User:Jondel/Spanish imperialism in Asia

==sum==

After the Portugues landed in Ambon Island in 1513, the Spaniards took control of Ternate and Tidore for a short while. The Spaniards claimed and colonized the Philippine archipelago in 1565 led by the counquistador, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi. Friars with soldiers of fortune established forts, churches and settlements all over the country. Roman Catholicism was introduced. The British East India Company captured Manila for a few years but was eventually returned to Spain. Sporadic rebellions occured all over the country.

In the 19th century, a middle class rose together with intelectuals whose ideas promoted national identity and sentiments towards independence. A revolution broke out on a country wide scale, led by the Katipunan which almost quelled the Spanish.

Asian interaction, Buddhist Kingdoms

Chinese merchants arrived in the 8th century. The rise of powerful Buddhist kingdoms precipitated trade with the Indonesian archipelago, India, Japan and Southeast Asia. Factional fighting among the kingdoms of Southeast Asia weakened their strength and thus, making it easy for foreign influences to take root.

In the meantime, the spread of Islam through commerce and proselytism brought traders and missionaries into the region, much like Christianity was spread; Arabs set foot in Mindanao in the 14th century. When the first Europeans arrived, led by Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, there were rajahs as far north as Manila, who historically were tributaries of the kingdoms of Southeast Asia, specifically, the Sri Vishayan Empire. However, the islands were essentially self-sufficient and self-ruling.

Ternate & Tidore

In 1513 the Portuguese landed on Ambon island, whose produce was in great demand. A Portuguese fort and control quickly followed for Ambon, the Uliasser Islands and Banda. The Spaniards took control of Ternate and Tidore. While Roman Catholicism spread quickly among the native population of Ambon, most of the region remained Muslim.

Spanish colonization

The Spanish claimed and colonized the archipelago in 1565 led by the Spanish conquistador, Miguel López de Legaspi who sailed from New Spain (present-day Mexico), arrived and settled in Cebu. Ruy López de Villalobos named the islands of Samar and Leyte Las Islas Filipinas after King Philip II of Spain ; during his failed expedition in 1543. The archipelago was known under various names such as New Castille (Nueva Castilla), Western Islands (Islas del Poniente), the Manilas, the St. Lazarus Islands (Islas de San Lázaro), and others. Ultimately, Filipinas later refered to the entire archipelago.

Augustinian and Franciscan friars marched with Spanish soldiers of fortunes, from island to island establishing forts, searching for golds, spices and preaching Christianity.

Roman Catholicism was immediately introduced and would come to be adopted by the majority of the population, through missionary work, as well as the Laws of the Indies promulgated by King Philip II of Spain. Some resistance came from tribal groups in the highlands and the Muslim separatism, a trend that rages on today. Sporadic rebellions and violence erupted in the coastal populations throughout the next three centuries in response to colonial abuses and lack of reforms. The new territory was ruled from New Spain, and a burgeoning Manila Galleon or Manila-Acapulco galleon trade began in the 16th century.

Spanish challenges

During the colonial period, the natives did not think of themselves as Filipinos. Instead they were referred to as either Indio (lit. Indian; in Spanish synonymous with "indigenous") or the name of their respective ethnolinguistic group. Spanish rule was harsh and this led to several native revolts demanding equal rights. The military and the government would quell uprisings from one region with natives from another in accordance with Roman military principle, Divide et impera. In the story of Diego Silang, for instance, natives from Macabebe and Pampanga were used as soldiers against the rebellion in Ilocos.

Serious challenges to Spanish rule began in 1761 when Spain involved herself in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) declaring war on Great Britain. In 1762, colonial forces of the British East India Company captured Manila after a fierce struggle. In accordance with the 1763 Treaty of Paris ending the war between Great Britain against Spain and France, The Philippines was returned to Spain. Defeat from the hands of British however, inspired resistance from Filipino rebels such as Diego Silang who in 1762 expelled the Spanish from the coastal city of Vigan.

The Spanish, tied down by fighting with the British and the rebels during the Seven Years War were unable to control the raids of the Moros of the south on the Christian communities of the Visayan Islands and Luzon. Thousands of Christian Filipinos were captured as slaves, and Moro raids continued to be a serious problem through the remainder of the century.

The Chinese community, resentful of Spanish discrimination, for the most part enthusiastically supported the British, providing them with laborers and armed men who fought de Anda in Pampanga.

Rizal, the Propaganda Movement, and the Revolution

The islands' economy began to open up during the 19th century. The rise of an ambitious, more nationalistic Filipino middle class, consisting of educated native Filipinos, Philippine-born Spaniards and creoles, Spanish mestizos and an economically entrenched Chinese mestizo community, signaled the end of complete domination by the Spanish. Enlightened by the Propaganda Movement to the injustices of the Spanish colonial government, they clamored for independence. José Rizal, the most famous propagandist, was arrested and executed in 1896 for acts of subversion. Soon after, the Philippine Revolution broke out, pioneered by the KKK (Kataastaasan at Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan) or Katipunan, a secret revolutionary society founded by Andres Bonifacio and later led by Emilio Aguinaldo. The revolution nearly succeeded in ousting the Spanish by 1898.

U.S. Connection

That same year Spain and the United States fought the Spanish-American War, after which Spain ceded the Philippines, Cuba, Guam, and Puerto Rico to the United States for US $20 million through the Treaty of Paris. The Filipinos had by then declared independence, and this led to the Philippine-American War that officially ended in 1901, though sporadic fighting continued until 1913. The islands were made a U.S. territory with little self-government until 1935, when their status was upgraded to that of a U.S. Commonwealth. It was during the Commonwealth years that the Philippines sent to the United States House of Representatives a non-voting Delegate, much the same as the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands currently do. Independence for the Philippines was finally granted in 1946, after the Japanese had occupied the islands during World War II. The following period was marred by post-war problems; civil unrest during the unpopular dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, ousted in 1986; and later, the continuing problem of communist insurgency and Muslim separatism.