Ilongga

Hiligaynon / Ilonggo people

Total population
9,302,585 (2010) (10.4% of the Philippine population in 2010)
Regions with significant populations
Philippines (Western Visayas, Negros Island Region, SOCCSKSARGEN)  United States Worldwide
Languages
Hiligaynon, Filipino, English, Spanish and others
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholicism. Minority others, Aglipayan, Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism
Related ethnic groups
other Filipinos (Karay-a, Aklanon, Masbateño, other Visayans) other Austronesian peoples

The Hiligaynon people, often referred to as Ilonggo people (Hiligaynon: Mga Hiligaynon/Mga Ilonggo), are a subgroup of the Visayan people whose primary language is the Hiligaynon language, an Austronesian language native to Panay, Guimaras, and western Negros. Over the years, inter-migrations and intra-migrations have contributed to the diaspora of the Hiligaynons to different parts of the Philippines. Now, the Hiligaynon form the majority in the provinces of Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Guimaras, Capiz, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato.

The term "Hiligaynon" is derived from the Spanish term "Yliguenes", which is then derived from the Hiligaynon word "Iligan" or "Iliganon". From here are two divergent proposals of origin for the word. The first proposal puts forth that Iligan or "Iliganon" refers to a river, or literally "where the water flows down", and the Spanish were likely to have made this connection to the indigenous residents of Panay, who resided at the river mouth and were thus discovered easily by the Spanish. The second proposal puts forth that "Iligan" or "Iliganon" is derived from "manog-ilig sang kawayan", a phrase that describes bamboo poles that Panay men would float downriver in order to sell the poles. This activity becomes mistaken by the Spanish as the name of the indigenous residents. The term "Ilonggo" is derived from the Spanish term "irong-irong", referring to the Filipino word for nose ("ilong") and an islet in the Batiano River in Panay. “Ilonggo” is considered to define a specific group of people whose ethnic origins are in the provinces of Iloilo, Guimaras, and Panay, while "Hiligaynon" defines the language and culture of the people of the Ilonggo. Thus, both terms are interchangeable in referring to the culture of the people, or the people themselves.

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Wikipedia