Babuyan Islands

Babuyan Islands

Babuyan Islands of Luzon Strait
Babuyan Islands Location within the Philippines
Geography
Location	Luzon Strait
Coordinates	19°15′N 121°40′E / 19.250°N 121.667°E / 19.250; 121.667Coordinates: 19°15′N 121°40′E / 19.250°N 121.667°E / 19.250; 121.667
Adjacent bodies of water	Babuyan Channel Balintang Channel
Major islands	Babuyan Island Balintang Island Barit Island Calayan Island Camiguin Island Dalupiri Island Didicas Island Fuga Island Irao Island Mabag Island Pamoctan Island Pan de Azucar Island Panuitan Island Pinon Island
Administration
Philippines
Region	Cagayan Valley
Province	Cagayan
Municipality	Aparri Calayan

The Babuyan Islands (/bɑːbəˈjɑːn/ bah-bə-YAHN), also known as the Babuyan Group of Islands, is an archipelago in the Philippines, located in the Luzon Strait north of the main island of Luzon. The archipelago consists of four major islands and their surrounding smaller islands. These main islands are, counterclockwise starting from northeast, Babuyan, Calayan, Dalupiri, Fuga, and Camiguin. The Babuyan Islands are separated from Luzon by the Babuyan Channel, and from the province of Batanes to the north by the Balintang Channel.

The origins of the Babuyan people date back some 60,000+ years ago when Negrito tribes inhabited the islands, later Austonesians migrated to the islands. In the late 1580s large groups Filipinos fled the mainland when Spain began to invade the Philippines. The small islands now have a mixture of different ethnic groups. Since the early 1800s people from Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga and even Japan have settled on the group of islands. While the native people are considered Filipino they are an ethnic mix of the people from Samoa, Hawaii, Japan and Tonga that now call the islands home.

Some Babuyan people are majority polytheistic and believe in multiple gods, others practice Hinduism. In the 1940s American soldiers introduced the native people to the Christian religion and now 30% of the natives are Christian.