| Philippine History in a Nutshell |
| pre-1521 manila and prehistoric philippines: geologic evidence suggests that early filipinos had traded with the chinese and early muslim clerics had already spread islam to the islands. |
| 1521: magellan, (a portugese explorer commissioned by the spanish) lands in cebu (an island in the visayas region of the philippines), engages the natives headed by the local chieftain lapu-lapu in a battle that costs Magellan his life, but changes the history of these 7,107 islands forever by including it in the map of western european civilization.The remains of his expedition return to spain with almost nothing and it seems plans for further exploration back to the philippines was shelved for better days. |
| 1560s: legaspi, (a spanish explorer) together with urdaneta (an agustinian friar) lands in the middle group of islands of the philippine archipelago, he eventually sets up a permanent camp in maynilad (present day intramuros), further developing it into the hub of western europe in asia. intramuros becomes the capital of the european colonial empire from where various catholic religious orders sallied forth to spread christianity in asia. through the years intramuros manila was to earn the title "noble, and ever loyal city" (to sapin), "peral of the orient seas", "paris of asia", among others. |
| 1760s: the war in europe between spain and britain brings the britsih to intramuros manila, not long after, the war is over and the british return the islands to spain but brings with them various cultural treasures as spoils of war |
| 18th and 19th century philippines: abuses of the spanish colonial government and the friars brought discontent to the natives, wealthy natives who had gone to study in europe came back with the progressive ideas developing in europe and planted the seeds of dissent that eventually led to the philippine revolt agaisnt the spaniards |
| 17th century intramuros and the philippines: with intramuros as their base, the spaniards and their religious orders spread catholicism throughout the islands, establish local governments, effectively diversifying culture and bringing progress to the islands (crops, animal farming, european art & culture, to name a few) |
| 1898 and following (also known as the first philippine republic): the philippines under general emilio aguinaldo proclaim independence from spain, meanwhile the war of spain with america brings the americans to phillipine soil, and later the treaty of paris cedes the philippines to america. |
| early 1900s (also known as the second philippine republic): the americans further develop the islands by introducing public works (schools, hospitals, roads and bridges), public school, public health, and democracy despite the phillipine american war. |
| world war ii: the americans now allied with the filipinos fight the japanese at great cost (intramuros is completely destroyed, among others) |
| -to be continued - (once i get my !#$% pc and my connection to work properly) |
| post-worl war ii philippines (also known as the third philippine republic): after the second world war the philipiness had gone through various stages of democratic government. but up to now the philippines has still remained as a developing country, and the us dollar to peso is at 1:50. |