The Early Philippines

The Philippines is named after King Philip II of Spain

(1556-1598) and it was a Spanish colony for over 300
years.
Today the Philippines is an archipelago of 7,000
islands. However it is believed that during the last ice
age they were joined to mainland Asia by a land bridge,
enabling human beings to walk from there.
The first people in the Philippines were hunter-
gatherers. However between 3,000 BC and 2,000 BC
people learned to farm. They grew rice and
domesticated animals. From the 10th AD century
Filipinos traded with China and by the 12th Century AD
Arab merchants reached the Philippines and they
introduced Islam.
Then in 1521 Ferdinand Magellan sailed across the
Pacific. He landed in the Philippines and claimed them
for Spain. Magellan baptized a chief called Humabon
and hoped to make him a puppet ruler on behalf of the
Spanish crown. Magellan demanded that other chiefs
submit to Humabon but one chief named Lapu Lapu
refused. Magellan led a force to crush him. However
the Spanish soldiers were scattered and Magellan was
killed.
The Spaniards did not gain a foothold in the Philippines
until 1565 when Miguel Lopez de Legazpi led an
expedition, which built a fort in Cebu. Later, in 1571 the
Spaniards landed in Luzon. Here they built the city of
Intramuros (later called Manila), which became the
capital of the Philippines. Spanish conquistadors
marched inland and conquered Luzon. They created a
feudal system. Spaniards owned vast estates worked
by Filipinos.
Along with conquistadors went friars who converted the
Filipinos to Catholicism. The friars also built schools
and universities.
The Spanish colony in the Philippines brought
prosperity - for the upper class anyway! Each year the
Chinese exported goods such as silk, porcelain and
lacquer to the Philippines. From there they were re-
exported to Mexico.
The years passed uneventfully in the Philippines until in
1762 the British captured Manila. They held it for two
years but they handed it back in 1764 under the terms
of the Treaty of Paris, signed in 1763.
The Philippines in the 19th Century
In 1872 there was a rebellion in Cavite but it was
quickly crushed. However nationalist feeling continued
to grow helped by a writer named Jose Rizal (1861-
1896). He wrote two novels Noli Me Tangere (Touch
me Not) and El Filibusterismo (The Filibusterer) which
stoked the fires of nationalism.
In 1892 Jose Rizal founded a movement called Liga
Filipina, which called for reform rather than revolution.
As a result Rizal was arrested and exiled to Dapitan on
Mindanao.
Meanwhile Andres Bonifacio formed a more extreme
organisation called the Katipunan. In August 1896 they
began a revolution. Jose Rizal was accused of
supporting the revolution, although he did not and he
was executed on 30 December 1896. Yet his execution
merely inflamed Filipino opinion and the revolution
grew.
Then in 1898 came war between the USA and Spain.
On 30 April 1898 the Americans defeated the Spanish
fleet in Manila Bay. Meanwhile Filipino revolutionaries
had surrounded Manila. Their leader, Emilio Aguinaldo
declared the Philippines independent on 12 June.
However as part of the peace treaty Spain ceded the
Philippines to the USA. The Americans planned to take
over.
War between American forces in Manila and the
Filipinos began on 4 February 1899. The Filipino-
American War lasted until 1902 when Aguinaldo was
captured.
The Philippines in the 20th Century
American rule in the Philippines was paternalistic. They
called their policy 'Benevolent Assimilation'. They
wanted to 'Americanize' the Filipinos but they never
quite succeeded. However they did do some good.
Many American teachers were sent to the Philippines in
a ship called the Thomas and they did increase literacy.
In 1935 the Philippines were made a commonwealth
and were semi-independent. Manuel Quezon became
president. The USA promised that the Philippines
would become completely independent in 1945.
However in December 1941 Japan attacked the US
fleet at Pearl Harbor. On 10 December 1941 Japanese
troops invaded the Philippines. They captured Manila
on 2 January 1941. By 6 May 1942 all of the
Philippines were in Japanese hands.
However American troops returned to the Philippines in
October 1944. They recaptured Manila in February
1945.
The Philippines became independent on 4 July 1946.
Manuel Roxas was the first president of the newly
independent nation.
Ferdinand Marcos (1917-1989) was elected president
in 1965. He was re-elected in 1969. However the
Philippines was dogged by poverty and inequality. In
the 1960s a land reform program began. However
many peasants were frustrated by its slow progress
and a Communist insurgency began in the countryside.