Effect of the Century of Discoveries.--This circumnavigation of the globe completed a period of discovery which had begun a hundred years before with the timid, slow attempts of the Portuguese along the coast of Africa. In these years a new era had opened. At its beginning the European knew little of any peoples outside of his own countries, and he held not one mile of land outside the continent of Europe. At the end of a hundred years the earth had become fairly well known, the African race, the Malay peoples, the American Indians, and the Pacific islanders had all been seen and described, and from now on the history of the white race was to be connected with that of these other races. The age of colonization, of world-wide trade and intercourse, had begun. The white man, who had heretofore been narrowly pressed in upon Europe, threatened again and again with conquest by the Mohammedan, was now to cover the seas with his fleets and all lands with his power. CHAPTER V. THE FILIPINO PEOPLE BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS. Position of Tribes.--On the arrival of the Spaniards, the population of the Philippines seems to have been distributed by tribes in much the same manner as at present. Then, as now, the Bisaya occupied the central islands of the archipelago and some of the northern coast of Mindanao. The Bicol, Tagálog, and Pampango were in the same parts of Luzon as we find them to-day. The Ilocano occupied the coastal plain facing the China Sea, but since the arrival of the Spaniards they have expanded considerably and their settlements are now numerous in Pangasinan, Nueva Vizcaya, and the valley of the Cagayan. The Number of People.--These tribes which to-day number nearly 7,000,000 souls, at the time of Magellan's discovery were, probably, not more than 500,000. The first enumeration of the population made by the Spaniards in 1591, and which included practically all of these tribes, gives a population of less than 700,000. (See Chapter VIII., The Philippines Three Hundred Years Ago.) There are other facts too that show us how sparse the population must have been. The Spanish expeditions found many coasts and islands in the Bisayan group without inhabitants. Occasionally a sail or a canoe would be seen, and then these would disappear in some small "estero" or mangrove swamp and the land seem as unpopulated as before. At certain points, like Limasaua, Butúan, and Bohol, the natives were more numerous, and Cebu was a large and thriving community; but the Spaniards had nearly everywhere to search for settled places and cultivated lands.