Pre-history The early history of Palawan was determined by a team of researchers led by
Robert Bradford Fox. They found evidence in the
Tabon Caves that humans have lived in Palawan for more than 50,000 years. They also found human bone fragments, from an individual known as
Tabon Man, in the municipality of
Quezon, as well as tools and other artifacts. Additionally, the condition of the tiger subfossils, dated to approximately 12,000 to 9,000 years ago, differed from other fossils in the assemblage, dated to the
Upper Paleolithic. The tiger subfossils showed longitudinal fracture of the
cortical bone due to weathering, which suggests that they had
post-mortem been exposed to light and air. Tiger parts were commonly used as
amulets in
South and
Southeast Asia, so it may be that the tiger parts were imported from elsewhere, as is the case with tiger
canine teeth, which were found in Ambangan sites dating to the 10th to 12th centuries in
Butuan,
Mindanao. On the other hand, the proximity of Borneo and Palawan also makes it likely that the
tiger had colonized Palawan from Borneo before the Early
Holocene. Using the work of Von den Driesch, all chosen anatomical features of appendicular elements' anatomical features which were chosen, besides molars, were measured to distinguish between
taxa that had close relationships, and see morphometric changes over ages, though not for
pigs or deer. For the latter two,
cranial and
mandibular elements, besides teeth of deer from Ille Cave were compared with samples of the
Philippine brown deer (
Cervus mariannus),
Calamian hog deer (
Axis calamianensis), and
Visayan spotted deer (
Cervus alfredi), and thus two taxa of deer have been identified from the fossils:
Axis and
Cervus. Remains of pigs were compared with the
Eurasian (Sus scrofa) and
Palawanese wild boar (Sus ahoenobarbus). It is known that the Eurasian wild boar was imported as a domesticate to the islands from mainland Southeast Asia to the islands during the Terminal Holocene. Palawan was a major site for the
Maritime Jade Road, one of the most extensive sea-based trade networks of a single geological material in the prehistoric world, operating for 3,000 years from 2000 BCE to 1000 CE.
Early history Palawan is home to several Indigenous groups. The oldest inhabitants are the
Palaw'an,
Batak,
Tagbanwa, and
Tau't Bato who are from the interiors and highlands of Palawan, as well as the
Calamianes Islands. They traditionally practice animist
anito religions. Palawan's coastlines were also settled by later groups that are now collectively known as "Palaweños". Prior to
Islamization, the islands of Palawan, Calamian, and parts of Luzon were under the jurisdiction of the nation
Sandao (In Chinese records at the 1200s). Sandao was a vassal-state to the more powerful
Ma-i nation in
Mindoro. Thereafter, groups like the
Islamized Molbog people of southern Palawan (possibly originally from
Sabah), and the
Cuyonon and
Agutaynon groups (from the nearby islands of
Cuyo and
Agutaya settled in. Palawan was mentioned as "Pulaoan" or "Polaoan" by
Antonio Pigafetta in 1521 during
Magellan's expedition. They called it ("the land of promise") due to the fact that they were almost starving by the time they reached the island. The local
datu made peace with the expedition through a
blood compact. The ships' crews were welcomed to the island with rice cooked in bamboo tubes, rice wine, bananas, pigs, goats, chickens, coconuts, sugarcane, and other supplies. Pigafetta described the inhabitants as being farmers. Their primary weapons were
blowguns with iron tips that could both shoot thick wooden or bamboo
darts (some poisoned) and function as spears once their ammunition were exhausted. Pigafetta also described the islanders as keeping
roosters for
cockfighting. Before the arrival of the Spanish in the late 15th century, Palawan broke free of the nation of
Ma-i but would be conquered and ruled by the
Bruneian empire and their vassals the
Sultanate of Sulu.
Spanish colonial era , the capital of the Province of Calamianes in 1818 (Spanish Palawan) The northern
Calamianes Islands were the first to come under Spanish authority, and were later declared a province separate from the Palawan mainland. In the early 17th century, Spanish friars sent out missions in
Cuyo,
Agutaya,
Taytay and
Cagayancillo but they met resistance from
Moro communities. Before the 18th century, Colonial Authorities began to build churches enclosed by garrisons for protection against Moro raids in the towns of Cuyo, Taytay,
Linapacan and
Balabac. In 1749, the
Sultanate of Brunei ceded southern Palawan to
Spain. By 1858, the province was divided into two provinces, namely,
Castilla, covering the northern section with Taytay as capital and
Asturias in the southern mainland with
Puerto Princesa as capital. It was later divided into three districts,
Calamianes,
Paragua and
Balabac, with Principe Alfonso town as its capital. During the Spanish colonial period, Cuyo became the second capital of Palawan from 1873 to 1903. On 6 April 1885, Sultan
Abdul Momin of Brunei made confirmation of a cession on the island of Palawan to
Alfred Dent of the British
North Borneo Chartered Company (NBCC) and partners on the day of 29 December 1877. A month before, on 7 March 1885, the
British, Spanish, and
German colonial authorities signed the
Madrid Protocol of 1885, which established the definite border of Spanish influence in the Mindanao islands and beyond northern Borneo.
