Ivatan people
![](/Images/godic/202501/21/Ivatan_Old_Woman4357.jpg")
![An Ivatan man fresh from work](/Images/godic/202501/21/Ivatan_Man4357.jpg")
![An Ivatan house, one of the oldest structures in Batanes islands. The house is made of limestone and coral and its roofing of cogon grass](/Images/godic/202501/21/Oldest_House_in_Ivatan4357.jpg")
![Idjang, an example of a pre-Hispanic stone fortress. Made of limestone and coral, this and other similar structures are found all over Batanes.](/Images/godic/202501/21/Idjang4358.jpg")
The Ivatans are a Filipino ethnolinguistic group predominant in the Batanes Islands of the Philippines. The origins of the Ivatans remained untraced among scholars. Ivatans were free before they were colonized by the Spaniards.
The culture of the Ivatans is partly influenced by the environmental condition of Batanes. Unlike the old-type nipa huts common in the Philippines, Ivatans have adopted their now-famous stone houses made of limestone, designed to protect against the hostile climate.