The history of the Philippines dates from the earliest hominin activity in the archipelago at least by 709,000 years ago. Homo luzonensis, a species of archaic humans, was present on the island of Luzon at least by 134,000 years ago.
The earliest known anatomically modern human was from Tabon Caves in Palawan dating about 47,000 years. Negrito groups were the first inhabitants to settle in the prehistoric Philippines. These were followed by Austroasiatics, Papuans, and South Asians. By around 3000 BCE, seafaring Austronesians, who form most of the current population, migrated southward from Taiwan. By 2000 BCE the archipelago was the crux of a trans-oceanic Philippine jade culture.
Scholars generally believe that these ethnic and social groups eventually developed into various settlements or polities with varying degrees of economic specialization, social stratification, and political organization. Some of these settlements (mostly those located on major river deltas) achieved such a scale of social complexity that some scholars believe they should be considered early states. This includes the predecessors of modern-day population centers such as Manila, Tondo, Pangasinan, Cebu, Panay, Bohol, Butuan, Cotabato, Lanao, Zamboanga and Sulu as well as some polities, such as Ma-i, whose possible location is either Mindoro or Laguna.
These polities were influenced by Islamic, Indian, and Chinese cultures. Islam arrived from Arabia, while Indian Hindu-Buddhist religion, language, culture, literature and philosophy arrived through expeditions such as the South-East Asia campaign of Rajendra Chola I. Some polities were Sinified tributary states allied to China. These small maritime states flourished from the 1st millennium.
These kingdoms traded with what are now called China, India, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The remainder of the settlements were independent barangays allied with one of the larger states. These small states alternated from being part of or being influenced by larger Asian empires like the Ming dynasty, Majapahit and Brunei or rebelling and waging war against them.
The first recorded visit by Europeans is Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, which landed in Homonhon Island, now part of Guiuan, Eastern Samar, on March 17, 1521. They lost a battle against the army of Lapulapu, chief of Mactan, where Magellan was killed. The Spanish Philippines began with the Pacific expansion of New Spain and the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi's expedition on February 13, 1565, from Mexico. He established the first permanent settlement in Cebu.
Much of the archipelago came under Spanish rule, creating the first unified political structure known as the Philippines. Spanish colonial rule saw the introduction of Christianity, the code of law, and the oldest modern university in Asia. The Philippines was ruled under the Mexico-based Viceroyalty of New Spain. After this, the colony was directly governed by Spain, following Mexico's independence.
Spanish rule ended in 1898 with Spain's defeat in the Spanish American War. The Philippines then became a territory of the United States. U.S. forces suppressed a revolution led by Emilio Aguinaldo. The United States established the Insular Government to rule the Philippines. In 1907, the elected Philippine Assembly was set up with popular elections. The U.S. promised independence in the Jones Act. The Philippine Commonwealth was established in 1935, as a 10-year interim step prior to full independence. However, in 1942 during World War II, Japan occupied the Philippines. The U.S. military overpowered the Japanese in 1945. The Treaty of Manila in 1946 established the independent Philippine Republic.
Source Text: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Philippines
Spanish and American colonial rule (1565–1934)
Unification and colonization by the Crown of Castile began when Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi arrived from New Spain in 1565. Many Filipinos were brought to New Spain as slaves and forced crew. Whereas many Latin Americans were brought to the Philippines as soldiers and colonists. Spanish Manila became the capital of the Captaincy General of the Philippines and the Spanish East Indies in 1571, Spanish territories in Asia and the Pacific. The Spanish invaded local states using the principle of divide and conquer, bringing most of what is the present-day Philippines under one unified administration. Disparate barangays were deliberately consolidated into towns, where Catholic missionaries could more easily convert their inhabitants to Christianity, which was initially Syncretist. Christianization by the Spanish friars occurred mostly across the settled lowlands over the course of time. From 1565 to 1821, the Philippines was governed as a territory of the Mexico City-based Viceroyalty of New Spain; it was then administered from Madrid after the Mexican War of Independence. Manila became the western hub of trans-Pacific trade by Manila galleons built in Bicol and Cavite.
During its rule, Spain nearly bankrupted its treasury quelling indigenous revolts and defending against external military attacks, including Moro piracy, a 17th-century war against the Dutch, 18th-century British occupation of Manila, and conflict with Muslims in the south.
Administration of the Philippines was considered a drain on the economy of New Spain and abandoning it or trading it for other territory was debated. This course of action was opposed because of the islands' economic potential, security, and the desire to continue religious conversion in the region. The colony survived on an annual subsidy from the Spanish crown averaging 250,000 pesos, usually paid as 75 tons of silver bullion from the Americas. British forces occupied Manila from 1762 to 1764 during the Seven Years' War, and Spanish rule was restored with the 1763 Treaty of Paris. The Spanish considered their war with the Muslims in Southeast Asia an extension of the Reconquista. The Spanish–Moro conflict lasted for several hundred years; Spain conquered portions of Mindanao and Jolo during the last quarter of the 19th century, and the Muslim Moro in the Sultanate of Sulu acknowledged Spanish sovereignty.
Philippine ports opened to world trade during the 19th century, and Filipino society began to change. Social identity changed, with the term Filipino encompassing all residents of the archipelago instead of solely referring to Spaniards born in the Philippines.
