Spanish Conquest and Colonization

of the Philippines

Josephine C. Liban, I nstructor III

ISU ANG ADANAN
 The Spanish Conquest and
Colonization of the Philippines
 AIMS OF SPANISH COLONIZATION
3 G’s
• GOD- The conversion of the natives to
Christianity
• GOLD- Accumulation of wealth
by finding a new trade route , look for spices,
desire for greater profit
• GLORY- become the most powerful country in
the wold.
1300-1500- last century of the Middle Ages
• The Europeans were able to establish
commerce with the Orient through trade routes
• Spices such as pepper, ginger, nutmeg, onions
and garlic were the most important items of
trade from the East.
Why?
• owing to the desire of the Europeans to
enhance the taste of food
• to preserve meat during winter time.
 SPICES
Do you know that Spices, which today are
inexpensive and widely available, were once
very tightly guarded and generated immense
wealth for those who controlled them. The
taste for and coveting of spices goes back to
the ancient world; the word “spice” is derived
from the Latin species, which initially
conveyed something special.
• The conquests of Alexander the Great got the
Greeks especially interested in spices of the
East.
Importance:
– to enhance or mask food tastes
– cure medical problems
– provide antidotes to poison
– used in making fragrances
– part of magic and religion
• Under the Romans, they became sought after
to provide emperors unusual food recipes.
 SPICES that were highly valued
Ginger, Sesame, Turmeric, Pepper,
Cinnamon and Cloves
 The spice trade began in the Middle East
over 4,000 years ago. Arabic spice merchants
would create a sense of mystery by
withholding the origins of their products. The
spice trade was the world’s biggest industry: it
established and destroyed empires, led to the
discovery of new continents, and in many
ways helped lay the foundation for the
modern world.
 Initially, the spice trade was conducted
mostly by camel caravans over land routes.
The Silk Road was an important route
connecting Asia with the Mediterranean
world, including North Africa and Europe.
Trade on the Silk Road was a significant factor
in the development of the great civilizations of
China, India, Egypt, Persia, Arabia, and Rome.
 The Silk Route
The overland Silk Road & ancient routes cross the Asian continent, from
China in Asia, to Turkey and the Mediterranean, where the routes
extend by sea to Europe, ArabiaI,SUaAnNdADNorthAfrica.
• 1453- The Fall of Constantinople and the
emergence of the Ottoman Turks closed the
former trade routes to the East.
• Causing the monarchs and navigators of
Europe to find new trade routes across the
seas.
• The Portuguese were a few years ahead of the
Spaniards in the discovery of new trade routes
• The Portuguese were inspired by Prince Henry
the Navigator
PORTUGUESE EXPLORATIONS
Bartolomeu Dias
March 12, 1488
He led the first European
expedition to round the Cape of
Good Hope, opening the sea route to
Asia via the Atlantic and Indian
oceans. He is usually considered to
be the greatest of the Portuguese
pioneers who explored the Atlantic
during the 15th century.
 IMPORTANCE
The discovery of the passage around
southern Africa was significant because, for
the first time, Europeans realized they could
trade directly with India and the other parts of
Asia, bypassing the overland route through
the Middle East, with its expensive
middlemen.
VASCO DA GAMA (1460-1524)
1497- The Portuguese nobleman
Vasco da Gama sailed from Lisbon on
a mission to reach India and open a
sea route from Europe to the East. He
sailed down the western coast of
Africa and rounding the Cape of Good
Hope. His expedition made numerous
stops in Africa.

