The “Balangay” – Philippines’ Ancient and Pre-colonial Root in Shipping and Shipbuilding
By: Vance Madelo
With TTSP, marking its 30th year since its first inception from a small eight-man design office in Cebu City, I could only marvel at how much it has grown into its current 500-man plus workforce in a 1000-capacity design center clattering with keyboard taps, mouse clicks and chats to design ships that are mostly of giant bulk carrier types. The now-staggering 321 overall ship count already delivered to owners amazes me on the resilience, hard work and craft of Filipino shipbuilders amid the challenges they faced throug the decades, thanks to the significant assimilation of Japanese craft and shipbuilding technological prowess through the Tsuneishi Group of Companies.
Further down the history lane, I tried to dig deeper into the Filipinos’ knack in sea-related trades. I found it all started with the “Balangay”, a wooden boat employed by the Filipino ancestors in coming over and settling down in the Philippines.
Accordingly, about 5000-6000 years ago our Filipino ancestors who descended from the Austronesian peoples (Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Taiwan and the island groups of Central and South Pacific with exceptions of Australia and much of New Guinea), traveled from the mainland Asia by land bridges across the continental shelf to the South East Asian archipelago.
Centuries later, they learned to sail to as far East as Polynesia and West as Madagascar. These Austronesian peoples arrived to the Philippines by way of Malaysia and Indonesia aboard the ancient vessel - the “Balangay”.
The Balangay is said to be the first wooden vessel that was excavated in Southeast Asia, which is instrumental in the settlement of Austronesian peoples in the Philippines and the Malay Archipelago. Nine specimens of these were discovered in Butuan City, Agusan Del Norte, Mindanao in 1975. They were said to be dated back to 320, 990 and 1250 AD.
As a country of more than 7000 islands, early Filipinos, in my opinion, were thus historically engaged in building these ships for their sea-based livelihood. These boats continued as one of the earliest modes of transport of goods across islands for centuries until replaced by the more modern wooden boats built with metal nails in the 19th century.
Sources: Wikipedia , Mandirigma, Manoa Library
With TTSP, marking its 30th year since its first inception from a small eight-man design office in Cebu City, I could only marvel at how much it has grown into its current 500-man plus workforce in a 1000-capacity design center clattering with keyboard taps, mouse clicks and chats to design ships that are mostly of giant bulk carrier types. The now-staggering 321 overall ship count already delivered to owners amazes me on the resilience, hard work and craft of Filipino shipbuilders amid the challenges they faced throug the decades, thanks to the significant assimilation of Japanese craft and shipbuilding technological prowess through the Tsuneishi Group of Companies.
Further down the history lane, I tried to dig deeper into the Filipinos’ knack in sea-related trades. I found it all started with the “Balangay”, a wooden boat employed by the Filipino ancestors in coming over and settling down in the Philippines.
Accordingly, about 5000-6000 years ago our Filipino ancestors who descended from the Austronesian peoples (Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Taiwan and the island groups of Central and South Pacific with exceptions of Australia and much of New Guinea), traveled from the mainland Asia by land bridges across the continental shelf to the South East Asian archipelago.
As a country of more than 7000 islands, early Filipinos, in my opinion, were thus historically engaged in building these ships for their sea-based livelihood. These boats continued as one of the earliest modes of transport of goods across islands for centuries until replaced by the more modern wooden boats built with metal nails in the 19th century.
Sources: Wikipedia , Mandirigma, Manoa Library
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