Name: Marix M.

Torillas

Course/Section: BSEd Math 2A

PHILIPPINE HISTORY TIMELINE

Early times

Archeological evidence suggests that the Negritos, a broad term for indigenous people of dark
complexions, reached the Philippines around 25,000 years ago by a land bridge from the Asian
mainland. Waves of Indonesians followed by sea from 3,000 BC, and Malays got a firm foothold
around 200 BC, followed in later centuries by waves of Chinese settlers. Most of today’s Filipinos
have grown out of intermarriages between indigenous and Malay people. Modern Filipino
culture, including language and cuisine, was heavily influenced by the Malays, who also
introduced arts, literature, and a system of government.

A few centuries before the Spanish reached the Philippines in the 16th century, Filipinos
involved in trade had also met Arabs and Hindus from India, while the expanding Chinese
population wielded considerable commerical power. Islam entered the Philippines via Borneo in
the late 14th century.

The colonial era

The Spanish first arrived in 1521, but did not gain control for several decades. Bands of
conquistadors, newly arrived from Mexico, fanned out from Intramuros to conquer Luzon and
the Visayas in the 1570s. They met ineffectual opposition, and soon entrenched themselves as
lords of great estates worked by the Filipinos. The friars who accompanied them rapidly
converted the population, building churches, schools, roads, and bridges, while accumulating
vast land holdings for the Catholic Church.

Independence

Centuries later, the Philippines were moving towards independence, with charismatic
nationalist leaders including Jose Rizal, executed in 1896. Yet after the defeat of Spain in the war
over Cuba, the Philippines were ceded to the USA. The Americans, defining their role as one of
trusteeship and tutelage, promoted rapid political, economic, and social development. Then
World War II saw the Japanese invade, and a brutal conflict ensued. Independence was finally
achieved in 1946.

The Arrival of the Spanish

The Philippines' recorded history began half a world away in a small, dusty town in
southwestern Spain. The Treaty of Tordesillas was inked in 1494, dividing between Spain and
Portugal the yet-unexplored world. Everything to the east of a line 370 leagues west of the Cape
Verde Islands in the Atlantic belonged to Portugal and everything west was Spain’s.

The Portuguese set off to navigate Africa’s Cape of Good Hope in search of the riches of the
Spice Islands, while the Spanish headed across the vast Pacific. The captain of Spain’s search
was a Portuguese who had taken up the flag of Castile and the Spanish name Hernando de
Magallanes; to the English-speaking world, he is Ferdinand Magellan.

First contact

Magellan took 109 days to cross the Pacific Ocean but missed every island in the vast body of
water, save the tiny atoll of Poka Puka and Guam. In 1521, he made landfall on the island of
Homonhon, off the southern tip of Samar in the Philippines. Calling the new lands Lazarus, after
the saint’s day on which he first sighted them, Magellan sailed on through the Gulf of Leyte to
Limasawa island. There he celebrated the first mass in Philippines’ history.

Six weeks later, Magellan was dead. He had sailed to the island of Cebu, where he Christianized
the local rajah (king) and his followers. However, a chieftain of Mactan – the island where
Cebu’s international airport now sits – rebelled against the Rajah of Cebu and his foreign guests.
Chieftain Lapu Lapu and his 2,000 men defended their island against 48 armor-clad Spaniards in
April 1521. A white obelisk today marks the spot where Magellan was slain.

Gaining control

It was not until 1565 that Spain, under Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, gained a foothold in Cebu. Over
the next few years, the Spanish pushed northward, defeating Muslim chieftain Sulayman and
taking over his fortress of Maynilad, facing what is now Manila Bay. Here, in 1571, Legazpi built
the Spanish walled city of Intramuros.

Bands of conquistadors, newly arrived from Mexico, fanned out from Intramuros to conquer
Luzon and the Visayas. They met ineffectual opposition, and soon entrenched themselves as
lords of great estates worked by the natives, called indios, in the manner as applied to Mexican
“Indians.” The friars who accompanied them rapidly converted the population, building
churches, schools, roads, and bridges, while accumulating vast land holdings for the Catholic
Church.

