A History of the Philippines Part 7

The king invited Andres de Urdaneta, who years before had been a captain in the expedition of Loaisa, to accompany the expedition as a guide and director. Urdaneta, after his return from the previous expedition, had renounced military life and had become an Augustinian friar. He was known to be a man of wise judgment, with good knowledge of cosmography, and as a missionary he was able to give to the expedition that religious strength which characterized all Spanish undertakings.

It was Urdaneta's plan to colonize, not the Philippines, but New Guinea; but the Audiencia of Mexico, which had charge of fitting out the expedition, charged it in minute instructions to reach and if possible colonize the Philippines, to trade for spices and to discover the return sailing route back across the Pacific to New Spain. The natives of the islands were to be converted to Christianity, and missionaries were to accompany the expedition. In the quaint language of Fray Gaspar de San Augustin, there were sent "holy guides to unfurl and wave the banners of Christ, even to the remotest portions of the islands, and to drive the devil from the tyrannical possession, which he had held for so many ages, usurping to himself the adoration of those peoples." [25]

The Third Expedition to the Philippines.--The expedition sailed from the port of Natividad, Mexico, November 21, 1564, under the command of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi. The ships followed for a part of the way a course further south than was necessary, and touched at some inhabited islands of Micronesia. About the 22d of January they reached the Ladrones and had some trouble with the natives. They reached the southern end of Samar about February the 13th. Possession of Samar was taken by Legaspi in the name of the king, and small parties were sent both north and south to look for villages of the Filipinos.

A few days later they rounded the southern part of Samar, crossed the strait to the coast of southern Leyte, and the field-marshal, Goyti, discovered the town of Cabalian, and on the 5th of March the fleet sailed to this town. Provisions were scarce on the Spanish vessels, and great difficulty was experienced in getting food from the few natives met in boats or in the small settlements discovered.

Legaspi at Bohol.--About the middle of March the fleet arrived at Bohol, doubtless the southern or eastern sh.o.r.e. While near here Goyti in a small boat captured a Moro prao from Borneo and after a hard fight brought back the Moros as prisoners to Legaspi. There proved to be quite a trade existing between the Moros from Borneo and the natives of Bohol and Mindanao.

Here on Bohol they were able to make friendly terms with the natives, and with Sicatuna, the dato of Bohol, Legaspi performed the ceremony of blood covenant. The Spanish leader and the Filipino chief each made a small cut in his own arm or breast and drank the blood of the other. According to Gaspar de San Augustin, the blood was mixed with a little wine or water and drunk from a goblet. [26] This custom was the most sacred bond of friendship among the Filipinos, and friendship so pledged was usually kept with great fidelity.

Legaspi in Cebu.--On the 27th of April, 1565, Legaspi's fleet reached Cebu. Here, in this beautiful strait and fine anchoring-ground, Magellan's ships had lingered until the death of their leader forty-four years before. A splendid native settlement lined the sh.o.r.e, so Father Chirino tells us, for a distance of more than a league. The natives of Cebu were fearful and greatly agitated, and seemed determined to resist the landing of the Spaniards. But at the first discharge of the guns of the ships, the natives abandoned the sh.o.r.e, and, setting fire to the town, retreated into the jungles and hills. Without loss of life the Spaniards landed, and occupied the harbor and town.

Finding of "the Holy Child of Cebu."--The Spanish soldiers found in one of the houses of the natives a small wooden image of the Child Jesus. A similar image, Pigafetta tells us, he had himself given to a native while in the island with Magellan. It had been preserved by the natives and was regarded by them as an object of veneration. To the pious Spaniards the discovery of this sacred object was hailed as an event of great good fortune. It was taken by the monks, and carried to a shrine especially erected for it. It still rests in the church of the Augustinians, an object of great devotion.

Settlement Made at Cebu.--In honor of this image this first settlement of the Spaniards in the Philippines received the name of "City of the Most Holy Name of Jesus." Here Legaspi established himself, and, by great tact and skill, gradually won the confidence and friendship of the inhabitants. A formal peace was at last concluded in which the dato, Tupas, recognized the sovereignty of Spain; and the people of Cebu and the Spaniards bound themselves to a.s.sist each other against the enemies of either.

They had some difficulty in understanding one another, but the Spaniards had with them a Mohammedan Malay of Borneo, called Cid-Hamal, who had been taken from the East Indies to the Peninsula and thence to Mexico and Legaspi's expedition. The languages of Malaysia and the Philippines are so closely related that this man was able to interpret. Almost immediately, however, the missionaries began the study of the native dialect, and Padre Chirino tells us that Friar Martin Herrada made here the first Filipino vocabulary, and was soon preaching the Gospel to the natives in their own language.

