A History of the Philippines

by David P. Barrows

A Dominican missionary, Father Diego Aduarte, wrote a very important work, the Historia de la Provincia del Sancto Rosario de la Orden de Predicadores en Filipinas, Japon y China, which was printed in Manila at the College of Santo Tomas in 1640.

We may also mention as containing a most interesting account of the Philippines about the middle of the seventeenth century, the famous work on China, by the Dominican, Father Fernandez Navarrete, Tratados historicos, politicos, ethnicos, y religiosos de la Monarchia de China, Madrid, 1767. Navarrete arrived in these islands in 1648, and was for a time a cura on the island of Mindoro. Later he was a missionary in China, and then Professor of Divinity in the University of Santo Tomas. His work is translated into English in Churchill’s Collection of Voyages and Travels, London, 1744, second volume.

The eighteenth century is rather barren of interesting historical matter. There was considerable activity in the production of grammars and dictionaries of the native languages, and more histories of the religious orders were also produced. These latter, while frequently filled with sectarian matter, should not be overlooked.

Between the years 1788 and 1792 was published the voluminous Historia General de Filipinas, in fourteen volumes, by the Recollect friar, Father Juan de la Concepcion. The work abounds in superfluous matter and trivial details, yet it is a copious source of information, a veritable mine of historical data, and is perhaps the best known and most frequently used work upon the Philippine Islands. There are a number of sets in the Philippines which can be consulted by the student.

Some years after, and as a sort of protest against so extensive a treatment of history, the sane and admirable Augustinian, Father Joaquin Martinez de Zuñiga, wrote his Historia de las Islas Filipinas, a volume of about seven hundred pages. It was printed in Sampaloc, Manila, in 1803. This writer is exceptional for his fairmindedness, his freedom from the narrow prejudices which have characterized most of the writers on the Philippines. His language is terse and spirited, and his volume is the most readable and, in many ways, the most valuable attempt at a history of the Philippines. His narrative closes with the English occupation of Manila in 1763.

Recent Histories and Other Historical Materials.—The sources for the conditions and history of the islands during the last century differ somewhat from the preceding. The documentary sources in the form of public papers and reports are available, and there is a considerable mass of pamphlets dealing with special questions in the Philippines. The publication of the official journal of the Government, the Gazeta de Manila, commenced in 1861. It contains all acts of legislation, orders of the Governors, pastoral letters, and other official matters, down to the end of Spanish rule.

A vast amount of material, for the recent civil history of the islands exists in the Archives of the Philippines, at Manila, but these documents have been very little examined. Notable among these original documents is the series of Royal Cedulas, each bearing the signature of the King of Spain, “Yo, el Rey.” They run back from the last years of sovereignty to the commencement of the seventeenth century. The early cedulas, on the establishment of Spanish rule, are said to have been carried away by the British army in 1763, and to be now in the British Museum.

Of the archives of the Royal Audiencia at Manila, the series of judgments begins with one of 1603, which is signed by Antonia de Morga. From this date they appear to be complete. The earliest records of the cases which came before this court that can be found, date from the beginning of the eighteenth century.

Of modern historical writings mention must be made of the Historia de Filipinas, three volumes, 1887, by Montero y Vidal, and the publications of W. E. Retana. To the scholarship and enthusiasm of this last author much is owed. His work has been the republication of rare and important sources. His edition of Combes has already been mentioned, and there should also be mentioned, and if possible procured, his Archivo del Bibliofilo, four volumes, a collection of rare papers on the islands, of different dates; and his edition, the first ever published, of Zuñiga’s Estadismo de las Islas Filipinas, an incomparable survey of the islands made about 1800, by the priest and historian whose history was mentioned above.

Accounts of Voyagers Who Visited the Philippines.—These references give some idea of the historical literature of the Philippines. They comprise those works which should be chiefly consulted. There should not be omitted the numerous accounts of voyagers who have visited these islands from time to time, and who frequently give us very valuable information. The first of these are perhaps the English and Dutch freebooters, who prowled about these waters to waylay the richly laden galleons. One of these was Dampier, who, about 1690, visited the Ladrones and the Philippines. His New Voyage Around the World was published in 1697. There was also Anson, who in 1743 took the Spanish galleon off the coast of Samar, and whose voyage is described in a volume published in 1745. There was an Italian physician, Carreri, who visited the islands in 1697, in the course of a voyage around the world, and who wrote an excellent description of the Philippines, which is printed in English translation in Churchill’s Collection of Voyages.