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According to the history of Manila, the city was first known as Gintu and was named by locals as Maynilad. Although proven a myth, it was still the most famous of how Manila got its name.
Manila lies about 950 kilometers southeast of Hong Kong, 2,400 kilometers northeast of Singapore and more than 2,100 kilometers northeast of Kuala Lumpur. The Pasig River bisects the city in the middle. Almost all of the city sits on top of centuries of prehistoric alluvial deposits built by the waters of the Pasig River and on some land reclaimed from Manila Bay.
The layout of the city was haphazardly planned during the Spanish Era as a set of communities surrounding the fortified walls of Intramuros (within the walls), which was the original Manila. Intramuros, one of the oldest walled cities in the Far East, was constructed and designed by Spanish Jesuit missionaries to keep from invading Chinese pirates and native uprisings. During the American Period, some semblance of city planning using the architectural designs and master plans by Daniel Burnham was done on the portions of the city south of the Pasig River.
Manila is bordered by several cities in Metro Manila such as Navotas City and Caloocan City to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong City to the east, Makati City to the southeast, and Pasay City to the south.
Well into the 13th century, the city consisted of a fortified settlement and trading quarter at the bay of the Pasig River, on top of previous older towns. The official name of the city under its Malay aristocracy was Seludong/Selurung, which was the same name given for the general region of southwestern Luzon at that time, suggesting that it was the capital of Ancient Tondo. However, the city became known by the name given to it by its Tagalog inhabitants, Maynila, first recorded as Maynilad. The name is based on the nila, a flowering mangrove plant that grew on the marshy shores of the bay, used to produce soap for regional trade; it is either from the phrase may nila, Tagalog for "there is nila," or it has a prefix ma- indicating the place where something is prevalent (nila itself is probably from Sanskrit nila 'indigo tree').[1] (The idea that the plant name is actually "nilad" is a myth.).[2] Originally it was a province of the Hindu Majapahit Empire, before it was made a colony by Sultan Bolkiah of Brunei before eventually fragmenting into rival city-states.
Manila became the seat of the colonial government of Spain when it officially controlled the Philippine Islands for over three centuries from 1565 to 1898. During the British occupation of the Philippines, the city was occupied by Great Britain for two years from 1762-1764 as part of the Seven Years War. The city remained the capital of the Philippines under the government of the provisional British governor, acting through the Archbishop of Manila and the Real Audiencia. Armed resistance to the British centred in Pampanga.
Manila, Philippines also became famous during the Manila-Acapulco trade which lasted for three centuries and brought the goods as far as the Americas all the way to South East Asia. In 1899, the United States purchased the Philippines from Spain and colonized the whole Philippine archipelago. Manila was fought over during the Spanish-American War and during the subsequent Philippine-American War. During World War II, much of the city was destroyed, but the city was rebuilt in 1946.[3] It was the second most destroyed city in the world after Warsaw, Poland during World War II. The Metropolitan Manila region was enacted as an independent entity in 1975.
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The city became known by the name given, "Manila", by its Tagalog inhabitants, as Maynila, first recorded as Maynilad. The name is based on the nila, a flowering mangrove plant that grew on the marshy shores of the bay, used to produce soap for regional trade; it is either from the phrase may nila, Tagalog for "there is nila," or it has a prefix ma- indicating the place where something is prevalent (nila itself is probably from Sanskrit nila (नील) 'indigo tree').[1] The idea that the plant name is actually "nilad" is a myth.[2]
Another theory suggests the name as from the Arabic Fi Aman Allah, or "God be with/protect you". This Islamic resonance in the city’s name was apparently disposed of by the Spanish.[4]
Under the Malay aristocracy, the city was known Seludong/Selurung, which was the same name given for the general region of southwestern Luzon at that time, suggesting that it was the capital of Ancient Tondo. It was also known as Gintu ("The Land/Island of Gold") or Suvarnadvipa by its neighbors. The said kingdom flourished during the latter half of the Ming Dynasty as a result of trade relations with China.[5] Ancient Tondo has always been the traditional capital of the empire. Its rulers were equivalents to kings and not mere chieftains, and they were addressed as panginuan or panginoon ("lords"), anak banwa ("son of heaven") or lakandula ("lord of the palace"). Well into the 13th century, the city consisted of a fortified settlement and trading quarter at the bay of the Pasig River, on top of previous older towns.
