Documentary: Ancient Chamorros came from Asia

A prominent Micronesian historian has produced a documentary presenting evidence that ancient Chamorros were maritime voyagers from the northern part of the Philippines and parts of Taiwan.

Francis X. Hezel, a Jesuit priest and highly respected expert on Micronesian history, produced the 50-minute documentary that premiered last Thursday at the American Memorial Park visitors center theater.

The documentary, called Before We Began Counting Years, presents evidence and interviews to prove the theory that Chamorros originated from the Philippines and Taiwan. The documentary focused on archaeological work and DNA work.

According to Hezel, what sparked his interest in further exploring where the Chamorro people originated arose from the poor understanding of what being Chamorro really means.

Hezel said he and his team wanted to push people to consider the earlier history of the Chamorro that goes back more than a thousand years, the early settlement. They were also hoping that the audience would reconsider some of the myths that are associated with Chamorro history.

“I used to hear people say all the time, ‘Oh we come from Indonesia.’ Well, maybe that’s a possibility but it’s also a bigger possibility that they came directly from the Philippines, Luzon… and that was an achievement,” he said.

Hezel said that Chamorros were the first open ocean voyagers. They started so much earlier than the entire world, probably even before Europe hatched their ideas of open-ocean voyaging.

“You couldn’t hopscotch anywhere to get from the Philippines to the Marianas. That was a long trip and it was the first very long voyage that was documented of the Pacific settlement,” he said.

The theory that Chamorros were also migrants from Taiwan was proven through the language ancient Chamorros spoke called the Austronesian language family or Malay-Polynesian, which includes both the Filipino and Chamorro languages.

According to Hezel, it took about two and a half years to complete the film and the first premiere of the documentary was also his first time seeing it completed because the film editing was completed just three hours before it premiered at the American Memorial Park.

The documentary Before We Began Counting Years is available on DVD and can be purchased for $10 at the Northern Marianas Humanities Council office. For additional information, contact them at 235-4785.