Saturday, February 19, 2005

The HYDRAULIC Society in the Philippines

Posted by Ms.B at 4:39:00 PM

Agriculture and Fishing... rewind
Society, as one may define, connotes something like: an organized community of mutually dependent individuals or simply said- a group of people continuously interacting with each other. It may or may not be as harmonious as it should be, but it is where each conniving participant learns and grows with in time. As quoted from the wise book, it says: "... the origin of the word society comes from the Latin societas, a "friendly association with others." Furthermore ... societas is derived from socius meaning "companion" and thus the meaning of society is closely related to what is social.
All over the world, numerous societies sprung out as a result of human interaction with each other. Obviously enough, the same principle applies to the Philippine archipelago, as lots of manuscripts revealed evidences showing how society of the early inhabitants was formed. Various reasons can be taken into account and quiet importantly, one of the contributing factor is: geographical.

South East Asia map

As learned, the location of the Philippine archipelago is strategically situated as always been a group of islands all connected with bodies of water shallow enough for the nomads to hunt for food but moderately deep for certain water species to thrive and be a part of the whole metabolism of living things. These early settlers were busy securing food thru hunting, which was the easiest way they knew then. They roamed the deep forests, finding their way via the river pathways, which were abundant with different varieties of fishes including of course but not limited to occasional deer every now and then, some few pigs or hogs, wild boars and the like which were fed and nourished by the river banks,rich source of flora and fauna, completing nature's cycle of life. Thru these river paths laid profuse reserves of nature's bounty all carried down by rain from the topmost regions of the mountains and settling in, seeping through the vast valleys leading to the rivers, streams, springs and what have you.
Like so many other countries around the world the Philippines, has undergone numerous undertakings or trials, in various aspects of society, and Agriculture was one of them. It may seem distant to know all the factors affecting it, the roles it portrayed, the results it gave, the works and all, but hopefully some can be explained either euphorically or in mere simple discussions of events based on historical documents and some contributions of archives gathered by various writers of history, both local and international. For more reasons that one, this great nation was easily adaptive of a hydraulic-society means of livelihood.

Banaue rice terraces

Other ways of food source were rice fields, lined up beautifully on the hillsides, making vistas of grand staircases found on most the northern parts of the archipelago. Known as one of the world's wonders, the famous rice terraces run from the foot of the hills up to the top, filled with the country's staple food and nourished by the rainfall caught up by the roots of huge perennial trees. But with the advent of the new ideas in hunting and farming brought in by various colonizers like Spaniards, Portuguese and Americans, commerce in the Philippines became better if not best in elevating business way at par with the rest of the world, not to mention its excellence in various fields of endeavors like science researches and technology farming.

The events which took place in Philippines' history are just some of the factors which helped shape up the country's society at present. The people who came in and got involved in aspects of business were also tips of the iceberg bulk whom the Filipino forefathers owed much of for their existence and advancement.

But the facts remains that this archipelago was subdued not just once... but without which a greater Philippines could have had emerged today.


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