In the year 900, the Kingdom of Luzon which is otherwise known as the Dynasty of Tondo centered in Manila Bay flourished via an active trade with Chinese sea traders in the area. Later serving as a smuggling nexus after the Chinese imposed restrictions on their foreign trade.[6] During this time, the lord-minister Jayadewa presented a document of debt forgiveness to Lady Angkatan and her brother Bukah, the children of Namwaran. This is described in the Philippine's oldest known document the Laguna Copperplate Inscription.[7] This inscription shows the possible link between the ancient Philippines with Medang Kingdom of Java.
In 14th century there is evidence of Manila being a province of the Indonesian Hindu empire of Majapahit, due to the epic eulogy poem Nagarakretagama which was dedicated to Maharaja Hayam Wuruk. Saludong or Selurong which is a historical name for the City of Manila is listed in Canto 14 alongside Sulot (Sulu) and Kalka.[8]
During the reign of Sultan Bolkiah in 1485 to 1521, the Sultanate of Brunei decided to break the Dynasty of Tondo's monopoly in the China trade by attacking Tondo and establishing the state of Selurong (now Manila) as a Bruneian satellite-state.[9][10] A new dynasty under the Islamized Rajah Salalila[11] was also established to challenge the House of Lakandula in Tondo.[12] Islam was further strengthened by the arrival to the Philippines of traders and proselytizers from Malaysia and Indonesia.[13] The multiple states competing over the limited territory and people of the islands simplified Spanish colonization by allowing its conquistadors to effectively employ a strategy of divide and conquer for rapid conquest.
In the mid-16th century, the areas of present-day Manila were part of larger thalassocracies governed by Muslim Rajahs. Rajah Sulayman and Rajah Matanda ruled the Muslim communities south of the Pasig River, and Rajah Lakandula ruled the Kingdom of Tondo, the Hindu-Buddhist community north of the river. The two Muslim communities of Sulayman and Matanda were unified into the Kingdom of Maynila. Both city-states were officially Malay-speaking and held diplomatic ties with the Bolkiah dynasty of Brunei, and the sultanates of Sulu, and Ternate.
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Governor-General Miguel López de Legazpi, searching for a suitable place to establish his capital after being compelled to move from Cebu to Panay by Portuguese pirates, and hearing of the existence of a prosperous sultanate in Luzon, sent an expedition under Marshal Martin de Goiti and Captain Juan de Salcedo to discover its location and potential. De Goiti anchored at Cavite, and attempted to establish his authority peacefully by sending a message of friendship to Maynilad. Rajah Sulayman, then its ruler, was willing to accept the friendship that the Spaniards were offering, but did not want to submit to its sovereignty unto them and waged war against them.[14] As a result, De Goiti and his army attacked Maynilad on June 1570. After a stout fight, he captured the city before returning to Panay. In 1571, the unity of the Luzon Empire was already threatened by the uneasy alliance of the Rajah Matanda of Sapa, the Lakandula of Tondo, and Rajah Sulayman, the rajah muda or "crown prince" of Maynila and laxamana or "grand admiral" of the Macabebe Armada. Powerful states like Lubao, Betis and Macabebe became bold enough to challenge the traditional leadership of Tondo and Maynila.[5] In about the same year, the Spaniards returned, this time led by López de Legazpi himself along with his entire force (consisting of 280 Spaniards and 600 native allies). Seeing them approach, the natives set the city on fire and fled to ancient Tondo and neighboring towns. The Spaniards occupied the ruins of Maynilad and established a settlement there. On June 3, 1571, López de Legazpi gave the title city to the colony of Manila.[15] The title was certified on June 19, 1572.[15] Under Spain, Manila became the colonial entrepot in the Far East. The Philippines was a Spanish colony administered under the Viceroyalty of New Spain and the Governor-General of the Philippines who ruled from Manila was sub-ordinate to the Viceroy in Mexico City.