Initial Latin-American military settlements in the Philippines.

Here's a picture of Plaza Mexico in Intramuros, commemorating the Mexican settlement of the Philippines.

from selurong

Hey, I made a map for wikipedia, outlining the Spanish Presidios in the Philippines. 

What do you guys think of it?

cool

Mexican migrants in the Philippines.

When Legázpi left the port of Navidad, also in the province of Jalisco, his four ships had been built in that small sea town. Although Legázpi was a Basque from the northern region of the Spanish peninsula, he had spent 20 years of his life in Mexico City, while his grandsons, Felipe and Juan de Salcedo, were born and bred in Mexico. The latter -- known as the last of the conquistadors, after subduing the native groups in Luzon and thwarting the corsair Limahong, or Lin Feng, from capturing Manila -- died of a malignant fever in his encomienda in Vigan on March 11, 1576. Probably half of Legázpi's crew was composed of Mexicans: creoles like the Salcedos, mestizos and Aztec indios.

The majority of the military reinforcements and married colonists sent to the Philippines during the first two centuries after Legázpi were Mexicans. The first group of 300 that reached Cebu in 1567 was commanded by Felipe de Salcedo. The second group of 200 reached Panay in 1570, just before Martin de Goiti sailed for the conquest of Manila. Another military group that reached Manila in 1575 was composed of 140 Spaniards and 38 Mexicans, all recruited in Mexico. Much later, prisoners from Mexico were sent to the islands in exile. The total number of Mexicans that emigrated to the Philippines has not been fixed, but in the two centuries and a half of contact we can safely assume that this figure reached several thousands.

Tomás de Comyn, general manager of the Compañia Real de Filipinas, in 1810 estimated that out of a total population of 2,515,406, "the European Spaniards, and Spanish creoles and mestizos do not exceed 4,000 persons of both sexes and all ages, and the distinct castes or modifications known in America under the name of mulatto, quarteroons, etc., although found in the Philippine Islands, are generally confounded in the three classes of pure Indians, Chinese mestizos and Chinese." In other words, the Mexicans who had arrived in the previous century had so intermingled with the local population that distinctions of origin had been forgotten by the 19th century. The Mexicans who came with Legázpi and aboard succeeding vessels had blended with the local residents so well that their country of origin had been erased from memory.

Nevertheless, these Mexicans left behind them their linguistic heritage: there are scores of words of Nahuatl origin in the Tagalog language. To mention a few: achuete, atole, avocado, balsa, banqueta, cacahuete, cacao, caimito, calabaza, camachile, camote, calachuche, chico, chocolate, coyote, nana(y), tata(y), tiangui, tocayo, zacate, and zapote. Of course, many more words of Spanish origin had been adopted by the Tagalog and other native groups into their language. A town in the province of Pampanga, originally named masicu, for a place where the fruit chico abounded, was undoubtedly renamed Mexico by the emigrants from the New World who settled there early in the 17th century.

http://filipinokastila.tripod.com/FilMex.html

from selurong

Creole Revolt 

Meanwhile in the Philippines, a year after Mexico declared itself independent in 1821, a mutiny of Creoles or criollos (Mexican-born Spanish) broke out. It was led by Andres Novales, Luis Rodriguez Varela and the Bayot brothers. What triggered the revolt was the order of the colonial government to disarm the Creole solders. The order suggested that the loyalty of the soldiers was in doubt after Mexico declared its independence from Spain. But the Creole officers thought this was just a ruse to prevent them from getting promoted. They feared being displaced from their jobs by recently arrived troops from Spain.

For several days in June 1822, the revolt was a success. The rebels took over the residence of the governor-general in Manila as well as public offices and strategic forts in the other parts of the archipelago. However, the government mustered loyalist Pampango troops from various presidios for a decisive counterattack. Now outnumbered by local troops, the Creole rebels surrendered. Some were executed outright, while most were sent back to Mexico the following year aboard the galleon "Flor del Mar."

What made this revolt politically significant for Filipinos was its demonstration of Spanish military weakness. It also called to public attention the personalities behind the uprising as well as their writings, which previously circulated only among the elite. One of its leaders, Luis Rodriguez Varela, had written a tract called "Proclama Historial" in which he referred to himself as "el conde Filipino."

The tract implied that Rodriguez Varela was commited to the King of Spain, who was deposed by the French as a result of Napoleon Bonaparte's expansionism, but it also agitated for some reforms that would be needed in order to secure the loyalty of the subjects in the Philippines. Varela also attacked the corruption in the local government.

Perhaps for the first time, a political statement used the term "Filipino" as a national identification. Previously, in the late 17th and 18th centuries, "Filipino" had been used by woodcut engraver Nicolas Bagay. The famous maps of Fr. Murillo Velarde and other religious drawings were signed by Bagay as "por Nicolas Bagay el indio filipino." But, as pointed out by historians, since indio was a generic term referring to all subjects of Spain, another qualification to indicate geographic origin had to be used for those indios from the Philippines. In the case of Varela, however, his assertion of being a Filipino already carried the notion of nationality as propagated by the French Revolution of 1789.

http://filipinokastila.tripod.com/FilMex.html

from selurong