History of Philippines 🇵🇭

Philippine history began when ancient peoples arrived in the Philippines by land bridges 67,000 years ago. The first recorded visit from the West was the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan on the island of Homonhon, southeast of Samar on 16 March 1521. He established permanent settlements in Cebu with the expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi in 1565, and many more settlements were established northward until the colonialists reached the Look of Manila on the island of Luzon. It established a city in Manila and began the Spanish colonization period which lasted for more than three centuries.

The revolution against Spain began in April of 1896, which two years later led to the proclamation of independence and the establishment of the First Philippine Republic. But the Paris Agreement, which came into effect at the end of the Spanish-American War, shifted the Philippines' control over the United States. Colonial rule of the United States began in the Philippines in December of 1899, with limited local rule in 1905. Partial independence was granted in 1935, in preparation for a full independence from the United States in 1945. But the 10- years of transition from the Commonwealth to a sovereign nation were delayed by the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II. The Japanese were then defeated in 1945. And the return of Filipino and American soldiers to the Philippine Liberation Campaign from 1944 to 1945. Thus complete independence was granted to the Philippines only in July 1946.

The Philippine economy flourished in the 1950s and 1960s, but there was turmoil in the late 1960s and early 1970s against the oppressive dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos who proclaimed martial law in 1972. Because of the close United States President Ronald Reagan's relationship with President Marcos, the United States still supported him despite his administration's widespread corruption and abuse of people. The peaceful EDSA Revolution in 1986 ousted Marcos (who escaped to Hawaii aboard a United States military-owned helicopter, where he remained until his death) and restored democracy to the country. But when that time began, there was a political misunderstanding and the country's economy was weakening.