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===Territories=== |
===Territories=== |
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The Spanish East Indies came to be defined as: |
The Spanish East Indies came to be defined as: |
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*''Las Filipinas'' (today the Republic of the Philippines): Manila, Luzon, Visayas, Palawan, Balambangan Island, Northern Mindanao, Zamboanga, Jolo, Palmas Islands, including isolated outposts in Keelung |
*''Las Filipinas'' (today the Republic of the Philippines): Manila, Luzon, Visayas, Palawan, Balambangan Island, Northern Mindanao, Zamboanga, Jolo, Palmas Islands, including isolated outposts in [[Keelung]], Taiwan, and in the islands of Gilolo, [[Ternate]], and [[Tidore]] in the Maluku Islands and [[Manado]] in Sulawesi. |
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*''[[Caroline Islands|Islas Carolinas]]'' (the [[Federated States of Micronesia]]) |
*''[[Caroline Islands|Islas Carolinas]]'' (the [[Federated States of Micronesia]]) |
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*''[[Mariana Islands|Islas Marianas]]'' ([[Northern Mariana Islands|Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands]] and the United States [[Guam|Territory of Guam]]) |
*''[[Mariana Islands|Islas Marianas]]'' ([[Northern Mariana Islands|Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands]] and the United States [[Guam|Territory of Guam]]) |
Revision as of 22:01, 15 August 2008
Spanish East Indies Indias Orientales Españolas | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1565–1899 | |||||||||||||||
![]() A map of the Spanish East Indies | |||||||||||||||
Status | Colony of Spain (Territory of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1565 to 1821 and province of Spain from 1821 to 1898) | ||||||||||||||
Capital | Cebu (1565-1571) Manila (1571-1898) | ||||||||||||||
Common languages | Spanish Filipino | ||||||||||||||
Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||||||||||
Monarch | |||||||||||||||
• 1565-1598 | Philip II | ||||||||||||||
• 1896-1898 | Alfonso XIII | ||||||||||||||
Governor-General | |||||||||||||||
• 1565-1572 | Miguel López de Legazpi | ||||||||||||||
• 1898 | Diego de los Ríos | ||||||||||||||
Historical era | Spanish colonization | ||||||||||||||
April 27 1565 | |||||||||||||||
December 10 1899 | |||||||||||||||
Currency | Peso fuerte | ||||||||||||||
ISO 3166 code | ES | ||||||||||||||
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Spanish East Indies (Spanish: Indias Orientales Españolas), was a term used to describe Spanish possessions in Asia-Pacific which lasted over three centuries (1565 to 1898). It encompassed the Philippine Islands (Las Islas Filipinas) and its dependencies including Guam, Mariana Islands, Palau, the Caroline Islands, and for a period of time, parts of Formosa (Taiwan), Sabah and parts of the Moluccas. Following the Spanish-American War in 1898, most of the islands were occupied by the United States while the rest were sold to Germany in the German-Spanish Treaty (1899). The kings of Spain traditionally styled themselves "By the grace of God, king of […] the East and West Indies" (Por la gracia de Dios, rey […] de las Indias orientales y occidentales).[1]
History
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/Ferdinand_Magellan.jpg/220px-Ferdinand_Magellan.jpg)
Exploration and Settlement (1521–1643)
Spanish contact began on March 6, 1521, when Ferdinand Magellan reached the Mariana Islands. He named Guam "Isla de Ladrones" (Island of Thieves) because some of his supplies in the galleon Trinidad were stolen. Magellan's crew eventually left the island and reached the island of Homonhon in the Philippines on March 16, with only 150 crewmen. There, they met the indigenous peoples and were able to communicate with them because the Malayan interpreter, Enrique of Malacca, could understand the natives' language.
Seeking to develop trade between the East Indies and the Americas across the Pacific Ocean, Antonio de Mendoza encouraged the exploration of Spain's new territories, as he commissioned the expedition of Ruy López de Villalobos to the Philippines in 1542-1543. Miguel López de Legazpi established the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines in 1565, which became the town of San Miguel. Andrés de Urdaneta discovered an efficient sailing route from the Philippines returning to Mexico. In 1570, the native city of Manila was conquered and trade links soon began in the Manila-Acapulco Galleons.
The Manila-Acapulco galleons shipped products gathered from both Asia-Pacific and the Americas, such as silk, spice, silver, gold and other Asian-Pacific islander products to Mexico. Products brought from Asia-Pacific were sent to Veracruz and shipped to Spain and, via trading, to the rest of Europe. While Spanish-Mexican colonist brought with them Spanish or indigenous Mexican customs, religion, languages, foods and cultural traditions to the Philippines, Guam and the Mariana Islands.
In 1606, the Spaniards established some form of trade links with the Maluku Islands and remained until 1663. Contacts with Japan were also established and Sebastián Vizcaíno was sent as ambassador in 1611, until Japan closed it's trading post in 1630. On the north eastern coastal region near Taiwan, the Spaniards built Fort Santo Domingo near Keelung in 1626 and a mission in Tan-shui in 1628, which they occupied until 1642. Several Pacific islands were visited by Spanish ships in the 16th century, including New Guinea (Yñigo Ortiz de Retez in 1545), the Solomon Islands (Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa in 1568) and the Marquesas Islands (Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira in 1595), but they made no effort to trade with or colonize them.
The last Spanish Habsburgs (1643–1713)
In 1668, Diego Luis de San Vitores established the first mission in the Mariana Islands.
The Bourbon Reforms (1713–1898)
Spanish rule in the Philippines was briefly interrupted in 1762, when British troops invaded the capital city of Manila. Later, Governor-General José Basco y Vargas established the Economic Society of Friends of the Country.
