History of Philippines
The first humans are believed to have arrived via land bridges at least 30,000 years ago. The first recorded visit from the West is the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan on Homonhon Island, southeast of Samar on March 16, 1521.
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Spanish colonization and settlement began with the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi's expedition in 1565 and established the first permanent settlement of San Miguel on the island of Cebu.
Spanish rule brought political unification to an archipelago of previously independent kingdoms and communities that later became the Philippines and introduced elements of western civilization such as printing and the calendar. When the Spaniards arrived in the 16th century, the majority of the estimated 500,000 people in the islands lived in barangay settlements some still ruled by Rajahs while others were already ruled by Sultans.
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Church and state were inseparably linked in Spanish policy, with the state assuming responsibility for religious establishments. One of Spain's objectives in colonizing the Philippines was the conversion of the local population to Roman Catholicism.
The Philippine Revolution against Spain began in April 1896, culminating two years later with a proclamation of independence and the establishment of the First Philippine Republic. However, the Treaty of Paris, at the end of the Spanish-American War, transferred control of the Philippines to the United States.
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Partial autonomy (commonwealth status) was granted in 1935, preparatory to a planned full independence from the United States in 1946. Preparation for a fully sovereign state was interrupted by the Japanese occupation of the islands during World War II.
On June 12, 1898, Aguinaldo declared the independence of the Philippines in Kawit, Cavite, establishing the First Philippine Republic under Asia's first democratic constitution.
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The United States defined its territorial mission as one of tutelage, preparing the Philippines for eventual independence Civil government was established by the United States in 1901, with William Howard Taft as the first American Governor-General of the Philippines, replacing the military governor, Arthur MacArthur, Jr.
Philippine politics during the American territorial era was dominated by the Nacionalista Party, which was founded in 1907.
A constitution was framed and approved by Franklin D. Roosevelt in March 1935. On May 14, 1935, a Filipino government was formed based on principles similar to the U.S. Constitution. The commonwealth was established in 1935, electing Manuel L. Quezon as the president.
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Japan launched a surprise attack on the Clark Air Base in Pampanga, Philippines on December 8, 1941, just ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Aerial bombardment was followed by landings of ground troops on Luzon.
Japanese occupation of the Philippines was opposed by large-scale underground and guerrilla activity.
MacArthur's Sixth United States Army landed on Leyte on October 20, 1944. Fighting continued until Japan's formal surrender on September 2, 1945.
Elections were held in April 1946, with Manuel Roxas becoming the first president of the independent Republic of the Philippines. The United States ceded its sovereignty over the Philippines on July 4, 1946.
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With a promising economy in the 1950s and 1960s, the Philippines in the late 1960s and early 1970s saw a rise of student activism and civil unrest against the corrupt dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos who declared martial law in 1972.
In 1991, the Philippine Senate rejected a treaty that would have allowed a 10-year extension of the U.S. military bases in the country. The United States turned over Clark Air Base in Pampanga to the government in November, and Subic Bay Naval Base in Zambales in December 1992, ending almost a century of U.S. military presence in the Philippines.
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