The+Philippines



The Philippines were first discovered in 1521 during the Spanish Expdeition by Ferdinad Magellan. In 1542, López de Villalobos and his millitary named them the "Phillipine" islands, after Prince Phillip, and claimed them Spain's territory. López de Legazpi established the first colonies on the Philippines - small, independent communities that had no central rule. After the Philippines gained independence from Spain - strangely, with the help of the United States themselves - the United States turned and colonized the Philippines, taking the territory for their own.

When the Spanish came and colonized the Philippines - generally Lopez de Legazpi - colonization was peaceful. Lopez de Legazpi made peace treaties with the leaders of the tribes, and they agreed to change their government according to how the Spanish advised. Later, though, the Filipino people revolted, arguing quite truthfully that the Spanish were taking over too much of their culture. The American colonization was not very violent as well, as their original intents were to help the Philippines gain independence. The same process of revolution occurred, although much faster and stronger, as the Filipinos were tired of being "the colonized" for so long.

Before colonization, the Philippines were composed of many diffrent tribes. Thus, they had diffrent cultures and traditions for each tribe. Because the Philippines were abundant in natural resources, many of the Filipinos were fishers and hunters. Also, they were isolated themselves from the outside world and thus had not developed a materialistic, high-technology culture. Because of this they had no power to defend themselves with when the Spanish came with developed military and technology.

Spain mainly aimed to spread Roman Catholicism and popularize the church. Also, they established large plantations to export materials and to put the indigenous people in labor. For example, by colonizing Manila, Spain became the leading commercial center of East Asia and had an active trade system with China and India. This provided wealth and more property to Spain.

__Emilio Aguinaldo (Filipino)__ Emilio Aguinaldo was a Filipino politician and general who strongly led the Filipinos in revolutions against Spanish colonization, as well as American colonization. He was crucial in the Philippine-American war, helping the Philippines eventually overcome the United States to gain independence. Aguinaldo first took action by joining a resistance group called the Katipunan, a group that aimed to get rid of the Spanish in the Philippines by using physical power. He then became President of the Philippines in 1899 temporarily, before the United States claimed the islands as their own. From there, Aguinaldo pushed against the Americans, leading his country with more force now that he was recognized as an official leader and military general. When the United States finally gave in to the Filipinos, he built a shrine dedicated to the Philippine flag, which still stands today. Aguinaldo was a dignified, determined revolutionary who was a symbol for many Filipinos of his time.

__Miguel Lopez de Legazpi (Spanish)__ Miguel Lopez de Legazpi was a Spanish conquistador who helped colonizing some of the Spanish New World. He often befriended the indigenous peoples before colonization; however, it is unknown whether he was actually liked by indigenous peoples. He colonized the Philippines, making it the capital of the Spanish East Indies. His first intention was to convert the Filipinos to Roman Catholicism, one of the primary motives in Spanish colonization in general. He also named the people "Filipinos", in honor of King Felipe of Spain. The title "Filipino" stuck as the name of the people. He did make peace treaties with the leaders of the tribes, thus enforcing Spanish rule over the Philippines.

__Wiliam McKinley (American)__ William McKinley was the 25th president of the United States, from 1897-1901. He played a crucial role in the American colonization of the Philippines. Once the United States officially had possession over the Philippines, McKinley put a naval base in Manila, claiming that the United States needed a voice in Asian government affairs. When he later started colonizing the rest of the Philippines, the Philippine-American war arose, where 1,000,000 Filipinos were killed - and McKinley was potentially to blame for it.

Under Spain's rule, the Philippines were a colony for approximately 360 years. After the Spanish-American war, where the United States and Spain fought for the territory of the Philippines, the colony was briefly given freedom from Spain due to the Treaty of Paris. But Spain was forced to cede the islands to the United States, who then colonized the Philippines for around 50 years. During that time, the Filipinos fought brutally to gain independence, and won the Philippine-American War only after World War II when the American military was at their weakest. Still, the Philippines became an independent nation in 1946 with the Treaty of Manila.

Under the influence of Spain, colonization had a generally negative impact on the Philippines. The Spanish unsuccessfully tried to unite the territory, bringing Western influences such as the Gregorian calendar and western printing. However, The idea of forcing Western culture upon the indigenous people failed. The Spanish also brought foreign diseases to the Filipinos, like smallpox and leprosy. Finally, while under Spanish rule, the Philippines became part of the Spanish monarchy. Other countries refused to trade with the Philippines because of this. There was one thing that was successful in Spanish colonization - the influence of the Spanish language. Once the Filipinos were introduced to the Spanish language, they started using it and for a while it became the official language of the Philippines, before being changed back to Tagalog. Similarly, the American colonization of the Philippines was a bad thing for the territory and its people. The United States essentially helped the Philippines gain independence from Spain, and then turned on them - thus colonizing the territory - because they believed the Philippines were too weak to rise against the American military. To the United States, the Philippines were not essential to political stability. They could keep the islands, or give them back to Spain. The Americans did nothing but hold the Philippines hostage - not really enforcing the Amercian culture upon the Filipinos, yet holding the right to do whatever they wanted to the Philippines, such as invading the islands, which happened multiple times.

A Spanish article that talks about propagating Spanish nationalism. The Spanish were seen as "enlightened" and "elite", as well as their government and culture, and constantly enforced their ways upon the indigenous people. The article talks about the differences between the two cultures, and probably about the pain that the Filipinos themselves felt from "the solidarity" (the title of the article).

A Filipino flag that reads "Viva la Republica Filipina". This shows how the Filipinos were revolutionary and constantly fought against their colonizers. However, the language in which the text is written is Spanish, which proves that one aspect of Spanish colonization in the Philippines survived amongst the Filipinos.

The first, an article that writes about the differences between Spanish and Filipino culture, shows that the Spanish - or the colonizers - constantly propagated against Filipino ways. The Spanish argued that "their way was the best way" - they had the better religion, language, and government. They were a proud people, and had to stay like that to enforce their rule over the indigenous. The second source, a flag from the Philippine-American war, shows just how revolutionary the Filipinos were. Though the Philippines were colonized for some 400 years, its people stayed strong and fought against the colonizers. The Filipinos clearly resented the Spanish and the Americans in this way.

1. [] 2. [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish-American_War#Philippines] 3. [] 4. [] 5. [] 6. [] 7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bandera_03.jpg 8. [] 9. [] 10. []
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