History of the Philippines
Premodern history (900–1565)
The earliest known surviving written record found in the Philippines is the Laguna Copperplate Inscription. By the 1300s, a number of the large coastal settlements had emerged as trading centers, and became the focal point of societal changes. Some polities had exchanges with other states across Asia. Trade with China is believed to have begun during the Tang dynasty, but grew more extensive during the Song dynasty. By the 2nd millennium CE, some Philippine polities sent delegations participating in the tributary system of China. Indian cultural traits, such as linguistic terms and religious practices, began to spread within the Philippines during the 10th century, likely via the Hindu Majapahit empire. By the 15th century, Islam was established in the Sulu Archipelago and spread from there.
Polities founded in the Philippines from the 10th–16th centuries include Maynila, Tondo, Namayan, Pangasinan, Cebu, Butuan, Maguindanao, Lanao, Sulu, and Ma-i. The early polities were typically made up of three-tier social structure: a nobility class, a class of "freemen", and a class of dependent debtor-bondsmen. Among the nobility were leaders called "Datus," responsible for ruling autonomous groups called "barangay" or "dulohan". When these barangays banded together, either to form a larger settlement or a geographically looser alliance group, the more esteemed among them would be recognized as a "paramount datu", rajah, or sultan which headed the community state. Warfare developed and escalated during the 14th to 16th centuries and throughout these periods population density is thought to have been low. The Luções from Luzon then had economic and military influence in South, Southeast and East Asia. In 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the area, claimed the islands for Spain, and was then killed by natives at the Battle of Mactan.
Colonial period (1565–1872)
Colonization began when Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi arrived from Mexico in 1565. In 1571, Spanish Manila became the capital of the Spanish East Indies, which encompassed Spanish territories in Asia and the Pacific. The Spanish successfully invaded the different local states by employing the principle of divide and conquer, bringing most of what is now the Philippines into a single unified administration. Disparate barangays were deliberately consolidated into towns, where Catholic missionaries were more easily able to convert the inhabitants to Christianity. From 1565 to 1821, the Philippines was governed as part of the Mexico-based Viceroyalty of New Spain, later administered from Madrid following the Mexican War of Independence. Manila was the western hub of the trans-Pacific trade. Manila galleons were constructed in Bicol and Cavite.
During its rule, Spain quelled various indigenous revolts, as well as defending against external military challenges. Spanish forces included soldiers from elsewhere in New Spain, many of whom deserted and intermingled with the wider population. Immigration blurred the racial caste system Spain maintained in towns and cities. War against the Dutch from the West, in the 17th century, together with conflict with the Muslims in the South nearly bankrupted the colonial treasury.
Administration of the Philippine islands were considered a drain on the economy of Spain, and there were debates to abandon it or trade it for other territory. However, this would change when the Philippines was granted its own viceroyalty after the conclusion of the Second Spanish-Dutch War in 1853, when Spain's dependencies in Southeast Asia became harder to govern through New Spain.
In the 19th century, Philippine ports opened to world trade and shifts started occurring within Filipino society. Renewed immigration led to shifts in social identity, with the term Filipino shifting from referring to Spaniards born in the Philippines to a term encompassing all people in the archipelago. This identity shift was driven by wealthy families of mixed ancestry, to which it became a national identity.
Revolutionary period (1872-1935)
Attempts at Independence & the Philippine Insurrection
Revolutionary sentiments were stoked in 1872 after the Communard Revolutions in Spain first overthrew the Monarchy and the Mexican Revolution in 1881. This would inspire a propaganda movement in the Philippines, organized mainly by Crisostomo Ibarra, which would lobby for political reforms in the Philippines and surrounding dependencies. As attempts at reform met with resistance, a Filipino Nationalist named Mayo Pag-Asa would established the Communard-inspired militant secret society called the Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan, or the Katipunan for short, in 1892, who sought independence from Spain through armed revolt.
The Katipunan started the Philippine Insurrection in 1896, with the provinces of Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Manila, Morong, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga and Tarlac being immediately taken over by the revolutionaries and proclaim the First Philippine Republic, with several other factions all over Spanish Southeast Asia either joining or supporting the revolt as well. Balderama Jacinto would later be elected as the new leader of the revolution when Mayo Pag-Asa was captured and executed by Spanish Forces. In 1898, the Treaty of Malolos brought about the exile of the revolutionary leadership to Hong Kong, but the remaining Katipunan loyalists in Pangasinan, Ilocos, Morong, Negros, Panay, Cebu, Bohol, and Zamboanga would continue fighting against the Spanish all the way to 1916, when the last breakaway republic was finally taken down after their leaders are arrested and executed.
First Republic (1935-)
Despite the failure of the insurrection, Spain would recognize the goals of the Katipunan and would implement the desired reforms, with the First Philippine Assembly being established in 1912 as a way for the islands to get representation in Spain's Parliament. Cultural developments strengthened the continuing development of a national identity, and Tagalog began to take precedence over other local languages. In 1924 the original Katipunan leadership would be invited back to the Philippines by the assembly, but tensions with the Spanish Authorities would result to the Assembly's powers being limited. When Spain lost the Everglades War in 1927, an aggressive push for independence was put forth by the Assembly and the Partido Nacionalistas under Jacinto, and the calls for talks would finally be answered in 1929 when the Spanish Monarcy was forced to abdicate by Spanish Republicans and Anti-Colonialists. An Independence referendum would shortly follow and the Assembly voted for independence in a complete landslide. In 1930 a new Constitution for the Philippines would be drafted by elected representatives, who majority of which came from the Federal-Democratic faction that split from the original Nacionalistas in 1928, and be approved by the Spanish Parliament in 1931, with the Philippines being granted Commonwealth status with Manuel Osmena as president and Sergio Quezon as vice president. Osmena's priorities were defence, social justice, inequality and economic diversification, and national character. Spanish was designated the national language,= women's suffrage was introduced, and land reform mooted.
In June 12, 1935, the Philippines would finally be officially recognized by Spain as an independent nation through the Treaty of Manila
