The Conquest of the Philippines

In an age when real estate was as abundant as air, the electronic industry was yet to come and
financial bubbles didn't exist, the big business was spices. Discovered by the Romans many centuries
ago, they had become an essential part of European life pretty quickly. There was a catch: they were
only found in India, over seven thousand miles away, and there was a whole industry of middlemen
making money by bringing them from over there to, for example, the Golden Mile in Marbella.
Perhaps the fact that opium was considered a spice import may put Europe's dependence on
this trade system into perspective.
In any case, whenever they weren't waging war against each other or arranging to marry their
offspring, the monarchs of Europe would devote themselves to finding new routes from which to
bring the spices themselves -- that way they could cut the middle man and join in on this lucrative
business.
In fact, the game-changing discovery of America in 1492 was a blatant mistake. The courses the
Spanish had set before sailing were actually aimed towards finding the Middle East. Even though the
fortunate discovery had a lot of other advantages, Charles V was aware that he hadn't found his way
to India. So he sent a new explorer, a Portuguese-born captain called Ferdinand Magellan, to finish
the job. He didn't find India either. Instead, he did the Columbus thing of accidentally discovering
new land.
He also waged one of the strangest wars in Spanish history.

Spanish Conquest of the Philippines - round one.

In March, 1521, Ferdinand Magellan was darting across the Pacific ocean when he thought he'd
spot some land. It was a much-needed sight. He had just suffered a mutiny (one of the side effects
of sailing through uncharted waters is that the crew tends to lose their patience) and had but three
ships out of the five he initially had. He decided to stop and get some food and water.
Now, besides being a successful sailor, he must have been a man with people skills. Ferdinand
Magellan was quickly taken in by the natives and befriended their leader, the Sultan of Cebu. He
promptly Christianized everybody, with the exception of one: Lapu Lapu. He was a tribal chief on
the nearby island of Mactan who disliked Cebu and wouldn't accept his orders to be Christianized.
It was fantastic opportunity for Magellan to showcase the power of his men and his weaponry. That'd
show the natives how unwise it would be to not obey him. He decided to battle the Mactan tribe.
After all, fighting natives seemed pretty easy.

That was a fatal mistake. When he met the Mactans on their own island, he found about 1,500 ready
to attack. They immediately recognized the captain and swarmed over him. After admirably
surviving a few blows (an arrow in his shoulder and two hits on the head), Ferdinand
Magellandied. The remaining crew was driven back to their boats. There were so few survivors,
they easily squeezed into two vessels. They had to burn the other one to prevent the natives from
chasing them.
Lapu Lapu thus became the first native to victoriously resist the oppression of foreign colonists.

The Return of the Spaniards

It would be another 40 years until Spain finally attempted the Spanish conquest of the
Philippines again. Namely, with the Miguel Lpez de Legazpi. This man, Spain's first royal
governor, found his way to the islands from New Spain, or Spanish Mexico as we call it nowadays. He
decided to name the islands after King Philip II. Working his way from Maynilad (what now is
Manila), he moved Spain's sway up north. It is not known what he did when he met Lapu Lapu.
The Philippines weren't the gold mine that Peru was. In fact, there were no spices or minerals that
attracted Spanish attention. The islands' worth was more strategic than anything else: the islands
were a fantastic stopover in the middle of the Pacific ocean, brimming with food and peaceful people.
They learned from the Spanish how to grow corn and then watched their colonists move on to other,
more lucrative endeavors. Luckily for the natives, the Spanish conquest of the Philippines was not as
bloody as the American ones.

Spanish Colonization (1521 - 1898)

Early Spanish expeditions
Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the Philippines in 1521.
The Philippine islands first came to the attention of Europeans with the Spanish expedition
around the world led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. Magellan landed on
the island of Cebu, claiming the lands for Spain and naming them Islas de San Lazaro. He set
up friendly relations with some of the local chieftains and converted some of them to
Roman Catholicism. However, Magellan was killed by natives, led by a local chief named LapuLapu, who go up against foreign domination.
Over the next several decades, other Spanish expeditions were send off to the islands. In 1543,
Ruy Lpez de Villalobos led an expedition to the islands and gave the name Las Islas Filipinas
(after Philip II of Spain) to the islands of Samar and Leyte. The name would later be given to the
entire archipelago.

