The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 06 of 55 / 1583-1588 / 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 Close of the Nineteenth Century

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The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898
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 close of the nineteenth century
Edited and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson with historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord Bourne.
Editorial Announcement
The Editors desire to announce to their readers an important modification in the scope and contents of this work. As originally planned and hitherto announced, the series was intended to furnish the original sources, printed and documentary, for the history of the Philippine Islands only to the beginning of the nineteenth century. To most of our readers, the reasons for this are obvious: the fact that the classic period of Philippine history is thus bounded; the comparative rarity and inaccessibility of most material therein to the general public; the vast extent of the field covered by Philippine history, and the necessary limitations of space imposed upon the selection of material for this work; the closing of foreign archives to all investigators after an early date in the nineteenth century; and the greater difficulty, in that later period, of securing a proper historical perspective. But so many and urgent requests have come to us, from subscribers and reviewers, for such extension of this series as shall cover the entire period of Spanish domination, that we have decided to modify the former plan in the manner here briefly indicated.
It is our purpose not to exceed the number of volumes already announced, fifty-five. We are able to do this because in our original plan, to avoid a subsequent increase in the number of volumes, a certain amount of space was purposely left for possible future changes as a result of later investigations to be made in foreign archives, or on account of the necessary excision of extraneous or irrelevant matter from the printed works which are to be presented in this series. The new title will be The Philippine Islands: 1493-1898. The early and especially important history of the islands will be covered as fully as before. For the history of the nineteenth century, we will present various important decrees, reports, and other official documents; and provide a clear, careful, and impartial synopsis of some of the best historical matter extant, down to the close of the Spanish régime. Throughout the series will be used, as has been done from the beginning, all the best material available—historical, descriptive, and statistical—for reference and annotation. With the copious and carefully-prepared bibliography of Philippine historical literature, and the full analytical index, which will close the series; the broad and representative character of the material selected throughout; and the impartial and non-sectarian attitude maintained, the Editors trust that this change will still further enable scholars, historical writers, and general readers alike to study, with reliable and satisfactory material, the history of the Philippine Islands from their first discovery by Europeans to the close of the Spanish régime, and incidentally the history of the entire Orient.