Prehistory of Pampanga

Pampanga lies within the Central Plain region and has a total land area of 2,180.70 square kilometers. Together with Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan and Tarlac, the region includes a total area of approximately 5,900 square miles, mostly composed of lowlands and arable areas.

The original Kapampangan region was ten times larger than the present borders shown on the map. 35,000 years ago (Neolithic era), a series of Mt. Pinatubo eruptions dumped lava, ashes, tephra and lahar into the sea, forming the present landmass of the region.

Oral tradition says that the early Kapampangans were from the Malays. As early as 300 BC, people from Indonesia started their adventure from the Malay Peninsula and West Sumatra. People of Malay from the south sailed in groups using boats called barangays. Around the mid 1300s, Prinsipe Balagtas from the Kingdom of Madjapahit in Indonesia led a group of Kapampangans to what is well known as Central Luzon. This group of people belonged to the brown race, characterized by black to dark brown hair, brownish eyes, medium height, and almost hairless bodies. They settled in scattered communities called barangays, ruled by chieftains called datus, and resided along Rio Grande de la Pampanga (currently known as Pampanga River) and extended their settlement to the Lingayen Gulf in the North, Manila Bay down South, Sierra Madre mountain range in the East and in the West were the mountains of Zambales.

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