Historiography of early Philippine settlements

The historiography of early Philippine settlements is the academic discipline concerned with the studies, sources, critical methods and interpretations used by scholars to understand the history of settlements in early Philippine history. By modern definitions, this does not involve a story of "events in the past directly," but rather "the changing interpretations of those events in the works of individual historians."(The Methods and Skills of History: A Practical Guide, 1988, p. 223, {{ISBN|0-88295-982-4}})

The study of early Philippine settlements is often hampered{{Cite web|url=http://malacanang.gov.ph/75832-pre-colonial-manila|title=Pre-colonial Manila|date=23 June 2015|website=Malacañang Presidential Museum and Library|series=Malacañang Presidential Museum and Library Araw ng Maynila Briefers|publisher=Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309014757/http://malacanang.gov.ph/75832-pre-colonial-manila/|archive-date=9 March 2016|url-status=dead|access-date=27 April 2017}}{{cite journal | title=Integrating History and Archaeology in the Study of Contact Period Philippine Chiefdoms | author=Junker, Laura Lee | journal=International Journal of Historical Archaeology | year=1998 | volume=2 | issue=4| pages=291–320 | doi=10.1023/A:1022611908759 | s2cid=141415414 }}{{cite book | last = Jocano | first = F. Landa | author-link = F. Landa Jocano | title = Filipino Prehistory: Rediscovering Precolonial Heritage | publisher = Punlad Research House, Inc. | year = 2001 | location = Quezon City | isbn = 971-622-006-5 }}{{Cite book | title = Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History | last1 = Scott | first1 = William Henry | publisher = New Day Publishers | date = 1984 | location = Quezon City | isbn = 978-9711002268 }} by the fact that the modern political entity known as the Philippines did not actually exist prior to the arrival of Spanish colonial powers in the late sixteenth century.{{cite book |last=Scott |first=William Henry |author-link = William Henry Scott (historian) |title= Barangay: Sixteenth Century Philippine Culture and Society |publisher= Ateneo de Manila University Press |year= 1994 |location= Quezon City |isbn=971-550-135-4 }} It is thus important to note that the historiography of early Philippine settlements concerns the writing of the histories of settlements which were not united as one state, but which happened to be located on what is now called the Philippine archipelago.