Editing History of the Philippines (section)

=== Spanish settlement during the 16th and 17th centuries ===
[[File:Unknown artist - Manila canal 19th C watercolour Philippines IMG 9389 Museum of Asian Civilisation.jpg|thumb|Spanish era Manila canal]]
The "Memoria de las Encomiendas en las Islas" of 1591, just twenty years after the conquest of Luzon, reveals a remarkable progress in the work of colonialization and the spread of Christianity.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sánchez-Jiménez |first1=David |title=La hispanización y la identidad hispana en Filipinas |journal=Publications and Research |date=October 1, 2010 |url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/ny_pubs/221/ |archive-date=September 14, 2021 |access-date=September 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210914193646/https://academicworks.cuny.edu/ny_pubs/221/ |url-status=live }}</ref> A cathedral was built in the city of Manila with an episcopal palace, Augustinian, Dominican and Franciscan monasteries and a Jesuit house. The king maintained a hospital for the Spanish settlers and there was another hospital for the natives run by the Franciscans. In order to defend the settlements the Spaniards established in the Philippines, a network of military fortresses called "[[Presidio]]s" were constructed and officered by the Spaniards, and sentried by Latin-Americans and Filipinos, across the archipelago, to protect it from foreign nations such as the Portuguese, British and Dutch as well as raiding Muslims and [[Wokou]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://filipinokastila.tripod.com/fort.html/|title=Fortress of Empire, Rene Javellana, S. J. 1997|access-date=June 11, 2017|archive-date=July 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170715191408/http://filipinokastila.tripod.com/fort.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Manila garrison was composed of roughly four hundred Spanish soldiers and the area of [[Intramuros]] as well as its surroundings, were initially settled by 1200 Spanish families.<ref>{{cite journal |url = http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38269/38269-h/38269-h.htm#pb139 |title = A History of the Philippines |last1 = Barrows |first1 = David |journal = Guttenburg Free Online E-books |year = 2014 |volume = 1 |page = 179 |quote = Within the walls, there were some six hundred houses of a private nature, most of them built of stone and tile, and an equal number outside in the suburbs, or "arrabales," all occupied by Spaniards ("todos son vivienda y poblacion de los Españoles"). This gives some twelve hundred Spanish families or establishments, exclusive of the religious, who in Manila numbered at least one hundred and fifty, the garrison, at certain times, about four hundred trained Spanish soldiers who had seen service in Holland and the Low Countries, and the official classes. |archive-date = December 6, 2016 |access-date = February 2, 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161206195339/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38269#pb139 |url-status = live }}</ref> In [[Cebu City]], at the Visayas, the settlement received a total of 2,100 soldier-settlers from [[New Spain]].<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.philippine-history.org/spanish-expeditions.htm
| title = Spanish Expeditions to the Philippines
| publisher = PHILIPPINE-HISTORY.ORG
| date = 2005
| access-date = March 24, 2017
| archive-date = August 31, 2019
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190831163553/http://www.philippine-history.org/spanish-expeditions.htm
| url-status = live
}}</ref> At the immediate south of Manila, Mexicans were present at Ermita<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.livinginthephilippines.com/travel-guides/getting-to-philippines/979-tourist-attraction-city-of-manila|title=West Coast Of The Island Of Luzon &#124; Tourist Attractions|first1=Don|last1=Herrington|website=www.livinginthephilippines.com|access-date=February 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161206200644/http://www.livinginthephilippines.com/travel-guides/getting-to-philippines/979-tourist-attraction-city-of-manila|archive-date=December 6, 2016|url-status=usurped}}</ref> and at [[Cavite City|Cavite]]<ref>Galaup "Travel Accounts" page 375.</ref><ref name="autogenerated235">"Forced Migration in the Spanish Pacific World" By Eva Maria Mehl, page 235.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url = http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38269/38269-h/38269-h.htm#pb139 |title = A History of the Philippines |last1 = Barrows |first1 = David |journal = Guttenburg Free Online E-books |year = 2014 |volume = 1 |page = 229 |quote = Reforms under General Arandía.