May 1498- he reached the trading

post of Calicut, India. Da Gama
received a hero’s welcome back in
Portugal .
1502- he was sent on a second expedition to
India, during which he brutally clashed with
Muslim traders in the region. Two decades
later, da Gama again returned to India, this
time as Portuguese viceroy.
December 24, 1524- he died in India of an
illness.
1539- his body was taken back to Portugal for
burial.
 RECONQUEST OF SPAIN
• January 2, 1492- The kingdom of Granada falls to
the Christian forces of King Ferdinand V and
Queen Isabella I. King Boabdil surrendered
Granada to the Spanish forces. The Moors lose
their last foothold in Spain.
• Importance- it paved the way of great voyages
including the discovery of Columbus of the New
World (America) for Spain.
• After these remarkable voyages, Portugal and
Spain became keen rivals in colonizing new
lands
The Magellan Expedition
• Ferdinand Magellan was born in 1480, in
Sabrosa, Portugal to Rui de Magalhaes and
Alda de Mesquita. His family had ties to the
royal family, this allowed him the opportunity
to become educated and learn about the
various Portuguese exploration expeditions.
• Magellan proposed to the king of Portugal,
King Manuel his plan to travel a westward
route to the Moluccas.
• The king refused and even cancelled his
promotion because of charges of financial
irregularities while he was in Morocco.
• Disgusted by the king’s response, he
renounced his Portuguese citizenship. He
went to Spain in 1517 and offered his services
to King Charles I.
• Encourage by the competition to win against
Portugal in obtaining high priced spices, Spain
commissioned Magellan to find a route to
Moluccas by sailing west.
• Such passage would be beneficial to Spain for
Portugal controlled the eastward route to the
East Indies around Africa's Cape of Good
Hope.
Preparation: The Fleet
September 20, 1519 - a royal commission was sent,
allowing Magellan to head the expedition.
The Spanish Armada de Molucca consisted of five
ships with 237 men:
• Santiago under Juan Rodriguez Serrano.
• San Antonio under Juan de Cartageña;
• Concepcion under Gaspar de Quesada;
• Trinidad (flagship) under Ferdinand Magellan
Captain General
• Victoria under Louis de Mendoza;
The Crew
• The crew of about 237 included men from
several nations: including Portuguese,
Spanish, Italians, Germans, Flemish, Greeks,
English and French.
• It included about 40 Portuguese, among them
Magellan's brother-in-law Duarte Barbosa,
João Serrão, a relative of Francisco Serrão,
Estêvão Gomes and also Magellan's
indentured servant Enrique of Malacca.
• Juan Sebastián del Cano, a Spanish merchant
ship captain settled at Seville, embarked
seeking the king's pardon for previous
misdeeds
• Antonio Pigafetta, a Venetian scholar and
traveller, had asked to be on the voyage
accepting the title of "supernumerary" and a
modest salary, becoming a strict assistant of
Magellan and keeping an accurate journal.
• Father Pedro de Valderrama, fleet Chaplain.
• September 20, 1519- Departure from Sanlúcar
de Barrameda, Spain.
• March 17, 1521- Magellan and his fleet landed
at Homonhon Island.
• March 28, 1521-the fleet landed at Limasawa
(an island at Southern Leyte). It was ruled by
Rajah Kolambu. He was Fascinated by the suit
of armor of the Spaniards. They could help
them win their battles against their enemies.
• March 29, 1521- Rajah Kolambu decided to
seal their new friendship and performed the
“kasi-kasi” or blood compact ceremony with
Ferdinand Magellan.
• March 31, 1521- the first Catholic Mass was
held at Limasawa with Rev. Father Pedro De
Valderama, officiating.
• On April 7, 1521- Magellan together with
Rajah Kolambu, the Spanish and native fleets
landed on Sugbu (now Cebu).
• On the same day, Humabon made a blood
compact with Magellan after the later had
won his trust and friendship.
• April 14, 1521- a mass on the shore of Cebu
was held with Rajah Humabon and his people
attending the ceremony. After the mass,
Magellan planted a huge wooden cross and
gave an image of the Child Jesus as a gift to
the wife of Rajah Humabon (renamed Queen
Juana after baptism taken from the name of
the mother of King Charles I of Spain).
• There were about 800 Filipinos who
participated in the mass and underwent ritual
baptism. As for Humabon (renamed Carlos),