Revolutionary sentiment grew in 1872 after 200 locally recruited colonial troops and laborers alongside three activist Catholic priests were executed on questionable grounds. This inspired the Propaganda Movement, organized by Marcelo H. del Pilar, José Rizal, Graciano López Jaena, and Mariano Ponce, which advocated political reform in the Philippines. Rizal was executed on December 30, 1896, for rebellion, and his death radicalized many who had been loyal to Spain. Attempts at reform met with resistance; Andrés Bonifacio founded the Katipunan secret society, which sought independence from Spain through armed revolt, in 1892.
The Katipunan Cry of Pugad Lawin began the Philippine Revolution in 1896. Internal disputes led to the Tejeros Convention, at which Bonifacio lost his position and Emilio Aguinaldo was elected the new leader of the revolution. The 1897 Pact of Biak-na-Bato resulted in the Hong Kong Junta government in exile. The Spanish American War began the following year, and reached the Philippines; Aguinaldo returned, resumed the revolution, and declared independence from Spain on June 12, 1898. In December 1898, the islands were ceded by Spain to the United States with Puerto Rico and Guam after the Spanish American War.
The First Philippine Republic was promulgated on January 21, 1899. Lack of recognition by the United States led to an outbreak of hostilities that, after refusal by the U.S. on-scene military commander of a cease-fire proposal and a declaration of war by the nascent Republic, escalated into the Philippine American War.
Filipino General Gregorio del Pilar and his troops in Pampanga around 1898, during the Philippine-American War
The war resulted in the deaths of 250,000 to 1 million civilians, primarily due to famine and disease. Many Filipinos were transported by the Americans to concentration camps, where thousands died. After the fall of the First Philippine Republic in 1902, an American civilian government was established with the Philippine Organic Act. American forces continued to secure and extend their control of the islands, suppressing an attempted extension of the Philippine Republic, securing the Sultanate of Sulu, establishing control of interior mountainous areas which had resisted Spanish conquest, and encouraging large-scale resettlement of Christians in once-predominantly-Muslim Mindanao.
Source Text: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines#History
Presidents of the Philippines
# |
President |
Start date |
End date |
1 |
Emilio Aguinaldo |
January 23, 1899 |
April 19, 1901 |
2 |
Manuel L. Quezon |
November 15, 1935 |
August 1, 1944 |
3 |
Jose P. Laurel |
October 14, 1943 |
August 17, 1945 |
4 |
Sergio Osmeña |
August 1, 1944 |
May 28, 1946 |
5 |
Manuel Roxas |
May 28, 1946 |
April 15, 1948 |
6 |
Elpidio Quirino |
April 17, 1948 |
December 30, 1953 |
7 |
Ramon Magsaysay |
December 30, 1953 |
March 17, 1957 |
8 |
Carlos P. Garcia |
March 18, 1957 |
December 30, 1961 |
9 |
Diosdado Macapagal |
December 30, 1961 |
December 30, 1965 |
10 |
Ferdinand Marcos |
December 30, 1965 |
February 25, 1986 |
11 |
Corazon Aquino |
February 25, 1986 |
June 30, 1992 |
12 |
Fidel V. Ramos |
June 30, 1992 |
June 30, 1998 |
13 |
Joseph Estrada |
June 30, 1998 |
January 20, 2001 |
14 |
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo |
January 20, 2001 |
June 30, 2010 |
15 |
Benigno Aquino III |
June 30, 2010 |
June 30, 2016 |
16 |
Rodrigo Duterte |
June 30, 2016 |
June 30, 2022 |
17 |
Ferdinand Marcos jr. |
June 30, 2022 |
present |
A national hero of the Philippines is a Filipino who has been recognized as a national hero for their role in the history of the Philippines. Loosely, the term may refer to all historical figures recognized as heroes, but the term more strictly refers to those officially designated as such. In 1995 the Philippine National Heroes Committee officially recommended several people for the designation,[1] but this was not acted upon. As of 2023, no one had ever been officially recognized as a Philippine national hero.[2]
The reformist writer Jose Rizal, today considered as the quintessential national hero, has never been explicitly proclaimed as such by the Philippine government.[2] Besides Jose Rizal, the only other Filipino currently given implied recognition as a national hero is Andrés Bonifacio, based on the Philippine government's policy on national holidays.
José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonzo Realonda (born June 19, 1861 in Calamba City on Luzon; died December 30, 1896 in Manila) was a Filipino writer, patriot, physicist and a man
of words whose life and literary work were an inspiration for the Philippine independence movement. He is the most important national hero of the Philippines.
Rizal undertook extensive trips to Belgium, England, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Switzerland, Spain, Austria-Hungary and the USA. He also lived in Germany for a long time and successfully studied
medicine in Heidelberg.
Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro (November 30, 1863 - May 10, 1897) was a Filipino revolutionary and one of the top rebel leaders of the Philippine Revolution against Spanish colonial rule in the late 19th century. He is known as the "Father of the Philippine Revolution" and one of his country's most influential national heroes. Bonifacio was the founder of the Katipunan, an organization whose goal was to initiate an independence movement against the Spanish in his country.
Source Text: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Hero_of_the_Philippines
Quelle Bild: By unknown author - http://www.joserizal.ph/images/rizal.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=114199073
Quelle Bild: By the National Commission of Culture and the Arts, Philippines., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7681238