After this Salcedo passed on through Luzon, claiming the country for Philip II. He visited those parts now known as Laguna (lä gö´nä), Pangasinan (pän gäsē nän´), and the Camarines (cäm ä rē´nēs). He took the city of Cainta (kä ēn´tä), where a Moro chief ruled, and then went to what is now Ilocos Sur (ēl ō´cos sör). One of his captains, named Martin de Goiti (mär´tin dā go ē´tē), he left at Maynila with a small force to guard the camp. Goiti also conquered the people of Pampanga (päm pän´gä). Later Salcedo sent a messenger to his grandfather, Governor-General Legaspi, asking him to come at once to Maynila.
During all the time that Salcedo was taking Maynila and bringing the country under the rule of Spain, Legaspi was busy in the Visayas (vis ä´yäs). He had been in the country five years or more, and had done much to make peace with the people. The chief of Cebu had accepted baptism, with many of the Cebuans, and one of his daughters was married to a Spaniard. There was great good feeling between the two races, and the Cebuans looked upon the Spanish as friends. Well pleased, therefore, with the way things were going in Cebu, Legaspi went on a tour through all the Visayan group.
Legaspi was at Iloilo on the island of Panay (pän ī´) when this messenger found him and told him all that Salcedo had done in Luzon. Legaspi was much pleased at the news. He saw at once that Maynila was the place of all others on the islands in which to set up the government, and he made ready to go to Luzon. He could do this all the more easily because of the way he had managed things in the Visayas. All the native chiefs were still in power, and Legaspi left them to rule as they had always done, save that they now ruled in the name of the king of Spain. The governor-general was able, therefore, to leave behind him a quiet, orderly government, and to give his mind freely to the new work before him.
The journey northward was made in safety, and early in March of the year 1571, Legaspi and his party reached Cavite (kä vē´tā). Here they were met by the Tagal (tā´gäl) chief, Lacondola (lä con dō´lä), rajah or king of Tondo (ton´dō), who is sometimes also spoken of as Rajah Matanda (mä tän´dä) or the “old Rajah.”
Lacondola welcomed Legaspi as the lawful ruler, and told him that he and his people were loyal to the king of Spain. The party then went on to Maynila, and here also Legaspi was greeted as the king’s representative. Soliman, the former king of Maynila, was never a really willing subject of Spain. But he was a nephew of Lacondola, and the old Rajah’s counsel had great weight with him; so he never rebelled against the new ruler.
LEGASPI SAILING TO MANILA.
Legaspi now declared King Philip the overlord of that whole country, and made Maynila the capital. He changed the spelling of the name to Manila. This word is made up of two Tagal words—may, which means “to have,” and nila, a kind of tree that once grew thickly around the city—and Maynila means that there were many nila trees there.
Lacondola and Soliman joined forces with Martin de Goiti, to help strengthen the new rule in the islands. The country now known as Batangas (bä tän´gäs) Province was then ruled by several chiefs who were usually at war with the Tagals and other tribes. They and their people had come from Borneo and had intermarried with the Negritos (nā grē´tōs). They were great hunters and good fighters, but would not yield to the Spaniards; so, with the aid of other tribes, the Spaniards drove them from the country. There were other chiefs ruling in the districts about Manila Bay; but these showed themselves friendly to Spain, and were left in office, to govern in the name of the king.
The work of putting the country in order now went on rapidly. In June, 1571, Legaspi formed the City Council of Manila, and began to lay the foundation for a wise and just rule in these islands. He made a plan for Manila, and had the city laid out in squares and streets just as we see it to-day inside the walls. He also set the people to work building these walls for a defense against the wild tribes. The walls were nineteen years in building, and to-day, after more than three hundred years, they are still strong and beautiful, to show how well the Tagal people builded. The fort at the mouth of the Pasig River was also begun at this time.