Spanish colonization
The invasion of the Filipinos by Spain did not begin in earnest until 1564, when another expedition from
New Spain, commanded by Miguel Lpez de Legaspi, arrived. Permanent Spanish settlement was not
established until 1565 when an expedition led by Miguel Lpez de Legazpi, the first Governor-General of
the Philippines, arrived inCebu from New Spain. Spanish leadership was soon established over many
small independent communities that previously had known no central rule. Six years later, following the
defeat of the local Muslim ruler, Legazpi established a capital at Manila, a location that offered the
outstanding harbor of Manila Bay, a large population, and closeness to the sufficient food supplies of the
central Luzon rice lands. Manila became the center of Spanish civil, military, religious, and commercial
activity in the islands. By 1571, when Lpez de Legaspi established the Spanish city of Manila on the site
of a Moro town he had conquered the year before, the Spanish grip in the Philippines was secure which
became their outpost in the East Indies, in spite of the opposition of the Portuguese, who desired to
maintain their monopoly on East Asian trade. The Philippines was administered as a province of New
Spain (Mexico) until Mexican independence (1821).
Manila revolted the attack of the Chinese pirate Limahong in 1574. For centuries before the Spanish
arrived the Chinese had traded with the Filipinos, but evidently none had settled permanently in the
islands until after the conquest. Chinese trade and labor were of great importance in the early
development of the Spanish colony, but the Chinese came to be feared and hated because of their
increasing numbers, and in 1603 the Spanish murdered thousands of them (later, there were lesser
massacres of the Chinese).
The Spanish governor, made a viceroy in 1589, ruled with the counsel of the powerful royal audiencia.
There were frequent uprisings by the Filipinos, who disliked the encomienda system. By the end of the
16th cent. Manila had become a leading commercial center of East Asia, carrying on a prosperous trade
with China, India, and the East Indies. The Philippines supplied some wealth (including gold) to Spain,
and the richly loaded galleons plying between the islands and New Spain were often attacked by English
freebooters. There was also trouble from other quarters, and the period from 1600 to 1663 was marked
by continual wars with the Dutch, who were laying the foundations of their rich empire in the East Indies,
and with Moro pirates. One of the most difficult problems the Spanish faced was the defeat of the Moros.
Irregularcampaigns were conducted against them but without conclusive results until the middle of the
19th century. As the power of the Spanish Empire diminished, the Jesuit orders became more influential
in the Philippines and obtained great amounts of property.
Occupation of the islands was accomplished with relatively little bloodshed, partly because most of the
population (except the Muslims) offered little armed battle initially. A significant problem the Spanish faced
was the invasion of the Muslims of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. The Muslims, in response to
attacks on them from the Spanish and their native allies, raided areas of Luzon and the Visayas that were
under Spanish colonial control. The Spanish conducted intermittent military campaignsagainst the
Muslims, but without conclusive results until the middle of the 19th century.
Church and state were inseparably linked in Spanish policy, with the state assuming responsibility for
religious establishments. One of Spain's objectives in colonizing the Philippines was the conversion of
Filipinos to Catholicism. The work of conversion was facilitated by the absence of other organized
religions, except for Islam, which predominated in the south. The pageantry of the church had a wide
plea, reinforced by the incorporation of Filipino social customs into religious observances. The eventual
outcome was a new Christian majority of the main Malay lowland population, from which the Muslims of

