Kagan / Kaagan | |
|---|---|
 The Kagans of Davao City playing the Kulintang | |
| Total population | |
| 87,327 (2020 census) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Philippines | |
| Languages | |
| Kalagan, Cebuano, Filipino | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Islam, Animism, Indigenous Folk Religion) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Maguindanaon, Tagakaulo, Lumad, Mansaka, Mandaya, Austronesian |
The Kalagan (also spelled Kagan, Kaagan, or by the Spanish as Caragan) are a subgroup of the Mandaya-Mansaka people who speak the Kalagan language. The Kalagan comprise three subgroups which are usually treated as different tribes: the Tagakaulo, the Kagan, and the Kal’lao people of Samal. They are native to areas within Davao del Sur, Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte (including Samal Island), Davao Oriental, and North Cotabato; between the territories of the Blaan people and the coastline. They were historically composed of small warring groups.[1] They are renowned as agriculturalists, cultivating rice, corn, abaca, and coconut for cash crops, whereas their counterparts living along the coast practice fishing.
The name "Kalagan" (also "Kaagan" or "Kagan", depending on subgroup) literally means "[strong] spirited", "fierce", or "brave"; from kalag ("spirit" or "soul") in the native animistic anito religions. The whole Provincia de Caraga of AD 1622 was called region de gente animosa ("region of spirited folk") by Spanish colonizers for the same reason.[2] They were historically composed of small groups led by datus.[3]
The Kagan subgroup is the Islamized-indigenous people in the Davao Gulf area. They are one of the Muslim minority groups in Mindanao and belong to the 13 Muslim Moro tribes of the Bangsamoro family. They became Muslim in the middle of the 19th century due to extensive exposure or contact with the communities of their Maguindanaon neighbors, and intermarriages between Kalagan and Maguindanaons.[4] Thus making Islamized Kagan heavily influenced by Maguindanaon culture.
- ^ "Peoples of the Philippines: Kalagan". National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Republic of the Philippines. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
- ^ "CARAGA Region History and Geography". GOVPH. Republic of the Philippines. Archived from the original on August 28, 2018. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
- ^ "Peoples of the Philippines: Kalagan". National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Republic of the Philippines. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
- ^ Weekes, Richard V. (1984). Muslim Peoples [2 volumes]: A World Ethnographic Survey. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 367. ISBN 978-0-313-23392-0.