Spanish Colonization of Philippines - Assignment Example

Module Spanish Colonization of Philippines Whenever there is war, regardless of its geographic location, it scars all those involved. Whether it is the victorious side, or the afflicted, they are never the same again. It is as though a switch flips inside, and suddenly everything is just different. Initially, it is confusion that hogs your brain, which slowly turns into anger. Normally, one would expect sadness to be the outcome of so many fatalities but the truth of the matter is, every death, every drop of blood spilt, boils into anger. When the invasion by Spain first started in 1521, with Ferdinand Magellan, he claimed our lands such as the Island of Cebu. However, true invasion of Philippines began in 1564 with the arrival of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi. We were told that the main charm for the Spaniards in Philippines was an easy access to markets of China. Another agenda was converting souls from their religions to Christianity as some sort of tribute to the gods. The capital of Spanish colonial Philippines was Manila which was established in 1571 if my memory is correct; these stories have been passed down to us from generations. The stories of how bravely our ancestors fought for the Filipinos and their families, the stories of how they eventually got their lives back on track (Philippines.hvu.nl). At the time the Spanish invaded, Spanish-Portuguese relations were kept very civil, with proper distribution of land between the two powers. We were not very strong back in Philippines, meaning there were not really any resistive forces that could refuse losing control of the country, which means that the invasion went on peacefully. I remember being told that the only signs of resistance shown were by the Islamic states who were a dominant group in the country, mainly Mindanao and Sulu, which is to date called and extension of the crusade with the difference being the parties involved. The invasions by Legaspi began with Manila which was mainly Islamized. Before the real wars began, a letter was sent to the Brunei sultan prohibiting thee Muslims from sending missionaries to any part of Philippines. Our people now started realizing the seriousness of the situation. It was being made very clear to them that there will be no religious tolerance. The purpose was Christianization. There were many stages of the Islamic resistance towards the Spaniards. It took them 11 years to build up another attack after their withdrawal at Archipelago in 1578. There were periodic expeditions and retaliations in 1602, 1628, 1718, 1851 after which the Spaniards succeeded at destroying the Maguinadanao sultanate. With as much power as they had over the country, Spaniards continued and flourished their trade from the markets of China, through Philippines and into Spain. They traded goods like porcelain, textiles, tea etc. Other than the Muslim resistance, the Filipino Nationalists raised their voice against the invasion in fall of 1869. Emilio Aguinaldo carried the Philippines to a war against Spain and inevitably against America. The stories have it, that there meetings used to be held within the building of Suez Canal in1869. By this time, the Filipinos had access to Europe and through these meetings they began to analyze and question the Spanish rule. These secret building meetings are what lead to the small revolt of 1872, which although did not make any drastic changes, stirred up a revolutionary action (Pbs.org). In another 20 years time, Filipinos began to reorganize secretly there was formed a fraternal brotherhood which included Jose Rizal founded by Liga Filipina, similarly in 1895 Andres Bonifacio organized the Katipunan which were dedicated to independence. The practical armed struggle did not begin until 1896 when it quickly spread throughout Manila and the whole country (Ncca.gov.ph). What instigated war between Philippines and the U.S when they were supposed allies? Around 1898 Spain and U.S went to war over Cube, through which Philippines decided to become the allies of U.S. After the war was over Aguinaldo declared independence in Philippines and eventually became the president. U.S had defeated Spain, which naturally lead Filipinos to think that they were now rid of colonization and free to live as an independent country. However, U.S did not quite see eye to eye with the new government. Consequently, Filipinos were enraged and decided to wage war against U.S for this utter betrayal. This whole façade lead to despair that left its mark for years to come with the death of more than 40,000 Filipinos and about 4,000 American soldiers (Philippinecountry.com). What were some of the cultural changes brought about by Spanish colonization? You may have noticed, Filipinos speak a variety of different languages such as Cebuano, Tagalog, Ilocano, Ilonggo, English and Chavacano. This is because of the Spanish rule spread over 3 centuries in our country. Oddly, most of the influence over Philippines, instead of being from Spain, has originated from Mexico. You may also know that Philippines got its name from the Spanish king Philip II. Similarly many of our cities were given Spanish names for example Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela, Laguna, Nueva Écija (Nueva Ecija) and many others. Not only this but most of the names around Philippines are spelled using Spanish orthography (SarDesai). How different was the American colonization period? American rule made quite a bit of changes around the country. For instance, municipal elections were introduced in the country for the first time. Another political change was the introduction of Partisan politics, which means strongly believing in one part or group or a cause which up until then was unknown to the region. During the period of Spanish rule, Filipinos were converted to Roman Catholicism. However, with the arrival of Americans the religion was changed to Protestantism which later led to the Americans adopting Roman Catholicism instead. You might have heard of Jehovah’s witnesses? At the time they started preaching from house to house. There was quite a bit of economic changes in the American time period, leading to free trade which was actually imposed on us, this included duty free trading. Where there were so many changes, Filipinos were bound to adopt American culture and clothing. There started emerging hats and neck ties and art including oil paintings and coal paintings and the likes. When and why did you migrate? By the time the war ended in 1902, there had been so many fatalities and just so much destruction, my family decided they did not want to raise their generation in streets that still smell of bloodshed, that is when they migrated. Do you consider yourself Spanish? Although due to a result of prolonged interracial mixing, Filipinos were considered to be Spanish to some extent; I personally do not consider us Spanish even though our culture, language and politics might be heavily influenced by Spain still. Philippines is one of the only Asian states that are pre dominant Roman Catholic. Even still, all Roman Catholic festivities are observed as public holidays in Philippines since there has been such a vast impact over the whole culture of Philippines. Then again, this does not make Filipinos and Spanish the same. Works cited Top of Form Ncca.gov.ph,. National Commission For Culture And The Arts. N. p., 2014. Web. 8 Jul. 2014. Pbs.org,. PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. N. p., 2014. Web. 8 Jul. 2014. Philippinecountry.com,. Philippine History Spanish Colonization. N. p., 2014. Web. 8 Jul. 2014. Philippines.hvu.nl,. The Philippines. N. p., 2014. Web. 8 Jul. 2014. SarDesai, D R. Southeast Asian History: Essential Readings. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 2006. Print. Bottom of Form Read More