A Comprehensive History of the Municipality of Batad, Iloilo Origins and the Name "Batad" Long before Spanish colonizers set foot on Panay Island, the area that would become Batad was already home to indigenous communities. The earliest inhabitants were the Ati people -- Negrito aboriginal groups who migrated to the region roughly 25,000 years ago via ancient land bridges from Southeast Asia. Later waves of Austronesian (Malay) settlers arrived and built flourishing agricultural and trading communities in the lowlands of northern Iloilo. One such settlement was called Dulangan, meaning "landing place." It was a busy trading port where Arab and Chinese merchants bartered silverware for native gold (bulawan) and cowries (sigay). When the Spaniards arrived, they Hispanized the name to Embarcadero and made it a barrio of Balasan. According to local oral history recorded by the League of Municipalities, Muslim raiders attacked the port one day and burned it to the ground...
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