Phillipines Magellan Headed the Sixteenth

Phillipines

Magellan headed the sixteenth century Spanish expedition that first sighted and landed on the Philippine islands. However, aggressive Christian proselytizing led to brutal battles and Magellan was killed in April of 1521. In spite of the skirmishes between indigenous islanders and the Spaniards, the discovery voyages proved lucrative enough for Spain to bolster its exploration regime. Ruy Lopez de Villalobos led the fourth Spanish expedition to the Philippine islands, lending them their name after King Phillip. In 1565, the archipelago officially became a Spanish colony. Miguel Lopez de Legazpi became the first Governor-General appointed by King Philip, and Lagazpi named Manila the capital in 1571. The Spaniards would govern trade relations with the colony not from Europe but from Mexico, directly exchanging Central American silver with Philippine raw materials ("Spanish Colony").

The Philippines therefore evolved differently from their Southeast Asian and Pacific Rim counterpart colonies. With a poor Spanish presence in the Far East, the Philippines were the only significant Spanish outpost in the region. Spain needed presence in the Pacific to compete with its European rivals like France. Moreover, the archipelago enabled Spain to solidify its colonial outposts and use its Central and South American colonies more strategically.

Spanish rule in the Philippines emphasized universal conversion to Catholicism. However, King Philip eschewed the use of force to convert indigenous islanders. Welcoming a panoply of Christian denominations for missionary purposes, the King and his governors on the islands created large-scale campaigns to introduce Roman Catholicism to the pagan natives. Because of the ban on use of force for conversion, the pagan indigenous religion could not be fully stamped out. One of the most enduring legacies of the Spanish conquest of the Philippine Islands is the emergence of a syncretic religious tradition not unlike those that developed in the Caribbean colonies. Native rituals and cosmological beliefs continue to mingle nearly seamlessly with Roman Catholicism ("Spanish Colony").

Before Spanish conquest, Philippine lands were considered communal ("Spanish Colony"). Spaniards introduced land ownership and subsequently, social class divisions. Land ownership became a primary means of social status after Spanish conquest and remains so centuries later. Land-owning elite ruled like feudal lords, even though the Spanish governors in Manila relied on traditional tribal chiefs to administer local lands. Just as Philippine religion reflects a combination of Roman Catholic and indigenous Philippine beliefs, so too does Philippine social structure reflect a combination of European and Asian practices. The native Philippines, or "indios," practiced feudalism and slavery but with a different means of disseminating social class status than was used in Europe in the sixteenth century ("A Brief History").