Magellan made him the king's representative
in Cebu and promised to unite the local
chieftains under his authority. Magellan
likewise tried to impose Christianity and
Spanish sovereignty on local chieftains.
• The mass and baptism was officiated by Fr.
Pedro de Valderama.
Magellan’s Cross (Cebu City)
 LAPU LAPU
Statue of Lapu Lapu at Bronze Statue of Lapu Lapu at
Mactan Island, Cebu Rizal Park, Manila
 Lapu Lapu, another chieftain of Mactan.
He refused to accept the new political system
and pay tribute to the Spaniards. Humabon
and Lapu Lapu were enemies and he wanted
Magellan to kill Lapu-Lapu while Magellan
wanted to convert Lapu-Lapu into Christianity.
 APRIL 27, 1521 -THE BATTLE OF
MACTAN
Written documents from Pigafetta and Ginés de Mafra
"When morning came, forty-nine of us leaped
into the water up to our thighs, and walked through
water for more than two cross-bow flights before we
could reach the shore. The boats could not approach
nearer because of certain rocks in the water. The
other eleven men remained behind to guard the
boats. When we reached land, the natives had formed
in three divisions to the number of more than one
thousand five hundred people.
 When they saw us, they charged down upon us
with exceeding loud cries. The Spaniards were in full
body armor. Nevertheless a rain of arrows and
javelins poured down on them from the shore.
Realizing he had misjudged the fighting skill of
Lapulapu and his men, he called for a retreat but it
was too late. Our large pieces of artillery which were
in the ships could not help us, because they were
firing at too long range, so that we continued to
retreat for more than a good crossbow flight from
the shore, still fighting, and in water up to our knees.
 And they followed us, hurling poisoned
arrows four or six times; while, recognizing the
captain, they turned toward him inasmuch
they hurled arrows very close to his head. So
many turned upon him that they knocked his
helmet off his head twice. When the natives
saw that, they pounce on him and killed him.
The rest of us made it to the boats and we
went back to Cebu.
THE BATTLE OF MACTAN
• May 1, 1521- the natives of Cebu carried out
the plan to massacre them. While the
Europeans were attending a banquet
prepared for them by Rajah Humabon, the
warriors attacked them. Twenty-nine
Spaniards were killed. The remaining
members of the expedition were forced to
flee the islands before the Cebuanos could kill
them all. They burned the ship Concepcion for
lack of men to operate the vessel. With two
ships left - Trinidad and Victoria they
continued their voyage to Moluccas.
November 8, 1521- they landed in Tidore an
island in Moluccas. They were able to secure a
rich cargo of spices. The survivors decided
that the Trinidad, led by Gomez de Espinosa,
would sail back to Spain by crossing the Pacific
to Panama, while the Victoria, under Juan
Sebastian del Cano's command would sail via
Cape of Good Hope, but on lower latitude to
avoid the Portuguese. The Victoria crossed the
Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good
Hope.
• September 6, 1522- the Victoria reached San
Lucar, Spain with only 18 survivors. The
voyage around the world lasted 2 years, 11
months, and 16 days.
• The cargo of cloves sold for such a high price
that it was more than sufficient to pay for the
expenses of Magellan's expedition.
The Magellan’s Voyage
Significance of the Magellan Expedition
• Magellan’s voyage vastly increased the geographical
knowledge of mankind and proved once and for all
that the earth is round.
• It showed that it was possible to sail around the
world, and left a record of how to do it.
• Magellan´s voyage can be considered as the greatest
single trip ever undertaken.
• The route he took to reach the Philippines was
entirely new, and the Venetian monopoly of the
trade route to the east was thus broken.
• Spain became the supreme power in the
building of a colonial empire
• His discovery of the Philippines brought the
archipelago into the awareness of Europe.
• Finally, the voyage paved the way to Spanish
colonization and Christianization of the
Philippines. The later voyages of Fernando de
Villalobos and Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, to a
certain extent, owed their success to
Magellan’s voyage to the Far East.
 Spain Sends Other Expeditions

