Captaincy General of the Philippines

The Captaincy General of the Philippines (Spanish: Capitanía General de Filipinas Spanish pronunciation: [kapitaˈni.a xeneˈɾal ðe filiˈpinas] (listen); Filipino: Kapitaniya Heneral ng Pilipinas), was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire in Southeast Asia governed by a Governor-General. The Captaincy General encompassed the Spanish East Indies, which included among others the Philippine Islands and the Caroline Islands. It was founded in 1565 with the first permanent Spanish settlements.

Captaincy General of the Philippines

Capitanía General de Filipinas
Kapitaniya Heneral ng Pilipinas
1565–1898
Seal
Motto: Plus Ultra
"Further Beyond"
Anthem: Marcha Real
"Royal March"
StatusCaptaincy General
Capital
  • Cebu (1565–1571)
  • Manila (1571–1898)
  • Iloilo (13 August 1898 – 10 December 1898)
Common languagesSpanish (official)
Tagalog (common)
Philippine languages, Micronesian languages
Religion
Roman Catholicism (state religion), Philippine traditional religion, Islam
GovernmentMonarchy
King 
• 1565–1598
Philip II
• 1621–1665
Philip IV
• 1759–1788
Charles III
• 1808–1813
Jose I
• 1870–1873
Amadeo I
• 1886–1898
Alfonso XIII
Governor-General 
• 1565–1572
Miguel López de Legazpi
• 1644–1653
Diego Fajardo Chacón
• 1770–1776
Simón de Anda
• 1869–1870
Carlos María de la Torre
• 1898
Diego de los Ríos
LegislatureCortes Generales
History 
• European settlement
April 27, 1565
March 15, 1646
September 24, 1762
January 20, 1872
August 19, 1896
June 12, 1898
December 10, 1898
CurrencyReal de a ocho, peso fuerte
ISO 3166 codePH
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Ancient Barangays
Tondo
Rajahnate of Maynila
Madja-as
Namayan
Caboloan
Cainta
Ma-i
Kedatuan of Dapitan
Kingdom of Butuan
Rajahnate of Cebu
Lanao Sultanates Confederation
Sultanate of Maguindanao
Sultanate of Sulu
Sovereign Tagalog Nation
First Philippine Republic
Republic of Zamboanga
German New Guinea
United States Military Government of the Philippine Islands
Guam

For centuries, all the political and economic aspects of the Captaincy General were administered in Mexico City by the Viceroyalty of New Spain, while the administrative issues had to be consulted with the Spanish Crown or the Council of the Indies through the Royal Audience of Manila. However, in 1821, following the independence of Mexico, all control was transferred to Madrid. It was succeeded by the short-lived First Philippine Republic following its independence through the Philippine Revolution.

History
See also: Spanish East Indies

Early explorations
Reception of the Manila Galleon by the Chamorro in the Ladrones Islands, ca. 1590 Boxer Codex

After a long, tolling voyage across the Pacific Ocean, Ferdinand Magellan reached the island of Guam on March 6, 1521 and anchored the three ships that were left of his fleet in Umatac Bay, before proceeding to the Philippines, where he met his death during the Battle of Mactan. Antonio Pigafetta, the expedition's chronicler and one of only 18 original crew members to survive Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe, recorded all details of the voyage.

Magellan landing site in Umatac Bay

Miguel López de Legazpi arrived in Umatac in 1565 and claimed the island of Guam for Spain, before proceeding to the Philippines, where, in a short period of time, they successfully incorporated into Spain's empire Cebu, Samar, Mazaua, Leyte, and Bohol, before conquering Manila.

Later (in 1569), Miguel López de Legazpi transferred the Spanish headquarters from Cebu to Panay, where they found allies, who were never conquered by Spain but were accomplished as vassals by means of pacts, peace treaties, and reciprocal alliances.[1] On 5 June 1569, Guido de Lavezaris, the royal treasurer in the archipelago, wrote to Philip II reporting about the Portuguese attack on Cebu in the preceding autumn. A letter from another official, Andres de Mirandaola (dated three days later, on 8 June), also described briefly this encounter with the Portuguese. The danger of another attack led the Spaniards to remove their camp from Cebu to Panay, which they considered a safer place. Legazpi himself, in his report to the Viceroy in New Spain (dated 1 July 1569), mentioned the same reason for the relocation of Spaniards to Panay.[2] It was in Panay that the conquest of Luzon was planned, and launched on 8 May 1570.[3] Two of Lepazpi's lieutenant-commanders, Martín de Goiti and Juan de Salcedo, conquered Luzon's northern region.

