Captaincy General of the Philippines

Captaincy General of the Philippines
Spanish: Capitañía General de las Filipinas
Filipino: Kapitanyang Heneral ng Pilipinas
Colony of the Spanish Empire
1565–1898
Flag Coat of arms
Capital Manila
Languages Spanish, Philippine languages and Micronesian languages
Government Monarchy
King
 •  1565–1598 Philip II
 • 1886–1898 Alfonso XIII
Governor
 • 1493–1500 Miguel López de Legazpi
 • 1898 Diego de los Ríos
History
 •  European settlement April 27, 1565
 •  U.S. annexation December 10, 1898
Currency Real de a ocho, Peso fuerte
 Succeeded by
United States Military Government of the Philippine Islands
U.S. Territory of Guam
Imperial German Pacific Protectorates

The Captaincy General of the Philippines (Spanish: Capitañía General de las Filipinas; Filipino: Kapitanyang Heneral ng Pilipinas) was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire. The Captaincy General encompassed the Spanish East Indies, which included the Philippine Islands and the Caroline Islands. It was founded in 1565 with the first permanent Spanish settlements.

For centuries all the political and economic aspects of the Captaincy were administered in Mexico City by the Viceroyalty of New Spain, while the administrative issues had to be consulted with the Spanish Crown or the Council of the Indies through the Royal Audience of Manila. However, in 1821, following the independence of Mexico, all control was transferred to Madrid.

History

Early explorations

Magellan landing site in Umatac Bay

After a long and tolling long voyage across the Pacific Ocean, Ferdinand Magellan reached the island of Guam on March 6, 1521 and anchored the three ships that were left of his fleet in Umatac Bay, before proceeding to the Philippines, where he met his death during the Battle of Mactan. Antonio Pigafetta, the expedition's chronicler and one of only 18 original crew members to survive Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe, recorded all details of the voyage.

Miguel López de Legazpi, arrived in Umatac in 1565 and claimed the island of Guam for Spain, before proceeding to the Philippines, where in a short period of time they successfully incorporated to Spain's Empire Cebu, Samar, Mazaua, Leyte, and Bohol, before conquering Manila.

Later (in 1569), Miguel López de Legazpi transferred the Spanish headquarters from Cebu to Panay, where they found allies, who were never conquered by Spain but were accomplished as vassals by means of pacts, peace treaties, and reciprocal alliances.[1] On 5 June 1569, Guido de Lavezaris, the royal treasurer in the Archipelago, wrote to Philip II reporting about the Portuguese attack to Cebu in the preceding autumn. A letter from another official, Andres de Mirandaola (dated three days later, on 8 June), also described briefly this encounter with the Portuguese. The danger of another attack led the Spaniards to remove their camp from Cebu to Panay, which they considered a safer place. Legazpi himself, in his report to the Viceroy in New Spain (dated 1 July 1569), mentioned the same reason for the relocation of Spaniards to Panay.[2] It was in Panay that the conquest of Luzon was planned, and launched on 8 May 1570.[3] Two of Lepazpi's Lieutenant-commanders, Martín de Goiti and Juan de Salcedo conquered Luzon's northern region.

Several Pacific islands were claimed by Spain during the 16th century, including the Caroline Islands by Toribio Alonso de Salazar in 1526, Palau by Ruy López de Villalobos in 1543, Bonin Islands by Bernardo de la Torre in 1543, New Guinea by Yñigo Ortiz de Retez in 1545, Solomon Islands by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa in 1568, New Hebrides by Pedro Fernandes de Queirós in 1606, Marquesas Islands by Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira in 1595, and Vanuatu by Pedro Fernández de Quirós, although Spain did not make any serious attempt to establish permanent settlements in them until the 18th century.

Spanish settlement and creation of the Captaincy

In 1574 the Captaincy General of the Philippines was created as a dependency of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. In 1584, the Real Audiencia of Manila is established by King Felipe II, who appointed as its President the same governor of the Captaincy General of the Philippines. The Captaincy had its capital in Cebu from 1565 to 1595, and in Manila from 1595 until 1898.

As part of the extensive governmental reforms during the early Bourbon period throughout the overseas possessions, an Intendencia was established in Manila by Royal Decree of July 17, 1784 that handled issues regarding the government finances and to promote the economy. Ciriaco González Carbajal was appointed as Oidor of the Audiencia of Manila and was instructed to abide by the Royal Ordinance of Mayors of 1782, that had been enacted in Rio de la Plata. Carbajal proposed the establishment of more Intendencias in Ilocos, Camarines, Iloilo and Cebu, and although they were created on November 24, 1786, they were later abolished by the Royal Decree of November 20, 1787.[4] A month earlier, on October 23, the Intendencia of Manila had been attached to the Captaincy General of the Philippines.[5]

Until 1822, all General Captains were civilians, but after that year they were always chosen among military. Throughout the second half of the 19th century, there were established many dependent local government offices and military settlements, very numerous due to the large number of islands and the extent of the districts.

Territorial Divisions

Until the second half of the 18th century, there were 24 provinces, 19 alcaldías mayores and five corregimientos:[6]

Corregimientos

Alcaldías mayores

Other administrative units established afterward

Established during the 19th century

Until the second half of the 19th century, there existed the administrative units:

Spanish rule in the Philippines ceased in 1898 after the war with the United States, which annexed most territories, although the administrative jurisdictions remained intact.

Most of the remaining territories in the Pacific Ocean were sold to Germany during the German-Spanish Treaty of 1899.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Spanish colonial period in the Philippines.

References

  1. ↑ Cf. William Henry Scott, Cracks in the Parchment Curtain, Quezon City: 1998, p. 4. Also cf. Antonio Morga, Sucessos de las Islas Filipinas, 2nd ed., Paris: 1890, p. xxxiii.
  2. ↑ Cf. BLAIR, Emma Helen & ROBERTSON, James Alexander, eds. (1911). The Philippine Islands, 1493–1803. Volume 03 of 55 (1493-1803). Historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord BOURNE. Cleveland, Ohio: Arthur H. Clark Company. ISBN 978-0554259598. OCLC 769945704. "Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century.", pp. 15 - 16.
  3. ↑ Cf. BLAIR, Emma Helen & ROBERTSON, James Alexander, eds. (1911). The Philippine Islands, 1493–1803. Volume 03 of 55 (1493-1803). Historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord BOURNE. Cleveland, Ohio: Arthur H. Clark Company. ISBN 978-0554259598. OCLC 769945704. "Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century.", p. 73.
  4. ↑ Enciclopedia GER Archived July 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ Biblioteca de legislación ultramarina en forma de diccionario alfabético. Pág. 621. Compilado por: José María Zamora y Coronado. Editor: Impr. de J. M. Alegria, 1845
  6. ↑ Memorias históricas y estadísticas de Filipinas y particularmente de la grande isla de Luzon. Author: Rafael Díaz Arenas. Publicado por Imprenta del Diario de Manila, 1830
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