• Five subsequent expeditions were sent to the

Islands. These were led by:
– Garcia Jofre Loaisa (1525)
– Sebastian Cabot (1526)
– Alvaro de Saavedra (1527)
– Rudy Lopez de Villalobos (1542)
– Miguel Lopez de Legazpi (1564)
 Spain Sends Other Expeditions

• Only the last two actually reached the

Philippines; and
• Only Legazpi succeeded in colonizing the
Islands.
 The Villalobos Expedition

• Ruy Lopez de Villalobos set sail for the

Philippines from Navidad, Mexico on
November 1, 1542.
• He followed the route taken by Magellan and
reached Mindanao on February 2, 1543.
• He established a colony in Sarangani but
could not stay long because of insufficient
food supply.
• His fleet left the island and landed on Tidore
in the Moluccas, where they were captured by
the Portuguese.

• Villalobos is remembered for naming our

country “Islas Filipinas,” in honor of King
Charles’ son, Prince Philip, who later became
king of Spain.
 The Legazpi Expedition

• Since none of the expedition after Magellan

from Loaisa to Villalobos had succeeded in
taking over the Philippines, King Charles I
stopped sending colonizers to the Islands.
• However, when Philip II succeeded his father
to the throne in 1556, he instructed Luis de
Velasco, the viceroy of Mexico, to prepare a
new expedition.
MIGUEL LOPEZ DE • The King appointed Miguel
LEGAZPI Lopez de Lagazpi as the
head of the expedition.
• With four ships and about
380 men, Legazpi sailed
from the Mexican port of
Natividad on 21 November
1564.
• Father Andres de Urdaneta
was the fleet chaplain.
• One of the ship got lost on its way but was
found later and ordered to head back to Mexico
after reaching Mindanao.
• The expedition reached Cebu in February 1565.
Later, Legazpi sailed to Cibabao (Leyte) then to
Samar. He concluded a blood compact with
some of the chieftains, one of whom was
Bankaw, datu of Limasawa.
• Early in March, he sailed to Camiguin Island,
then to Butuan in Mindanao, and then to Bohol
where he entered into a blood compact with
Datu Si Katuna and Si Gala. They went back to
Cebu due to scarcity of food in Bohol.
• Legazpi and his men entered Cebu harbor on April
27.
• The Cebuanos were hostile to him probably
because in the past, some white men who looked
like Spaniards maltreated them.
• Legazpi explained to the Cebuanos that the white
men who maltreated them were not Spaniards but
Portuguese. He also told them that he wanted the
Filipinos and the Spaniards to be friends.
• The Cebuano chieftain, Tupas, did not believe him
and the Cebuanos and the Spaniards found
themselves in skirmishes.
• Legazpi appeared to be victorious.
• He applied a policy of attraction- inviting
Cebuanos to come down from the mountains
and promising not to harm any of them.
• Tupas and his men returned to the lowland
and entered into an agreement with Legazpi
with the help of Tupas’ brothers, Si Makayo
and Si Katapan.
 The Agreement provided that:
• (1) the Filipinos promised to be loyal to the
King of Spain and to the Spaniards; (2) the
Filipinos promised to help the Spaniards in any
battle against an enemy; and vice versa; (3) a
Filipino who had committed a crime against a
Spaniard should be turned over to the Spanish
authorities, while a Spaniard who committed
a crime against a Filipino should be turned
over to the Filipino chieftain;
• (4) goods to be sold should be moderately priced;
and (5) an armed Filipino would not be allowed
to enter the Spanish settlement.
• With the conclusion of the agreement, peace
reigned in Cebu.
• A land, donated by Tupas and other Cebuano
chieftains, was used as Spanish settlement. This
was in the form of a triangle on one side of which
faced the land and the other sides faced the sea.
• A fort was constructed and the Spaniards called it
For San Pedro. Initially, the Spanish settlement
was called San Miguel.
• But Legazpi remembered the unharmed image of
the Infant Jesus and renamed the settlement,
“City of Most Holy Name of Jesus.”
• A land, donated by Tupas and other Cebuano
chieftains, was used as Spanish settlement. This
was in the form of a triangle on one side of
which faced the land and the other sides faced
the sea.
• A fort was constructed and the Spaniards called
it For San Pedro. Initially, the Spanish
settlement was called San Miguel.
• But Legazpi remembered the unharmed image
of the Infant Jesus and renamed the settlement,
“City of Most Holy Name of Jesus.”
 Settlement in Panay
• Legazpi was beset with many problems in Cebu.
• Some of his people robbed the graves of Filipinos.
He acted justly and punished all those who refused
to cooperate with him.
• There was also a conspiracy among the Spanish
soldiers to seize the ship San Pablo. The captain of
boat informed the Master of the Camp, Mateo del
Saz, about it and the conspirators were arrested.
The leader was beheaded and the rest were
pardoned.
• Legazpi also faced the hostility of the Portuguese
as the latter realized that the Philippines lay on
their side of the demarcation line.
• The Portuguese captain, Gonzalo de Pereira,
harassed Legazpi by blockading Cebu in order to
starve the Spaniards. With the help of Cebuanos,
Legazpi succeded in forcing Pereira to leave the
Philippines.
• Faced with these problems, Legazpi decided to
move to Panay.
• Upon hearing that there was plenty of food there,
he and some of his men sailed for Panay in 1569.
• On the banks of the Panay river, Legazpi founded the
second Spanish settlement in the Philippines.
• He won over the people of Panay by convincing them
of his peaceful intentions. The Spanish missionaries,
the Augustinian friars, converted some natives to
Christianity.
• With Panay as his home base, Legazpi decided to
spread Spanish rule to other islands in the archipelago.
He sent small expeditions to the other islands of the
Visayas.
• Masbate, Burias, and Ticao were claimed to be in the
name of the King of Spain. The same expedition,
headed by Captain Enrique de Guzman, sailed for
Southern Luzon and reached Albay.
• At almost the same time, Juan de Salcedo,
Legazpi’s younger grandson, led a small expedition
to the north. With a few Spanish soldiers and
about 500 visayans, Salcedo sailed to Talim island
and claimed it for Spain.
• Then he continued his voyage until he reached
Lubang Island, near Mindoro, and fought the
Filipinos who refused to recognize him.
• Defeating the people of Lubang, Salcedo returned
to Panay after reaching the outer rim of Manila
Bay. He reported to Legazpi that Manila was a
prosperous Muslim kingdom.
• Legazpi then decided to send an expedition to
Manila that left Panay for Mindoro on 8 May
1570.
• The Spanish forces were divided into two: one
was headed by Martin de Goiti as new master of
camp, and the other was commanded by
Salcedo.
• When they reached Batangas, Salcedo explored
the Bonbon river (Taal), while Goiti explored
Balayan. In Taal, Salcedo had an armed
encounter with some Filipinos and won the
skirmish in the end.
• Then Salcedo rejoined Goiti and the two
proceeded to Manila by sea.
• At that time, Manila or Maynila, was a thriving
Muslim kingdom ruled by Rajah Sulayman. The
kingdom was south of Pasig river (Fort
Santiago).
• Goiti demanded that Sulayman paid him
tribute, but the rule of Manila refused.
• On May 24, Goiti fired a cannon shot to recall a
boat he had sent on an errand. Sulayman and
his men thought that it was a sign of Spanish
hostility, and so they answered with shots from
their native cannons called lantaka.
• The superior fire power of the Spaniards led
the Filipinos to burn down their houses and
left Manila in the hands of the enemy.