[16] The Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade route between the Philippines and Mexico flourished from 1571 until 1815.[17] Manila became famous during the Manila-Acapulco trade which brought the goods as far as Mexico all the way to South East Asia. Because of the Spanish presence in the area, the Chinese people, who were living in the area and engaging in free trade relations with the natives, were subjected to commercial restrictions as well as laws requiring them to pay tribute to Spanish authorities. As a result, the Chinese revolted against the Spaniards in 1574, when a force of about 3,000 men and 62 Chinese warships under the command of Limahong attacked the city. The said attempt was fruitless, and the Chinese were defeated. In order to safeguard the city from similar uprisings later, the Spanish authorities confined the Chinese residents and merchants to a separate district called Parian de Alcaceria.[18] On June 19, 1591, after the commencement of the construction of a fort there, López de Legazpi made overtures of friendship with Rajah Lakandula of Tondo, which was prudently accepted. However, Rajah Sulayman refused to submit to the Spaniards and gathered together a force composed of Tagalog warriors after failing to get the support of Lakandula and that of the chieftains of Hagonoy and Macabebe. On June 3, 1571,[19] Sulayman led his troops and attacked the Spaniards in a decisive battle at the town of Bangkusay, but were defeated. With the destruction of Sulayman's army and the friendship with Rajah Lakandula, the Spaniards began to establish themselves throughout the city and its neighboring towns. Then came the rapid Christianization of the city. The first missionaries to arrive were the Augustinians, followed by the Franciscans, Jesuits, Dominicans, Augustinians and other religious orders. The friars also began to establish schools and churches dedicated to the Christian faith, eventually spreading throughout Manila and beyond. In 1595, Manila was decreed to be the capital of the Philippines, although it had already in fact served that function practically from its founding in 1571. Legazpi then ordered the creation of a municipal government or cabildo with a set of Spanish-style houses, monasteries, nunneries, churches, and schools giving birth to Intramuros. The layout of the city was haphazardly planned during this era as a set of communities surrounding the fortified walls of Intramuros (within the walls), which was the original Manila. Intramuros, one of the oldest walled cities in the Far East, was constructed and designed by Spanish Jesuit missionaries to provide protection from invading Chinese pirates and native uprisings. At various times in the following century, the Chinese rose in revolt against the Spaniards. In 1602, they set fire to Quiapo and Tondo, and for a time threatened to capture Intramuros. In 1662, they again revolted, while in 1686, a conspiracy led by Tingco plotted to kill all the Spaniards. These events led to the expulsion of the Chinese from Manila and the entire country by virtue of the decrees that were made by the Spanish authorities to that effect. However, later reconciliations nearly always permitted the continuation of the Chinese community in the city. |
Approximate locations of the towns of the province of Manila |
There was a brief British occupation of Manila from 1762-1764 as a result of the Seven Years' War, which was fought between France and Britain. Spain became Britain's enemy when it sided with France due to ties between their royal families. The fleeing Spaniards destroyed many of the records, and in the ensuing sack of the town by the British, many historical documents of great value were destroyed or stolen from the archives.
In reality the British only controlled Manila and Cavite. But Manila was the capital, and key, to the Spanish Philippines, and the British accepted the written surrender of the Spanish government in the Philippines from Archbishop Rojo and the Real Audiencia on 30 October 1762.[20] The city remained the capital of the Philippines under the government of the provisional British governor, acting through the Archbishop of Manila and the Real Audiencia.