The great difficulty experienced by Legaspi was to procure sufficient food for his expedition. At different times he sent a ship to the nearest islands, and twice his ship went south to Mindanao to procure a cargo of cinnamon to be sent back to New Spain.

Thus month by month the Spaniards gained acquaintance with the beautiful island sea of the archipelago, with its green islands and brilliant sheets of water, its safe harbors and picturesque settlements.

The Bisayans.--In 1569, Legaspi discovered the great island of Panay. Here they were fortunate in securing a great abundance of supplies and the friendship of the natives, who received them well. These beautiful central islands of the Philippines are inhabited by Bisaya. The Spaniards found this tribe tattooing their bodies with ornamental designs, a practice widespread throughout Oceanica, and which still is common among the tribes of northern Luzon. This practice caused the Spaniards to give to the Bisayas the t.i.tle of "Islas de los Pintados" (the Islands of the Painted).

Discovery of the Northern Return Route across the Pacific.--Before the arrival of the expedition in the Philippines, the captain of one of Legaspi's ships, inspired by ungenerous ambition and the hopes of getting a reward, outsailed the rest of the fleet. Having arrived first in the islands, he started at once upon the return voyage. Unlike preceding captains who had tried to return to New Spain by sailing eastward from the islands against both wind and ocean current, this captain sailed northward beyond the trades into the more favorable westerly winds, and found his way back to America and New Spain.

Soon after arriving in the Philippines, Legaspi's instructions required him to dispatch at least one vessel on the return voyage to New Spain. Accordingly on June 1st the San Pablo set sail, carrying about two hundred men, including Urdenata and another friar. This vessel also followed the northern route across the Pacific, and after a voyage of great hardship, occupying three and a half months, it reached the coast of North America at California and followed it southward to Acapulco.

The discovery made by these captains of a favorable route for vessels returning from the islands to New Spain safe from capture by the Portuguese, completed the plans of the Spanish for the occupation of the Philippines. In 1567 another vessel was dispatched by Legaspi and made this voyage successfully.

The sailing of these vessels left Legaspi in Cebu with a colony of only one hundred and fifty Spaniards, poorly provided with resources, to commence the conquest of the Philippines. But he won the friendship and respect of the inhabitants, and in 1568 two galleons with reinforcements arrived from Acapulco. From this time on nearly yearly communication was maintained, fresh troops with munitions and supplies arriving with each expedition.

The First Expedition against the Moro Pirates.--Pirates of Mindoro.--The Spaniards found the Straits of San Bernardino and the Mindoro Sea swarming with the fleets of Mohammedan Malays from Borneo and the Jolo Archipelago. To a race living so continuously upon the water, piracy has always possessed irresistible attractions. In the days of Legaspi, the island of Mindoro had been partially settled by Malays from the south, and many of these settlements were devoted to piracy, preying especially upon the towns on the north coast of Panay. In January, 1570, Legaspi dispatched his grandson, Juan de Salcedo, to punish these marauders. [27]

Capture of Pirate Strongholds.--Salcedo had a force of forty Spaniards and a large number of Bisaya. He landed on the western coast of Mindoro and took the pirate town of Mamburao. The main stronghold of the Moros he found to be on the small island of Lubang, northwest of Mindanao. Here they had three strong forts with high walls, on which were mounted small bra.s.s cannon, or "lantakas." Two of these forts were surrounded by moats. There were several days of fighting before Lubang was conquered. The possession of Lubang brought the Spaniards almost to the entrance of Manila Bay, Meanwhile, a captain, Enriquez de Guzman, had discovered Masbate, Burias, and Ticao, and had landed on Luzon in the neighborhood of Albay, called then, "Italon."

Conquest of the Moro City of Manila.--Expedition from Panay.--Reports had come to Legaspi of an important Mohammedan settlement named "May-nila," on the sh.o.r.e of a great bay, and a Mohammedan chieftain, called Maomat, was procured to guide the Spaniards on their conquest of this region. [28] For this purpose Legaspi sent his field-marshal, Martin de Goiti, with Salcedo, one hundred and twenty Spanish soldiers, and fourteen or fifteen boats filled with Bisayan allies. They left Panay early in May, and, after stopping at Mindoro, came to anchor in Manila Bay, off the mouth of the Pasig River.

