The Discovery of the Igorots: Spanish Contacts With the Pagans of Northern Luzon

Filipinos living in the Gran Cordillera Central mountains of Northern Luzon are generally called Igorots: this book tells the dramatic story of their ancestors' response to foreign invasion. For three centuries they resisted assimilation into the Spanish empire, monopolize3d the richest gold mines in the archipelago, sabotaged the government Tobacco Monopoly, and defied all restrictions on trade with their lowland brethren. With a sweep as vast as the mountains themselves and strokes as bold as the conquistadores, the author paints a unique picture of military and missionary confrontation with a stubborn Filipino culture defending itself by primitive arms against western conquest and conversion. From the archives of Spain and the Philippines come the statements of Spanish aims, mixed motives, and changing imperialist patterns, as well as the Igorot responses as expressed in their actions and direct quotation of their own words. The Discovery of the Igorots persuasively challenges the popular concept of the Igorots as isolated and at enmity with other Filipinos, and presents their story as an integral part of the Spanish colonial experience and the history of the Filipino people.