The terms of surrender proposed by the Audencia Real and agreed to by the British leaders, secured private property, guaranteed the Roman Catholic religion and its episcopal government, and granted the citizens of the former Spanish colony the rights of peaceful travel and of trade 'as British subjects'. Under the direction of the provisional British governor, the Philippines continued to be governed by the Audencia Real, the expenses of which were agreed to be paid for by Spain.[20]
The only armed resistance to the British was in Pampanga where Oidor Don Simón de Anda y Salazar established his headquarters first in Bulacan, then in Bacolor.,[21]
The terms of surrender dated 29 October 1762 signed by Archbishop Rojo and the Real Audencia, and sealed with the Spanish Royal Seal, ceded the entire archipelago to Great Britain.[22] The Seven Years War was ended by the Peace of Paris signed on 10 February 1763. At the time of signing the treaty, the signatories were not aware that the Philippines had been taken by the British and was being administered as a British colony. Consequently no specific provision was made for the Philippines. Instead they fell under the general provision that all other lands not otherwise provided for be returned to the Spanish Crown.[23]
An unknown number of Indian soldiers known as Sepoys, who came with the British, deserted and settled in Cainta, Rizal, which explains the uniquely Indian features of generations of Cainta residents.[24]
Being the traditional seat of education and liberal thinking in the Philippines, Manila was a rich field for anticlerical propaganda. The seeds of revolution germinated in 1886 with the publication of José Rizal's book Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not), a novel critical of the way the Spanish friars were governing the Philippines. The Spanish government condemned the book, and Rizal was exiled to Dapitan. In 1892, he returned to Manila to found La Liga Filipina, a nationalistic organization. Later that year, in Tondo, Andrés Bonifacio founded the Katipunan, a secret organization with aim of overthrowing Spanish colonial rule.
The Katipunan movement grew until open rebellion broke out in August 1896 after its discovery by the Spaniards. Bonifacio's attack on Manila was unsuccessful. Rizal became a martyr of the revolution when the Spaniards executed him by firing squad on December 30, 1896 in Bagumbayan. After several months of fighting, a revolutionary government was formed at the Tejeros Convention in Cavite province with Emilio Aguinaldo at its head. Aguinaldo's government was also unsuccessful in its fight for independence, and as part of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato peace treaty, Aguinaldo accepted exile in Hong Kong.
U.S. Troops invaded Manila in 1898 and waged war with the Spaniards and Filipinos in the Spanish–American War and the Philippine–American War. Following the defeat of Spain, U.S. forces took control of the city and the islands in one of the most brutal and forgotten chapters of Philippine American history.
The American Navy, under Admiral George Dewey, defeated the Spanish squadron in the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898. Admiral Dewey testified that after the battle the Spanish Governor wished to surrender to the Americans rather than the Filipinos, whom he feared.[25]
Having just won their independence from Spain, the Filipinos were fiercely opposed to once again being occupied. Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed the First Philippine Republic at the Malolos Congress and had begun to build the foundations for an independent nation. Admiral Dewey, however, claimed he never recognized the Philippine Republic, as he did not have the authority to do so and did not consider it an organized government.[26] War broke out between the Filipinos and the Americans on February 4, 1899, when an American soldier shot and killed a Filipino in Manila. The Americans pursued the retreating Filipino forces province by province, until General Emilio Aguinaldo (then president of the Republic) surrendered in Palanan, Isabela, on March 23, 1901.
American high command at that time was headed by General Otis who ordered invasion and occupation. By that time the Filipino troops had taken classic defensive positions around Manila to attempt to keep them out. However, the poorly armed, ill-trained soldiers could not compete with the superior firepower of the Americans and they lost and were severely beaten; so much so that it has been reported that the dead were used as breastworks.
Under Aguinaldo's command the Filipinos began a guerrilla campaign to resist the new occupiers. This campaign had limited success in the early days following the initial occupation of the Americans although any successes were short-lived. The replacement of Otis by General Arthur MacArthur, Jr. began an extensive campaign to suppress the local population.
This campaign by the USA has been reported as being a particularly bloody suppression with wild reports of commanders ordering the murder of everyone over 10 years old. Several books have been written on this war and its implications for both the local peoples and the US.