The Mohammedan City.--On the south bank of the river was the fortified town of the Mohammedan chieftain, Raja Soliman; on the north bank was the town of Tondo, under the Raja Alcandora, or Lacandola. Morga [29]

tells us that these Mohammedan settlers from the island of Borneo had commenced to arrive on the island only a few years before the coming of the Spaniards. They had settled and married among the Filipino population already occupying Manila Bay, and had introduced some of the forms and practices of the Mohammedan religion. The city of Manila was defended by a fort, apparently on the exact sight of the present fort of Santiago. It was built of the trunks of palms, and had embrasures where were mounted a considerable number of cannon, or lantakas.

Capture of the City.--The natives received the foreigners at first with a show of friendliness, but after they had landed on the banks of the Pasig, Soliman, with a large force, a.s.saulted them. The impetuous Spaniards charged, and carried the fortifications, and the natives fled, setting fire to their settlement. When the fight was over the Spaniards found among the dead the body of a Portuguese artillerist, who had directed the defense. Doubtless he was one who had deserted from the Portuguese garrison far south in the Indian archipelago to cast in his fortunes with the Malays. It being the commencement of the season of rains and typhoons, the Spaniards decided to defer the occupation of Manila, and, after exploring Cavite harbor, they returned to Panay.

A year was spent in strengthening their hold on the Bisayas and in arranging for their conquest of Luzon. On Masbate was placed a friar and six soldiers, so small was the number that could be spared.

Founding of the Spanish City of Manila.--With a force of 280 men Legaspi returned in the spring of 1571 to the conquest of Luzon. It was a bloodless victory. The Filipino rajas declared themselves va.s.sals of the Spanish king, and in the months of May and June the Spaniards established themselves in the present site of the city.

At once Legaspi gave orders for the reconstruction of the fort, the building of a palace, a convent for the Augustinian monks, a church, and 150 houses. The boundaries of this city followed closely the outlines of the Tagalog city "Maynila," and it seems probable that the location of buildings then established have been adhered to until the present time. This settlement appeared so desirable to Legaspi that he at once designated it as the capital of the archipelago. Almost immediately he organized its governing a.s.sembly, or ayuntamiento.

The First Battle on Manila Bay.--In spite of their ready submission, the rajas, Soliman and Lacandola, did not yield their sovereignty without a struggle. They were able to secure a.s.sistance in the Tagalog and Pampanga settlements of Macabebe and Hagonoy. A great fleet of forty war-praos gathered in palm-lined estuaries on the north sh.o.r.e of Manila Bay, and came sweeping down the shallow coast to drive the Spaniards from the island. Against them were sent Goiti and fifty men. The protective mail armor, the heavy swords and lances, the horrible firearms, coupled with the persistent courage and fierce resolution of the Spanish soldier of the sixteenth century, swept back this native armament. The chieftain Soliman was killed.

The Conquest of Central Luzon.--Goiti continued his marching and conquering northward until nearly the whole great plain of central Luzon, that stretches from Manila Bay to the Gulf of Lingayen, lay submissive before him. A little later the raja Lacandola died, having accepted Christian baptism, and the only powerful resistance on the island of Luzon was ended.

Goiti was sent back to the Bisayas, and the command of the army of Luzon fell to Salcedo, the brilliant and daring grandson of Legaspi, at this time only twenty-two years of age. This young knight led his command up the Pasig River. Cainta and Taytay, at that time important Tagalog towns, were conquered, and then the country south of Laguna de Bay. The town of Cainta was fortified and defended by small cannon, and although Salcedo spent three days in negotiations, it was only taken by storm, in which four hundred Filipino men and women perished. [30] From here Salcedo marched over the mountains to the Pacific coast and south into the Camarines, where he discovered the gold mines of Paracale and Mamburao.

At about this time the Spaniards conquered the Cuyos and Calamianes islands and the northern part of Paragua.

Exploration of the Coast of Northern Luzon.--In 1572, Salcedo, with a force of only forty-five men, sailed northward from Manila, landed in Zambales and Pangasinan, and on the long and rich Ilocos coast effected a permanent submission of the inhabitants. He also visited the coast farther north, where the great and fertile valley of the Cagayan, the largest river of the archipelago, reaches to the sea. From here he continued his adventurous journey down the Pacific coast of Luzon to the island of Polillo, and returned by way of Laguna de Bay to Manila.

