A summary of the history of the Philippines from prehistoric times to the arrival of the Spaniards and Portuguese.
22,000 B.C.E
Traces of oldest skeletal remains on Palawan Island
3000 BCE
Austronesian people begin arriving in the Philippines via Taiwan
500 BCE
Philippine ports begin trading with China, Southeast Asia and India
700 BCE
Philippine trading intensifies under the Sri-Vijaya Empire (Indonesia)
1200s
Muslim (Arab and Persian) trading ports begin to form in Southeast Asia
1400s
Ming Chinese traders dominate the sea lanes
1414
Prince Parameswara converts Malacca into a great Muslim sea emporium
1450
Sayyid Abuy Bakhr establishes Sulu as a prominent center of Muslim trade and culture
1493
Pope Alexander VI issues Treaty of Tordesillas
1497
The Portuguese, under Vasco da Gama, reach West India
1521
Ferdinand Magellan arrives in the Philippines. King Lapu-Lapu defeats Magellan, whose flotillas then sail away
1557
The Portuguese capture Macau and toll all Southeast Asian trade to the Arab coast
1565
Arrival of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi who begins Spain’s colonization of Las Islas Filipinas
1615
Beginning of galleon trade between Manila and Acapulco
*The Tagalog word for ‘history’ is kasaysayan.
I love your website!! It’s great to find a resource like this, especially with pre-colonial history.
Although I did notice an error on your page. The treaty of Tordesillas was issued June 7 1494, not 1493. It amended papal bulls issued by Pope Alexander VI in 1493.
–Kilgore Bourbaki