In the Treaty of Paris in 1898, Spain handed over the Philippines to the United States of America for US$ 20,000,000 and ending 333 years of Spanish rule in the islands.[27][28]
Manila continued under an American military government until civil government was established for the city on July 31, 1901. During the American Period, some semblance of city planning using the architectural designs and master plans by Daniel Burnham was done on the portions of the city south of the Pasig River. The Philippine–American War continued through 1903 at the cost of many lives both in Manila and elsewhere in the Islands. In 1935, the United States government committed itself to granting the Philippines Independence after a ten-year transition, a period that was extended by one year due to World War II.
American combat units were ordered to withdraw from the city and all military installations removed on December 24, 1941 (Philippine time). That same day, Manila was declared an open city to spare the city from death and destruction.[29] Despite this, the Japanese forces bombarded Manila using war planes and for the first time, Manileños experience the first air raid.[30] Quezon issued a decree enlarging the safe zone to include outlying areas of Manila as safe zones, establishing the new administrative jurisdiction, Greater Manila.
The post of mayor of Greater Manila was given to Quezon's former Executive Secretary, Jorge B. Vargas. On the evening of New Year's Day of 1942, a Japanese courier delivered notice to Vargas that Japanese forces already bivouacked at Parañaque would enter Greater Manila the following day. From 9 am to 10 am of January 2, Japanese imperial forces marched into the City of Manila.
Vargas was tasked to hand over to the new authorities Greater Manila and present the remaining Filipino leaders to Japanese authorities. Vargas and the Filipino leaders present were asked to choose three options; (1) a purely Japanese military administration, (2) a dictatorial government run by a Filipino under General Artemio Ricarte who went on self-exile to Japan after the Filipino-American war, or (3) a government by commission selected by Filipinos. Vargas and the local leaders chose the third option and established the Philippine Executive Commission to manage initially Greater Manila, and was later expanded to cover the whole of the Philippines.
Vargas assumed the chairmanship of the Philippine Executive Commission and appointed to the post of Mayor of Greater Manila in 1942, Leon G. Guinto Sr., a Secretary of Labor under the Philippine Commonwealth administration of President Manuel L. Quezon. Guinto held the position of Mayor of Greater Manila until the liberation of the city.
On October 20, 1944, American and Philippine troops, led by American General Douglas MacArthur, began the reconquest of the Philippines. Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita ordered the commander of Shimbu Group, Gen. Shizuo Yokoyama, to destroy all bridges and other vital installations and evacuate the city. However, units of the Imperial Japanese Navy, led by Sanji Iwabuchi, refused to leave the city. Thus, from February 3 to March 3, 1945, much of the city was destroyed during the Battle of Manila and 100 000 civilians were killed during the Manila Massacre. As a result of these events in World War II, Manila was the second most destroyed city in the world after Warsaw, Poland during World War II. Once Manila was officially liberated, Greater Manila was dissolved, and its towns returned to their pre-war status. On July 4, 1946, the Philippine flag was raised for the first time in Rizal Park. Reconstruction took place during the years following WWII.
Arsenio H. Lacson was the first publicly elected mayor of Manila in 1951. Lacson successfully unseated the incumbent presidentially appointed mayor Manuel de la Fuente in the first ever mayoralty election in the city. He assumed the office of mayor on January 1, 1952. He was consecutively re-elected in 1955 and 1959. Lacson forged a reputation as a tough-minded reformist mayor, and in the 1950s, he and Zamboanga City mayor Cesar Climaco were touted as exemplars of good local governance. His administration of the City of Manila is regarded as Manila's "Golden Age", even though the city began it in bankruptcy.
