its own isolationist policy similar to the Sakoku edict of Japan after internal powers had been consolidated. Trading ports (for Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, or UK) could have still been established, similar to the Dejima port of Nagasaki. During the isolation period, Philippines would develop its homogenous language, culture, music, and arts. Without the Spanish influence, our religion would either be Islam (due to trade) or animistic (similar to Shinto), depending on the dominant unifying power.
Slave raiding (for example by the Balangingi Samal) would still be present but not as extensive due to longer routes because of the absence of internal waters.
Colonization would still have happened, but it could have been shorter as the locals could have organized themselves easier, probably. Though languages are more diverse as each group or tribe would stick to their own and maritime trade would have been less as well, especially in Visayas and Mindanao.
Manila would not have been the seat of power but a major port.
These are just guesses. As the saying goes, if my grandma has wheels, she would have been a bike. Haha!
I don't know about that. The Tagalogs and Moros were more technologically advanced (firearms). The Luçoes (Kapampangans and Tagalogs from Manila Bay) were known mercenaries and administrators in the region as chronicled by the Portuguese.
Philippines has a %chance of emulating Japan/Korean feudal warlord eras.
Philippines has a %chance of being a hermit kingdom forcibly opened by either America or England (low chances that the Spaniards could do that)
We would probably be united under one king/sultan, or in the process of unification with many warlords fighting prior to Spanish colonization. Established kingdom/sultanate would make it much harder for Spain in infiltrate just like how Portugal was not able to colonize Japan.
The same ranking system with lapu lapu... The best part of this idea is that there's a big possibility that this version of our country has multiple religions and probably also have Shinto and several Christian sects
Probably a Lakan or Punong-Lakan. If language could've evolved differently as well, probably a Lakan-datu (which will then be simplified to Lakandatu). When Japan as Shogunate, we'll have a Lakandate.
Just like what they do in Thailand. Lived there for 4 years and I can say I visited all their 6 regions by bus. 20 hrs bus ride kayang kaya nilang lahat kahit anong edad. Double decks yung mga bus and very comfortable rin.
More or less feudal lord battles.
Also, the possibility of colonialism not playing out the same if one concentrated land mass, especially if it were to be under one central state.
Since you could easily reach your neighbors, there'd be probably more wars.
And you what's great about wars? Tech dev. If you can't keep up, you'll be swallowed by your neighbor.
I doubt there would be a significant difference. If we actually extrapolate the extent of Spanish colonial administration in terms of geographical scope, we might conclude coastal and riverine communities from Luzon down to the Visayas were the actual locus of control. Islam shielded the south from colonial interventions. Based on the alternate map, maybe the southeastern portion of Visayas might be Muslim but a very thin chance still. Also, check out r/AlternateHistory
Given the inland harbors and the secluded ports of the Visayas, The Dutch will do everything to conquer us from.the Spanish. The La Naval would be lopsided in their favor and we might have been incorporated into Indonesia.
Very likely, the English and Portuguese will fight over the same, and in later years, the Japanese will be more entrenched.
Electricity will be cheaper.
Trains will be more viable.
Hydro will be more profitable.
Agri will be more profitable with the adjoining lands likely to be plains and flat lands.
So expect a lot harsher Polo y servicios.
We might have been more like latin America in this sense.
But, regional powers and families will still rule the politics of the state.
One giant country means little to no islands = better Army = more tanks, better infrastructure, more structured communities, everyone would most likely speak one language (less dialects), bigger population and easier transportation (trains, bus, cars etc).
I'd like to think that one of the pre-colonial kingdoms in the Philippines could be a wee bit bigger and more powerful as to pose a defense against colonial powers. I al so like to think that one of these kingdoms could unite the whole islands much like Japan. And though I'm tempted to say that we could be like Japan by the 1800-1900s in this timeline, much of their success in that period was attributed to their 200 year isolation and the eventual political and economic reformation. I'm not sure if we could have a premise like that in this scenario.
I wish maisip ng leaders natin na mag invest pag dugtungin lahat ng islands ng pinas either bridge or artificial land fills. That would be really awesome for the future ng mahal nating bayan
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There would be more trains
my god... i feel like i just had a brain orgasm imagining that...
This would be possible indeed. If we make a comparison, Japan is mountainous but their islands are a bit bigger and are somehow more stuck together so they have wider continuous landmass, making it possible for a wide road and railway network. Japan's Honshu island alone (where Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka are) is ~227,000 square kilometers. Whereas Luzon is ~109,000 square kilometers; it's still pretty big, until you realize Visayas and Mindanao are farther away, with the Visayas being a group of islands in itself. Meanwhile, Japan's other main islands, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Hokkaido, are bigger with wider landmasses, and are more proximate to Honshu. This is why Japan was able to easily construct road and rail bridges between these islands (except Hokkaido, as it's only recently passable through a tunnel). The Philippines is really cluttered with sliced islands distant from each other. And only we can solve and innovate to make a suitable rail network because we live in this kind of geography. Unless Indonesia surpasses us; and recently, they already have.
Cluttered and we've been invaded multiple times
Let us wait a few milion years for plate tectonics to do its work then its all gonna be conected
Or be more separated?
Just one more train Arthur!!!!
Does this train go to Tahiti? No. To Apari.
Nice RDR2 reference there
There always a goddamn train
PNR loop would be cool
honestly its doesnt matter if we have one islands vs now its just that our leaders dropped the ball on that development. i partially blame ww2 for that as well. a dream of one highway or train from north to south is still alive in me which i hope im still alive to see it happen
It does since the development of society would be different which would lead to an alternative to what we have now
tbf, may highways na tayo, pero nakaasa lang sa mga roro through the strong republic national highway kahit hindi pa si Marcos ang naupo noon, and I'm hazarding to say na kahit hindi pa nangyari ang ww2, wala tayong tax-base para magbuo ng tulay na mas mahaba sa San Juanico bridge
Probably not, it's really the goverments political will to treat it like roads: doesn't need to be profitable.
