The Tbolis are one of the indigenous peoples of South Mindanao . From the body of ethnographic and linguistic literature on Mindanao they are variously known as Tboli, T'boli, Tböli, Tiboli, Tibole, Tagabili, Tagabeli, and Tagabulu. They term themselves Tboli or T'boli. Their whereabouts and identity is to some extend confused in the literature; some publications present the Tboli and the Tagabili as distinct peoples; some locate the Tbolis to the vicinity of the Buluan Lake in the Cotabato Basin or in Agusan del Norte. The Tbolis, then, reside on the mountain slopes on either side of the upper Alah Valley and the coastal area of Maitum, Maasim and Kiamba. In former times, the Tbolis also inhabited the upper Alah Valley floor. After World War Two, i.e., since the arrival of settlers originating from other parts of the Philippines, they have been gradually pushed onto the mountain slopes. As of now, they are almost expelled from the fertile valley floor.

Like their immediate tribal neighbors, the Úbûs , Blàan , Blit , Tàú-Segél and, for those who have serious doubts in the hoax argumentation, the Tasaday, they have been variously termed hill tribes, pagans, animists, etc., as opposed to the indigenous Muslim peoples or the Christian settlers. In political contexts, however, the term Lumad groups (derived from the Cebuano term for native people) has become popular as a generic term for the various indigenous peoples of Mindanao which do not pertain to Islam. English speaking Tbolis term themselves a tribal people , and so I shall use this term throughout these Web pages.

Copyright 1998 by Karl Aanonsen.

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Article also appears at Echo Newsletter of LDC, Inc. and at the Dictionary of Anthropology