Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Philippines
Categories Pre-Colonial Spanish Period
Barangay-well-organized 1. Political System-The
1. Government independent village which Spanish quickly organized their
functioned much like a city-state new colony according to their
- was the dominant model. The first task was the
organizational pattern among reduction, or relocation of native
indigenous communities in the inhabitants into settlements.
Philippine archipelago. The The earliest political system
name barangay originated from used during the conquista
balangay, a Malay word period was the encomienda
meaning "sailboat". Historically, system, which resembled the
a barangay is a relatively small political system known as
community of around 50 to 100 Feudalism in Medieval Europe.
families. Most villages have only The conquistadores, friars and
thirty to one hundred houses native nobles were granted
and the population varies from estates, in exchange for their
one hundred to five hundred services to the King, and was
persons. A datu is the chief given the privilege to collect
leader of the barangay. He is tribute from its inhabitants. In
the resposible for making his return, the person granted the
barangay peaceful and to keep encomienda, known as an
it safe. He also makes laws that encomendero, was tasked to
a umalokohan annouced provide military protection to
throughout the barangay. the inhabitants, justice and
governance. In times of war,
the encomendero was duty
bound to provide soldiers for the
King, in particular, for the
complete defense of the colony
from invaders such as the
Dutch, British and Chinese. The
encomienda system was abused
by encomenderos and by 1700
was largely replaced by
administrative provinces, each
headed by an alcalde mayor
(provincial governor)[10] The
most prominent feature of
Spanish cities was the plaza, a
central area for town activities
such as the fiesta, and where
government buildings, the
church, a market area and other
infrastructures were located.
Residential areas lay around the
plaza. During the conquista, the
first task of colonization was the
reduction, or relocation of the
indigenous population into
settlements surrounding the
plaza.
2. National Government-On
the national level, the King of
Spain, through his Council of the
Indies (Consejo de Indias),
governed through his sole
representative in the
Philippines: the Governor-
General (Gobernador y Capitán
General). With the seat of power
in Intramuros, Manila, the
Governor-General was given
several duties: he headed the
Supreme Court (Real
Audiencia), was Commander-in-
chief of the army and navy, and
was the economic planner of the
country. All known executive
power of the local government
stemmed from him and as vice-
regal patron, he had the right to
supervise mission work and
oversee ecclesiastical
appointments. His yearly salary
was P40,000. For obvious
reasons, the Governor-General
was usually a Peninsular
(Spaniard born in Spain) to
ensure loyalty of the colony to
the crown.
3.Provincial Government
4.Municipal Government
5.Barrio Government
7.Maura Law
3. Economic Manila-Acapulco
Trade
Galleon
System
The Manila-Acapulco Galleon
Trade was the main source of
income for the colony during its
early years. Service was
inaugurated in 1565 and
continued into the early 19th
century. The Galleon trade
brought silver from New Spain,
which was used to purchase
Asian goods such as silk from
China, spices from the Moluccas,
lacquerware from Japan and
Philippine cotton textiles. These
goods were then exported to
New Spain and ultimately
Europe by way of Manila. Thus,
the Philippines earned its
income through the trade of the
Manila-Acapulco Galleon. The
trade was very prosperous and
attracted many merchants to
Manila, specially Chinese.
However, initially it neglected
the development of the colony's
local industries which affected
the Indios since agriculture was
their main source of income. In
addition, the building and
operation of galleons put too
much burden on the colonists'
annual polo y servicio. However,
it resulted in cultural and
commercial exchanges between
Asia and the Americas that led
to the introduction of new crops
and animals to the Philippines
such as corn, potato, tomato,
cotton and tobacco among
others, that gave the colony its
first real income. The trade
lasted for over two hundred
years, and ceased in 1815 just
before the secession of
American colonies from Spain.
Taxation
with the succeeding lines written learn the local languages first
The Spaniards of Arévalo heard
Spanish-to-Tagalog Christian
colonial administrators.
by the Dominicans. The
Spaniards, Principalías and
Ladinos, knew Latin perfectly
consisted of a preparatory
medicinal properties.