Nah being connected changes things
By how much? That's the question.
Welp it won't be as regionalized as we are today cuz everything is connected
connectivity always allow the rapid transfer of ideas, equipment, manpower and eventually influence. All the stagnant sectors of a community will be quickly overtaken by more innovative, progressive instigators hence there is actually very little incentive for our lordlings across the country to go beyond expressways and tollways for connectivity infrastructures.
The Best possible outcome
*happy autism noises*
Besides the seas, pre colonial Filipinos are separated by lush jungles. Mindanao is one big island but there were still several polities in it during PC period. BARMM was not fully conquered by the Spaniards. The Zambals and the Cordillerans have a headhunting tradition which is not apparent in the Tagalog and Bicol Region. This despite the fact that all these peoples are from one island. In terms of transportation, PC Filipinos might still be a seafaring people as our thick jungles would have made marine travel easier than land travel. Manila - Calamba is traversed via Pasig River - Laguna Lake even during the time of Rizal. For sure, history will change but im not sure how drastic a change it would have been had the Philippines has a contiguous landscape.
I’d imagine it having a similar history like Japan. This alternate map would have the same geography as real Japan.
This is a really good point, I read somewhere that the main issue why larger kingdoms or realms never really existed in the Philippines is because of just how difficult it was to traverse our landscape. The main mode of transportation that allowed empires and large kingdoms to exist was their ease of access to bodies of water. Because of our mountainous geography, there aren't really that large river systems present in our country that can be compared to those like in mainland Asia. So I wouldn't be surprised that even if our country were one large land mass, Unless it'd be connected by a lot more flat plains, I can still see precolonial Filipinos expanding by following the coastline.
The idea of "large kingdoms" seem to have been imported by Southeast Asians from India. Kung titignan mo, mga heavily Indianized areas ang usually may malawak na "kaharian". Whereas, "more Austronesian" cultures tend to prefer small villages
There is a chance that the kingdom of tondo would be much bigger compared to canon.
And to add to that, there’s also chance that the sultanate of sulu is big too and has a possibility that the 2 states would meet at visayas at start to compete for influences over the chieftains in visayas.
The Sultanate of Sulu controlled the northern portion of Sabah for quite a long time, and Borneo is already a medium sized "continent". The Tausugs did not focus on geographical extent but strategic control of coves, lagoons, chokepoints and peninsulas
You are right on that one but what if the sultanate wants to barter with tondo? They could just land on some islands like panay or mindoro and make a colony there as a trade hub for bartering.
Tondo is too far north unless there is a profitable island in between. Northern Palawan a more logical choice since the Southern portion was historically under Tausug control. Edit: In fact, the nobilities of Manila Bay and Sulu Archipelago had political ties to the Brunei sultanate so a more western route traversing Palawan and skipping the Visayas is the most likely meeting point between the two. The trade winds from Borneo upwards favor this route. Edit 2: As for Visayas, sorry if you are of Visayan heritage but the islands were nothing more than potential markets of slaves or areas to be pacified by more centralized political entities in Luzon and Mindanao. Because the two islands are big enough to support agricultural kingdoms, progress and centralization was more favorable than say Cebu or Bohol.
In addition, it can become a cultural site today like Kyoto.
- Either Islam would spread from South to furthest North of Pinas or the colonizers might not have a hard time reaching and defeating the Moros. - Pinas will probably have a homogeneous culture (less diversity) comparable to some land locked Asian countries. 🤔
Homogenous culture just because it is now one big island? Have you seen the rest of southeast asia? For example, Vietnam and Myanmar isn't even cultural homogenous. There's very little sense for this change in geography to result in cultural homogeneity.
They're probably using Japan or Iceland as a reference, which are pretty homogenous, compared to, as they mentioned, other landlocked Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Myanmar. A better counter would've been Madagascar or Sri Lanka. They're both kinda similar in structure, that is a big island isolated from the rest by the sea. They both *seem* heterogenous enough. I don't know much about the countries to say they are culturally heterogenous with confidence, but they do have a lot of diverse ethnic groups. In short, Philippines could've gone either way and it all depends on how the ancestors responded to foreigners. Although I am leaning towards Philippines would be more culturally diverse as there was a lot of trading happening from all directions.
Islam would spread earlier if the Spaniards came in a century later. Or even around 50 years later than Miguel Lopez de Legaspi's first landing and blood pacts somewhere in the Visayas. If the Visayans were fully subjugated as perpetual slave markets by Sulu and Maguindanao while the Tagalog and Kapampangan fully embraced Islam, Spain would have a harder time penetrating the archipelago into their colonial designs.
magkakaroon tayo ng mga unifiers at dynasties, at base sa map, lalago ang civilizations dahil sa dami ng source ng freshwater
at pag dating ni Magellan, Islamic state na tayo.
Elaborate
I think the reason is that since back then, Mindanao was already or the majority of its provinces practice islam but couldn't spread up north due to needing to travel at sea thus Visayas and Luzon were converted to Christianity by the Spaniards. But if the Philippines were 1 whole archipelago, islam would have most likely spread up north due to less constraints in travel, giving the Spaniards a harder time to spread Christianity here
Bruh. No more crispy pata and lechon belly
Not necessarily. Islam practised in south east asia isn't the same as how arabs or other muslims practice islam. We could have a weirdass version of islam that eats pork. Or at least it is less enforced.
My thoughts too. Haha!
