Tagakaulo

The Tagakaulo are one of three subgroups of the Kalagan, part of the Mandaya–Mansaka family of southern Mindanao. Their name means people of the headwaters or mountain dwellers, and they live inland in the Davao region between the Blaan country and the coast. Kalagan settlements, called banwa, stood on rivers and river mouths, each led by a datu.

In 1622 Spaniards organized the Provincia de Caraga, naming it from kalag, meaning spirit or soul. Early Kalagans worshipped a creator named Tagallang and nature spirits called maguya, with balyan shamans conducting rituals to kulintang gongs. They grew rice and other crops, while coastal subgroups fished.

Only the coastal Kagan adopted Islam through contact and intermarriage with Maguindanaon neighbors. Highland Tagakaulo kept their ancestral rites and remained outside the coastal Muslim sultanates.