Death of Legaspi.--He arrived in September, 1572, to find that his grandfather and commander, Legaspi, had died a month before (August 20, 1572). After seven years of labor the conqueror of difficulties was dead, but almost the entire archipelago had been added to the crown of Spain. Three hundred years of Spanish dominion secured little more territory than that traversed and pacified by the conquerors of those early years. In spite of their slender forces, the daring of the Spaniards induced them to follow a policy of widely extending their power, effecting settlements, and enforcing submission wherever rich coasts and the gathering of population attracted them.

Within a single year's time most of the coast country of Luzon had been traversed, important positions seized, and the inhabitants portioned out in encomiendas. On the death of Legaspi, the command fell to Guido de Lavezares.

Reasons for this Easy Conquest of the Philippines.--The explanation of how so small a number of Europeans could so rapidly and successfully reduce to subjection the inhabitants of a territory like the Philippines, separated into so many different islands, is to be found in several things.

First.--The expedition had a great leader, one of those knights combining sagacity with resolution, who glorify the brief period when Spanish prestige was highest. No policy could ever be successful in the Philippines which did not depend for its strength upon giving a measure of satisfaction to the Filipino people. Legaspi did this. He appears to have won the native datos, treating them with consideration, and holding out to them the expectations of a better and more prosperous era, which the sovereignty of the Spaniard would bring. Almost from the beginning, the natives of an island already reduced flocked to his standard to a.s.sist in the conquest of another. The small forces of the Spanish soldiers were augmented by hundreds of Filipino allies.

Second.--Another reason is found in the wonderful courage and great fighting power of the Spanish soldier. Each man, splendidly armored and weaponed, deadly with either sword or spear, carrying in addition the arquebus, the most efficient firearm of the time, was equal in combat to many natives who might press upon him with their naked bodies and inferior weapons.

Third.--Legaspi was extremely fortunate in his captains, who included such old campaigners as the field-marshal Martin de Goiti, who had been to the Philippines before with Villalobos, and such gallant youths as Salcedo, one of the most attractive military figures in all Spanish history.

Fourth.--In considering this Spanish conquest, we must understand that the islands were far more spa.r.s.ely inhabited than they are to-day. The Bisayan islands, the rich Camarines, the island of Luzon, had, in Legaspi's time, only a small fraction of their present great populations. This population was not only small, but it was also extremely disunited. Not only were the great tribes separated by the differences of language, but, as we have already seen, each tiny community was practically independent, and the power of a dato very limited. There were no great princes, with large forces of fighting retainers whom they could call to arms, such as the Portuguese had encountered among the Malays south in the Moluccas.

Fifth.--But certainly one of the greatest factors in the yielding of the Filipino to the Spaniard was the preaching of the missionary friars. No man is so strong with an unenlightened and barbarous race as he who claims power from G.o.d. And the preaching of the Catholic faith, with its impressive and dramatic services, its holy sacraments, its power to arrest the attention and to admit at once the rude mind into the circle of its ministry, won the heart of the Filipino. Without doubt he was ready and eager for a loftier and truer religious belief and ceremonial. There was no powerful native priesthood to oppose the introduction of Christianity. The preaching of the faith and the baptism of converts proceeded almost as rapidly as the marching of Salcedo's soldiers.

The Dangers of the Spanish Occupation.--Such conditions a.s.sured the success of the Spanish occupation, provided the small colony could be protected from outside attacks. But even from the beginning the position of this little band of conquerors was perilous. Their numbers were small and of necessity much scattered, and their only source of succor lay thousands of miles away, across the greatest body of water on the earth, in a land itself a colony newly wrested from the hand of the Indian. Across the narrow waters of the China Sea, only a few days' distant, even in the slow-sailing junks, lay the teeming sh.o.r.es of the most populous country in the world, in those days not averse to foreign conquest.

Attempt of the Chinese under Limahong to Capture Manila.--Activity of the Southern Chinese.--It was from the Chinese that the first heavy blow fell. The southeastern coast of China, comprising the provinces of Kw.a.n.gtung and f.u.kien, has always exhibited a restlessness and pa.s.sion for emigration not displayed by other parts of the country. From these two provinces, through the ports of Amoy and Canton, have gone those Chinese traders and coolies to be found in every part of the East and many other countries of the world. Two hundred years before the arrival of the Spaniards, Chinese junks traversed the straits and seas and visited regularly the coast of Mindanao.

Limahong's Expedition to the Philippines.--This coast of China has always been notorious for its piracy. The distance of the capital at Peking and the weakness of the provincial viceroys have made impossible its suppression. It was one of these bold filibusters of the China Sea, called Limahong, who two years after the death of Legaspi attempted the conquest of the Philippines. The stronghold of this corsair was the island of Pehon, where he fortified himself and developed his power.

