History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

The history of the Philippines from 1565 to 1898 is known as the Spanish colonial period, during which the Philippine Islands were ruled as the Captaincy General of the Philippines within the Spanish East Indies, initially under the Viceroyalty of New Spain, based in Mexico City, until the independence of the Mexican Empire from Spain in 1821. This resulted in direct Spanish control during a period of governmental instability there.

The first documented European contact with the Philippines was made in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan in his circumnavigation expedition, during which he was killed in the Battle of Mactan. Forty-four years later, a Spanish expedition led by Miguel López de Legazpi left modern Mexico and began the Spanish conquest of the Philippines in the late 16th century. Legazpi's expedition arrived in the Philippines in 1565, a year after an earnest intent to colonize the country, which was during the reign of Philip II of Spain, whose name has remained attached to the country.

The Spanish colonial period ended with the defeat of Spain by the United States in the Spanish–American War and the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898, which marked the beginning of the American colonial era of Philippine history.

The Spaniards had been exploring the Philippines since the early 16th century. Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator in charge of a Spanish expedition to circumnavigate the globe, was killed by warriors of datu Lapulapu at the Battle of Mactan. In 1543, Ruy López de Villalobos arrived at the islands of Leyte and Samar and named them Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain, at the time Prince of Asturias. Philip became King of Spain on January 16, 1556, when his father, Charles I of Spain (who also reigned as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor), abdicated the Spanish throne. Philip was in Brussels at the time and his return to Spain was delayed until 1559 because of European politics and wars in northern Europe. Shortly after his return to Spain, Philip ordered an expedition mounted to the Spice Islands, stating that its purpose was "to discover the islands of the west".

In reality its task was to conquer the Philippines for Spain. The population of Luzon and the Visayas at the time of the first Spanish missions is estimated as between 1 and 1.5 million, overall density being low.

Philip II, whose name has remained attached to the islands, ordered and oversaw the conquest and colonization of the Philippines. On November 19 or 20, 1564, a Spanish expedition of a mere 500 men led by Miguel López de Legazpi departed Barra de Navidad (modern Mexican state of Jalisco) with Augustinian friar and explorer Andrés de Urdaneta in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, arriving off Cebu on February 13, 1565, conquering it despite Cebuano opposition. Approximately 200-400 of these men were Tlaxcalan soldiers, having allied themselves with Spain during the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Some of the Tlaxcalans settled permanently on the islands, and numerous Nahuatl words were absorbed into the Filipino languages. More than 15,000 soldiers arrived from New Spain as new migrants during the 17th century, far outnumbering civilian arrivals. Most of these soldiers were criminals and young boys rather than men of character. Hardship for the colonizing soldiers contributed to looting and enslavement, despite the entreaties of representatives of the church who accompanied them. In 1568, the Spanish Crown permitted the establishment of the encomienda system that it was abolishing in the New World, effectively legalizing a more oppressive conquest. Although slavery had been abolished in the Spanish Empire, it took around a century for it to be fully abolished in the Philippines due to the pre-colonial alipin system of slavery already existing in the islands.

Due to conflict with the Portuguese, who blockaded Cebu in 1568, and persistent supply shortages, in 1569 Legazpi transferred to Panay and founded a second settlement on the bank of the Panay River. In 1570, Legazpi sent his grandson, Juan de Salcedo, who had arrived from Mexico in 1567, to Mindoro to punish the Muslim Moro pirates who had been plundering Panay villages. Salcedo also destroyed forts on the islands of Ilin and Lubang, respectively south and northwest of Mindoro.

In 1570, Martín de Goiti, having been dispatched by Legazpi to Luzon, conquered Maynila. Legazpi followed with a larger fleet comprising both Spanish and a majority Visayan force, taking a month to bring these forces to bear due to slow speed of local ships. This large force caused the surrender of neighboring Tondo. An attempt by some local leaders, known as the Tondo Conspiracy, to defeat the Spanish was repelled. Legazpi renamed Maynila Nueva Castilla, and declared it the capital of the Philippines, and thus of the rest of the Spanish East Indies, which also encompassed Spanish territories in Asia and the Pacific. Legazpi became the country's first governor-general.