History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

The first documented European contact with the Philippines was made in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan in his circumnavigation expedition,[1] during which he was killed in the Battle of Mactan.

Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator in charge of a Spanish expedition to circumnavigate the globe, was killed by warriors of datu Lapulapu at the Battle of Mactan.

In 1543, Ruy López de Villalobos arrived at the islands of Leyte and Samar and named them Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain, at the time Prince of Asturias.

In 1568, the Spanish Crown permitted the establishment of the encomienda system that it was abolishing in the New World, effectively legalizing a more oppressive conquest.

In 1570, Legazpi sent his grandson, Juan de Salcedo, who had arrived from Mexico in 1567, to Mindoro to punish the Muslim Moro pirates who had been plundering Panay villages.

[17][18] Legazpi became the country's first governor-general.Though the fledgling Legazpi-led administration was initially small and vulnerable to elimination by Portuguese and Chinese invaders, the merging of the Spanish and Portuguese crowns under the Iberian Union of 1580-1640 helped make permanent the mutual recognition of Spanish claim to the Philippines as well as Portugal's claim to the Spice Islands (Moluccas).

[24] Under Spanish rule, disparate barangays were deliberately consolidated into towns, where Catholic missionaries were more easily able to convert the inhabitants to Christianity.

However, this was opposed for a number of reasons, including economic potential, security, and the desire to continue religious conversion in the islands and the surrounding region.

In the 1570s, the Spanish traders were troubled to some extent by Japanese pirates, but peaceful trading relations were established between the Philippines and Japan by 1590.

King Philip died on September 13, just forty days after the publication of the decree, but his death was not known in the Philippines until middle of 1599, by which time a referendum by which indigenous Filipinos would acknowledge Spanish rule was underway.

[46][47][48] Though they collectively had significant impact on Filipino society, assimilation erased prior caste differences between them and, in time, the importance of their national origin.

In addition, men conscripted from Peru, were also sent to settle Zamboanga City in Mindanao, to wage war upon Muslim defenders.

[63] Interactions between indigenous Filipinos and immigrant Spaniards along with Latin Americans eventually caused the formation of a new language, Chavacano, a creole of Mexican Spanish.

In the later years of the 18th century, Governor-General José Basco introduced economic reforms that gave the colony its first significant internal source income from the production of tobacco and other agricultural exports.

[72][73] The surrender by Archbishop Rojo was rejected as illegal by Don Simón de Anda y Salazar, who claimed the title of Governor-General under the statutes of the Council of the Indies.

Among the early proponents of Filipino nationalism were the Insulares Padre Pedro Peláez, who fought for the secularization of Philippine churches and expulsion of the friars, Padre José Burgos whose execution influenced the national hero José Rizal, and Joaquín Pardo de Tavera who fought for retention of government positions by natives, regardless of race.

In retaliation to the rise of Filipino nationalism, the friars called the Indios (possibly referring to Insulares and mestizos as well) indolent and unfit for government and church positions.

The tension between the Insulares and Peninsulares erupted into the failed revolts of Novales and the Cavite mutiny of 1872, which resulted in the deportation of prominent Filipino nationalists to the Marianas and Europe, who would continue the fight for liberty through the Propaganda Movement.

[85][86][87] After the Liberals won the Spanish Revolution of 1868, Carlos María de la Torre was sent to the Philippines to serve as governor-general (1869–1871).

[citation needed] At one time, his supporters, including Padre Burgos and Joaquín Pardo de Tavera, serenaded him in front of the Malacañan Palace.

[citation needed] Following the Bourbon Restoration in Spain and the removal of the Liberals from power, de la Torre was recalled and replaced by Governor-General Izquierdo, who vowed to rule with an iron fist.

[88][89][90] This would inspire a propaganda movement in Spain, organized by Marcelo H. del Pilar, José Rizal, and Mariano Ponce, lobbying for political reforms in the Philippines.

A rivalry developed between himself and Marcelo Hilario del Pilar for the leadership of La Solidaridad and the reform movement in Europe.

[93] As attempts at reform met with resistance,[94] in 1892, Radical members of the La Liga Filipina, which included Andrés Bonifacio and Deodato Arellano, founded the Kataastaasan Kagalanggalang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK), called simply the Katipunan, which had the objective of the Philippines seceding from the Spanish Empire.

[95] Andrés Bonifacio called for a general offensive on Manila[96][97] and was defeated in battle at the town of San Juan del Monte.

Before his arrest he had issued a statement disavowing the revolution, but in his farewell poem Mi último adiós he wrote that dying in battle for the sake of one's country was just as patriotic as his own impending death.

The conditions of the armistice included the self-exile of Aguinaldo and his officers in exchange for $MXN 800,000 (about $US 14,400,000 today[b]) to be paid by the colonial government.

On May 1, 1898, in the Battle of Manila Bay, the Asiatic Squadron of the U.S. Navy, led by Commodore George Dewey aboard USS Olympia, decisively defeated the Spanish naval forces in the Philippines.

[citation needed] In December 1898, the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Spanish–American War and selling the Philippines to the United States for $20 million.

[112] As it became increasingly clear that the United States would not recognize the First Philippine Republic, the Philippine–American War broke out[113] on February 4, 1899, with the Battle of Manila.