Isnag

The Isnag, also called Isneg or Apayao, are an Austronesian river people of the northern Cordillera, chiefly the landlocked highlands of Apayao beyond the Cagayan valley, with settlements along the Apayao, Abulog and Matalag rivers; their name means people who live inland, and they divide into upstream Imandaya and downstream Imallod clans.

Without chiefs or political hierarchy, their villages were organized around bilateral kin groups, while mengal warriors led the hunting and head-taking raids, earning tattoos and the rank of kamenglan.

Dominican friars opened a mission at Pudtol in 1610 and a church at Kabugao in 1684, yet the highlands remained effectively outside Spanish control and most clans kept their animist rites. They bartered beeswax, cacao and tobacco for lowland goods and built clean, solid raised houses on the riverbanks.