Philippines A Brief History Part 1

ferdinand Magellan"ferdinand Magellan"

A BRIEF HISTORY

Part 1

The Philippines is unique among the countries of South-East Asia, both for the variety of its colonisers and for its energetic attempts to cast off the colonial yoke. The Filipinos are a Malay people, closely related to the people of Indonesia and Malaysia. Little is known about their precolonial society, as the Spaniards - who ruled the country for over 300 years - energetically eradicated every trace of what they felt was 'pagan' in the culture.

Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese who had switched sides to arch-rival Spain, set off from Europe in 1519, with instructions to sail around the world, claim anything worth claiming for Spain and to bring back some spices (a very valuable commodity in Europe). Finding a way around the southern

tip of South America took nearly a year but, finally, the small fleet (two of the original four ships) reached the Philippines in 1521.

At the island of Cebu, Magellan claimed the lot for Spain and managed to make a few Christian conversions to boot. Unfortunately, he then decided to display Spanish military might to his newly converted flock by dealing with an unruly tribe on the nearby island of Mactan. Chief Lapu-Lapu managed to kill Magellan. The Cebuanos decided their visitors were not so special after all and the

survivors scuttled back to Spain, after collecting a cargo of spices on the way. They arrived in the sole remaining ship in 1522.

The Philippines, named after King Philip II of Spain, was more or less left alone from then until 1565 when Miguel de Legaspi stormed the then hostile island of Cebu and made the first permanent Spanish settlement. In 1571, Spanish HQ was moved to Manila and from here Spain gradually took control of the entire region - or more correctly converted the region, since Spanish

colonial rule was very much tied up with taking the cross to the heathen.

The Spanish were far from alone in the area other European powers and the Japanese and Chinese also made forays into the Philippines and, throughout the Spanish period, the strongly Muslim regions of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago were neither converted nor conquered.

Philippine History

philippine history

philippines