Colonial government
For over 256 years, the the Spanish East Indies were governed by a captain general (later styled a governor general) and an audiencia. The government of the Philippines was autonomous, but part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Therefore government correspondence, in addition to commerce (See Manila galleon), went through that Viceroyalty, rather than directly to Spain (with the exception of a short period at the end of the XVIII century), until the New Spanish Viceroyalty collapsed in 1821, following the Mexican War of Independence. The Spanish East Indies continued to be governed from Madrid until the United States took the Spanish possessions in the Pacific Ocean in the Spanish American War in 1898.
The Audiencia and Captaincy General
The Real Audiencia of Manila was the highest tribunal of the Spanish crown in the East Indies. Its President was the Governor and Captain General of the Philippines. These institutions were created by royal decree on May 5, 1583.
Law XI (Audiencia y Chancillería Real de Manila en las Filipinas) of Title XV (De las Audiencias y Chancillerias Reales de las Indias) of Book II of the Recopilación de Leyes de las Indias of 1680—which compiles the original decree and the one of May 25, 1596—describes the limits and functions of the Audiencia and its President.[2]
In the city of Manila on the Island of Luzon, Head of the Philippines, shall reside another Royal Audiencia and Chancellery of ours, with a president, who shall be governor and captain general; four judges of civil cases [oidores], who will also be judges of criminal cases [alcaldes del crimen]; a crown attorney [fiscal]; a bailiff [alguacil mayor]; a lieutenant of the Gran Chancellor; and the other necessary ministers and officials; and which shall have for district said Island of Luzon, and the rest of the Philippines, the Archipelago of China, and its Mainland, discovered and to be discovered. And we order that the governor and captain general of said Islands and Provinces, and president of their Royal Audiencia, have exclusively the superior government of the entire district of said Audiencia in war and peace, and shall make provisions and favors in our Royal Name, which in conformity to the laws of this Compilation and the rest of the Kingdoms of Castile and the instructions and powers that We shall grant, he should and can do; and in gubernatorial matters and cases that shall arise, that are of importance, said president-governor should consult on them with the judges of said Audiencia, so that they give their consultive opinions, and having heard them, he should provide the most convenient to the service of God and ours and the peace and tranquility of said Province and Republic.
Territories
The Spanish East Indies came to be defined as:
- Las Filipinas (today the Republic of the Philippines): Manila, Luzon, Visayas, Palawan, Balambangan Island, Northern Mindanao, Zamboanga, Jolo, Palmas Islands, including isolated outposts in Keelung, Taiwan, and in the islands of Gilolo, Ternate, and Tidore in the Maluku Islands and Manado in Sulawesi.
- Islas Carolinas (the Federated States of Micronesia)
- Islas Marianas (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Territory of Guam)
- Islas Palau (Republic of Palau)
The Spanish used several names that are not currently used. Gran Moluccas (Great Molluccas) for the island of Mindanao, Nueva Castilla (New Castile) for Luzon, and Nueva Filipinas (New Philippines) for the Caroline Islands.
Spanish control over this area expanded slowly throughout the centuries. The Batanes Islands were conquered in the eighteenth century. The highlands of Luzon remained outside of Spanish control until the early nineteenth century, and the southernmost tip of Palawan, not until the late 1890s. The rest of Mindanao—aside from outposts in Northern Mindanao, Zamboanga, and Jolo—was never subjugated and remained independent under both the Sulu and the Maguindanao sultanates. Similarly, Palau and the the vast majority of the Caroline Islands were not governed by Spanish missions until the early nineteenth century.
Cultural Influence
Hispanic
Spain's influence on her former colonies in Asia-Pacific is significant and to this day, the majority of the people of the Philippines, Guam and the Mariana Islands belong to the Roman Catholic faith. Many of these people also use Spanish names and surnames, their languages have many Spanish loanwords, and their national cuisine has much Spanish or Mexican influence. These nations also exhibit a small minority of native people descendants from Spaniard and Mexican settlers, known as mestizos, who form a tiny percentage of the populations.
Filipino
A sizeable proportion of the current population of Northern Marianas Islands (45~55%) and Guam (30~45%), as well as Palau (15~25%) is of Filipino descent. Some of the local peoples in the previously stated territories also use Filipino names and surnames (one example is the surname Pangelinan, which comes from the Filipino surname Pangilinan). The current Chamorro population is believed to be partly of Filipino descent, both through historic links before and during the Spanish rule, which continue to the present state, through transmigration.
References
- ^ These titles, of course, are not used by the current king, but are often given as honorary "historical" ones. The current Constitution leaves the issue open, but simply describes the King as King of Spain: "His title is King of Spain, and he may use the other titles appertaining to the Crown" (Su título es el de Rey de España y podrá utilizar los demás que correspondan a la Corona). Velde, François, "Royal Styles," and the Royal Household of His Majesty the King, "The Crown." Consulted on 2008-08-15.
- ^ Spain (1680). Recopilación de las Leyes de Indias. Titulo Quince. De las Audiencias y Chancillerias Reales de las Indias. Spanish-language facsimile of the original.
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Bibliography
- Cunningham, Charles Henry. The Audiencia in the Spanish Colonies as Illustrated by the Audiencia of Manila (1583-1800). Berkeley, University of California Press, 1919.
- Phelan, John Leddy. The Hispanization of the Philippines: Spanish Aims and Filipino Responses, 1565-1700. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1959.
External links
- Web oficial Asociación Española de Estudios del Pacífico
- Philippine "The Early Spanish Period"
- The Impact of Spanish Rule in the Philippines
- History: The Spanish Colony
- Guam History and Culture
- Filipinas