EARLY SPANISH REIGN OVER THE PHILIPPINES: SOCIAL AND SPRITUAL REMODELING

Abstract

This paper aims at examining the character of Spain's policy with reference to the Philippines and its sweeping social and religious consequences in the islands between 1565 and 1700. On their arrival in the Philippines the Spaniards found the people still under a tribal allegiance and under the Spanish influence in the sixteenth century a sudden change was made in the social condition of the islands. In 1572, the “galleon trade” was named for the huge ships that carried the merchandise from all over Asia Macao, Japan, India, Java, Borneo, Indochina, Siam in exchange for silver that passed over the Pacific, especially out of Acapulco and through Manila. Although it is undeniable that there was an important intercontinental trade before 1571, there was no direct trade link between America and Asia and the viceroyalty of New Spain was the principal market for the cargoes of the Manila galleons. In that way, the Spanish crown and its Philippine colony were affected by the cultural rationale of the Chinese, while the Filipinos became formally Christians. However, the cultural meaning that emerged from this multicultural interaction was circumscribed by local cultural logics and the Filipino spiritual as well as the social Hispanization evolved as a mechanism for native adjustment. Using a wide range of research methods including analytical work and a comparative critique of already-written analyses drawing on archival resources, historical analysis, book reviews and articles, the main conclusion of this research paper refers to an indisputable need to interpret the evolution of Philippine culture from a holistic and multicultural perspective

Keywords

• Spain, the Philippines, Hispanization, Manila, folk Chatolicism

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