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| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 243,384 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Philippines:Palawan | |
| Languages | |
| Cuyonon,Hiligaynon,Filipino | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholic | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| otherFilipino peoples, otherAustronesian peoples |
Cuyonon refers to an ethnic group populating theCuyo Islands, along with northern and centralPalawan. The Cuyonons hail originally fromCuyo and the surrounding Cuyo Islands, a group of islands and islets in the northernSulu Sea, to the northeast of Palawan. They are considered anelite class among the hierarchy of nativePalaweños. They are part of the widerVisayan ethnolinguistic group, who constitute the largestFilipino ethnolinguistic group.
The Cuyonon jurisdictions during Pre-Hispanic times include Cuyo under the powerful Datu Magbanua, Taytay under the gracious Cabaylo Royal Family who met the remnants of Magellan's fleet who fled Mactan after Ferdinand Magellan died in battle, Paragua (Palawan) under Datu Cabangon who ruled south of Taytay and Busuanga under the peaceful Datu Macanas.
During Spanish colonization of the Philippines, Cuyo was one of the territories of Palawan that had the strongest Spanish presence, even being the capital of the entire Palawan province as one point.
Although the Cuyonon language is so closely related to Kinaray-a in Panay, very few Cuyonons actually live or speak Cuyonon in Panay, they instead settled west to the island of Palawan where the ethnic group is so closely associated now, this being the Province of Palawan declared Cuyonon as its official language. The fact also remains that most of the other ethnic groups of Palawan can fluently speak this language because Cuyonon had been thelingua franca of the Province of Palawan for many centuries already.
