The Philippines has been a part of the Spanish Empire for over 300 years. This paved the way for Catholicism to become a major faith. In the midst of this age, Manila became the center of the western Pacific trade that linked Asia to Acapulco to the Capital using the galleons of Manila.
As the 19th century paved the way for the 20th, the outbreak and victory of the Philippine Revolution followed, establishing only the very existence of the First Philippine Republic, followed by the bloody Philippine-American War of the tyranny of the army armed with the United States. Despite the Japanese occupation, the supreme power remained in the United States until the end of World War II, when the Philippines was recognized as a free nation. Since then, the Philippines has had a turbulent experience in democracy, which includes the overthrow of dictatorship in a non-violent revolution.