—The demoralization and misery with which Obando's rule closed were relieved somewhat by the capable government of Arandía, who succeeded him. Arandía was one of the few men of talent, energy, and integrity who stood at the head of affairs in these islands during two centuries. He reformed the greatly disorganized military force, establishing what was known as the "Regiment of the King," {{strong|made up very largely of Mexican soldiers}} [note: emphasis added]. He also formed a corps of artillerists composed of Filipinos. These were regular troops, who received from Arandía sufficient pay to enable them to live decently and like an army. |archive-date = December 6, 2016 |access-date = February 2, 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161206195339/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38269#pb139 |url-status = live }}</ref> where they were stationed as sentries. In addition, men conscripted from [[Peru]], were also sent to settle [[Zamboanga City]] in Mindanao, to wage war upon Muslim pirates.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Blair|first1=Emma Helen|url=https://archive.org/details/philippineisland25blai|title=The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898|last2=Robertson|first2=James Alexander|publisher=Arthur H. Clark Company|year=1905|isbn=|volume=25|location=Cleveland, Ohio|pages=150–177}}</ref> These Peruvian soldiers who settled in Zamboanga were led by Don [[Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera]] who was governor of [[Panama]].<ref name= "Peru">[http://www.zamboanga.com/html/history_1634_moro_attacks.htm "SECOND BOOK OF THE SECOND PART OF THE CONQUESTS OF THE FILIPINAS ISLANDS, AND CHRONICLE OF THE RELIGIOUS OF OUR FATHER, ST. AUGUSTINE"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508103044/https://www.zamboanga.com/html/history_1634_moro_attacks.htm |date=May 8, 2021 }} (Zamboanga City History)
"He (Governor Don Sebastían Hurtado de Corcuera) brought a great reënforcements of soldiers, many of them from Perú, as he made his voyage to Acapulco from that kingdom."</ref> He also used Panamanians, including even some Genoese from [[Panama Viejo]] descended from colonists at the [[Republic of Genoa]], a nation once active in the [[Crusades]].<ref>[http://www.panamaviejo.org/monumentos/casalos_genoveses.asp Casa de los Genoveses- Sitio Arqueológico de Panamá Viejo<!-- Titolo generato automaticamente -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205022307/http://www.panamaviejo.org/monumentos/casalos_genoveses.asp |data=5 febbraio 2012 }}</ref> There were also communities of Spanish-Mestizos that developed in [[Iloilo City|Iloilo]],<ref>[http://ilongo.weebly.com/iloilo-history-part-5.html Quinze Ans de Voyage Autor de Monde Vol. II ( 1840)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009181632/http://ilongo.weebly.com/iloilo-history-part-5.html |date=October 9, 2014}}. Retrieved July 25, 2014, from Institute for Research of Iloilo Official Website.</ref> [[Negros Island|Negros]]<ref>"The Philippine Archipelago" By Yves Boquet Page 262</ref> and [[Vigan]].<ref name="IlocosHeritage">{{cite book|last1=De la Torre|first1=Visitacion|title=The Ilocos Heritage|date=2006|publisher=Tower Book House|location=Makati City|isbn=978-971-91030-9-7|page=2}}</ref>

[[File:Quiazonfamily1880.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Principalía]] family by Simón Flores y de la Rosa, uncle of painter [[Fabián de la Rosa]]]]
Interactions between native Filipinos{{refn|name=filipinoterm|During the Spanish colonial period, the terms ''Insulares'' and  ''Filipino'' generally referred to full-blooded Spaniards who had been born in the Philippines, distinguishing them from Spaniards born in Spain who were termed ''Peninsulares''. The first documented use of the tern ''Filipino'' to refer to persons of Philippine ethnicity was in the 19th century poem ''[[A la juventud filipina]]'' by [[Jose Rizal]].{{sfn|Duka|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4wk8yqCEmJUC&dq=filipino&pg=PA72 72]}}}} and immigrant Spaniards plus the Latin-Americans and their Spanish-Mestizo descendants eventually caused the formation of a new language, [[Chavacano]], a creole of [[Mexican Spanish]].<ref>{{harvnb|Park|2022|p={{page needed|date=September 2022}}}} "For this, Bernal borrows a premise offered by linguist Keith Whinnom in Spanish Contact Vernaculars in the Philippine Islands (1956), namely that "Mexican Spanish" is "the basis of the vocabulary of the contact vernaculars." Quoted from León-Portilla, "Algunos nahuatlismos en el castellano de Filipinas." León-Portilla, in turn, affirms that he constructs his short reflection from Retana's Diccionario de Filipinismos (1923).