Philippine history outline

This is the Philippine history outline page. It serves as the take-off point for browsing through this site's articles, sub-outline pages, and other materials on Philippine history, from the pre-Spanish era to the current period. You might want to bookmark it for easier revisits.

Philippine Prehistory

• Theories and evidence on the peopling of the Philippines
• The probable stages of pre-Spanish social development
• Pre-Spanish Luzon
• Pre-Spanish Visayas
• Pre-Spanish Mindanao-Sulu
• Pre-Spanish external influences

Early Spanish colonial period (1521-1750)

This is the period of Spanish exploration and colonization of the Philippine islands. It may be tentatively divided into three phases:

Spanish exploration and initial colonization (1521-1571)

• Successive Spanish expeditions to the islands

Expansion and consolidation of Spanish colonial and feudal rule (1571-1650s)

• Imposition of the Spanish colonial system in key areas; pacification strategies
• The feudal encomienda system; start and growth of the galleon trade (1565 onwards)
• Revolts from the Dagami revolt (1567) to the Sumuroy revolt (1650)
• Moro wars from 1569 (Battle of Cebu) to 1650 (Sultan Kudarat)

Deepening of Spanish colonial and feudal rule (1650s-1750)

This is a period during which the Spanish regime deepened its hold over widening areas of the country, excepting vast unsubjugated territories in Mindanao, Northern Luzon, and smaller interior pockets in other parts of Luzon and Visayan islands.

Middle Spanish colonial period (1750-1850)

This is the period of the maturing colonial and feudal system under Spanish rule, triggered by the rise of industrial capitalism in Europe, which in turn led to major shifts in Spanish policy on its Philippine colony.

• The rise of the hacienda system and the principalia class
• Decline of the encomienda system
• Peak and decline of the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade
• Opening of the Philippine economy to world trade
• Establishment of government monopolies in tobacco, wine
• British invasion, major revolts in the 1760s
• Economic and political reforms
• Spread of liberalism

Late Spanish period (1850-1898)

This is the period of the rapid decline of the Spanish colonial and feudal system in the Philippines.

• Opening of the Suez canal
• Rising demands for political reform
• The rise of the ilustrado class
• Secularization and Filipinization in the Catholic church
• Educational reforms of 1863
• The Propaganda Movement
• La Liga Filipina
• Establishment and growth of the Katipunan

Philippine revolution against Spanish rule (1896-1898)

This period covers the first two phases of the First Philippine Revolution:

• Phase 1, from the outbreak of the Katipunan-led armed uprising in 1896 to the Peace of Biak-na-Bato
  • Discovery of the Katipunan
  • The cry of Balintawak
  • Katipunan's first skirmishes
  • Katipunan armed revolt spreads
  • Spanish reign of terror vs Katipunan
  • First Filipino victories vs Spain in Cavite
  • The rise of Aguinaldo's leadership
  • Katipunan factional splits in Cavite including the Imus Assembly
  • The execution of Rizal
  • Spanish offensive under Polavieja
  • The Tejeros Assembly
  • The worsening Aguinaldo-Bonifacio split
  • The arrest, trial and execution of the Bonifacio brothers
  • Aguinaldo's retreat and the Biak-na-Bato Republic
  • The peace pact of Biak-na-Bato including violations

• Phase 2, from the outbreak of the Spanish-American war in 1898 and the resumption of the armed struggle, to the Battle of Manila and the uneasy peace that followed.

• • Armed resistance continues after Biak-na-Bato
  • Aguinaldo group in Hong Kong exile
  • The battle of Manila Bay and its direct impacts
  • Aguinaldo's return and the resurgence of armed struggle
  • The 1898 proclamation of Philippine independence
  • The 1898 fall of Manila
  • The end of Spanish rule and the 1898 Treaty of Paris

Philippine war against US occupation (1899-1906)

This period covers the last two phases of the First Philippine Revolution:

• Phase 3, from the outbreak of the Philippine-American war in 1899, to the establishment of US civilian government and the capture of Aguinaldo in 1901.
• Phase 4, the continuing formal armed resistance until the surrender of Gen. Macario Sakay in 1906.

US colonial rule (1901-1941)

This period covers:

• The early phase of US colonial rule (1901-1915). In this phase, the US colonial regime completed its subjugation of the Philippines and consolidated its control over the the entire country.
  • Establishment of civilian government
  • Suppression of nationalist movements and pockets of armed resistance
  • Filipino participation via local governments, electoral parties, Philippine Assembly

• The middle phase of US colonial rule amid global crisis (1915-1935)
  • Jones Law of 1916
  • Filipinization of the bureaucracy
  • Establishment and growth of US-Philippine free trade
  • Continuing nationalist agitation, labor and agrarian unrest; the Colorum, Tayug, Sakdalista revolts
  • CPP establishment and illegalization

• The Philippine Commonwealth (1935-1941)

It also covers the various armed and unarmed resistance movements of the Filipino people against US colonial and semi-feudal rule.

World War II period (1941-1945)

This is the period of the Japanese occupation of the Philippines and the Filipino people's anti-Japanese resistance. It may be divided into the following sub-periods and components:

• Japanese invasion and conquest of the Philippines (December 1941-April 1942)
• Japanese occupation of the Philippines and the Filipino people's war of resistance (1942-1945)
• Philippine war of liberation and the return of US forces (October 1944 to February 1945)
• The overall social, economic, political and cultural impact of the war on the Philippines and its people

Early post-war period (1945-1965)

This period covers the succeeding administrations of Roxas, Quirino, Magsaysay, Garcia and Macapagal.

• Manuel Roxas administration (1946-1948)
• Elpidio Quirino administration (1948-1953)
• Ramon Magsaysay administration (1953-1957)
• Carlos Garcia administration (1957-1961)
• Diosdado Macapagal administration (1961-1965)

This period also covers the entirety of the Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan (HMB) insurgency led by the old CPP-SPP merger party, which shifted from parliamentary struggle in 1946 to armed struggle from 1948 to the late 1950s, when it again reverted back to parliamentary struggle.

Marcos period (1966-1986)

This period covers the following sub-periods:

• Early Marcos (pre-martial law) period (1965-1972)
  • First presidential term (1965-1969)
  • Second presidential term (1969-1972)
• Marcos dictatorship under formal martial law (1972-1981)
• Decline and fall of the Marcos dictatorship (1981-1986)

The Marcos period also covers much of the reemergence and dramatic rise of the CPP-led revolutionary movement, as well as other armed and legal movements. This process may be divided into the following phases:

• Development of the KM and Leftist mass movements (1964-1967, after their reemergence in the early 1960s)
• Establishment and rapid expansion of the CPP-NPA (1968-1972) and the First Quarter Storm (1970-1972)
• Early years of the anti-Marcos dictatorship movement (1972-1981)
• Rapid expansion of the anti-dictatorship movement (1981-1986)

Post-Marcos period (1986-present)

This period covers the Aquino I, Ramos, Estrada, Arroyo, and Aquino II administrations.

• Corazon C. Aquino administration (1986-1992)
• Fidel V. Ramos administration (1992-1998)
• Joseph E. Estrada administration (1998-2001)
• Gloria Macapagal Arroyo administration (2001-2010)
• Benigno Aquino III administration (2010-2016)
• Rodrigo R. Duterte administration (2016-present, term set to end in 2022)

This period also covers the continuing revolutionary and insurgency movements as well as open mass movements against the successive regimes of the Philippine government.