Several Pacific islands were claimed by Spain during the 16th century, including the Caroline Islands by Toribio Alonso de Salazar in 1526, Palau by Ruy López de Villalobos in 1543, Bonin Islands by Bernardo de la Torre in 1543, New Guinea by Yñigo Ortiz de Retez in 1545, Solomon Islands by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa in 1568, New Hebrides by Pedro Fernandes de Queirós in 1606, and Marquesas Islands by Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira in 1595, although Spain did not make any serious attempt to establish permanent settlements in them until the 18th century.

The Murillo Velarde Map (Carta Hydrographica y Chorographica de las Yslas Filipinas Dedicada al Rey Nuestro Señor por el Mariscal d. Campo D. Fernando Valdes Tamon Cavallº del Orden de Santiago de Govor. Y Capn), (Manila, 1734)

Spanish settlement and creation of the Captaincy General

In 1574, the Captaincy General of the Philippines was created as a dependency of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. In 1584, the Real Audiencia of Manila was established by King Felipe II, who appointed as its President the same governor of the Captaincy General of the Philippines. The Captaincy General had its capital in Cebu from 1565 to 1595, and in Manila from 1595 until 1898.

As part of the extensive governmental reforms during the early Bourbon period throughout the overseas possessions, an Intendencia was established in Manila by Royal Decree of July 17, 1784 that handled issues regarding the government finances and to promote the economy. Ciriaco González Carbajal was appointed as Oidor of the Audiencia of Manila and was instructed to abide by the Royal Ordinance of Mayors of 1782, that had been enacted in Rio de la Plata. Carbajal proposed the establishment of more Intendencias in Ilocos, Camarines, Iloilo and Cebu, and although they were created on November 24, 1786, they were later abolished by the Royal Decree of November 20, 1787.[4] A month earlier, on October 23, the Intendencia of Manila had been attached to the Captaincy General of the Philippines.[5]

Until 1822, all General Captains were civilians, but after that year they were always chosen among the military. Throughout the second half of the 19th century, there were established many dependent local government offices and military settlements, very numerous due to a large number of islands and the extent of the districts.

Territorial divisions

Until the second half of the 18th century, there were 24 provinces, 19 alcaldías mayores and five corregimientos:[6]

Corregimientos

Alcaldías mayores

Other administrative units established afterward

Established during the 19th century

Until the second half of the 19th century, there existed the administrative units:

Spanish rule in the Philippines ceased in 1898 after the war with the United States, which annexed most territories, although the administrative jurisdictions remained intact.

Most of the remaining territories in the Pacific Ocean were sold to Germany during the German-Spanish Treaty of 1899.

See also

References
  1. Cf. William Henry Scott, Cracks in the Parchment Curtain, Quezon City: 1998, p. 4. Also cf. Antonio Morga, Sucessos de las Islas Filipinas, 2nd ed., Paris: 1890, p. xxxiii.
  2. Cf. Blair, Emma Helen & Robertson, James Alexander, eds. (1911). The Philippine Islands, 1493–1803. Volume 03 of 55 (1493-1803). Historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord Bourne. Cleveland, Ohio: Arthur H. Clark Company. ISBN 978-0554259598. OCLC 769945704. "Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century.", pp. 15–16.
  3. Cf. Blair, Emma Helen & Robertson, James Alexander, eds. (1911). The Philippine Islands, 1493–1803. Volume 03 of 55 (1493-1803). Historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord Bourne. Cleveland, Ohio: Arthur H. Clark Company. ISBN 978-0554259598. OCLC 769945704. "Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century.", p. 73.
  4. Enciclopedia GER Archived July 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Biblioteca de legislación ultramarina en forma de diccionario alfabético. Pág. 621. Compilado por: José María Zamora y Coronado. Editor: Impr. de J. M. Alegria, 1845
  6. Memorias históricas y estadísticas de Filipinas y particularmente de la grande isla de Luzon. Author: Rafael Díaz Arenas. Publicado por Imprenta del Diario de Manila, 1830
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