</ref> Meanwhile, in the suburb of Tondo, there was a convent run by Franciscan friars and another by the Dominicans that offered Christian education to the Chinese converted to Christianity. The same report reveals that in and around Manila were collected 9,410 tributes, indicating a population of about 30,640 who were under the instruction of thirteen missionaries (ministers of doctrine), apart from the monks in monasteries. In the former province of Pampanga the population estimate was 74,700 and 28 missionaries. In Pangasinan 2,400 people with eight missionaries. In Cagayan and islands Babuyanes 96,000 people but no missionaries. In La Laguna 48,400 people with 27 missionaries. In Bicol and Camarines Catanduanes islands 86,640 people with fifteen missionaries. Based on the tribute counts, the total founding population of Spanish-Philippines was 667,612 people,<ref>The Unlucky Country: The Republic of the Philippines in the 21St Century By Duncan Alexander McKenzie (Page xii)</ref> of which: 20,000 were Chinese migrant traders,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url={{Google books|plainurl=yes|id=7QEjPVyd9YMC|page=751|text=In 1893, the Qing rulers officially withdrew the migration ban}}|title=History|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures around the World, Volume 1|editor1=Carol R. Ember |editor2=Melvin Ember |editor3=Ian A. Skoggard |date=2005 |publisher= Springer}}</ref> 15,600 were Latino soldier-colonists sent from Peru and Mexico (In the 1600s),<ref>Stephanie Mawson, 'Between Loyalty and Disobedience: The Limits of Spanish Domination in the Seventeenth Century Pacific' (Univ. of Sydney M.Phil. thesis, 2014), appendix 3.</ref> Immigrants included 3,000 Japanese residents,<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Google map of Paco district of Manila, Philippines |location=Philippines |title=Japanese Christian |url=http://ph.pagenation.com/mnl/Paco_120.9997_14.5808.map |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100507124349/http://ph.pagenation.com/mnl/Paco_120.9997_14.5808.map |archive-date=May 7, 2010}}</ref> and 600 pure Spaniards from Europe.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.uco.es/aaf/garcia-abasolo/files/63df3.pdf|title=Spanish Settlers in the Philippines (1571–1599) By Antonio Garcia-Abasalo|access-date=August 8, 2018|archive-date=January 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117225634/https://www.uco.es/aaf/garcia-abasolo/files/63df3.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Of the 600 Spaniards from Europe, two hundred and thirty-six of them were given [[encomiendas]] and were ennobled, as they scattered across the many provinces of the Philippines to serve as administrators.<ref>Relacion de las Encomiendas existentes en Filipinas el dia 31 de Mayo de 1591. in Retana: Archivo del Bibliofilo Filipino, iv, pp. 39-112.</ref> There was also a large but unknown number of [[Indian Filipinos]] as majority of the slaves imported into the archipelago were from [[Bengal]] or Southern [[India]],<ref>[https://repository.arizona.edu/bitstream/handle/10150/333213/azu_etd_13473_sip1_m.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y&title=repository.arizona.edu Peasants, Servants, and Sojourners: Itinerant Asians in Colonial New Spain, 1571–1720 By Furlong, Matthew J.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429034134/https://repository.arizona.edu/bitstream/handle/10150/333213/azu_etd_13473_sip1_m.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y&title=repository.arizona.edu |date=April 29, 2022 }} "Slaves purchased by the indigenous elites, Spanish and Hokkiens of the colony seemed drawn most often from South Asia, particularly Bengal and South India, and less so, from other sources, such as East Africa, Brunei, Makassar, and Java..." Chapter 2 "Rural Ethnic Diversity" Page 164 (Translated from: "Inmaculada Alva Rodríguez, Vida municipal en Manila (siglos xvi–xvii) (Córdoba: Universidad de Córdoba, 1997), 31, 35–36."</ref> adding [[Dravidian language|Dravidian]] speaking South Indians and [[Indo-European language|Indo-European]] speaking [[Demographics of Bangladesh|Bangladeshis]] into the ethnic mix, and the rest were Malays and Negritos. They were under the care of 140 missionaries, of which 79 were Augustinians, nine Dominicans and 42 Franciscans.<ref>Retana, "Relacion de las Encomiendas existentes en Filipinas el dia 31 de 1.591" Archivo del Bibliófilo Filipino IV, p 39–112</ref> Adding during the Spanish evacuation of [[Ternate, Indonesia]], the 200 families of mixed Mexican-Filipino-Spanish and Moluccan-Portuguese descent who had ruled over the briefly Christianized [[Sultanate of Ternate]] (They later reverted to Islam) were relocated to [[Ternate, Cavite]] and Ermita, Manila.<ref>Zamboangueño Chavacano: Philippine Spanish Creole or Filipinized Spanish Creole? By Tyron Judes D. Casumpang (Page 3)</ref> and they were presaged by their previous ruler, Sultan Said Din Burkat who was enslaved but eventually converted to Christianity and was freed after being deported to [[Manila]].<ref>Bartolome Juan Leonardy y de Argensola, Conquistas de las islas Molucas (Madrid: Alonso Martin, 1909) pp. 351–8; Cesar Majul, Muslims in the Philippines (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1973) pp. 119–20; Hal, History of Southeast Asia, pp. 249–50.</ref>

