Chronicles
25,000 B.C. Ancient Negroid people immigrate to the Philippines over a land bridge then still connecting the archipelago with the Asian mainland. They are food gatherers and hunters, and the forefathers of today's Negritos. These people use bows and arrows and stone made implements. They live in caves.
5,000 B.C. to 3,000 B.C. The "New Stone Age". Sea faring Malays from what is today Indonesia come to the archipelago. These new settlers bring with them polished stone tools, boat building, bark and animal skin cloth making, pottery, rice planting, the process of cooking food in bamboo tubes, the techniques of making fire by rubbing two sticks together. The Negritos begin to move out of caves and settle in a scattered manner along the coasts and rivers.
3,000 B.C. to 1,000 B.C. A second wave of Malay immigrants arrives in the Philippines by sea. Each of their ships accommodated one small clan. Such a ship load of people was called a barangay, a term which was revived by Marcos to describe an organized neighborhood of more than 1000 people. The immigrants in the second wave were ancestors of today's Ifugao, Bontoc, Mangyans, and other primitive tribes. They introduced the animist religion and jar burial in The Country . Earliest metal tools of the period are made of copper, bronze, iron and gold.
200 B.C. More civilized Malays in large numbers migrate to the Philippines. They are the racial stock of the majority of today's Philippine populace.
200 B.C. to 1000 A.D. In the Iron Age beginns artistry in the Philippines in all aspects of life and work. Earrings, beads, pendants and bangles made of clay, stone and shells are developed. Body tattooing is used as well as filing and blackening teeth which were then wrapped with gold foil or studded with gold fillings.
1,000 A.D. to 1,200 A.D. In the Porcelain Age trading begins extensively with Arabia, India, Annan, China and later with the Europeans. Porcelains from different Chinese dynasties are imported.
1200 to 1300. Migrants from Borneo spread into the Southern Philippines.
1300 to 1400. The Hindu empire of Majapahit on Java gains influence over parts of the islands.
1380. Islam reaches the Southern Philippines via Borneo. In islamic areas, slavery is in the following years widely replacing head-hunting. Would be head-hunting victims become slaves that are bartered to Chinese traders. A new social order is started made up of freemen, commoners, slaves and bonded servants, all under the leadership of a datu.
1450. The Muslim sultanate of Jolo is established on the islands between Borneo and Mindanao.
1475. The Muslim sultanate of Maguindanao is founded on Mindanao. Islam spreads throughout the archipelago and even reaches central Luzon.
1521, Mar 16. A Spanish expedition, sailing across the Pacific Ocean from east to west, and led by the Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan (died Apr 27, 1521) lands on Homonhon Island east of Samar with three small ships, named the Concepcion, Trinidad and Victoria. Magellan calls the place San Lazaro Island since March 16 is Saint Lazarus day.
1521, Mar 28. Directing his ships southwestward, Magellan reaches Limasawa Island, south of Leyte. It is ruled by Rajah Kulambo, who becomes Magellan's friend.
1521, Mar 29. To seal the friendship between Magellan and Rajah Kulambo, they solemnize a blood compact. This is the first recorded blood compact in Philippine history.
1521, Mar 31. The first mass on Philippine soil is celebrated on Limasawa.
1521, Apr 7. After sailing to Cebu Island, Magellan enters a new blood compact with the local chieftain, Rajah Humabon.
1521, Apr 27. Magellan dies in a battle with Lapu-Lapu, chieftain of Mactan, an island near Cebu.
1525. Spain sends an expedition under Juan Garcia Jofre de Loaysa to the Philippines. The expedition expects to find gold and spices but fails to do so. Loaysa and many members of his crew die in the Philippines.
1526. Spain sends a third expedition to the Philippines under the leadership of Juan Cabot. This expedition never reaches the archipelago as three years are wasted in South America, trying to find a new route to the East.
1527. The fourth expedition sent by Spain to The Country is under the command of Alvaro de Saavedra. It is the first Spanish expedition starting from Mexico. It reaches Mindanao but on the way to Cebu Saavedra's ship is carried by strong winds to the Moluccas.
1529. Saavedra's expedition returns to Spain without Saavedra who died on the way home.
1536. The Loaysa expedition returns to Spain. One of its survivors is Andres de Urdaneta, its chronicler.
1543, Feb 2. The leader of the most successful Spanish expedition after Magellan, Ruy Lopez de Villalobos (died Apr 4, 1546) arrives in the archipelago. He names the islands the Philippines in honor of the son of King Charles I, Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain. Villalobos reaches Sarangani Island off the eastern coast of Mindanao and settles there for 8 months. But because of the scarcity of food, the expedition is forced to leave the place and sails to the Moluccas where Villalobos dies.
1565, Feb 13. With four ships and 380 men, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi arrives in the Philippines.
1565, May 8. The Island of Cebu is surrendered to Legaspi by its ruler King Tupas. Legaspi establishes the first permanent Spanish settlement on Cebu and becomes the first Spanish Governor-General. By his order, tributes are collected from all Filipino males aged 19 to 60.
1568. The Portuguese, under the command of General Gonzalo de Pereira, attack Cebu and blockade its port.
1570. The Portuguese again attack the colony and are repulsed. The series of attacks stems from Portugal's claim to the territory based on the provision of the Treaty of Tordisillas entered into by Spain and Portugal on June 7, 1474, in which their respective spheres of influence, trade and conquest were defined. The Portuguese believe that the Philippines falls within their sphere.
1570, May. Legaspi sends an expedition under the leadership of Martin de Goiti to Manila. Manila is ruled by Rajah Suliman, whose friendship is won by de Goiti.
1571, May 19. Rajah Suliman wages war against the Spaniards due to a move by de Goiti which he mistakes for an assault. De Goiti's army defeats Suliman's troops and occupies the town.
1571, Jun 24. Legaspi establishes his government in Manila and proclaims it the capital of the Philippines, calling it the "distinguished and ever loyal city".
1572, Aug 20. Legaspi dies and Guido de Lavezares (died 1575) succeeds him as governor. Lavezares extends colonization to the Bicol region.
1574, Nov 23. The Chinese pirate captain Limahong attacks Manila but the Spaniards win with the help of the Filipinos.
1574, Dec 2. Limahong again attacks Manila, this time with 1,500 soldiers, but cannot conquer the city.
1574, Dec. In Tondo (now a district of Manila) Lakandula leads a short revolt against the Spanish.
1580. The Spanish King Philip II receives the throne of Portugal upon the death of the Portuguese King Sebastian. This puts an end to the Portuguese harassment of the Philippine archipelago.
1580. The Spaniards institute forced labor on all male natives aged 16 to 60.
1583, Aug. A great fire in Manila which starts from the candles around the bier of governor Penalosa.
1589. The Spaniards establish the first school in the Philippines, the College of San Ignacio.
1600. The Dutch attack the archipelago in a tactical offensive during the European war between Spain and the Netherlands.
1600. Governor Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera begins collecting the bandala from the natives. Bandala is an annual quota of products assigned to the natives for compulsory sale to the government.
1600. The Galleon trade between Manila and Acapulco, Mexico begins. But Manila serves merely as a transshipment port for the exchange of goods between Spain and Mexico on the one side and China on the other. Silver from Mexico is traded for any kind of Chinese merchandise. Because of the Galleon trade's quick returns, Spain lacks interest in developing the Philippine economy during the first 200 years of its occupation.
1603. Chinese insurrection in Manila.
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