History Assignment
History Assignment
History Assignment
Paculanang
Partner:
1. How did Spain use the sword and the cross in pursuing its agenda in the Philippines?
The Philippines were claimed in the name of Spain in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese
explorer sailing for Spain, who named the islands after King Philip II of Spain. They were then called Las
Felipinas. By the 1830’s Spanish culture and thought had penetrated into Filipino culture to the extent
that the Filipino people began thinking about liberation from Spain. The government of Spain developed
Filipino agriculture to the point that it was self-sufficient. After some attempts at independence, and an
equal number of atrocities on the part of Spain, Filipino Nationalists began to speak out. One of the
most famous of the time was Jose Rizal. He studied medicine at the University of Santo Tomas in the
Philippines and the University of Madrid. Rizal wrote two important novels that portrayed the abuses of
Spanish rule. Although the books were banned, they were smuggled into the Philippines and widely
read. On the night of his execution, on December 30, 1896, Rizal proclaimed the Philippines “the Pearl of
the Oriental Seas”. His death is annually commemorated on December 30.
By celebrating the independence day On the 12 th of June, the nation will celebrate its 113 th
Independence Anniversary. Independence Day is commonly associated with the freedom that we
achieved after our heroes shed blood for the country by means of an armed resistance and propaganda
movements. But for the youth today, the essence of celebrating a date that shaped our nationhood
seems have vanished, making it a plain, red printed holiday in the calendar, free from work and classes.
“Filipinos are by nature and tradition a liberty-loving people. The pages of their history are replete with
revolts, uprisings, mutinies, insurrections, and rebellions to free themselves from injustices, abuses,
vexations, discriminations and oppressions of conquerors, whether Spanish, Japanese or Americans. To
borrow Sir Winston Churchill’s phrase, Filipinos have shed much ‘blood, sweat and tears’ in their fight
for human freedom and national dignity”.
3. What drove the Cebuanos to massacre the men of Magellan?
There was a considerable amount of contact between the women of Cebu and the crew of Magellan
that certain abuse or even consensual sex happened. The reasons to which the men of Cebu would have
felt threatened, insulted, and jealous. Even these sensual notions that Pigafetta mentioned in his
journals were somehow implying that the women of Cebu were obvious preys to the feasting eyes and
sexual perversions of the crew. – Reason enough for tensions and jealousies to rise.
Time and again it has been constantly mentioned in History, these attitudes of conquering powers
towards women as objects of sexual abuse and violence. Indeed, the cause of great troubles in the
bloody cycle of conquering and revenge.