[[File:Gobernadorcillo de Naturales by José Honorato Lozano.jpg|thumb|upright|left|A {{lang|es|[[Gobernadorcillo]]}} de Naturales comparable to a modern-day mayor. Mostly of Indio descent.]]
The islands were fragmented and [[Demographics of the Philippines#Population history|sparsely populated]]<ref>{{cite journal |url = http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38269/38269-h/38269-h.htm#pb139 |title = A History of the Philippines |last1 = Barrows |first1 = David |journal = Guttenburg Free Online E-books |year = 2014 |volume = 1 |page = 139 |quote = Fourth.—In considering this Spanish conquest, we must understand that the islands were far more sparsely 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. |archive-date = December 6, 2016 |access-date = February 2, 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161206195339/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38269#pb139 |url-status = live }}</ref> due to constant inter-kingdom wars<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Reyeg |first1=Fernardo |last2=Marsh |first2=Ned |date=December 2011 |title=The Filipino Way of War: Irregular Warfare Through The Centuries |type=Post Graduate |chapter=2 |publisher=Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, California |page=21 |chapter-url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a556504.pdf |access-date=February 15, 2021 |archive-date=April 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415183151/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a556504.pdf |url-status=live |hdl=10945/10681 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> and natural disasters (as the country is on the [[Typhoon#Frequency|Typhoon belt]] and [[Pacific Ring of Fire]]),<ref name="jstor.org"/> which made it easy for Spanish invasion. The Spanish then brought political unification to most of the Philippine archipelago via the conquest of the various small maritime states although they were unable to fully incorporate parts of the [[sultanates]] of [[Mindanao]] and the areas where the ethnic groups and highland plutocracy of the animist [[Ifugao]] of Northern [[Luzon]] were established. The Spanish introduced elements of [[Western culture|western civilization]] such as the [[code of law]], western printing and the [[Gregorian calendar]] alongside new food resources such as maize, [[pineapple]] and chocolate from Latin America.<ref>{{cite book| author=Spain|title=Recopilación de las Leyes de Indias. Titulo Quince. De las Audiencias y Chancillerias Reales de las Indias| year=1680| id=[http://www.congreso.gob.pe/ntley/Imagenes/LeyIndia/0102015.pdf Spanish-language facsimile of the original]| location=Madrid}}</ref>

[[Philippines education during Spanish rule|Education]] played a major role in the socio-economic transformation of the archipelago. The oldest universities, [[college]]s, and [[vocational schools]] and the first modern [[state school|public education]] system in Asia were all created during the Spanish colonial period, and by the time Spain was replaced by the United States as the colonial power, Filipinos were among the most educated subjects in all of Asia.<ref>{{Harvnb|Coleman|2009|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=7oiTkrg9tfUC&pg=PA17 17–59]}}</ref> The Jesuits founded the Colegio de Manila in 1590, which later became the [[Universidad de San Ignacio]], a royal and pontifical university. They also founded the [[Colegio de San Ildefonso]] on August 1, 1595. After the [[Suppression of the Society of Jesus#Philippines|expulsion of the Society of Jesus]] in 1768, the management of the Jesuit schools passed to other parties. On April 28, 1611, through the initiative of Bishop Miguel de Benavides, the [[University of Santo Tomas]] was founded in Manila. The Jesuits also founded the Colegio de San José (1601) and took over the Escuela Municipal, later to be called the [[Ateneo de Manila University]] (1859). All institutions offered courses included not only religious topics but also [[Science and technology in the Philippines|Science]] subjects such as physics, chemistry, natural history and mathematics. The University of Santo Tomás, for example, started by teaching theology, philosophy and humanities and the Faculty of Jurisprudence and Canonical Law, together with the schools of medicine and pharmacy were opened during the 18th century.