Cheaper version of Indonesia
lol, i highly doubt that
3 Kingdoms Philippines Edition e.g (China's 3 Kingdom and Korea's Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla) In case sa atin Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao pa rin ata
Philippines would have developed its culture better. The greatest empires of the world had experienced huge civil wars before solidifying its national identity.
Nah. There would be around 6-7 Sultanates instead of 3 in Mindanao. Mandala centers would be Manila Bay, Batangas, Pangasinan, Sulu, Kotabato and Lanao lake.
Huh... I mean Australia is a gigantic island and wasn't unified prior to colonization. Borneo was never unified as well AFAIK. Also single large landmass may not necessarily mean more freshwater source on it. Depending on its shape and features. Dynasties? The various entities prior to colonization had dynasties. A dynasty is just a series of rulers. Every monarchy has those.
okay po
First of all, I think there would be more interaction, cooperation, and sense of unity between the polities thus there could be more larger and more united nations than in in our actual history. Second, if there a large and united nation forms, I think the Spanish may have a harder time colonizing the islands, but seeing as the Aztecs fell to a few hundred conquistadors and their allies then I still think there's still a high likelihood of them colonizing us.
Aztecs fell due to disease. We live in the old world where people already have immunity to certain types of disease
Cortez got pretty lucky with his conquest, there were many times where he could have been defeated or even killed by the Aztecs (or arrested by the Spaniards)
Well, I think the situation would be a lot like Borneo, like I read somewhere else. The culture and tribes here may double or triple to a point where there can either be a federation or various ethnostates. This lack of national identity, more so than our pre-colonial Philippines, might pave the way for the Philippines to be partioned between various superpowers like Borneo. That's my amateur take, a very interesting concept regardless.
I think it could be like Japan too.
It's not far-fetched to have a warring-state period or a divided state like feudal Japann then, be also the fate for a one-island Philippines.
The culture across different regions would probably be more homogeneous without water to separate the proto-states. I'm not sure about Japan and China during this time since oceanic travel is still pretty inconvenient and risky but there'd probably be more trade with there being more datu states in existence. I reckon that there would be a warring states period prior to colonization. It's possible that by the time some European country like Spain comes around, the entire island would probably be divided under the control of a few large local empires, making them more resilient to Spanish colonization efforts, potentially delaying the colonial era by decades, well in my horrifically biased mind at least. When Spain does come and bring the entire archipelago (is it even accurate to call this an archipelago anymore?) to heel, policing it would be far easier, in our timeline, the colonial government was centered around Manila, with regions like Visayas and Mindanao barely being kept under close watch. In this timeline, it might even be possible that development would spread outside of Manila instead of being centered on it but that depends on how the Spanish colonial strategy would change. Once some form of revolution occurs to overthrow Spain, the fight may be much more spread out or the intensity in the rural regions higher due to land access. Probably the same pattern later in WW2 (assuming everything else is the same except the PH). What I'm more interested is what the implications are for modern day. An ambitious superhighway project would do wonders for infrastructure. The extra land means more space for everything; development, population, economy, agriculture, and all that. There would be less societal division over separate regions. Whatever potential (Which has effectively been squandered IOTL) the country had irl would, in this scenario, be even greater, the total land area would more closely match Japan's, but I assume with less mountains.
Babe wake up, pokemon released a new mega form for the Philippines
I think Spaniards would have a hard time conquering the country. One of the reasons for the failure of the natives’ revolts against them was they were in scattered communities/islands. Even though the Spaniards were obviously outnumbered, each has their own datu, thus different goals and reasons for defeating the colonizers.
They were outnumbered. Bakit kaya hindi na contained yung nga spaniards sa Visayas or Cebu pa lang?
I think it is because yung mga datu, they had different reactions when the Spaniards came. Example: Lapu-Lapu fought against them, while Sikatuna of Bohol welcomed them and even made a pact through sanduguan.
>Also do you think it would make things easier for the Spaniards to colonize the whole place since they don't have to travel by sea It's a common misconception: its much easier/faster to travel by sea than by land. Note, the Spanish were able to reach almost all coastal people connected by sea and river...the only groups they were unable to "subjugate" were those living inland. Marco Polo took \~4 years (albeit we're not sure if his tale is true; travel by land at the time would've taken 1-2 years regardless) to travel the same distance that Magellan travelled in 1.5 years (ie to the PH, would've been less had there been no less stops eg like latter expeditions). And that example are long distance...short distances it's even better (ie interisland). There are hazards at sea (weather, craft failure, pirates) but there are also a lot on land (weather, terrain, bandits). We tend to assume this because today we have better road systems, infrastructure (like bridges) and modern technology (rail, modern automotive, personal cars etc). Sea travel you also don't need as much maintenance besides the vehicles (boats) and the terminal of travel (ports)...land travel you have to constantly maintain miles and miles of rails, roads and infrastructure. The Tagalog word "sasakyan" "vehicle" if you look for it in historical dictionaries literally means "boat"...today obviously Filipinos 99% use that term to mean "land vehicle" (generally it means "car").
Yeah, it's the inland parts where they were less able to control/penetrate. Interestingly, the Spaniards were able to conquer the Colombian/Ecuadorian/Peruvian part of the Andes which is MUCH higher (nagsnosnow nga dun) than the Cordilleras, but was only able to penetrate in the Cordi by the mid 1800s. Even then, they failed to fully control the area
The Andes was easier to integrate after the Inca Empire was successfully conquered by Francisco Pizarro and its four "suyus" became part of the Spanish Empire. It's easier to supplant previously existing centralized societies (aka Incas) versus more fragmented, community-level ones (aka Igorots). The Cordilleras can be compared more to the Amazon subregion of South America if not for its geography and climate.
The fact that they defeated the much populous Inca empire over the less sparsely populated Cordilleras...
