2. Explain why and how the Spaniards and Portuguese came to the East.

- The Spaniards and the Portuguese came to the “Orient”(the European’s term for
Asia or the East) is a long story. In the sixteenth century, Europe was
experiencing some changes because of the growth of industry and commerce, the
advances in science, the improvement in the science of navigation, and the
invention of machines and marine instruments. Added to this was the desire of the
Europeans to know more about the countries of the “Orient” because of the stories
told by the Christian crusaders of Europe, who went to the Holy Land to reclaim it
from the Muslims. The stories led many Europeans to admire the wonders of the East.
Some Europeans were already trading with Asian countries. It includes the oriental
spices, silk, fruits, attar of roses, Persian rugs, perfumes, and precious stones
were easily sold in European markets at big profits. This stimulated more trade
with the countries of Asia.
The Venetians or citizens of Venice, which later became a city of
Italy, enjoyed this monopoly at the start. Soon after, the Portuguese, the
Spaniards, and other peoples of Europe began to trade with Oriental countries. As a
result, rivalry developed among the European countries. This commercial rivalry led
to European expeditions to Asia. At the time the Europeans were developing their
trade with Asia, there existed three trade routes connecting Asia to Europe. The
Northern Route, the Central Route and the Souther Route.
In the fifteenth century an important event took palace which led to
the search for new routes. In 1453, the Turks captured the city of Constantinople
through which two routes passed. They closed the Northern and Central Routes.
However, they allowed the Venetians to use the Southern Route on condition that
they pay a certain sum as fee. The Venetians, therefore, came to monopolize the
Southern Route. This proved advantageous for them, since they controlled the
European trade to the East. This Venetian monopoly compelled Portugal and Spain to
look for another route to Asia so they could continue their lucrative trade with
the Asian countries.
3. Why did Pope Alexander VI divide the world between Spain and Portugal? Were the
terms of this division fair or justified for each one? Why or why not?
- Alexander VI divided the world between spain and portugal because he wished to
accomodate the colonial aspirations of the catholic monarchs of his native land. He
did this at the request of both the Spanish and Portuguese to prevent them from
going to war in the New World over future colonial possessions. Obviously, it was
completely unfair to the Amerindians, Asians, and Africans who suffer the fallout
from this deal (conquest), but it was fair for the Spanish and the Portuguese. It
allowed Portugal some territory in the New World while protecting its numerous
maritime colonies from possible Spanish interference. Conversely, it protected
Spain's massive landholdings in the New World from Portuguese incursion.

5. Would you call the sighting of the archipelago by Magellan a discovery? Explain
your answer.
- Ferdinand Magellan did not discover the Philippines. He merely landed on
its shores on March 16, 1521. Prior to Magellan's arrival in the archipelago,
people had already populated nearly all corners of the islands. Various
civilizations flourished in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao for thousands of years
before Magellan's ships caught sight of the islands from afar.
6. Why did Magellan interfere in the quarrel between the two Mactan chieftains? Was
he right in doing so? Give your reasons.
- On the same day that Magellan was converting the Cebuanos into Christianity, a
quarrel between the two chiefs of the neighboring island of Mactan occurred. Rajah
Sula asked for Magellan's help to defeat his rival,Rajah Si LapuLapu, who said,
refused to recognize the King of Spain as his king. Upon hearingthat, Magellan with
some sixty men, embarked to Mactan to punish LapuLapu. Rajah Humabon, offered the
help of his warriors, but Magellan refused down the offer saying that the Spaniards
could handle the Mactan warriors. Because Rajah Sula asked Magellan’s help to
defeat his rival, Rajah Si LapuLapu, who, according to Sula, refused to recognize
the King of Spain as his sovereign. Magellan at once accepted the invitation to
interface in the local quarrel in order to show his might. He and around sixty of
his men, all well-armed, sailed for Mactan early in the morning of April 28.
No.Magellan assured the people of Cebu that hecame here as a friend and not as an
enemy yet he stillbroke what he said.If he didn't interfere in the quarrel,
Magellan wouldn't die because at the first place, Rajah Sula and Rajah Si Lapu-Lapu
were the one who has the argument and he shouldn't get in it.
13. What did the conquest mean for the inhabitants of the islands then? What did it
mean for the Spaniards?
- As news of the Spanish co
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Czeska Vladimary Josef
13. What did the conquest mean for the inhabitants of the islands then? What did it
mean for the Spaniards?
- As news of the Spanish conquest spread, wealth-hungry Spaniards poured into the
New World seeking land and gold and titles. A New World empire spread from Spain’s
Caribbean foothold. Motives were plain: said one soldier, “we came here to serve
God and the king, and also to get rich.” Mercenaries joined the conquest and raced
to capture the human and material wealth of the New World.
The Spanish managed labor relations through a legal system known as the encomienda,
an exploitive feudal arrangement in which Spain tied Indian laborers to vast
estates. In the encomienda, the Spanish crown granted a person not only land but a
specified number of natives as well. Encomenderos brutalized their laborers with
punishing labor. After Bartolome de Las Casas published his incendiary account of
Spanish abuses (The Destruction of the Indies), Spanish authorities abolished the
encomienda in 1542 and replaced it with the repartimiento. Intended as a milder
system, the repartimiento nevertheless replicated many of the abuses of the older
system and the rapacious exploitation of the native population continued as Spain
spread its empire over the Americas.