Fording Upstream in Search for Balitok Ibaloi Diaspora Into Benguet (Part 1)

Abstract

Gold has been an organising principle to numerous highland peoplings and exchanges in Southeast Asia (Dobbin 1983; Harrison and O’ Connor 1970; Keesing 1962; Miksic 1980), and the gold-rich ridges of Benguet Mountains, Philippines were not an exception to this. Gold may have catalysed some early Ibaloi migrations from the 14th (or earlier) to 15th centuries. The lure of gold subsequently motivated colonial conquests beginning in the 16th century to control this rugged landscape (Bagamaspad and Hamada-Pawid 1985; Caballero 1996). The earliest custodians of this rich resource were the Ibaloi, who developed the mastery of the extraction of gold and its barter to the lowland Pangasinan and Ilocos people who, in turn, used or traded this material to the Southeast Asian sea traders (Azurin 1991).