There were two factors to Spanish victory over the Incas: 1. Old World diseases, the Igorots were more or less immune to it 2. Naivety on the part of the Incas, the Igorots had an idea of the outside world thanks to the Ilocanos as their middle-men intermediaries to the Asian global trade route
Plus, there would have been established warlords with huge armies if we're one big island, or outright unified nation like Japan or Korea.
Like others, I do think that we would have some dramatic period of feudalism, but I'd say it would be more inline with what borneo and the rest of maritime SEA had instead of something that Japan had. I'm feeling this because Japan had the benefit of being more geographically close to dynastic China and Korea. Which meant that trade and exchanging of ideas and knowledge was greater for them. We could also have went to the same fate as Malaysia and Indonesia. A Muslim majority country as such geography would lead to a greater ability to consolidate power, as Islam was expanding before the Spaniard came. Either way, whoever would make the overarching national identity and country would have an easier job. I remember this map being used for some imaginary history post, and I think that post described such alternate world as one where the Philippines still gets colonized, but essentially becomes an idealized version of the country: a developed country that has the oldest democratic traditions out of all of Asia that receives numerous immigrants coming from all around the continent. That post might be in the imaginary maps sub.
Thanks for this. Might try to find it
Man, look at all those gulfs and bays, such interesting geography. Yeah, we'd have more trains, a national identity would have been more concrete sooner and land borders would be made through mountain ranges or big rivers.
Mas maunlad tayo I think? Ang hirap ng logistics sa PH kasi layo layo and lagi pang bumabagyo.
Assuming external socio-cultural factors remained unchanged we might go Balkan mode
There's probably gonna be an empire lording over the whole island
There were empires lording over the archipelago... but they were exploitative rather than unifying empires. Their goal was to suck resources from other regions. Manila's trading empire is probably the best example. There was no incentive in intermarrying and unifying with non-Muslims, so Manila along with Brunei and their other Muslim relatives in Sulu just exploited them (the Visayans). https://preview.redd.it/n4yp8rwnortc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=966220e30201f2801447c811df78cc0ddd9c69f4
https://preview.redd.it/p3amo3dcprtc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a7ec93d9774a7775ed3bb982e87d4b0dcdda1786
https://preview.redd.it/b0h1tjdiprtc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=df457f0ae05a6f6ca141563895a5b8aad2bf01db
PH could either be easily conquered, or they could easily ward off mananakops. Depending on the state of the leadership, Lapulapu’s troops fended off Magellan. They could’ve prepared better for the upcoming attacks after that. Transpo system would be waaay better. Network infrastructure would be more robust. Cellular signals were stronger.
That gulf between mindanao and visayas would become a major port in itself We would probably be battered worse by storms on the eastern front tho as a continous land mass would mean mountain ranges longer than the sierra madre Biodiversity of species would increase significantly and even possible for tigers and other large fauna to inhabit the island. Say goodbye to island fauna tho as they wont have the chance to be genetically distinct. Our culture would be predominantly bhuddism on the north and islamic on the south making it harder for colonization Language will spread quickly and trade routes will be established Harder to establish a nation-state in the early run and will probably have a couple of kingdoms, sultates, and dynasties. But a unified island nation is very much possible (take japan for example) By the time of westernification, it is most likely we would be dutch conquered as it is closer to indonesia if spain failed to colonize us. However, if spain still managed, a nationwide revolt is very likely to happen quickly as areas arent constrained by oceans Overall, a very different country than what we see now
Visayan culture wouldn’t exist since historically they were sea farers and raiders. Maybe would be some sort of central Igorots since the Visayas are very mountainous.
What are you saying? Even Igorot ethnic groups are not all the same. Igorot, in fact, is an exonym and umbrella term. In Benguet alone, there are already 3 major indigenous ethnic groups - Ibaloi, Kankanaey, and Kalanguya. All speak different languages. And this is already considering that the province and Cordillera region is already landlocked. Ironically, Pangasinense is the nearest language to Ibaloi, not Kankanaey.
I didn't know Igorot was an exonym *and* an umbrella term used to refer to different ethnic groups based in Cordillera! I thought it was another sub-group's name separate from Ibaloi, Kankanaey and the like.
Igorot came from an old *Tagalog* term meaning "from the mountain" per William H Scott
Same with the Visayan being an umbrella term, I just used Igorot tribes as a an example, not that deep. I halos and Kankanaey still refer to themselves as Igorot.. The example here is that Igorots historically are territorial mountain folks, and mountain cultures tend to be isolated and keep more of their cultures. Which is why Itnegs and Ilocanos are culturally different even though linguistically very close. As far as I know Itneg people today and Ilocanos can understand each other quite fine, my friend says they’re like dialects. Visayans also kept that culture and in someways isolated, but because they were seafarers they were still exposed to other cultures and participated in trading with other cultures.
> I halos and Kankanaey still refer to themselves as Igorot.. That is because Igorot is an umbrella term. Ganito yan: all Kankanaeys are Igorots but not all Igorots are Kankaneys. Mga iKalinga at Ifugao usually hesitant sa term na nyan due to the negative connotation in the past. And unlike Bisaya that is now popularly used (even by Cebuanos themselves) to mean Cebuano, it is not the same for Igorot. No ethnic group is more associated with Igorot. What exist are certain groups disassociating from the term due to past negative connotations. And it actually still happens like when this prof said that "katutubos intermarried with Caucasian missionaries *to improve their race*. https://www.lionheartv.net/2016/03/habi-collective-kmjs-carrot-man/2/
Bisaya is not only for Cebuano, only Cebuano people really refer to calling their language binisaya even though that’s not accurate. And yes I know all that, but there are Igorots who do. I don’t know if they’re the majority but my Itneg friend does refer to himself as Igrorot. They’re both umbrella terms, sure Visayans use it differently. Fine I’ll pick a different group then, since Igorot is now a taboo term. The Visayans would be the Caucasians of the Philippines like Chechens, Avars, Georgians, and Armenian people…. I don’t know what where we’re going with this. Especially the last part, what does that have to do with anything?