Here, reports of the prosperous condition of Manila reached him, and he prepared a fleet of sixty-two war-junks, with four thousand soldiers and sailors. The accounts even state that a large number of women and artisans were taken on board to form the nucleus of the settlement, as soon as the Spaniards should be destroyed. In the latter part of November, 1574, this powerful fleet came sweeping down the western coast of Luzon and on the 29th gathered in the little harbor of Mariveles, at the entrance to Manila Bay. Eight miles south of Manila is the town of Paranaque, on an estuary which affords a good landing-place for boats entering from the bay. Here on the night following, Limahong put ash.o.r.e six hundred men, under one of his generals, Sioco, who was a j.a.panese.

The Attack upon Manila.--From here they marched rapidly up the beach and fell furiously upon the city. Almost their first victim was the field-marshal Goiti. The fort of Manila was at this date a weak affair, without ditches or escarpment, and it was here that the struggle took place. The Spaniards, although greatly outnumbered, were able to drive back the Chinese; but they themselves lost heavily. Limahong now sent ash.o.r.e heavy reinforcements, and prepared to overwhelm the garrison. The Spaniards were saved from defeat by the timely arrival of Salcedo with fifty musketeers. From his station at Vigan he had seen the sails of Limahong's fleet, cruising southward along the Luzon coast, and, suspecting that so great an expedition could have no other purpose than the capture of Manila, he embarked in seven small boats, and reached the city in six days, just in time to partic.i.p.ate in the furious battle between the Spaniards and the entire forces of the Chinese pirate. The result was the complete defeat of the Chinese, who were driven back upon their boats at Paranaque.

The Result of Limahong's Expedition.--Although defeated in his attack on Manila, Limahong was yet determined on a settlement in Luzon, and, sailing northward, he landed in Pangasinan and began constructing fortifications at the mouth of the river Lingayen. The Spaniards did not wait for him to strengthen himself and to dispute with them afresh for the possession of the island, but organized in March an expedition of two hundred and fifty Spaniards and fifteen hundred Filipinos under Salcedo. They landed suddenly in the Gulf of Lingayen, burned the entire fleet of the Chinese, and scattered a part of the forces in the surrounding mountains. The rest, though hemmed in by the Spaniards, were able to construct small boats, in which they escaped from the islands.

Thus ended this formidable attack, which threatened for a time to overthrow the power of Spain in the East. It was the beginning, however, of important relations with China. Before Limahong's escape a junk arrived from the viceroy of f.u.kien, pet.i.tioning for the delivery of the Chinese pirate. Two Augustinian friars accompanied his junk back to China, eager for such great fields of missionary conquest. They carried letters from Lavezares inviting Chinese friendship and intercourse.

Beginning of a New Period of Conquest.--In the spring of 1576, Salcedo died at Vigan, at the age of twenty-seven. With his death may be said to close the first period of the history in the Philippines,--that of the Conquest, extending from 1565 to 1576. For the next twenty-five years the ambitions of the Spaniards were not content with the exploration of this archipelago, but there were greater and more striking conquests, to which the minds of both soldier and priest aspired.

Despite the settlement with Portugal, the rich Spice Islands to the south still attracted them, and there were soon revealed the fertile coasts of Siam and Cambodia, the great empire of China, the beautiful island of Formosa, and the j.a.panese archipelago. These, with their great populations and wealth, were more alluring fields than the poor and spa.r.s.ely populated coasts of the Philippines. So, for the next quarter of a century, the policy of the Spaniards in the Philippines was not so much to develop these islands themselves, as to make them a center for the commercial and spiritual conquest of the Orient. [31]

A Treaty with the Chinese.--The new governor arrived in the Islands in August, 1575. He was Dr. Francisco La-Sande. In October there returned the amba.s.sadors who had been sent to China by Lavezares. The viceroy of f.u.kien had received them with much ceremony. He had not permitted the friars to remain, but had forwarded the governor's letter to the Chinese emperor. In February following came a Chinese emba.s.sy, granting a port of the empire with which the Spaniards could trade. This port, probably, was Amoy, which continued to be the chief port of communication with China to the present day.

It was undoubtedly commerce and not the missionaries that the Chinese desired. Two Augustinians attempted to return with this emba.s.sy to China, but the Chinese on leaving the harbor of Manila landed on the coast of Zambales, where they whipped the missionaries, killed their servants and interpreter, and left the friars bound to trees, whence they were rescued by a small party of Spaniards who happened to pa.s.s that way.