Philippine History In A Nutshell

Ferdinand Magellan is the first European known to have visited the Philippines.  He spotted the islands around March 16, 1521, during his circumnavigation of the globe. Point of fact, the Spanish explorer was the proverbial male driver: lost, but unwilling to admit it.  Still, his ships were falling apart and his crews were sick and malnourished and constantly whining, “Are we there yet?” so there was some pressure on the big guy to find land, or at least ask somebody for directions.  Of course, there wasn’t anyone Ferdinand could ask for directions, since these were uncharted waters, which is why he must have been ecstatic when he found his ships surrounded by what we now know as the Philippine islands.  He dropped anchor off Cebu , claimed the islands for King Charles I of Spain, and went ashore, glad that his trials at sea were finally over. 

Unfortunately, Ferdinand’s trials on land were not over, a fact he could have hardly missed when a local chief killed him. 

But Magellan’s murder didn’t keep the Spanish from sending still more expeditions to the islands in the decades that followed, and they finally set up a settlement in 1565.   The Spaniards decided to make Manila the capital of the islands because of its excellent bay and the productive farmlands that surrounded it. They also decide to name the islands the “Philippines”, after King Philip II of Spain, who reigned from 1556 to 1598.  I think it would have been interesting if they’d named the islands after King Charles, instead. After all, he was the king when the islands were found, right?  Then the Philippines would have been called the Charlenes, or perhaps the Charlie Islands, or perhaps even the Charlie Chain. 

On second thought, “Philippines” works for me.

Spain figured it could use the Philippines as a base for the lucrative spice trade.  Back then, spices were hot commodities, worth their weight in gold, and most of the spice trade was centered in the Far East.  Spices were to the Far East then what cocaine is to Central America today – and like drugs, spices brought spectacular profits to dealers.  The only difference is that the spice trade, unlike today’s drug trade, was quite legal.  Sniffing pepper was pretty uncommon, and even if it were not, it would be fairly easy to catch the addicts.  They’d be the people who were sneezing all the time.

Surprisingly, the Spanish failed to turn the Philippines into a spice-trading hub.  They also failed to capitalize on the rich mineral resources of the islands.  In fact, a long string of inept and corrupt colonial administrators ensured that the Philippines would remain a financial liability to the Spanish Empire for over three centuries.  Sadly, today, many Filipino politicians continue to mimic the bad habits of their former colonial masters. 

The Spanish could have learned a few things from the Chinese, who had been using the Philippine islands as trading posts long before Magellan stumbled upon them.  Once Spain claimed the islands, Chinese traders began to migrate to Manila in droves, hoping to capitalize upon the islands’ new prominence in the world theatre.  In a short time, there were actually more Chinese than Spaniards in the archipelago, a fact not missed by a disapproving Spanish colonial government.  An animosity between the Spanish and the Chinese populations quickly manifested itself. 

In contrast to their failure to make the Philippines economically viable, the Spanish were spectacularly successful in what they viewed as an equally important endeavor: converting the pagan natives to Catholicism. Church friars were given extraordinary powers in the islands and in many ways the “friorocracy” was much more powerful than the Spanish colonial government itself.  Church Orders had extensive land holdings and almost single-handedly managed tax collections, education, and health care.  They appointed local leaders to office, including local police officials, and kept tabs on possible insurrectionists.  The conducted censuses and kept all birth and baptismal records.  In fact, the friars were so powerful that they compelled every Filipino to take “Christian” (Spanish) names, like Lopez, Rodriguez, etc.   I’m not sure if Bingo was around yet, but if it was, you can bet the Friars held all the cards.

Unfortunately, many Church leaders abused mistreated the Filipinos over whom they had domain.  That abuse, in addition to the fact that Filipinos were denied high positions in the Church, would come back to haunt the Spanish.

In those olden days, soccer had yet to be created, so the Europeans spent their spare time waging wars against one another.  Such was the case in 1762, when the British East India Company captured Manila from the Spanish in a thrilling game that went into double overtime.   The British victory party went on for two years.  Eventually, though, all good things must end, and a peace treaty was signed.  The Brits packed their bags and stumbled back to their ships, patting random Spaniards on the back and mumbling, “I love you man!”  The Spanish watched the English ships sail off, resumed control of the islands, and tried to clean up the mess in all the hotel rooms.

(End of book excerpt – if you’d like the entire text, please consider ordering The ASAWA Guide to Fil-West Relationships.  Thank you!)