[[File:Panares Ancestral House.jpg|thumb|''[[Bahay na bato]]'', a typical Filipino urban house during the colonial era]]
Outside the tertiary institutions, the efforts of missionaries were in no way limited to religious instruction but also geared towards promoting social and economic advancement of the islands. They cultivated into the natives their taste for music and taught Spanish language to children.<ref>{{cite book| author=Antonio de Morga|title=Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas | year=1609 | publisher=Fondo de Cultura| isbn=978-0-521-01035-1|title-link=Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas}}</ref> They also introduced advances in rice agriculture, brought from America maize and cocoa and developed the farming of indigo, coffee and sugar cane. The only commercial plant introduced by a government agency was the plant of tobacco.

Church and state were inseparably linked in Spanish policy, with the state assuming responsibility for religious establishments.<ref name="uslc-4">{{Harvnb|Dolan|1991-4}}</ref> One of Spain's objectives in colonialization of the Philippines was the conversion of the local population to Roman Catholicism. The work of conversion was facilitated by the disunity and insignificance of other organized religions, except for Islam, which was still predominant in the southwest.<ref name="uslc-4" /> The pageantry of the church had a wide appeal, reinforced by the incorporation of indigenous social customs into religious observances. The eventual outcome was a new Roman Catholic majority, from which the Muslims of western Mindanao and the upland tribal and animistic peoples of Luzon remained detached and alienated (Ethnic groups such as the Ifugaos of the Cordillera region and the Mangyans of Mindoro).

[[File:Travel through Calle Crisologo.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Villa Fernandina de [[Vigan]] founded by the Mexican conquistador [[Juan de Salcedo]].]]
At the lower levels of administration, the Spanish built on traditional village organization by co-opting local leaders. This system of indirect rule helped create an indigenous upper class, called the ''principalía'', who had local wealth, high status, and other privileges. This perpetuated an [[oligarchy|oligarchic]] system of local control. Among the most significant changes under Spanish rule was that the indigenous idea of communal use and ownership of land was replaced with the concept of private ownership and the conferring of titles on members of the ''principalía''.<ref name="uslc-4" />

Around 1608 [[William Adams (sailor, born 1564)|William Adams]], an English navigator, contacted the interim governor of the Philippines, [[Rodrigo de Vivero y Velasco]], on behalf of [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], who wished to establish direct trade contacts with [[New Spain]]. Friendly letters were exchanged, officially starting relations between Japan and New Spain. From 1565 to 1821, the Philippines was governed as a territory of the [[Viceroyalty of New Spain]] from Mexico, via the ''Royal [[Audiencia Real|Audiencia]]'' of Manila, and administered directly from Spain from 1821 after the [[Mexican War of Independence|Mexican revolution]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Shafer|1958|p={{page needed|date=September 2022}}}}</ref> until 1898.

