Miguel Lopez de Legazpi founded the city of Manila in 1571, 50 years after the Spanish discovery of the Philippines. Manila, being better positioned than Cebu for trade with China, was made the original capital of the Philippines. Here the colonizers built Intramuros, an impregnable European style thick stone-walled city which was the seat … More Legaspi Built Intramuros, the Seat of Spanish Rule
After Ferdinand Magellan, other Spanish expeditions were dispatched to the Philippines over the next decades. In 1543, Ruy Lopez de Villalobos gave the name Las Islas Filipinas to the islands of Samar and Leyte. However, it was not until 1565 that the Spaniards, under Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, founded a colony on Cebu, and … More Other Spanish Expeditions to the Philippines
Photo Credit – google.com What is Wallace’s Line? The Wallace Line runs up the Lombok Strait between Indonesian Islands Bali and Lombok. It continues north through the Makassar Strait that separates Borneo(Kalimantan) and Celebes (Sulawesi), turns east into the Pacific and then back north again to encompass the Philippines. The so-called Wallace’s line refers to … More Plant and Animal Beginnings in the Philippines
Magellan established friendly relations with the treacherous King of Cebu, Humabon, who professed Christianity in order to win the help of Magellan. The great navigator was induced to undertake an expedition to conquer the neighboring island of Mactan for the Catholic faith and the King of Cebu. At the muddy island called … More The Spaniards Discovered the Philippines – Part 2
The archipelago’s recorded history began half way around the world in a small, dusty town in southwestern Spain. The Treaty of Tordesillas was signed on June 7, 1494, dividing the yet-unexplored world between Spain and Portugal. To the east of meridian 370 leagues (unit of length) west of the Cape Verde islands in the Atlantic, … More The Spaniards Discovered the Philippines – Part 1
Archeological evidence suggests that the Negritos, a broad term for indigenous people of dark complexions, reached the Philippines over 30,000 years ago by a land bridge from the Asian mainland following the migration of animals. Excavation at Palawan’s Tabon cave yielded a human skull carbon-dated to 22,000 B.C. About 10,000 years ago, the ice … More The Philippines and Its People
The Philippines was once a part of mainland Asia. The first sign of man in the Philippines dates back to at least 35,000 years ago. Since prehistoric times, the islands have been populated by peoples of the Malay race. Most of them lived simply in scattered villages at river mouths. Their houses were made of … More Philippines’ Early History – Human Migration
Excerpts from Col. Irvin Alexander’s memoir, “Surviving Bataan and Beyond”, edited by Dominic J. Caraccilo. As soon as he hung up, General King sent for General Parker and his chief of staff, telling them that General Jones reported he did not have a single organization that was capable of making a march followed by … More April 9, 1942 – The Fall of Bataan
About two million years ago, the land was already formed. One large land area reached out into the Pacific Ocean from the Asian continent. Only the South China, Sulu and Celebes basins remained as seas. But events were taking shape in the earth’s polar region, causing three successive ice ages which lowered sea levels … More The Ice Age – Part 1
The Philippines is a country full of legends. Filipinos love legends and myths and they believe in superstitions. The legend of the sea and the sky (posted on Sept 2, 2017) is one of them. In truth, there were only the huge body of water, the mighty ocean which would later be called the Pacific … More How the Philippine Islands were formed
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