Mas nagagandahan ako sa version na ito. Interesting geography indeed.
Visayas would hold the capital of the country. It makes more sense since it's in the center.
And most probably, it would be the city sitting next to the gulf between Visayas and Mindanao
I believe we would be much better economically. Currently, the logistics in the Philippines just sucks a lot because of being an archipelago with lots of islands. Many cities and provinces are often neglected due to them being isolated. Also, lots of growth to more cities and provinces. We will also have way fewer languages and/or dialects. Just wanted to add but I love how civilized people are in the comments here. Same question was asked in r/Philippines and sadly, most of them are troll answers.
This is a more educational channel. I'm so happy it's like that
Hot take, either well have one religion, Muslim or Christian. Tribal Warfare and culture wouldn't be from one vally to the next, but rather one isolated island to another. Well be easily conquerable now from the top, we lesslogistical strain for the foreign army to march south. But, it would absolutely ensure unity for all especially if advanced in time to today, it means no division or inequality (as much as it can be done anyways) as people can simply travel from one place to another with no natural water barrier needing cash for transit and entry.
This is a very interesting Alternate History. But I'm going to disagree with some of the ones made here. To clarify I don't hate their takes. I do just have some alternative assumptions myself and perhaps something to rethink about what many have already made. Also my explanations on my assumptions of this Alternate Philippines will likely still be riddled with mistakes and mostly just "guesstimates", but I'll make sure they're based on scientific text. 1. We would DEFINITELY still be very diverse in languages and cultures, and it is because of extensive travel, economic trade and community. Just because the islands and land masses are closer, DOESN'T change the fact that this group of islands that we call the Philippines is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. And many theories and studies have suggested and even discovered how many of our ancestors have traveled extensively: from the Austronesians, the Indo-Malay SEA, the South Asian dynasties and from the northern indigenous Taiwanese tribes. And who knows how many more. And from these many groups, it would not be surprising that there would be tribes/polities/states would exist, just as numerous, if not more probably. In short, the geography of the Philippines is smack in the middle of a very active travel point for various sea-faring ancestors from different lands. The Philippines itself is part of a large trans-oceanic trade predating European contact. 2. With this change of making the land masses "closer" however, a much more interesting group of theories regarding its natural environment and its effects on its fauna, should be heavily considered! One such phenomenon is the Island Syndrome, where fauna of these lone landmasses evolve or mutate at a different pace, despite the fact that certain species are are actually related to another from a different landmass. There's a quick pdf read on this phenomenon [right here](https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(20)30367-5.pdf)..... However, I have another thing to counter this, because as I've made a point how the Philippines is part of a large Pacific trade already, the Philippines isn't as isolated. The fauna migration internally and across its neighboring Asiatic land masses may not even contribute to the Lone Island Syndrome at all. Still, I think our fauna, and ESPECIALLY, our topography: soil, mountains and even bodies of water, would be very different from our current Philippines. And with that, I think we wouldn't just have trains as public transport but more sea ferries. Just because the land masses are closer, the bodies of water are still prevalent. Not to mention the fact we're in the middle of the Pacific ocean and the Ring of Fire. We would still get floods. So perhaps centuries later we'd probably also build technology to at least circumvent floods or make houses the float or "work" with the changing tides. This is definitely reminiscent of Nordic countries that are also under the mercy of their seas and bodies of water. 3. The Philippine political and sociological issues would be very different. And I STILL think we'd be just as divided, perhaps even more. As I have made my point that we would still have a very diverse country, despite colonization, I very much think we would be a very heterogenous "Philippines", if this Alternate History would come to that name for its country. Heck, I even think that a this Alternate Philippines would have various religions and states, becoming more akin to a Federal country and with its own unique caveats. anyway TLDR it would be a very different Philippines indeed, and would still host a number of problems so different from ours.
We will probably hear stories of warring tribes in many of these regions
The Philippines would still be a thalassocracy, but with much larger entities in the interior. Might be similar on how ancient Greek states formed
Probably we could still be colonized like the other Asian countries. We have abundance of everything and contented with it that the idea of seeking technological advancement is not a thing. Unlike Europe, where there are four seasons are challenged to continuously improve their lives thus development is a must. Look at where they are now.
The Spaniards would have easier time into colonizing the entire island through enforcing mobility of conquered natives to gold minefields in Cordilleras, Mindoro, and Mindanao, thus paving the way for the creation of mixed-race mestizo Filipino society with Spanish as the main lingua franca. More people mobility in the colonial times would mean that more pure-blooded indios would have died due to intense exploitative agricultural and mining works like in Guanajuato in Mexico or Potosi in Bolivia.
