The Spanish Colony

In 1521, Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer working for Spain, arrived in the Philippines on ships that were making the first circumnavigation of the globe. He first landed in the central Philippines near Leyte Island. Magellan was reportedly killed by a datu named Lapu-Lapu while leading an invasion of Mactan Island. The attack had been undertaken on behalf of a datu of nearby Cebu Island. Some members of Magellan's crew survived to complete their journey back to Spain.

In 1565 other Spanish vessels arrived, and permanent colonial settlements were built. Among the earliest was on Cebu, settled by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. In 1570, after defeating the forces of Muslim ruler Rajah Soliman, Manila was settled by the Spanish and proclaimed the capital of the colony.

Spain's immediate objectives in the Philippines were to use the islands as a base for further expansion, to establish the colony as a center for the production and export of tropical spices, and to convert the natives to Christianity. These goals were not quickly achieved, because Spain had to contend with England's destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and needed to devote energy and resources to developing its colonies in the Americas which were, after all, much nearer to Spain. Nevertheless, by the early 1600s, Spain's control of the Philippines was complete. Roman Catholicism had generally replaced the animistic beliefs of most Filipinos and, except in the Muslim south and in the remote interiors, it became the dominant religion in the Philippines.

The 350 years of Spanish rule greatly changed the islands. A new religion had been introduced. The encomienda system of landownership was established, by which the colony was divided into parcels, each assigned to an influential Spanish national. Spain introduced payment of tribute and forced labor for the production of commodities such as sugarcane. The galleon trade was another innovation. Galleons were large ships that plied the trade between China and Mexico from the early 16th to the early 19th centuries, using Manila as a stopover port. The Philippines was, administratively, part of the viceroyalty of Mexico. In spite of the distance between the two, the islands were closely linked to Mexico by the galleons, which carried Chinese silk and porcelain from Manila to Mexico and brought priests and silver bullion on the return voyage.

The Spanish limited trade to only one galleon per year in order to minimize the drain of silver to China and to prevent Chinese goods from flooding Spanish markets. By this time, however, Chinese merchants had already settled in the Philippines and become brokers for other trade from China. By the 1590s the Chinese had become an economically vital community, serving not only as traders but also as bookkeepers and artisans. Many Chinese, aware of the political and social advantages enjoyed by the Roman Catholics in the Spanish colony, converted to Roman Catholicism and married Filipinas, or Filipino women. Many of the mixed-marriage descendants, known as mestizos, became a dynamic and influential force in Philippine society.

After the galleon trade ended, the Philippines established direct trade links with Europe and the United States. The need for money earned by export crops hastened the development of plantation agriculture in the Philippines. This had begun in the 18th century with the growing of sugarcane, followed soon by coconut, tobacco, and, indigo. Many Spaniards and Filipinas intermarried, and their descendants, also known as mestizos, became the wealthy sugar planters on the islands of Negros, Panay, and elsewhere. The children of the wealthy landowners, often educated abroad, became the ilustrados, or enlightened ones, who eventually demanded greater power in governing the colony. They formed the nucleus of a growing nationalism in the islands.

Discontent among the ilustrados and among some of the clergy became especially strong during the latter half of the 19th century. This nationalist sentiment erupted in 1872, when three Filipino priests were executed by the Spanish authorities. The priests had been charged with leading a military mutiny at an arsenal in Cavite, near Manila. These executions and other repressive acts outraged the ilustrados.

Filipino intellectuals and students, led by Jose Rizal, met in Europe to promote the Philippine cause. Their aim at the time was not to win independence from Spain but to obtain reforms such as legal equality for Filipinos. Rizal was a physician educated in Madrid. He lived in Spain from 1882 until 1892. He became the leading spokesman for reform. By the mid-1890s he and his associates had become disillusioned and some participants had abandoned hope for a peaceful solution. Revolution seemed to be the only answer. The execution of Jose Rizal by the Spaniards on Dec. 30, 1896, assured his martyrdom and pushed the ilustrados to revolution.

The people's revolution had already commenced earlier in 1896 under the leadership of Andres Bonifacio, who headed the Katipunan, or Association of Sons of the People. Bonifacio launched an armed rebellion in San Juan del Monte in August. Although Rizal never supported Bonifacio, the former's assassination brought together his ilustrados and members of the Katipunan.

A young member of the Philippine provincial elite named Emilio Aguinaldo emerged as the best of the revolutionary generals. A leadership struggle erupted between him and Bonifacio, and the latter was eventually killed. This badly weakened Filipino unity. But the Spanish were also enmeshed in an unsuccessful war in Cuba and were eager to end the fighting in the Philippines. The Spanish offered Aguinaldo and his supporters amnesty and an indemnity if Aguinaldo would go into exile. Aguinaldo agreed and left the islands at the end of 1897.

Back to History Main