Jose Rizal
No self-respecting town in the country is without a statue of the man, or does not have a major
street named after him. Reverence for thinker Dr Jose Rizal, who died a martyr at age 35 in the
last years of Spanish rule, has spanned a century and spread to foreign lands.

Born on June 19, 1861, in the town of Calamba in Laguna Province, Rizal was to live a short but
eventful life till 1896. He had initially studied ophthalmology to cure his mother’s eye condition;
he was also a physician, naturalist, botanist, engineer, linguist, sculptor, musician, composer,
poet, dramatist, novelist, reformist, thinker, and writer.

Rizal’s two novels – Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) and El Filibusterismo (The Filibusterer) –
were written and published in Europe at the time he led a movement for political reforms. The
novels were deemed incendiary by powerful friars.

He was exiled to Dapitan, Mindanao, for four years after returning from Europe. There he set up
a school, fixed up the waterworks, and wrote music. He also won the heart of Josephine
Bracken, an Irish woman who had accompanied her foster father to his eye operation. Their
brief seaside romance was marred only by a stillborn son.

Exile and imprisonment

Emissaries from Andres Bonifacio’s Katipunan, which favored armed struggle, offered to help
Rizal escape so he could return to Manila to lead the revolution. Instead, the writer who
advocated non-violence volunteered to serve as a doctor for the war in Cuba. But when his ship
docked at the first port on the way to the Americas, a telegram came, ordering his return to
Manila.

He was placed under arrest on the grounds of complicity in the revolution, and a quick trial
sentenced him to death by musketry. In his cell in Fort Santiago, Rizal composed a long poem in
Spanish, Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell). He concealed it inside an oil lamp, which he
handed to his sisters on the eve of his execution.

He walked calmly to his death at dawn on December 30, 1896, to a field by Manila Bay called
Bagumbayan, later renamed Luneta for its crescent shape. Rizal protested against having to be
shot in the back, for he was no traitor. As the shots rang out, he attempted to twist his body to
face the rising sun at the moment of death. His last words were “Consummatum est” (“It is
finished”).

His martyrdom set the country aflame. A revolution broke out, and soon Asia had its first
independent republic, cut short by the Americans’ entry into the Pacific. The new colonial
power recognized Rizal as a national hero.

Tributes worldwide
On the centennial of his death, a monument to Rizal was unveiled in Madrid, the capital of the
colonial government that had executed him by firing squad. Rizal busts or markers can be found
on a plaza in Heidelberg, Germany, at a residential building in London, in cities across the United
States where Filipino American communities have strong representation, and in Latin America.

An international conference on Rizal in 1997 took place in Jakarta to give tribute to a man
described by Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as “the pride of the Malay race,”
a reference to the historical ethnic origins of many Filipinos.

Imelda Marcos

Imelda Marcos threw two parties when she turned 70 on June 2, 1999. The first was in Rizal
Park, attended by the usual motley gathering of so-called Marcos loyalists. The second
celebration involved 1,000 bejeweled guests at a sit-down dinner at Manila Hotel. Madame
showed up with a ruby-and-diamond tiara, necklace and bracelets. Together, the parties show a
continuing loyalty to her embattled late husband and a focus on personal wealth that still wows
the world.

The woman born in 1929 and dubbed one half of a "Conjugal Dictatorship" fled with the ex-
president to Hawaii in 1986 amid popular discontent over his iron grip, but returned after
Ferdinand Marcos died in 1989.

A continuing saga of the recovery of the fabled Marcos billions unfolds sporadically, destroying
the reputation of government lawyers. Ten thousand Filipino human rights victims who filed a
class action suit in a Honolulu court were awarded a legal victory, but must contend with the
Philippine government over the division of the token amounts recovered. Compromise solutions
are ever in the works.

An enigma

Imelda confuses all, both enemies and protectors. One day, she laments her family’s reliance on
the kindness of strangers; the next, she boasts that they practically own the entire country. All
are public statements, as she thrives in the media limelight.

Her only consistency is that she stands by her man. Imelda regularly pulls out a handkerchief
and wipes a corner of her eye, while insisting that Ferdinand Marcos was not just a brilliant
hero, but a practical man who built his wealth before he turned dictator.

