A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINES

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. 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.

-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.

The Philippines in the 19th Century

Three most celebrated Ilustradosat the end of 19th century: Jose Rizal, Marcelo del Pilar and Mariano Ponce

La Solidaridad was an organization created in 1888 in Spain to represent and advocate the Filipino cause at
the Spanish parliament. They published a newspaper, La Solidaridad, headed by Graciano Jaena.

The president of La Solidaridad in Barcelona was Rizal's cousin, Galicano Apacible. Among the
other officers were Graciano Lopez Jaena, vicepresident, and Mariano Ponce, treasurer. Rizal, in
London at the time, was named Honorary President.

In 1872 there was a rebellion in Cavite but it was quickly crushed. However nationalist feelings
continued to grow helped by 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 organization 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.

Then in 1898 came the war between the USA and Spain. On 30 April 1898, the Americans defeated the
Spanish fleet in Manila Bay. Meanwhile, Filipino revolutionaries had surrounded M anila. Their leader,
Emilio Aguinaldo declared the Philippines independent on 12 June. However, as part of the peace treaty,
Spain gave up the Philippines to the USA so the Americans planned to take over. But the Filipino-
American War lasted until 1902 when Aguinaldo was captured.
The Philippines in the 20th Century

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.

On 21 September 1972 Marcos declared martial law. He imposed a curfew, suspended Congress and
arrested opposition leaders.

Then, in 1980 opposition leader Benigno Aquino went into exile in the USA. When he returned on 21
August 1983 he was shot. Aquino became a martyr and Filipinos were enraged by his murder.

In February 1986 Marcos called an election. The opposition united behind Cory Aquino the widow of
Benigno. Marcos claimed victory (a clear case of electoral fraud). Cory Aquino also claimed victory and
ordinary people took to the streets to show their support for her. The followers of Marcos deserted him
and he bowed to the inevitable and went into exile.

Things did not go smoothly for Corazon Aquino. (She survived 7 coup attempts). Furthermore, the
American bases in the Philippines (Subic Bay Naval Base and Clark Air Base) were unpopular with many
Filipinos who felt they should go. In 1992 Mount Pinatubo erupted and covered Clark in volcanic ash
forcing the Americans to leave. They left Subic Bay in 1993.

However, at the end of the 1990s, the Philippine economy entered a crisis. Meanwhile, in 1998 Joseph
Estrada, known as Erap became president. Estrada was accused of corruption and he was impeached in
November 2000. Estrada was not convicted. Nevertheless, people demonstrated against him and the
military withdrew its support. Estrada was forced to leave office and Vice-president Gloria Macapagal-
Arroyo replaced him. She was re-elected in 2004.

The Philippines in the 21st Century

Today the Philippines is still poor but things are changing. Since 2010 the Philippine economy has grown
at about 6% a year. Today there is reason to be optimistic for the future. Meanwhile, In 2016 the
Philippines launched its first satellite. It was called Diwata-1. In 2020 the population of the Philippines
was 106 million.