Mindanao and the upland tribal peoples of Luzon remained detached and separated.
At the lower levels of administration, the Spanish built on traditional village organization by co-opting local
leaders. This system of indirect rule helped create in a Filipino upper class, called the principala, who had
local wealth, high status, and other privileges. This achieved an oligarchic system of local control. Among
the most significant changes under Spanish rule was that the Filipino idea of public use and ownership of
land was replaced with the concept of private ownership and the granting of titles on members of the
principala.
The Philippines was not profitable as a colony, and a long war with the Dutch in the 17th century and
intermittent conflict with the Muslims nearly bankrupted the colonial treasury. Colonial income derived
mainly from entrept trade: The Manila Galleons sailing from Acapulco on the west coast of Mexico
brought shipments of silver bullion and minted coin that were exchanged for return cargoes of Chinese
goods. There was no direct trade with Spain.

Decline of Spanish rule

Spanish rule on the Philippines was briefly interrupted in 1762, when British troops invaded and occupied
the islands as a result of Spain's entry into the Seven Years' War. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 brought
back Spanish rule and the British left in 1764. The brief British occupation weakened Spain's grip on
power and sparked rebellions and demands for independence.
In 1781, Governor-General Jos Basco y Vargas founded the Economic Society of Friends of the
Country. The Philippines by this time was administered directly from Spain. Developments in and out of
the country helped to bring new ideas to the Philippines. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 cut travel
time to Spain. This prompted the rise of the ilustrados, an enlightened Filipino upper class, since many
young Filipinos were able to study in Europe.
Enlightened by the Propaganda Movement to the injustices of the Spanish colonial government and the
"frailocracy", the ilustrados originally clamored for adequate representation to the Spanish Cortes and
later for independence. Jos Rizal, the most celebrated intellectual and essential illustrado of the era,
wrote the novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, which greatly inspired the movement for
independence. The Katipunan, a secret society whose primary principle was that of overthrowing Spanish
rule in the Philippines, was founded by Andrs Bonifacio who became its Supremo (leader).
The Philippine Revolution began in 1896. Rizal was concerned in the outbreak of the revolution and
executed for treason in 1896. The Katipunan split into two groups, Magdiwang led by Andrs Bonifacio
and Magdalo led by Emilio Aguinaldo. Conflict between the two revolutionary leaders ended in the
execution or assassination of Bonifacio by Aguinaldo's soldiers. Aguinaldo agreed to a treaty with the Pact
of Biak na Bato and Aguinaldo and his fellow revolutionaries were exiled to Hong Kong.
It was the opposition to the power of the clergy that in large measure brought about the rising attitude for
independence. Spanish injustices, prejudice, and economic oppressions fed the movement, which was
greatly inspired by the brilliant writings of Jos Rizal. In 1896 revolution began in the province of Cavite,
and after the execution of Rizal that December, it spread throughout the major islands. The Filipino
leader, Emilio Aguinaldo, achieved considerable success before a peace was patched up with Spain. The
peace was short-lived, however, for neither side honored its agreements, and a new revolution was made
when the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898.

The Spanish-American war started in 1898 after the USS Maine, sent to Cuba in connection with an
attempt to arrange a peaceful resolution between Cuban independence ambitions and Spanish
colonialism, was sunk in Havana harbor. After the U.S. naval victory led by Commodore George Dewey
defeated the Spanish squadron at Manila Bay on May 1, 1898, the U.S. invited Aguinaldo to return to the
Philippines, which he did on May 19, 1898, in the hope he would rally Filipinos against the Spanish
colonial government. By the time U.S. land forces had arrived, the Filipinos had taken control of the entire
island of Luzon, except for the walled city of Intramuros Manila, which they were besieging. On June 12,
1898, Aguinaldo declared the independence of the Philippines in Kawit, Cavite, establishing the First
Philippine Republic under Asia's first democratic constitution. Their dreams of independence were
crushed when the Philippines were transferred from Spain to the United States in the Treaty of Paris
(1898), which closed the Spanish-American War.
Concurrently, a German squadron under Admiral Diedrichs arrived in Manila and declared that if the
United States did not grab the Philippines as a colonial possession, Germany would. Since Spain and the
U.S. ignored the Filipino representative, Felipe Agoncillo, during their negotiations in the Treaty of Paris,
the Battle of Manila between Spain and the U.S. was alleged by some to be an attempt to exclude the
Filipinos from the eventual occupation of Manila. Although there was substantial domestic opposition, the
United States decided neither to return the Philippines to Spain, nor to allow Germany to take over the
Philippines. Therefore, in addition to Guam and Puerto Rico, Spain was forced in the negotiations to hand
over the Philippines to the U.S. in exchange for US$20,000,000.00, which the U.S. later claimed to be a
"gift" from Spain. The first Philippine Republic rebelled against the U.S. occupation, resulting in the
Philippine-American War (18991913).