Born to poor relations of the landed Romualdez clan of Leyte province in the Visayas, she never
forgot or forgave her early station in life. She won a beauty contest and, as Miss Manila, was
swept off her feet by the dashing Marcos in a whirlwind seven-day courtship. As a partner, she
enhanced Marcos’s political campaigns, singing onstage and providing glamor, or as how she
describes herself, “the heart that gave the poor a glimpse of beauty.”

As Ferdinand Marcos consolidated power, Imelda became Metro Manila Governor and Minister
of Human Settlements. Her love of the grand gesture prompted the building of cultural and film
centers to showcase “the good, the true and the beautiful.” In 2004, the documentary film
Imelda swept international film festivals. Imelda, despite having participated in its making,
attempted to have its screening blocked in Philippine cinemas. The documentary was shown
anyway.

Congresswoman at 81

In 2010 the 81-year-old former first lady won a congressional seat representing a part of her late
husband’s native Ilocos Norte province.

In another comeback sign, ex-president Macapagal-Arroyo stopped the auction of jewelry

collections confiscated from Imelda as she protested the sale of treasures worth an estimated
P15 million. But Imelda Marcos is still known the world over for having owned 3,000 pairs of
shoes, a testament to her glamorous tastes.

Philippines historical timeline

c.40,000 BC

Migrants cross land bridge from Asian mainland and settle in the archipelago.

AD 900

Chinese establish coastal trading posts over the next 300 years.

late 14th century

Muslim clergy start to bring Islam to the Philippines from Indonesia and Malaya.

1521

Explorer Ferdinand Magellan lands on Cebu and claims the region for Spain. Lapu Lapu (Rajah
Cilapulapu), in defending his island of Mactan, slays Magellan.

1543

Next Spanish expedition led by Ruy de Villalobos lands in Mindanao. He names the archipelago
“Filipinas,” after Crown Prince Felipe II.

1872
Uprising in Cavite, south of Manila. Spain executes Filipino priests Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomez,
and Jacinto Zamora, martyrs to the cause of nationalism.

1892

Jose Rizal founds La Liga Filipina, is arrested and exiled to Dapitan, Mindanao. Andres Bonifacio
founds the Katipunan with aim to revolt.

1896

Spanish colonists imprison and kill hundreds of Filipinos in Manila. Bonifacio and the Katipunan
launch the Philippine revolution. Rizal is executed.

1898

The United States defeats Spain in war. Treaty between the United States and Spain grants the
US authority over the Philippines.

1941-2

Japanese land on Luzon, overrun Manila. Roosevelt rejects Philippine neutrality.

1944

MacArthur and Osmeña land in Leyte and begin the Allied effort to retake the archipelago.

1945

Allies recapture Manila, which is subject to intense bombardment. Much of the city is
destroyed.

1946

On July 4, the Philippines is granted independence.

1972–81

Martial law imposed. President Marcos accumulates a vast fortune. His wife, Imelda, dominates
Manila government.

1984

“Parliament of the street” holds frequent anti-Marcos demonstrations. Spiraling economic

crises.

1986
Violence escalates before elections, at least 30 are killed on election day. Election rigging
enrages Filipinos and millions join in uprising against Marcos regime. On February 26, Marcoses
flee. Corazon Aquino elected to presidency. New constitution drafted.

1991

Dramatic eruption of Mt Pinatubo. Americans pack up and leave the Philippines.

1992

Fidel Ramos, Aquino’s defense secretary and a strong ally who backed her during coup
attempts, wins presidential election. His pragmatic leadership defies traditional perceptions of
inept Filipino government. Foreign investors return.

2002

US military joins the Philippines in large-scale exercises in the southern Philippines to rescue
kidnapped American tourists.

2010

Benigno Aquino III, son of former president Corazon Aquino, wins the presidential race; a year
later his government holds landmark talks with Muslim rebels.

2012

China and the Philippines clash over Scarborough Shoal in the contested South China Sea,
seeding a high-level diplomatic dispute. Breakthrough ceasefire and agreement in the long-
running dispute with separatists in the south.