The history of the Philippines

The history of the Philippines is believed to have begun with thearrival of the first humans via land bridges at least 30,000 years ago.

The first
recorded visit from the West is the arrival of Ferdinand
Magellan on Homonhon Island, southeast of Samar on March 17, 1521.

Prior to Magellan's arrival, there were Negrito tribes who roamed the isles but they were later
supplanted by Austronesians. These groups then stratified into:
hunter-gatherer tribes, warrior-societies, petty plutocracies and maritime
oriented harbor principalities which eventually grew into kingdoms, rajahnates,
principalities, confederations and sultanates. States such as the Indianized Rajahnate of Butuan and Cebu, the dynasty of Tondo, the august
kingdoms of Maysapan and Maynila, the Confederation of Madyaas, the sinified Country of
Mai, as well as the Muslim Sultanates of Sulu and Maguindanao. These small states flourished from as
early as the 10th century AD, Despite these kingdoms attaining complex political
and social orders, as well as enjoying trade with areas now called China, India,
Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia, none encompassed the whole archipelago
which was to become the unified Philippines of the twentieth century. The
remainder of the settlements were independent Barangays allied with one of the larger nations.
Spanish colonization and settlement began
with the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi's
expedition in 1565 who established the first permanent settlement of San Miguel
on the island of Cebu.

The expedition continued northward reaching the bay of Manila on the island of Luzon in 1571,

where they established a new town and thus began an era of Spanish colonization that
lasted for more than three centuries.

Spanish rule achieved the political unification of almost the whole
archipelago, that previously had been composed by independent kingdoms and
communities, pushing back south the advancing Islamic forces and creating the first draft of the nation
that was to be known as the Philippines. Spain also introduced Christianity,
the code of
law, the oldest Universities and the first public education system in Asia,
the western European version of printing, the Gregorian calendar and invested heavily on
all kinds of modern infrastructures, such as train networks and modern
bridges.
The Spanish
East Indies were ruled as a territory of the Viceroyalty of New Spain and
administered from Mexico
City, Mexico from 1565 to 1821, and
administered directly from Madrid, Spain from 1821 until the end of the Spanish–American War in 1898,
except for the brief British occupation of the
Philippines from 1762 to 1764. During the Spanish period, numerous towns
were founded, infrastructures built, new crops and livestock introduced. The
Chinese, British, Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese, and indigenous traders,
complained that the Spanish reduced trade by attempting to enforce a Spanish monopoly. Spanish missionaries
attempted to convert the population to Christianity and were eventually generally
successful in the northern and central lowlands. They founded schools, a
university, and some hospitals, principally in Manila and the largest Spanish
fort settlements. Universal education was made free for all Filipino subjects in
1863 and remained so until the end of the Spanish colonial era. This measure was
at the vanguard of contemporary Asian countries, and led to an important class
of educated natives, like Jose Rizal. Ironically, it was during the initial
years of American occupation in the early 20th century, that Spanish literature
and press flourished.

The Philippine Revolution against Spain began
in April 1896, but it was largely unsuccessful until it received support from
the United States, culminating two years later with a proclamation of
independence and the establishment of the First Philippine Republic. However,
the Treaty
of Paris, at the end of the Spanish–American War, transferred control of the
Philippines to the United
States. This agreement was not recognized by the Philippine Government
which, on June 2, 1899, proclaimed a Declaration of
War against the United States.

The Philippine-American War which ensued
resulted in massive casualties.

Philippine president
Emilio Aguinaldo
was captured in 1901 and the U.S. government declared the conflict officially
over in 1902. The Filipino leaders, for the most part, accepted that the
Americans had won, but hostilities continued and only began to decline in 1913,
leaving a total number of casualties on the Filipino side of more than one
million dead, many of them civilians.

U.S. colonial rule of the Philippines started in 1905 with very limited local
rule. Partial autonomy (commonwealth status) was granted in 1935, preparatory to
a planned full independence from the United States in 1946. Preparation for a

fully sovereign state was interrupted by the Japanese occupation of the islands during World War II.With a promising economy in the 1950s and 1960s, the Philippines in the late 1960s and early 1970s saw a rise of student activism and civil unrest against the corrupt dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos who declared martial law in 1972.Because of close ties between United States and President Marcos, the U.S. government continued to support Marcos even though his administration was well-known for massive corruption and extensive human rights abuse. The peaceful and bloodless People Power Revolution of 1986, however, brought about the ousting of Marcos and a return to democracy for the country. The period since then, however, has been marked by political instability and hampered economic productivity.