Spanish Conquest of the Philippines and Founding of Colonial Manila
- Date
- 24 June 1571
- Category
- Exploration & colonisation
- Region
- Southeast Asia
- Era
- Early Modern
- Significance
On 24 June 1571 the Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi formally founded the city of Manila on the ruins of the Tagalog polity of Maynila, designating it the capital of the Spanish East Indies.
This followed the defeat of the last indigenous ruler, Rajah Sulayman, at the Battle of Bangkusay and a peace pact with the neighbouring lord Lakandula, capping a conquest that had begun when Legazpi's expedition established the first permanent Spanish settlement at Cebu in 1565. Legazpi, the first governor-general of the colony, ordered the construction of the walled fortress city of Intramuros, which became the administrative, military, and religious heart of Spanish rule. Manila grew into the western terminus of the Manila Galleon trade, linking Acapulco in New Spain with the markets of East Asia and funnelling Chinese silk and porcelain in exchange for American silver. The conquest inaugurated more than three centuries of Spanish colonial rule over the archipelago and made the Philippines the only major Spanish colony in Asia and a key node of early modern global commerce.
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Empires active in 24 June 1571
- Lan Xang1353 CE – 1707 CE
- Aceh Sultanate1496 CE – 1903 CE
- Kingdom of Ayutthaya1351 CE – 1767 CE
- Lê Dynasty (Đại Việt)1428 CE – 1789 CE
- Toungoo Empire1510 CE – 1752 CE
- Champa192 CE – 1832 CE
Related exploration & colonisation events
- Torres Navigates the Strait Between New Guinea and AustraliaOctober 1606
- Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in America14 May 1607
- Champlain founds Quebec and New France3 July 1608
- The Pilgrims, Plymouth Colony and the Mayflower CompactNovember 1620
- Magellan–Elcano expedition completes the first circumnavigation1519–1522
- Afonso de Albuquerque captures Goa and founds the Estado da Índia1510
Further reading
The wider story
A History of Laos
The accessible standard history of Laos and the Lan Xang kingdom.
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