PRINCESS Q PIMENTEL

BSN-4F

1. Dr. Jose Rizal was born on June 19 1861 and died on December 30,
1896 – well within the 19th century. Basing on the material that was
posted in the google classroom, how would you characterize the world during
this period?
- By the late 18th century, political and economic changes in Europe were finally beginning to affect Spain and,
thus, the Philippines. The demand for Philippine sugar and abaca (hemp) grew apace, and the volume of exports to
Europe expanded even further after the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869. Alongside the landholdings of the
church and the rice estates of the pre-Spanish nobility there arose haciendas of coffee, hemp, and sugar, often the
property of enterprising Chinese-Filipino mestizos. Some of the families that gained prominence in the 19th century
have continued to play an important role in Philippine economics and politics.
Not until 1863 was there public education in the Philippines, and even then the church controlled the curriculum.
José Rizal, this movement`s most brilliant figure, produced two political novels—Noli me tangere (1887; Touch Me
Not) and El filibusterismo (1891; The Reign of Greed)—which had a wide impact in the Philippines. In 1892 Rizal
returned home and formed the Liga Filipina, a modest reform-minded society, loyal to Spain, that breathed no word
of independence. But Rizal was quickly arrested by the overly fearful Spanish, exiled to a remote island in the south,
and finally executed in 1896. Meanwhile, within the Philippines there had developed a firm commitment to
independence among a somewhat less privileged class.
Shocked by the arrest of Rizal in 1892, these activists quickly formed the Katipunan under the leadership of Andres
Bonifacio, a self-educated warehouseman.

2. It is very important to study the social and political context of the

century Dr. Jose Rizal grew up in to fully understand his life, thoughts, and
works. What are the social and political issues and concerns in Spanish
Philippines during this period?

The Portuguese navigator and explorer Ferdinand Magellan headed the first Spanish foray to the Philippines when
he made landfall on Cebu in March 1521; a short time later he met an untimely death on the nearby island of
Mactan. After King Philip II (for whom the islands are named) had dispatched three further expeditions that ended
in disaster, he sent out Miguel López de Legazpi, who established the first permanent Spanish settlement, in Cebu,
in 1565. The Spanish city of Manila was founded in 1571, and by the end of the 16th century most of the coastal and
lowland areas from Luzon to northern Mindanao were under Spanish control. Friars marched with soldiers and soon
accomplished the nominal conversion to Roman Catholicism of all the local people under Spanish administration.
But abusive treatment of the local tribute payers and neglect of religious instruction by encomenderos (collectors of
the tribute), as well as frequent withholding of revenues from the crown, caused the Spanish to abandon the system
by the end of the 17th century. The governor-general, himself appointed by the king, began to appoint his own civil
and military governors to rule directly.Central government in Manila retained a medieval cast until the 19th century,
and the governor-general was so powerful that he was often likened to an independent monarch.
Manila dominated the islands not only as the political capital. The Chinese, despite being the victims of periodic
massacres at the hands of suspicious Spanish, persisted and soon established a dominance of commerce that
survived through the centuries.
Manila was also the ecclesiastical capital of the Philippines. The governor-general was civil head of the church in
the islands, but the archbishop vied with him for political supremacy. In the late 17th and 18th centuries the
archbishop, who also had the legal status of lieutenant governor, frequently won. Augmenting their political power,
religious orders, Roman Catholic hospitals and schools, and bishops acquired great wealth, mostly in land.
The power of the church derived not simply from wealth and official status. The priests and friars had a command of
local languages rare among the lay Spanish, and in the provinces they outnumbered civil officials. Thus, even in the
area of religion, pre-Spanish Filipino culture was not entirely destroyed.
Agricultural technology changed very slowly until the late 18th century, as shifting cultivation gradually gave way
to more intensive sedentary farming, partly under the guidance of the friars. These heirs of pre-Spanish nobility were
known as the principalia and played an important role in the friar-dominated local government.