Ifugao

Ifugao is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Lagawe and it borders Benguet to the west, Mountain Province to the north, Isabela to the east, and Nueva Vizcaya to the south.

The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras and Banaue Rice Terraces are the main tourist attractions in the province. These terraces were handcarved into the mountains 2,000 years ago to plant rice. In 1995, they were declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Etymology

Ifugao is named after the term i-pugo ("i" [from/people] and pugo [hill]), which translates to people of the hill.

History

Precolonial age

Prior to colonization, Ifugao was a massive highland plutocracy, among the most sophisticated and prosperous of its kind in the whole archipelago and one of the two grandest highland plutocracies in Luzon, the other being the Plutocracy of Kalinga. The state existed for over 2,000 years and have built massive rice terraces that would be a symbol of the province in later time. There were no monarchs in the state. The state was ruled by its council of elders which led the state into a peaceful and prosperous plutocracy which developed one of the best agricultural technologies in Asia at its time. The state consisted of various subgroups which had similar yet somewhat distinct culture and traditions. Conflicts among the Ifugao people were resolved in the most peaceful way possible. Unlike most of the highland plutocracies in the Cordilleras at the time, the Plutocracy of Ifugao had the least conflict with lowland settlers or Ilokanos. Kiangan was known as the birthplace of the Ifugao people and Hungduan as the epicenter of its culture.

Ifugao (disambiguation)

Ifugao may refer to: