Miguel López de Legazpi

A chief of Bohol island named Catunao gave information to Miguel López about Cebu and accompanied López as a guide.[3] López de Legazpi's expedition anchored off the Indianized Rajahnate of Cebu on February 13, 1565, but did not put ashore due to opposition from natives.[4]^:77

On February 22, 1565, the expedition reached the island of Samar and made a blood compact with Datu Urrao. The Spaniards then proceeded to Limasawa and were received by Datu Bankaw, then to Bohol, where they befriended Datu Sikatuna (or Catunao[5][6]) and Rajah Sigala. On March 16, 1565, López de Legazpi made a blood compact with Datu Sikatuna.[4]^:77

On April 27, 1565, the expedition returned to Cebu and landed there. Rajah Tupas challenged the Spaniards, but was overpowered. The Spaniards established a colony, naming the settlements "Villa del Santisimo Nombre de Jesús" (Town of the Most Holy Name of Jesus) after an image of Sto. Niño in one of the native houses.[4]^:77

In 1569, due to a scarcity of food provisions in Cebu, López de Legazpi transferred to Panay town on the island of Panay, where they were peacefully welcomed by the people in the Kedatuan of Madja-as. Subsequently, they founded a second settlement, then named Capiz and now the city of Roxas in Capiz province, located on the bank of the Panay River. In 1570, López de Legazpi sent Juan de Salcedo, his grandson who had arrived from Mexico in 1567, to Mindoro (former location of the Huangdom of Ma-i) to punish the Muslim Moro pirates who had been plundering Panay villages. Salcedo also destroyed forts on the islands of Ilin and Lubang, respectively South and Northwest of Mindoro[4]^:79[7]

In 1570, having heard of the rich resources in Luzon, López de Legazpi dispatched Martín de Goiti to explore the northern region. Landing in Batangas with a force of 120 Spaniards, de Goiti explored the Pansipit River, which drains Taal Lake.[4]^:79 On May 8, they arrived in Manila Bay. There, they were welcomed by the natives. Goiti's soldiers camped there for a few weeks while forming an alliance with the Muslim leader, Rajah Ache (better known as Rajah Matanda), who was a vassal under the Sultan of Brunei. López de Legazpi wanted to use Manila's harbor as a base for trade with China. However, the Rajah's ally in northern shores of Manila Bay, historically known as the young Bambalito of Macabebe, asked Rajah Soliman (Old Ache) to revoke his alliance with the Spaniards. Rajah Matanda refused because of the "word of honor" of the Spaniards. Rajah Soliman had his conditions for Bambalito that if they were able to kill as least 50 Spaniards, he would revoke his alliance with López de Legazpi, and the Old Ache would help to expel the conquerors. Bambalito rode back to Macabebe and formed a fleet of two thousand five hundred moros consisting of soldiers from the villages along Manila Bay particularly from Macabebe and Hagonoy.[8] On May 30, 1570, Bambalito sailed to Tondo with Caracoas and encountered the Spaniards at Bangkusay Channel, headed by Martin de Goiti on June 3, 1571. Bambalito and his fleet had lost the battle, and after disputes and hostility had erupted between the two groups, the Spaniards occupied the Islamized states of Tondo and Maynila. Manila was prepared by Goiti for López de Legazpi who left Panay.

In the same year, more reinforcements arrived in the Philippines, prompting López de Legazpi to leave Cebu for Panay and then for Luzon. He recruited 250 Spanish soldiers and 600 native warriors to explore the regions of Leyte and Panay. The following year, he followed Goiti and Salcedo in Manila, after learning that the villages had been conquered.

During the early phase of the exploration of the northern part of the Philippines, López de Legazpi remained in Cebu and did not accompany his men during their conquest of Manila because of health problems and advanced age.

In Manila, López de Legazpi formed a peace pact with the native councils as well as the local rulers, Rajah Sulayman and Lakan Dula, Lakan and Rajah are same title of the native royalty. Both groups agreed to organize a city council, consisting of two mayors, twelve councilors and a secretary. López de Legazpi established a settlement there on June 24, 1571, and he also ordered the construction of the walled city of Intramuros. He proclaimed the town as the island's capital, and the seat of the Spanish government in the East Indies.[1]

Upon the defeat of Bambalito, Legazpi orders the exploration of the villages north of Manila. In September 1571, Goiti pacified Lubao and Betis, using riverine tributaries of Rio Chico, then he reached the settlements in Calumpit and Malolos on November 14, 1571 and other old villages mostly along Manila Bay. López de Legazpi had established a government on the islands and became the first Spanish governor of the Philippines.

López de Legazpi governed the Philippines for a year before dying suddenly of a stroke in Manila on August 20, 1572 after scolding an aide.[9][10] He died bankrupt, leaving a few pesos behind, due to having spent most of his personal fortune during the conquest. He was laid to rest in San Agustin Church, Intramuros.

By the time of López de Legazpi's death, the parts of the Visayas had passed to Spanish rule. The Spanish met strong resistance from Muslim sultanates on the island of Mindanao, the Zambal tribes of Zambales, and the Igorot of the Cordilleran mountains, as well as some Wokou pirates from China and Japan.

During his final years, López de Legazpi wrote several letters to Philip II of Spain about his journey to the East Indies, and the conquest he had achieved. These were collectively known as the "Cartas al Rey Don Felipe II: sobre la expedición, conquistas y progresos de las islas Felipinas" (Letters to the King Lord Philip II: on the expedition, conquests, and progress of the Philippine Islands). The letters are still preserved today at the General Archive of the Indies in Seville, Spain.

At the time of López de Legazpi's arrival, the natives of the archipelago practiced Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and animism. Part of the motivation of the Spaniards was to evangelize population and convert people to Roman Catholicism.

With the Augustinian, Franciscan and other friars, who had helped him established a government on the islands, López de Legazpi worked to convert the natives to the Christian religion. In 1609, Antonio de Morga, Alcalde of Criminal Causes, in the Royal Audiencia of New Spain wrote:

After the islands had been conquered by the sovereign light of the holy gospel which entered therein, the heathen were baptized, the darkness of their paganism was banished and they changed their own for Christian names. The islands also, losing their former name, took — with the change of religion and the baptism of their inhabitants — that of Filipinas Islands, in recognition of the great favors received at the hands of his Majesty Filipe the Second, our sovereign, in whose fortunate time and reign they were conquered, protected and encouraged, as a work and achievement of his royal hands.[11]