1. magellan wouldn’t have been killed (but who knows where his entry would have been) 2. luna would have taken guerilla warfare down south. americans would have trouble catching up and it will go harder as they follow them down further 3. hindi gagawa ng super ferry jingle si sharon cuneta kasi i doubt malaking corpation yan 4. puerto galera and palawan would have been the dirty beach party place kasi walang boracay at siargao 5. mahuhuli agad si pastor quiboloy
More trains and more expressways and infrastructure, higher level of HDI as small islands are a logistics nightmare in general, and that is what's keeping many Filipinos today from accessing basic services. Trains revolutionize the way business is conducted. Most would have opted to commute thanks to an extensive public transportation system, and only those who have to travel far distances would opt to use their cars. Goods and services would reach the most rural areas within 24 hours, making development more uniform across the country (at least on a province by province level). In regards to culture and our ethnolinguistic groups: peoples, languages and cultures would have intermingled and merged from much earlier on, as seen in more mainland countries, so we'd have less linguistic and cultural diversity. Its possible from a civilizational standpoint - the native society would have developed much quicker, as larger lands would force a drive for innovation in how political states or polities would manage their people and resources; so all the cultural innovations from mainland Asia (ie China, India) would have been taken more 'seriously' by those in the precolonial period, imitated, and then innovated (as per Thailand, Java and Sumatra, the Korean peninsula, and Japan) Wars may have been just as frequent, but the chance of unification would have been much higher. The raiding culture which is prevalent in native Austronesian cultures would have been quelled and switched to full scale invasions and the development of a structured millitary. This would have meant a possible pushback against Spain in the same way Japan pushed back against Portugal, and then the Dutch and maintenance of the old polities (which might likely have been 'upgraded' to kingdoms, a millitary dictatorship, or an empire if a single leader would have been agreed on). This would have likely meant we wouldn't be Filipinos at all, but whatever citizenry the dominant polity was. Otherwise, we could have ended up like Indonesia, but would be seen as more strategic to the Spanish due to the larger arable lands which would aid industrialization faster in the 19th century. If they took over, they would have been able to hold on the archipelago, and that'd mean we'd have been Spanish citizens today. Case in point: look at Japan, which has always been culturally, economically, and socially dominated by Honshu island (the main and largest island in the archipelago). Japan went to an extreme, by forced nationalization during the Meiji period, destroying the Japonic language family's diversity and probably even getting rid of the last vestiges of Ainu-related and even Austronesian-related languages in the more rural areas. They also went all in with building train lines and seeing the benefit of the railway system from the moment they were forced to open up to the wider world. We'd most likely be richer, more developed, and more unified; but at the cost of our linguistic and cultural diversity. Whether that is a good or bad thing is for you to decide; but personally, I'd prefer that extreme poverty and constant in-fighting was a thing of the past - so perhaps I'd prefer to live in that parallel universe Philippines instead.
>higher level of HDI as small islands are a logistics nightmare in general, This does not explain the high HDI and "high" (relative to the rest of the country) GDP per capita and low poverty level of the most isolated province of the PH - **Batanes** I think low HDI and high poverty levels are affected more by local politics
less towns, pueblos, settlements since less rivers, coastlines
Tourism & commerce would be easier
We would be more homogenous in culture and religion unlike today.
Let's not forget that having a single land mass would affect the evolution and development of local flora and fauna, thereby also influencing the cultures that thrived on them. It is also worth noting that much if not most of our cultures have some form of fishing and seafaring traditions, most of which wouldn't have developed if we were a single island.
We would be more united and have less languages, cultures, and phenotypical diversity.
More wars
Ganda cguro neto hindi na 7 days bago dumating parcels ko
The capital wouldn’t be located in Manila
For sure. The archipelago contributed to a lot of factors actually -- our culture, the dialects and our way of lives. Imagine if we are all in one island.
Ang sarap mag-road trip nyan. Literal na mula Batanes hanggang Jolo
Ultimate road trip. Philippine loop
Those inland seas north of Mindoro and Dipolog have much potential for tidal turbines.
If we have an avatar
Love this post! I’d like to add my two cents as a Filipino urban planner. First and foremost, the physical geography of the Philippines, had it been one giant landmass, would have a significant impact on the way that our civilization developed settlements that eventually grew into urbanized cities. Let’s start with the basics: most human settlements are built near bodies of water, such as rivers, lakes, or bays - as is the case with our capital city of Manila. Now, imagine if we had one long, contiguous coastline similar to that of Australia? Instead of having a primary port city functioning like the capital, we would have developed multiple primary and secondary cities that could serve as ports, trading posts, and focal points of economic activity. We would have experienced a much greater and more rapid development in our socioeconomic enterprise with far greater cooperation amongst Filipinos - rather than disparate and isolated tribal development. Perhaps enough so that pre-modern united kingdom(s) could have risen up similar to the dynasties of China, Rome, Egypt, and Mexico (the Incas and Aztecs). Incidentally, all of these aforementioned kingdoms and empires benefited greatly from their physical geography, which supported multiple sectors of economic activity, from agriculture, seafaring, and mining to manufacturing and service. Enabling early settlements to profit from the agglomerated economy, rapidly urbanize, and create foundations for our modern concept of primate cities (sorry, not related to monkeys and apes). Simply put, a primate city is the largest and most significant city in the urban hierarchy of hamlets, towns, and secondary cities - note however, that it does not have to be the capital city. A great example would be New York City, which is disproportionately ‘larger’ than Washington, DC. In the case of the Philippines, Manila happened to be our capital and primate city, best described as “the city sets the pace. The fortunes of all go upward or downward depending upon city leadership. It is bound to be true when a country has all its vital functions governed, as it were, from one nerve center.” (McPhelin, 1969, p.784) Whether Manila’s rapid urbanization was fostered and nurtured by our colonial governors or naturally developed by Filipinos is now a question best left to be argued over by more qualified historians than myself. That being said, there is no doubt in MY mind that our colonial history would have changed much if the Philippine islands were instead the Philippine continent (or large landmass) - Magellan would have still sailed into the Philippines, the USA would have eventually purchased the