The [[Manila galleons]], were constructed in [[Bicol Region|Bicol]] and [[Cavite]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.themua.org/collections/files/original/34a74c76efdb951655b9bde1213812dc.pdf|title=Astilleros: the Spanish shipyards of Sorsogon|website=Mary Jane Louise A. Bolunia|publisher=Archaeology Division, National Museum of the Philippines|access-date=October 26, 2015|archive-date=April 13, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413233643/http://www.themua.org/collections/files/original/34a74c76efdb951655b9bde1213812dc.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The Manila galleons were accompanied with a large naval escort as it traveled to and from Manila and [[Acapulco]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Williams, Glyn |year=1999 |title=The Prize of All the Oceans |publisher=Viking |location=New York |isbn=978-0-670-89197-9 |page=4}}</ref> The galleons sailed once or twice a year, between the 16th and 19th centuries.<ref>Schurz, William Lytle. The Manila Galleon, 1939. p. 193.</ref> The Manila Galleons brought with them goods,<ref>1996. "Silk for Silver: Manila-Macao Trade in the 17th Century." ''Philippine Studies'' 44, 1:52–68.</ref> settlers<ref name="autogenerated235"/> and military reinforcements<ref>[https://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas20/catalogo/description/431623 "Orden de enviar hombres a Filipinas desde México" (Consejo de Indias España)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250104042736/https://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas20/catalogo/description/431623 |date=January 4, 2025 }}(English Translation from Spanish original: "Royal Decree to the Count of Coruña, Viceroy of New Spain, informing him that, according to information from Captain Gabriel de Rivera who came from the Philippines, on a journey made by Governor Gonzalo Ronquillo to the Cagayan River some Spaniards were lost, and that to make up for this lack and populate these islands it was necessary to take up to two hundred men to them. The viceroy is ordered to attend to this request and send them from New Spain, in addition to another two hundred that were entrusted to him from Lisbon."</ref> destined for the Philippines, from [[Latin American Asian|Latin America]].<ref name="gutenberg1">[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16086/16086-h/16086-h.htm Letter from Fajardo to Felipe III From Manila, August 15 1620.(From the Spanish Archives of the Indies)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180204103029/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16086/16086-h/16086-h.htm |date=February 4, 2018 }}("The infantry does not amount to two hundred men, in three companies. If these men were that number, and Spaniards, it would not be so bad; but, although I have not seen them, because they have not yet arrived here, I am told that they are, as at other times, for the most part boys, mestizos, and mulattoes, with some Indians (Native Americans). There is no little cause for regret in the great sums that reënforcements of such men waste for, and cost, your Majesty. I cannot see what betterment there will be until your Majesty shall provide it, since I do not think, that more can be done in Nueva Spaña, although the viceroy must be endeavoring to do so, as he is ordered.")</ref> The reverse voyage also brought Asian commercial products<ref>Fish, Shirley. The Manila-Acapulco Galleons: The Treasure Ships of the Pacific, with an Annotated List of the Transpacific Galleons 1565–1815. Central Milton Keynes, England: Authorhouse 2011.</ref> and [[Filipino Mexicans|immigrants]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Seijas|first1=Tatiana|title=Asian Slaves in Colonial Mexico: From Chinos to Indians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d-DGAwAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-95285-9}}<br />{{cite web |url=https://15minutehistory.org/2016/01/13/episode-76-the-trans-pacific-slave-trade/ |title=Episode 76: The Trans-Pacific Slave Trade |last1=Rose |first1=Christopher |date=January 13, 2016 |website=15 Minute History |publisher=University of Texas at Austin |access-date=January 13, 2016 |archive-date=July 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719171701/https://15minutehistory.org/2016/01/13/episode-76-the-trans-pacific-slave-trade/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> to the western side of the Americas.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://personal.anderson.ucla.edu/eloisa.borah/chronology.pdf |title=Chronology of Filipinos in America Pre-1989 |author=Eloisa Gomez Borah |year=1997 |website=Anderson School of Management |publisher=[[University of California, Los Angeles]] |access-date=February 25, 2012 |archive-date=February 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208123432/http://personal.anderson.ucla.edu/eloisa.borah/chronology.