• But Goiti did not stay in Manila, He returned to

Panay to report to Legazpi what happened.
 The Founding of Manila
• Legazpi was happy to hear from Goiti. He
• appointed
informed him
his as
mengovernor and captain-general
that the King of Spain
of the islands, which was equivalent to
governor- general. He was, therefore, the first
governor- general of the Philippines.
• At this time, however, food became scarce in
Panay. Father Diego de Herrera, an Augustinian
friar, suggested that they settle in Luzon instead.
So Legazpi decided to leave for Luzon on April 20,
with Manila as the object of his expedition.
• In Manila, Rajah Sulayman, upon realizing the
fire power of the enemy, ordered his people
to burn their houses and to retreat to the
interior.
• At the same time, he gathered a force of
fierce warriors from the barangays of
Pampanga and Bulacana, and fought the
enemy in the Battle of Bangkusay in Tondo.
He and the warriors were defeated.
• The Filipinos were defeated and Legazpi took
over Manila in 1571.
• Legazpi began laying the foundation of a new city.
Manila was in ruins so he ordered his men to build
new houses. A church was also constructed for the
missionaries, while a big house was built as the
governor’s official residence.
• On 24 June, 1571, Legazpi made Manila the capital of
the Philippines. King Philip II later called Manila,
“Distinguished and Every Loyal City.”
• On that same day, a city government or ayuntamiento
was organized. He appointed two alcaldes or
magistrates, an alguacil mayor or chief constable,
twelve regidores or legislative council members, and
one escribano or court clerk.
• With the founding of Manila as the capital of the
Philippines, the foundation of the Spanish colonial
empire in Asia had been laid.
• With Sulayman defeated and his uncle, Lakan Dula,
cooperating with the Spaniards, Legazpi thought of
sending expeditions to other parts of Luzon.
• He sent his grandson to town on the south of
Manila, while he sent Goiti to explore Central Luzon,
as far as Pangasinan.
• Salcedo conquered Taytay, Cainta and other towns of
what is now Rizal province. Then in 1572, he went to
Northern Luzon and defeated the Filipinos in
Zambales, Pangasinan and, the Ilocos region.
• From the Ilocos, Salcedo proceeded to the
northeastern coast of Luzon, marched along
the Pacific coast of what is now Quezon
province, sailed to Polilo island, back to the
shore of Luzon, and from there returned to
Manila over trails, hills, and mountains.
• Tragedy greeted him in Manila, for he was
informed that his grandfather, Legazpi, had
died on 20 August, 1572.
 Why the Philippines was Easily
Conquered?
• The natives lacked unity and a centralized
form of government.
Although the barangays already functioned as
units of governance, each one existed
independently of the other, and the powers
that each Datu enjoyed were confined only to
his own barangay.
• No higher institution united the barangays,
and the Spaniards took advantage of this
situation.
• They used the barangays that were friendly to
them in order to subdue the barangays that
were not.
• The Spaniards have superior fire power and
knowledge in combat/war.
REFERENCES:

• The Roots of the Filipino Nation, Vol. 1;

Onofre D. Corpuz
• The Philippines: A Past Revisited, Vol. 1;
Renato Constantino
• Teodoro Agoncillo’s History of the Filipino
People(2010)
• All images were sourced from Google Images.