At the time Lacson assumed office, Manila had around 23.5 million pesos in debt, some of which had been contracted thirty years earlier, and had no money to pay its employees. Within three years, the debt had been reduced in half, [8] and by 1959, the city had a budget surplus of 4.3 million pesos and paid its employees twice the amount earned by other local government employees. By that time, Lacson claimed that the income earned by Manila for the Philippines supported 70% of the salaries of the national government officials and members of Congress, as well as 70% of the expenses of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Lacson embarked on crusades to maintain peace and order and good government in Manila. He fired 600 city employees for incompetence, and dismissed corrupt policemen. He personally led raids on brothels masquerading as massage parlors and on unauthorized market vendors. Lacson ordered bulldozers to clear a squatter colony in Malate that had stood since shortly after the war. Lacson established a mobile 60-car patrol unit that patrolled the city at all hours, and he himself would patrol the city at nights in a black police car. Lacson also established the Manila Zoo and the first city underpass, located in Quiapo, posthumously named after him.
To date, no Filipino politician has replicated Lacson's success in local governance.
Between 1972 and 1981, Manila and the rest of the country was placed under Martial Law by President Ferdinand Marcos. During that period, the local economy continued disintegration amid charges of overwhelming corruption by Marcos and his associates.[19]
During Ferdinand Marcos' rule, he declared Martial Law just before the election of 1972 and suspended the writ of habeas corpus. From 1972 to the February 1986 EDSA Revolution, Marcos and his generals have caused the imprisonment and disappearance of tens of thousands of social activists who opposed his extended martial rule and clamored for change through free elections. After he was deposed in February 1986, the 1081 Claimants or victims of Martial Law won a record decision against the Marcos estate when a US Court in Hawaii ruled in their favor granting them more than US$500 million dollars in compensatory damages.
In 1963, Mayor Antonio Villegas worked hard for the creation of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, which was to become first university in the country fully subsidized by a local government unit. It took about two years for the bill seeking for its establishment to be passed by Philippine Congress, and eventually signed by the then-President Diosdado Macapagal.
On August 21, 1983, opposition leader Benigno Aquino flew to Manila from the United States and was assassinated as he left the airplane in Manila. Increasingly, the population opposed Marcos' rule.
After the People Power Revolution, Aquino's widow, Corazon, was installed as president in 1986. During the Aquino presidency, Manila witnessed six unsuccessful coup attempts, the most serious occurring in December 1989.[31]
In 1992, Alfredo Lim was elected Mayor of Manila, beating six opponents. He won re-election in 1995 with a margin of 250,000 votes, the highest majority of vote in the city’s political history.[32] During his first two-terms in office, he earned the nickname "Dirty Harry" for his anti-crime crusades.[33] He founded the City College of Manila that would serve to complement Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.
In 1998, Lito Atienza was elected Mayor, and he completed two more consecutive terms by being re-elected in 2001 and in 2004. His administration focused on social welfare and development as well as urban renewal and city beautification projects. In the areas of urban renewal for the City of Manila, Atienza implemented the "Buhayin ang Maynila" (Revive Manila) program, renovating most of Manila’s decaying public facilities such as lighting and improving the sidewalk by the Manila Bay along Roxas Boulevard and the area is now filled with al fresco restaurants and coffee shops. Public places such as the Plaza Miranda, the Andres Bonifacio monument, Rajah Sulayman, the Binondo areas, the creation of a Linear-Park in Pandacan, renovating Carriedo and the R. Hidalgo streets in Santa Cruz, upgrading services of the city’s public libraries, schools and hospitals including the Ospital ng Maynila and the building a permanent campus for the Universidad de Manila are among the achievements under Atienza’s administration. Upon the end of Atienza's third term, Alfredo Lim was elected once again in 2007. Lim immediately ordered the reversal of all Atienza projects and rerouted major roadways so as to erase so-called traces of "progress" in his absence. Lim's actions to do away with Atienza's introduced changes was considered by many as a wastage of city funds. But according to him, it was actually doing away with changes which contributed very little to the development of the city and returning life back again to Manila. On July 17, 2008, councilor Dennis Alcoreza, filed human rights complaints before the Commission on Human Rights, against Lim, and other Manila officials. 24 Manila officials also resigned because of the maltreatment of Lim's police forces.
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