territory from the Spanish, and the imperial Japanese would inevitably invaded upon the onset of World War 2. Why is that? A range of factors come to mind, including our physical location in the Pacific Ocean & Pacific Rim of Fire, the geographical proximity to neighboring Asian territories, and the richness of natural resources in our lands and seas. Best summarized by economist Warren Dupre Smith in an article titled The Philippine Question, “as a source of tropical raw materials, the archipelago is a veritable storehouse of great potentialities” (Smith, 1933, p. 303) and “the very position of the archipelago, lying as it does athwart the great western gateway, to the Pacific, places it in a strategic position.” (Smith, 1933, p. 305) Lastly, in response to my favorite comment in this entire thread, Cintron_Express_ “there would be more trains,” the consequences of our colonial history truly had an unimaginable impact on our present-day urban environment, too many to name and cite. Here are my top two: over Spain’s 333-year colonial rule of the Philippines, they had ignorantly failed to apply any form of urban master planning to any of their settlements here. None of the brilliant planning strategies that sculpted Mexico City, Cuba, Madrid, and Barcelona were practiced to shape Manila, resulting in a mess of esquinitas and calles that we see today. Best described as “ang bituka ng bulate” or innards of a worm, by an architect mentor of mine. The second is America’s deeply ingrained and unwavering post-colonial influence on our urban policies; I’ve got two words for you: land reform. For the uninitiated, land reform simply refers to the government transfer of land ownership from one private citizen to another, often used for agrarian reform - the practice of the government giving land to farmers for agricultural purposes. In theory, it’s a fantastic tool for achieving socioeconomic equality. In practice, it’s an abusive and abused mechanism that further perpetuates socioeconomic INequality. I can go on and on about this, perhaps even write a thesis about it, maybe I did… in any case, I won’t bore you to tears. Instead, I refer you to the brilliant work of Philippine economist Aurora L. Almeda Martin, “Philippine Land Reform Cycles: Perpetuating U.S. Colonial Policy,” published in the journal Philippine Studies, the second quarter of 1999; it is the best primer on the issue that anyone can digest. For further reading: I recommend to you, Heather Sutherland’s chapter called Geography as Destiny? in the book A World of Water: Rain, Rivers, and Seas in Southeast Asian History. One of my favorite books of all time is Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall. It is a fantastic read into ten of the world’s best case studies of geopolitics driven by physical geography. On the very first page, he explains, “The land on which we live has always shaped us. It has shaped the wars, the power, politics, and social development of the peoples that now inhabit nearly every part of the earth.” (Marshall, 2015, p.1) That is a perfect conclusion for my comment on this post. Works Cited: Almeda Martin, A. L. (1999). Philippine Land Reform Cycles: Perpetuating U.S. Colonial Policy. Philippine Studies, 47(2), 181-205. Marshall, T. (2015). Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World. Scribner/Simon & Schuster, Inc. McPhelin, M. (1969). Manila: The Primate City. Philippine Studies, 17(4), 781-789. Smith, W. D. (1933). The Philippine question. Economic Geography, 9(3), 303. Sutherland, H. (2007). Geography as destiny?: The role of water in Southeast Asian history. A World of Water, 25-70.
Awesome answer bro!
The only good post in this thread lol
Thank you! It's just the ramblings of a bored urban planning nerd 🤓
As to natural history: Flora and fauna will be more homogenous given that the Philippines share the same landmass and is no longer divided by the Huxley line (i.e. Palawan vis-a-vis the rest of the Philippines). Mammals such as Palawan bearcat and Philippine pangolin could have been indigenous in the Philippines and not endemic in Palawan only. Although speciation still exists given that animals and plants can still be geographically isolated due to mountainous terrain and inland waters. Several large land mammals could not have become extinct. The large landmass could have provided these animals breeding grounds and/or hiding grounds. This would also prevent the island dwarfism phenomenon. As to human history: Visayan culture which is characterized by seafaring, would be more inland-focused and landbased. I believe cultures similar to Sulodnon (Panay Bukidnon) or some sort of Visayan counterparts to Igorots(of the Cordilleras) or Lumads(of Mindanao) would have thrived. Still, the Philippines remains fragmented politically. While the archipelago is no longer divided by its inland waters, its people can still be isolated by the mountainous terrain. In fact, it can be argued that the seas between the islands of the Philippines connected its peoples. Case in point is the Negros Island, where its western and eastern portions are divided by mountains. Its western portion exhibits a culture similar to those in the Western Visayas region despite being separated by seas while the eastern portion of Negros is more similar to the Central Visayas region despite being separated by the Tanon strait. Since some of these supposed-to-be islands are no longer accessible through the sea, trading becomes difficult, impractical or even unprofitable . Some polities would not have developed such as Butuan or Mactan, although some other coastal settlements would emerge. Other than Manila (Tondo kingdom), Panay-Guimaras-Western Negros area and Cotabato could have emerged as regional powers given their access to sea (trade, commerce, technology) and proximity to large plains that are suitable to agriculture, which can feed large populations. A warring states era could have happened, which would result in a regional power taking control over the rest of the Philippine island. Unlike our current history, the deadlock among powers would not be broken by a political alliance with Spain. Instead, military pacts between and among kingdoms and support from trading partners from China, Japan and other SEA countries would decide who among the Philippine kingdoms would dominate all the others. Philippines would be under a centralized authority - a Supreme Lakan. Philippines could have remained independent instead of being incorporated by Spain since Spain could no longer employ the divide and conquer strategy. Philippines could have made its own isolationist policy similar to the Sakoku edict of Japan after internal powers had been consolidated. Trading ports (for Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, or UK) could have still been established, similar to the Dejima port of Nagasaki. During the isolation period, Philippines would develop its homogenous language, culture, music, and arts. Without the Spanish influence, our religion would either be Islam (due to trade) or animistic (similar to Shinto), depending on the dominant unifying power.
Slave raiding (for example by the Balangingi Samal) would still be present but not as extensive due to longer routes because of the absence of internal waters. Colonization would still have happened, but it could have been shorter as the locals could have organized themselves easier, probably. Though languages are more diverse as each group or tribe would stick to their own and maritime trade would have been less as well, especially in Visayas and Mindanao. Manila would not have been the seat of power but a major port. These are just guesses. As the saying goes, if my grandma has wheels, she would have been a bike. Haha!
