10 Reasons to Learn About the History of the Cagayan Valley

Top ten reasons you should subscribe to this Youtube page and learn about the history of the Cagayan Valley. First off, the Cagayan Valley is located off the coast of China, south of Taiwan, on the Northeastern side of Luzon.


It is the oldest known location for the ancient hominid activity on an island. Right outside present-day Tueguegarao, 709,000 years ago, a hominid butchered a Rhinoceros philippinensis and for some reason forgot his knife.

The hominids who butchered the Philippines Rhino was probably homo Luzonesis, a unique small hominid that somehow sailed to Luzon hundreds of thousands of years ago. It wasn’t a great ocean crossing, but still pretty impressive.

Not only does the Cagayan Valley possess its own hominid. It also has evidence of the earliest known human activity on an island. Around 60,000 years ago. Since we find so much activity hominid in the Valley, there must be something about it that made a life for humans and our cousins so appealing.

Ita people who arrived 20,000 years ago from the Indus Valley. This was recently discovered through DNA evidence.

If you have any Polynesian blood or live in South East Asia, you’re ancestors once lived in the Cagayan Valley. In fact, 5% of the world population can trace their ancestry back to this small valley and the development of Polynesian art. Like the Tatoo art, you see in the movie Moana.

The lost kingdom of Ituy. I lived in Ituy for almost 8 months and no one there calls it by its name. It is called Nueva Viscaya now.  A place which Luiz Perez Dasmarinas, the son of the first Governor of the Philippines claimed for himself under the encomendia system. For 300 years, the Spanish were never able to conquer these people. Today it is an area that has the third-largest gold deposit in the world.

The largest rice terraces in the world on an island were built in the mountains North of Ituy. Rice terraces that could span half the circumference of the world. Most of these terraces were built in less than 100 years after the arrival of the Spanish in the late 16th century and early 17th century. The Ifugao people were never conquered by the Spanish or Americans.
The headhunting tradition found throughout southeast Asia. A system used to keep order among the tribes and population control. It also was a significant part of the religious traditions of the Austronesian people who inhabited the Cagayan Valley.
The mysterious gold mines of the Caraballo Mountains and the adventure of Tomas to the slave gold mine of Acupan.
The Murder of the Real Indiana Jones. America’s first native American PhD who gave his life trying to understand the Ilongot people.

This place is full of history. A history that is lost to the world. I spent two years of my life in the Cagayan Valley. I love history and asked those with who I interacted to tell me about the place. Most knew nothing. They were Ilocano immigrants to the area or never spoke to their parents about the history of their people. Only an Ifugao shaman was able to give me any tradition and heritage but even that seemed heavily influenced by Biblical stories.