Magellan reaches the Philippines

This Day in World History March 16, 1521 Magellan Reaches the Philippines

On March 16, 1521, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, attempting to sail around the world
for Spain, reached the Philippine archipelago. Magellan and his expedition were the first Europeans
to reach the Philippines, a stop on the first circumnavigation of the globe, though Magellans portion
of that journey would soon end.
The expedition of five ships and 250 men had left Spain on September 20, 1519. Magellan sought a
western route avoiding the southern tip of Africa, which Portugal controlled to the Spice Islands
(the Moluccas) of Southeast Asia. Magellan survived two mutinies before sailing around the southern
tip of South America, finding the strait named for him, in November of 1520. Reaching calm waters
after a dangerous passage, Magellan named the ocean west of South America the Pacific Ocean.
As the ships continued sailing west, supplies dwindled, the crew was forced to eat leather and drink
a mixture of salt and freshwater, and men began dying of scurvy. Fortified by provisions secured at
island stops along the way, the ships reached the Philippines in March 1521.
Magellan spent more than a month in the area, trading with local leaders and trying to convert them
to Christianity. He grew angry at one chief who refused to cooperate, however, and ordered an

attack on his village. Wounded in the fighting, Magellan bravely held his ground while the rest of his
men escaped back to the ship, but then received more wounds and died on the beach.
It took until September of 1522 for the remains of the expedition, 17 survivors under the command
of Juan Sebastin de Elcano, to reach Spain. Though he did not complete this voyage, Magellan is
considered the first person to circumnavigate the globe because earlier in his career he had sailed
an eastern route from Portugal to Southeast Asia, the same region he had reached on his last, fatal
voyage by sailing west.

The Magellan Expedition

Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese in the service of the Spanish crown, was looking for a
westward route to the to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. On March 16, 1521, Magellan's
expedition landed on Homonhon island in the Philippines. He was the first European to reach
the islands. Rajah Humabon of Cebu was friendly with Magellan and embraced Christianity,
but their enemy, Lapu-Lapu was not. Humabon wanted Magellan to kill Lapu-Lapu while
Magellan wanted to convert Lapu-Lapu into Christianity. On April 17, 1521, Magellan sailed
to Mactan and ensuing battle killed Magellan by the natives lead by Lapu-Lapu. Out of the
five ships and more than 300 men who left on the Magellan expedition in 1519, only one
ship (the Victoria) and 18 men returned to Seville, Spain on September 6, 1522.
Nevertheless, the said expedition was considered historic because it marked the first
circumnavigation of the globe and proved that the world was
round.
Juan Sebastian de Elcano, the master of ship "Concepcion" took
over the command of the expedition after the death of Magellan
and captained the ship "Victoria" back to Spain. He and his men
earned the distinction of being the first to circumnavigate the
world in one full journey. After Magellan's death in Cebu, it took
16 more months for Elcano to return to Spain. The Magellan
expedition started off through the westward route and returning
to Spain by going east; Magellan and Elcano's entire voyage took
almost three years to complete.
Spain sends other expedition
After the Spain had celebrated Elcanos return, King Charles I decided that Spain should
conquer the Philippines. Five subsequent expeditions were then sent to the Islands. These
were led by Garcia Jofre Loaisa (1525), Sebastian Cabot (1526), Alvaro de Saavedra
(1527), Rudy Lopez de Villalobos (1542) and Miguel Lopez de Legazpi (1564). Only the last
two actually reached the Philippines; and only Legazpi succeeded in colonizing the Islands.
The Villalobos Expedition

