Ijang

{{Short description|Terraced hillforts in Batanes, Philippines}} '''Ijangs''' are the terraced hillfort settlements of the Ivatan people built on hill tops and ridges in the Batanes Islands of the Philippines.<ref name=":1">{{Citation|last1=Bellwood|first1=Peter|title=The Batanes Islands, Their First Observers, and Previous Archaeology|date=2013|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hgz91.6|work=4000 Years of Migration and Cultural Exchange|volume=40|pages=1–8|editor-last=Bellwood|editor-first=Peter|series=The Archaeology of the Batanes Islands, Northern Philippines|publisher=ANU Press|isbn=978-1-925021-27-1|access-date=2021-01-25|last2=Dizon|first2=Eusebio|jstor=j.ctt5hgz91.6|editor2-last=Dizon|editor2-first=Eusebio}}</ref> These high rocky formations can serve as fortresses or refuge against the enemies of the Ivatan people.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Dizon|first1=Eusebio Z.|last2=Santiago|first2=Rey A.|date=1996|title=Archaeological Explorations in Batanes Province|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42634196|journal=Philippine Studies|volume=44|issue=4|pages=479–499|jstor=42634196|issn=0031-7837}}</ref> thumb|Savidug Ijang in perspective view as seen from its northeastern border<ref name=":0"/> thumb|Savidug Ijang, Sabtang<ref name=":1" />

==Background== In 1994, Eusebio Dizon, the deputy director of the National Museum of the Philippines, went to Batanes with his team for an archeological project. They found a triangular-shaped hill in Savidug, a town in Sabtang. These structures were called ''ijang''.<ref name="filipiknow">{{Cite web |title=15 Most Intense Archaeological Discoveries in Philippine History |url=https://www.filipiknow.net/archaeological-discoveries-in-the-philippines/ |access-date=17 March 2015 |website=FilipiKnow}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Ijangs are similar to the ''gusuku'' castles found in Okinawa, Japan. Aside from both of them being strategically built in high places, 12th-century Sung-type ceramics and Chinese beads and other artefactual materials recovered from an ijang were dated at almost the same time as the foundations of the Okinawan castles beginning from circa 1200 CE.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dizon|first=Eusebio|date=1997|title=Archaeology of Batanes Province, Northern Philippines: The 1996-1997 Status Report.|url=https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/BIPPA/article/viewFile/11730/10359|journal=|volume=|pages=|via=}}</ref>

The Ivatan traditionally lived in the ''ijang'' which were fortified mountain areas and drank sugar-cane wine, or ''palek''. They also used gold as currency and produced a thriving agriculture-based industry, as well as expertise in seafaring and boatbuilding.

==Functions== {{main|Ivatan people}}

Based on oral history and tradition, pre-Hispanic Ivatans were divided into small clans that lived not far from the sea. During clan wars, those attacked climbed for safety to the tops of the ijangs where they defended themselves by throwing stones at the enemy below. The tops of the ijangs today are still full of stones—the primitive ammunition of the people. Building a shelter atop the ijang became necessary when fighting continued long for some time. Ijangs were first described by the English freebooter Captain William Dampier when he visited the island of Ivuhos in 1687. Today, there are still traces of such ancient dwellings, including stone posts standing or lying where the Ivatans left them when they abandoned their pagan way of life for Christianity in the late 18th century.<ref name=":0" />

==Spanish Colonial Era== In 1783, the Spanish claimed Batanes as part of the Philippines under the auspices of Governor-General José Basco y Vargas.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} The Bashi Channel had come to be increasingly used by English East India Company ships and the Spanish authorities brought the islands under their direct administration to prevent them from falling under British control.<ref name="Howard T. Fry 1985, pp.3-21">{{Cite journal |last=Fry |first=Howard T. |date=1985 |title=The Eastern Passage and Its Impact on Spanish Policy in the Philippines, 1758–1790 |url=http://www.philippinestudies.net/ojs/index.php/ps/article/view/1266/3922 |journal=Philippine Studies |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=3–21 |jstor=42632762}}, p.18.</ref> However, the Ivatan remained on their ijangs, or mountain fortresses.

In 1790, Governor Guerrero decreed that Ivatans were to leave their ijang and live in the lowlands, thereby giving them more people to tax. Basco and Ivana were the first towns that implemented this decree.<ref name="Howard T. Fry 1985, pp.3-21" />

==See also== {{portal|Philippines}} * Dap-ay * Pā * Nan Madol

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Populated places established in the 12th century Category:1994 archaeological discoveries Category:Archaeological sites in the Philippines Category:Culture of Batanes Category:Houses in the Philippines Category:National Cultural Treasures of the Philippines 01 Category:Hillforts Category:Infrastructure Category:Building types Category:Buildings and structures by type Category:Urban studies and planning terminology