Spanish Conquest of the Philippines, 1565-1571



In 1521 Ferdinand Magellan, circumnavigating the world in the name of the King of Spain, had landed in the Philippines - and died while fighting in a local war there. In negotiations with Portugal, Spain claimed the Philippines although the latter were located in the sector allocated to Portugal.
In 1565, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived from Mexico, with 385 men. He conquered the city of Cebu and built the first Spanish settlement on her ruins; he named the island group after King Philip II. of Spain and assumed the position of governor. The islands of Panay and Visaya were conquered. In 1571, with a force of 130 Spaniards and several hundred Visayan auxiliary troops, Martin de Goiti conquered Maynilad (modern Manila), hitherto held by Rajah Soliman. Manila was burnt to the ground, Soliman killed.
The Spanish assumed control of the Philippines without encountering much organized resistance; in many cases Filipino rulers signed documents recognizing Spanish sovereignty..




EXTERNAL
FILES 		Spanish Conquest of the Philippines, by World Studies Imperialism
The Conquest of the North, from Swish of the Kris
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, from Biografias y Vidas, in Spanish
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on March 11th 2004, last revised on November 18th 2004

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