Ruy Lopez de Villalobos set sail for the Philippines from Navidad, Mexico on November 1,
1542. He followedthe route taken by Magellan and reached Mindanao on February 2, 1543.
He established a colony inSarangani but could not stay long because of insufficient food
supply. His fleet left the island and landed on Tidore in the Moluccas, where they were
captured by the Portuguese.
Villalobos is remembered for naming our country Islas Filipinas, in honor of King Charles
son, Prince Philip, who later became king of Spain.
The Legazpi Expedition
Since none of the expedition after Magellan from Loaisa to
Villalobos had succeeded in taking over the Philippines, King
Charles I stopped sending colonizers to the Islands. However, when
Philip II succeeded his father to the throne in 1556, he instructed
Luis de Velasco, the viceroy of Mexico, to prepare a new expedition
to be headed by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, who would be
accompanied by Andres de Urdaneta, a priest who had survived
the Loaisa mission.
On February 13, 1565, Legaspi's expedition landed in Cebu island. After a short struggle
with the natives, he proceeded to Leyte, then to Camiguin and to Bohol. There Legaspi
made a blood compact with the chieftain, Datu Sikatuna as a sign of friendship. Legaspi was
able to obtain spices and gold in Bohol due to his friendship with Sikatuna. On April 27,
1565, Legaspi returned to Cebu;destroyed the town of Raja Tupas and establish a
settlement. On orders of the King Philip II, 2,100 men arrived from Mexico. They built the
the port of Fuerza de San Pedro which became the Spanish trading outpost and stronghold
for the region.
Hearing of the riches of Manila, an expedition of 300 men headed by Martin de
Goiti left Cebu for Manila. They found the islands of Panay and Mindoro. Goiti arrived in
Manila on May 8, 1570. At first they were welcomed by the natives and formed an alliance
with Rajah Suliman, their Muslim king but as the locals sensed the true objectives of the
Spaniards, a battle between the troops of Suliman and the Spaniards erupted. Because the
Spaniards are more heavily armed, the Spaniards were able to conquer Manila. Soon after
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived to join Goiti in Manila. Legaspi built alliances and made
peace with Rajahs Suliman, Lakandula and Matanda. In 1571, Legaspi ordered the
construction of the walled city of Intramuros and proclaimed it as the seat of government of
the colony and the capital of the islands. In 1572, Legaspi died and was buried at the San
Agustin Church in Intramuros. In 1574, Manila was bestowed the title "Insigne y Siempre
Leal Ciudad de Espaa" (Distinguished and ever loyal city of Spain) by King Philip II of
Spain.
Why the Philippines was easily conquered

Through largely outnumbered, the Spaniards who came to colonize the Philippines easily
took control of our country. How did this happen?

The best possible explanation is that the natives lacked unity and a centralized form of
government. Although the barangays already functioned as units of governance, each one
existed independently of the other, and the powers that each Datu enjoyed were confined
only to his own barangay. No higher institution united the barangays, and the Spaniards
took advantage of this situation. They used the barangays that were friendly to them in
order to subdue the barangays that were not. Continue to Spain as Colonial Masters.