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Legally, the Manila Galleons were only allowed to trade between Mexico and the Philippines; however, illegal trade, commerce, and inter-migration, were happening in secret between the Philippines and other would-be nations in the Spanish Americas due to the tremendous demand and profitability of Asian products in Latin America and this clandestine defiance of Spanish colonial decrees forbidding trade, continued all throughout the term of the [[Manila Galleons]].<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1515/sai-2022-0008 | title=El Galeón de Manila y el comercio de Asia: Encuentro de culturas y sistemas | journal=Interacción Sino-Iberoamericana / Sino-Iberoamerican Interaction | date=March 2022 | volume=2 | issue=1 | pages=85–109 | last1=Villamar | first1=Cuauhtemoc | s2cid=249318172 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ style="text-align: left;" |Geographic distribution and year of settlement of the Latin-American immigrant soldiers assigned to the Philippines in the 1600s.<ref name= "Mexicans" >[https://academic.oup.com/past/article/232/1/87/1752419 Convicts or Conquistadores? Spanish Soldiers in the Seventeenth-Century Pacific By Stephanie J. Mawson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180603111934/https://academic.oup.com/past/article/232/1/87/1752419 |date=June 3, 2018 }} AGI, México, leg. 25, núm. 62; AGI, Filipinas, leg. 8, ramo 3, núm. 50; leg. 10, ramo 1, núm. 6; leg. 22, ramo 1, núm. 1, fos. 408 r –428 v; núm. 21; leg. 32, núm. 30; leg. 285, núm. 1, fos. 30 r –41 v .</ref>
|-
! '''Location'''
! 1603
! 1636
! 1642
! 1644
! 1654
! 1655
! 1670
! 1672
|-
|[[Manila]]<ref name= "Mexicans" />
|900
|446
|—
|407
|821
|799
|708
|667
|-
|[[Fort Santiago]]<ref name= "Mexicans" />
|—
|22
|—
|—
|50
|—
|86
|81
|-
|[[Cavite City|Cavite]]<ref name= "Mexicans" />
|—
|70
|—
|—
|89
|—
|225
|211
|-
|[[Cagayan]]<ref name= "Mexicans" />
|46
|80
|—
|—
|—
|—
|155
|155
|-
|[[Calamianes]]<ref name= "Mexicans" />
|—
|—
|—
|—
|—
|—
|73
|73
|-
|[[Caraga]]<ref name= "Mexicans" />
|—
|45
|—
|—
|—
|—
|81
|81
|-
|[[Cebu City|Cebu]]<ref name= "Mexicans" />
|86
|50
|—
|—
|—
|—
|135
|135
|-
|[[Taiwan|Formosa]]<ref name= "Mexicans" />
|—
|180
|—
|—
|—
|—
|—
|—
|-
|[[Moluccas]]<ref name= "Mexicans" />
|80
|480
|507
|—
|389
|—
|—
|—
|-
|[[Iloilo City|Otón]]<ref name= "Mexicans" />
|66
|50
|—
|—
|—
|—
|169
|169
|-
|[[Zamboanga City|Zamboanga]]<ref name= "Mexicans" />
|—
|210
|—
|—
|184
|—
|—
|—
|-
|Other<ref name= "Mexicans" />
|255
|—
|—
|—
|—
|—
|—
|—
|-
|<ref name= "Mexicans" />
|—
|—
|—
|—
|—
|—
|—
|—
|-
|Total Reinforcements<ref name= "Mexicans" />
|'''1,533'''
|'''1,633'''
|'''2,067'''
|'''2,085'''
|'''n/a'''
|'''n/a'''
|'''1,632'''
|'''1,572'''
|-
|}

The Spanish military fought off various indigenous revolts and several external challenges, especially from the British, Dutch, and Portuguese and Chinese pirates. Roman Catholic missionaries converted most of the lowland inhabitants to Christianity and founded schools, universities, and hospitals. In 1863 a Spanish decree introduced education, establishing public schooling in Spanish.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/92039812/|title=Philippines : a country study|via=The Library of Congress|publisher=Federal Research Division, Library of Congress|year=1993|isbn=0-8444-0748-8|editor-last=Dolan|editor-first=Ronald E.|edition=4th|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=108–112|archive-date=May 26, 2022|access-date=February 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526064401/https://www.loc.gov/item/92039812/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1646, a series of five naval actions known as the [[Battles of La Naval de Manila]] was fought between the forces of Spain and the [[Dutch Republic]], as part of the [[Eighty Years' War]]. Although the Spanish forces consisted of just two Manila galleons and a [[galley]] with crews composed mainly of Filipino volunteers, against three separate Dutch squadrons, totaling eighteen ships, the Dutch squadrons were severely defeated in all fronts by the Spanish-Filipino forces, forcing the Dutch to abandon their plans for an invasion of the Philippines.

In 1687, [[Isaac Newton]] included an explicit reference to the Philippines in his classic [[Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica]] by mentioning Leuconia, the ancient Ptolemaic name for the Philippines.<ref name="manapat"/>