Bolo

Bolo lies in the upper Cagayan area of northern Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines. Northern Luzon contains broad valleys and mountain ranges, with rivers providing routes through the interior. Its communities belonged to a diverse island world in which upland and lowland peoples maintained different ways of life.

Before Spanish colonization, communities on Luzon participated in wider networks of trade across maritime Southeast Asia. Spanish expeditions reached Luzon in the sixteenth century, and Manila became the colonial capital.