circumnavigation was the first voyage around the world in human history. It was a Spanish
expedition that sailed from Seville in 1519 under the command of Ferdinand Magellan in search of a
maritime path from Spain around theAmericas to East Asia across the Pacific Ocean. These men
were the first to circumnavigate the globe in a single expedition.
Following Magellan's death in Mactan (Philippines) in 1521, Juan Sebastin Elcano took command
of the shipVictoria, sailing from Borneo, the Spice Islands and back to Spain across the Indian
Ocean, round the Cape of Good Hope and north along the west coast of Africa. They arrived in
Spain three years after they left, in 1522.
The Spanish fleet, the Armada de Molucca, that left Spain on 20 September 1519 consisted of five
ships with 270 men: Trinidad under Magellan, Captain General; San Antonio under Juan de
Cartagena; Concepcion under Gaspar de Quesada; Santiago under Joo Serro;
and Victoria under Luiz Mendoza. The circumnavigation was completed by one ship, the Victoria,
under the command of Juan Sebastin Elcano and a crew of 18 men, which returned to Spain on 6
September 1522.
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1519[edit]
August 10: Departure from Seville.
September 20: Departure from Sanlcar de Barrameda.
December 13: Entering the bay of Rio de Janeiro.
December 27: Departure from Rio de Janeiro.

1520[edit]
January 10: Entering the Ro de la Plata.
February 27: Entering Bahia de los Patos.
March 31: Begin of the overwintering stay at Puerto San Julin.
April 1 and 2: Mutiny on Victoria, Concepcion and San Antonio; death of Louis de Mendoza. Later
execution of de Quesada, marooning of de Cartagena. Alvaro de Mesquita becomes captain of San
Antonio, Duarte Barbosa ofVictoria.
End of April: Santiago is sent on a mission to find the passage. The ship is caught in a storm and
wrecked. Survivors return to Puerto San Julin. Serrano (Joo Serro) becomes captain of
the Concepcion.
July: Encounters with the Patagonian giants (likely Tehuelche people).
August 24: Departure from Puerto San Julin.
October 11: Arriving at the Cape of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, entry to what would be known
as Strait of Magellan.
End of October: San Antonio, charged to explore Magdalen Sound, fails to return to the fleet, instead
sails back to Spain under Estvo Gomes who imprisoned the captain de Mesquita. The ship arrives
in Spain on May 21, 1521.
November 28: The fleet leaves the strait and enters the Pacific Ocean.

1521[edit]
March 6: Guam.
March 15: Arrival of Magellan's expedition to one of the Philippine Islands. They headed to Suluan
and dropped anchor for a few hours of respite." Suluan is a small island in the province of Eastern
Samar. They then next dropped anchor at Homonhon, another small island in the province of
Eastern Samar. They were detected by the boats ofRajah Kolambu who was visiting Mazaua, who
later guided them to Cebu, on April 7.
April 7: Cebu.
April 27: Death of Magellan participating in the Battle of Mactan. Serrano and Barbosa are voted cocommanders.
May 1: At a local banquet Barbosa and 27 sailors (including Afonso de Gis, the new captain of
the Victoria after the election of Barbosa and Serro) are murdered and Serrao captured, later killed.
The three remaining ships escape.
May 2: There are not enough men to handle three ships, thus the worm-infested Concepcion is
burned down. Two ships remain: Victoria and Trinidad. Gonzalo Gomez de Espinosa becomes
captain of the Victoria. Joao Lopez Carvalho is Captain General. The ships sail
to Mindanao and Brunei.
September 21: Carvalho is replaced by Martn Mndez as Captain General, Espinosa becomes
captain of theTrinidad and Juan Sebastin Elcano captain of the Victoria.
November 8: Arriving at Tidore in the Moluccas.
December 21: Victoria under the command of Elcano leaves the Moluccas to return home, sailing
west towards the Cape of Good Hope. Trinidad remains at Tidore for repairs.

1522[edit]
January 25: Victoria reaches Timor and starts to cross the Indian Ocean.
April 6: Trinidad under the command of Espinosa leaves the Moluccas heading home sailing east.
After five weeks, Espinosa decides to return to the Moluccas where he and his ship are captured by
a Portuguese fleet under Antonio de Brito.

May 22: Victoria passes the Cape of Good Hope and enters the Atlantic Ocean.
July 9: Victoria reaches Santiago, Cape Verde.
September 6: Victoria returns to Sanlcar de Barrameda under the command of Elcano, completing
the circumnavigation, two weeks shy of three years.
September 8: Victoria arrives at Seville.