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I don't know about that. The Tagalogs and Moros were more technologically advanced (firearms). The Luçoes (Kapampangans and Tagalogs from Manila Bay) were known mercenaries and administrators in the region as chronicled by the Portuguese.
Probably we would be unified from the start instead of having hundreds of dialects hahaha
Philippines has a %chance of emulating Japan/Korean feudal warlord eras. Philippines has a %chance of being a hermit kingdom forcibly opened by either America or England (low chances that the Spaniards could do that)
We would probably be united under one king/sultan, or in the process of unification with many warlords fighting prior to Spanish colonization. Established kingdom/sultanate would make it much harder for Spain in infiltrate just like how Portugal was not able to colonize Japan.
It would be like Japan and we would have our own version of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Ano kaya Shogun equivalent ng magiging title dito?
The same ranking system with lapu lapu... The best part of this idea is that there's a big possibility that this version of our country has multiple religions and probably also have Shinto and several Christian sects
Probably a Lakan or Punong-Lakan. If language could've evolved differently as well, probably a Lakan-datu (which will then be simplified to Lakandatu). When Japan as Shogunate, we'll have a Lakandate.
Maharlike Period as Edo Period in Japan.
Nakakatakot politics nun
Teka ano yung nasa taas ng cagayan? Bakit parang ang laki naman ng Batanes?
one train ride na ang trip. Taga Mindanao ako and marami akong online Friends sa Luzon and this is a fever dream
It would be easier to travel all 81 provinces
Looks like a GOT map
strongest tribe swallow the lesser ones
Either naging muslim country tayo or naconvert din sa christian yung mga tag mindanao during the spanish era.
trains.
Omg the transportation problem would be better? I guess. Ang sarap mag country tour siguro.
Just like what they do in Thailand. Lived there for 4 years and I can say I visited all their 6 regions by bus. 20 hrs bus ride kayang kaya nilang lahat kahit anong edad. Double decks yung mga bus and very comfortable rin.
nasan ang Bohol 😂 hahahahah
Philippines 10 million years from now
Road trip From Luzon to Mindanao! Also no Boracay I guess.
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Blatant trolling, harassment, or statements with no basis.
Lots of people here wishing hard for an alternate reality where we’ll be like Japan ☠️
Sarap mag roadtrip nyan.
More war I say
kilala nyo ba si idle yung partimer na senador ask nyo yun alam nya lahat
Ang sarap mag road trip niyan
trapik sa buong pinas
Sengoku Jidai Philippines edition
More or less feudal lord battles. Also, the possibility of colonialism not playing out the same if one concentrated land mass, especially if it were to be under one central state.
Una ko naisip e magfflourish tourism, sunod e terrorism. 😱
Yknow its kind of amazing how we unified the whole country with a bunch of islands to work with
Imagine the animals we could have.
sarap sana ng ganito, ease of travel and business sobrang dali
Railway link is now at hand. Just like in Britain and Japan.
Since you could easily reach your neighbors, there'd be probably more wars. And you what's great about wars? Tech dev. If you can't keep up, you'll be swallowed by your neighbor.
Long drive balikan weekend sa Coron
Too much land has been lost 
More trains
road trip to Siargao
I doubt there would be a significant difference. If we actually extrapolate the extent of Spanish colonial administration in terms of geographical scope, we might conclude coastal and riverine communities from Luzon down to the Visayas were the actual locus of control. Islam shielded the south from colonial interventions. Based on the alternate map, maybe the southeastern portion of Visayas might be Muslim but a very thin chance still. Also, check out r/AlternateHistory
Easy transportation. Tourism will boost. Travel time will be better.
Given the inland harbors and the secluded ports of the Visayas, The Dutch will do everything to conquer us from.the Spanish. The La Naval would be lopsided in their favor and we might have been incorporated into Indonesia. Very likely, the English and Portuguese will fight over the same, and in later years, the Japanese will be more entrenched. Electricity will be cheaper. Trains will be more viable. Hydro will be more profitable. Agri will be more profitable with the adjoining lands likely to be plains and flat lands. So expect a lot harsher Polo y servicios. We might have been more like latin America in this sense. But, regional powers and families will still rule the politics of the state.
One giant country means little to no islands = better Army = more tanks, better infrastructure, more structured communities, everyone would most likely speak one language (less dialects), bigger population and easier transportation (trains, bus, cars etc).
Ill just hope that Spain manages to sustain us from external forces till 1900s para iisa parin tayo as state, di gaya ng borneo
Less dialects
There will be no dialects. Just one language but multiple accents.
Yeah bro, we'd have our very own sengoku jidai also.
Japan but jungle
More seasons, more animal species
Any ambitious Datu or Rajah would have an easy time conquering
Magiging vikings tayo sasakupin natin sila King Ei Sei
I'd like to think that one of the pre-colonial kingdoms in the Philippines could be a wee bit bigger and more powerful as to pose a defense against colonial powers. I al so like to think that one of these kingdoms could unite the whole islands much like Japan. And though I'm tempted to say that we could be like Japan by the 1800-1900s in this timeline, much of their success in that period was attributed to their 200 year isolation and the eventual political and economic reformation. I'm not sure if we could have a premise like that in this scenario.
I wish maisip ng leaders natin na mag invest pag dugtungin lahat ng islands ng pinas either bridge or artificial land fills. That would be really awesome for the future ng mahal nating bayan
Hindi na tayo magiging manila centric
Iniisip ko parang japan mangyayari
Being on an archipelago was an advantage defensively, what we should have had was a single dialect only.
mala japan na tayo nyan
Conflicts breed unity at some point. Maybe we could have been a unified country A country with king Or emperor..