American colonial era In 1902, after the
Philippine–American War, the United States established civil rule in northern Palawan, calling it the province of
Paragua. In 1905, pursuant to Philippine Commission Act No. 1363, the province was reorganized to include the southern portions and renamed
Palawan, and
Puerto Princesa declared as its capital. Egan's suggestion faded away when
World War I erupted, and Denmark eventually regained Northern Schleswig after the German defeat in
World War I following the
1920 Schleswig plebiscites. Many reforms and projects were later introduced in the province. Construction of school buildings, promotion of agriculture, and bringing people closer to the government were among the priority plans during this era.
Palawan Massacre During
World War II, in order to prevent the rescue of
prisoners of war by the advancing allies, on December 14, 1944, units of the
Japanese Fourteenth Area Army (under the command of General
Tomoyuki Yamashita) herded the remaining 150 prisoners of war at
Puerto Princesa into three covered trenches which were then set on fire using barrels of gasoline. Prisoners who tried to escape the flames were shot down. Only 11 men escaped the slaughter.
Liberation During the first phase of the
Battle of Leyte Gulf, just off the coast of Palawan, two
United States Navy submarines, and attacked a Japanese cruiser task force led by Admiral
Takeo Kurita, sinking his flagship (in which he survived) , and her sister ship .
Darter later ran aground that afternoon and was scuttled by . The island was liberated from the Japanese Imperial Forces from February 28 to April 22, 1945, during the
Invasion of Palawan.
During the Marcos dictatorship Like the other parts of the Philippines, Palawan felt the impact when
Ferdinand Marcos placed the whole country under martial law in September 1972, and then held on to power for 14 more years, until he was ousted by the 1986 EDSA
People Power revolution. One incident was when Marcos evicted an estimated 254 families of Indigenous
Tagbanwa people from the
Calauit Island in order to create a game reserve full of animals imported from Africa. In another incident, residents of
Bugsuk Island were driven from their homes and communities so that Marcos crony
Eduardo Cojuangco could establish a coconut plantation. Among the leaders who helped organize the effort to prevent the eviction of the Bugsuk Island residents was
United Methodist Reverend
Magnifico Osorio. When the effort failed, Reverend Osorio relocated to
Bataraza, a town on the southernmost tip of Palawan Island, where he continued to fight for the rights of the Indigenous peoples of Palawan. In March 1985 he successfully facilitated a meeting between Indigenous peoples and the provincial governor at that time Salvador Paredes Socrates, who promised to respect Indigenous rights as long as he was governor. A few weeks later, however, Reverend Osorio was found dead out in his ricefields, having been clubbed in the head and shot dead. For his work to protect the Indigenous peoples of Palawan, and for the circumstances of his death, Reverend Osorio was honored by having his name inscribed on the Wall of Remembrance at the Philippines'
Bantayog ng mga Bayani, which honors the martyrs and heroes who fought the
abuses of the Marcos dictatorship. In Palawan, one major company given a Timber License Agreements (TLA) to cut down trees during Martial Law was Palawan-Apitong Corp, which was owned by
Juan Ponce Enrile. as a political move to control the province and a response to getting more loans from
China. This decree was later deferred on August 18 within the same year reportedly due to the opposition of the province's
Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Council). On July 21, 2007, its capital city
Puerto Princesa became a
highly urbanized city. In April 2019, a bill dividing Palawan into three provinces was passed into law. The proposed three new provinces were Palawan del Norte, Palawan Oriental, and Palawan del Sur. Some civil society groups and Puerto Princesa residents opposed the proposed division, claiming that there was no extensive public consultation. The
Comelec announced on March 16, 2021, that the majority of Palawan residents opposed the division in the
plebiscite held on March 13, 2021. Local Palaweño officials on January 6, 2026 opposed Palawan's inclusion in
Mindanao, in response to a resolution by some figures in
Cagayan de Oro referencing "Minsupala" union (Mindanao–Sulu–Palawan) should the island group
secede from the rest of the country. They denounced the inclusion of the province in a map that the said personalities planned to submit to the United Nations
Special Committee on Decolonization. Board member Ryan Maminta asserted that "Minsupala" was never a political and legal entity, rather it was only an anthropological term "illustrating the connections and trade routes during the pre-colonial period". ==Geography==