Conquest and Settlement, 1565–1600

Conquest and Settlement, 1565–1600

Cause of Settlement and Conquest of the Philippines.—The previous Spanish expeditions whose misfortunes have been narrated, seemed to have proved to the Court of Spain that they could not drive the Portuguese from the Moluccas. But to the east of the Moluccas lay great unexplored archipelagoes, which might lie within the Spanish demarcation and which might yield spices and other valuable articles of trade; and as the Portuguese had made no effective occupation of the Philippines, the minds of Spanish conquerors turned to this group also as a coveted field of conquest, even though it was pretty well understood that they lay in the latitude of the Moluccas, and so were denied by treaty to Spain.

In 1559 the Spanish king, Felipe II., commanded the viceroy of Mexico to undertake again the discovery of the islands lying “toward the Moluccas,” but the rights of Portugal to islands within her demarcation were to be respected. Five years passed before ships and equipments could be prepared, and during these years the objects of the expedition received considerable discussion and underwent some change.

The king invited Andres de Urdaneta, who years before had been a captain in the expedition of Loaisa, to accompany the expedition as a guide and director. Urdaneta, after his return from the previous expedition, had renounced military life and had become an Augustinian friar. He was known to be a man of wise judgment, [126]with good knowledge of cosmography, and as a missionary he was able to give to the expedition that religious strength which characterized all Spanish undertakings.

It was Urdaneta’s plan to colonize, not the Philippines, but New Guinea; but the Audiencia of Mexico, which had charge of fitting out the expedition, charged it in minute instructions to reach and if possible colonize the Philippines, to trade for spices and to discover the return sailing route back across the Pacific to New Spain. The natives of the islands were to be converted to Christianity, and missionaries were to accompany the expedition. In the quaint language of Fray Gaspar de San Augustin, there were sent “holy guides to unfurl and wave the banners of Christ, even to the remotest portions of the islands, and to drive the devil from the tyrannical possession, which he had held for so many ages, usurping to himself the adoration of those peoples.”1

The Third Expedition to the Philippines.—The expedition sailed from the port of Natividad, Mexico, November 21, 1564, under the command of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi. The ships followed for a part of the way a course further south than was necessary, and touched at some inhabited islands of Micronesia. About the 22d of January they reached the Ladrones and had some trouble with the natives. They reached the southern end of Samar about February the 13th. Possession of Samar was taken by Legaspi in the name of the king, and small parties were sent both north and south to look for villages of the Filipinos.

A few days later they rounded the southern part of Samar, crossed the strait to the coast of southern Leyte, [127]and the field-marshal, Goyti, discovered the town of Cabalian, and on the 5th of March the fleet sailed to this town. Provisions were scarce on the Spanish vessels, and great difficulty was experienced in getting food from the few natives met in boats or in the small settlements discovered.

Legaspi at Bohol.—About the middle of March the fleet arrived at Bohol, doubtless the southern or eastern shore. While near here Goyti in a small boat captured a Moro prao from Borneo and after a hard fight brought back the Moros as prisoners to Legaspi. There proved to be quite a trade existing between the Moros from Borneo and the natives of Bohol and Mindanao.

Here on Bohol they were able to make friendly terms with the natives, and with Sicatuna, the dato of Bohol, Legaspi performed the ceremony of blood covenant. The Spanish leader and the Filipino chief each made a small [128]cut in his own arm or breast and drank the blood of the other. According to Gaspar de San Augustin, the blood was mixed with a little wine or water and drunk from a goblet.2 This custom was the most sacred bond of friendship among the Filipinos, and friendship so pledged was usually kept with great fidelity.

Legaspi in Cebu.—On the 27th of April, 1565, Legaspi’s fleet reached Cebu. Here, in this beautiful strait and fine anchoring-ground, Magellan’s ships had lingered until the death of their leader forty-four years before. A splendid native settlement lined the shore, so Father Chirino tells us, for a distance of more than a league. The natives of Cebu were fearful and greatly agitated, [129]and seemed determined to resist the landing of the Spaniards. But at the first discharge of the guns of the ships, the natives abandoned the shore, and, setting fire to the town, retreated into the jungles and hills. Without loss of life the Spaniards landed, and occupied the harbor and town.