 This book has been prepared at the suggestion of the educational authorities for pupils in the public high schools of the Philippines as an introduction to the history of their country. This preparation occupied about two years. While the author was busily engaged in other duties, much of it been written while he was travelling or exploring in different parts of the archipelago. No pretensions are made to an exhaustive character for the book, for the writer as well as for the pupil for whom it is intended, it is an introduction to the study of the history of Malaysia. Considerable difficulty has been experienced in securing the necessary historical sources, but it is believed that the principal ones have been read. The author is greatly indebted to the honourable Dr. Pardo de Tawera for the use of rare volumes from his library and he wishes to acknowledge also the kindness of Mr. Manuel Riarete, Chief of the Bureau of Archives for permission to examine public documents. The occasional reprints of the old Philippines histories have however been used more frequently than the original editions. The splendid series of reprinted works of the Philippines promised by Ms. Blair and Mr. Robertson was not begun in time to be used in the preparation of this book. The appearance of this series will make easy a part which the present writer has found comparatively difficult and will open the way for an incomparably better history of the Philippines than has ever yet been made. The drawings of the ethnographic subjects which partly illustrate this book were made from objects in the Philippine Museum by Anselmo Esperito, a teacher in the public schools of Manila. They are very accurate. Above everyone else inviting this book, the author is under obligations to his wife without whose constant help and encouragement it could not have been written. Preface to the second edition. The first edition of this book which appeared in the summer of 1905 has been exhausted for some time and another issue seems called four. The book has received some severe criticism especially from its treatment of the work of Roman Catholic Church and the policy pursued at times by the Spanish government. I have carefully reviewed all of these criticisms that come to my attention and have concluded that almost with exception the statement should remain as first presented. The book therefore appears again practically without alteration except for the correction of typographical errors and the occasional modification of a paragraph. On the other hand several friends who have been good enough to read the volume have urged that it be written on a more extended plan allowing larger treatment to certain topics. I have not done this for two reasons. First, because of a lack of requisite leisure. Second, because some further time must yet elapse before certain indispensable material is available. This includes the competition of the source publication by Miss Blair and Mr. Robertson. The Philippines Islands now issued up to volumes 59, the publication of the Insurgent War records and especially the bringing to light or better ordering of material both private and official bearing on the last decade of Spanish rule. The period of 1860 to 1898 is one of the consummate interests. It covers the period when the Spanish government was trying to reform its administration in keeping with the progress of the islands. When the forces of reaction were persistently triumphant and when the rapidly expanding development of the people itself constantly resulted in higher larger and higher aspirations. Some of the most solitary lessons of colonial history are contained in these epochs. What the Spanish government then faced other colonial powers will shortly be facing and the history of this period of unrest and transition can hardly be written to large. This is the portion of the present volume for which I feel apology is most due. However, I will say again, this book is only an introduction to the history of the Philippines under Spanish and American rule. It may be added further that some few years more must elapse before the work of American and in the Philippines can be properly presented. The view given in chapter 13 is of the American government at the time of its organization and first efforts. Five years have since elapsed and in that brief period remarkable results have been attained, which must however be carried still further before their full consequence will be disclosed. There has been established between the races a new standard of relationship of far more importance than any tangible results. The spirit of the efforts has been aptly characterized by a most competent French critic as a substitution of the principle of partnership for that of domination. It remarks in advance in the intercourse of races for which the world is most in need. The successful establishment of this principle in the government of Philippines will be sufficient to set achievements of the first American civil governor beside the greatest results of administrators of foreign colonies. By the time these pages appear to the Filipino people will have chosen a representative legislative assembly with the legal capacity for the first time in the history of the islands to express the general desire and will. It goes without saying that its voice will have great weight with the American nation. What will it demand? The program of an independent Philippines under the disinterested protection to the United States would seem to be an impossibility. No nation leased of all America. The third tradition aversion to foreign complications would undertake the guarantee the integrity or the internal peace of the Philippines without an adequate control of administration. As long as America bears any responsibility for the Philippines the ultimate administrative authority must be with those of her own choosing. Complete independence freeing America definitely from all burden and further interest is on the author hand an intelligible program and admissible among practical policies. But the greatest peril of the archipelago lies in the possibility of the Philippine assembly seeking the separation and in the disposition of the American people to welcome such a solution. Separation to early realized will lead to disaster. There is no shortcut to Philippine nationality. Its attainment is a long task calling for infinite patience and self-control. The population must greatly increase and must effectively occupy the entire archipelago satisfactory relations with the Pagan and Mohammedan people must be established. Education must do its work and the social order be entirely transformed before the basis of the national life is laid. Yet the aspiration for national existence cannot justly be discouraged. It is a motive power under which the greatest of popular times have been achieved. The situation is one peculiarly delicate and yet full of greatest promise. There is very reason why the both Americans and Filipinos should hold to their task with constant devotion and watchfulness over self. There could be no better myth for all who are engaged in the undertaking that the words of the present Secretary of War on whom more than on any other man rests the immediate future of the Philippines. In my view it is entirely fulfilled. David P. Paros Chapter 1. A History of the Philippines. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org. A History of the Philippines by David Barrows. Chapter 1. The Philippines as a Subject for Historical Study. Purpose of this book. This book has been written for the young men and young women of the Philippines. It is intended to introduce them to the history of their own island country. The subject of Philippine history is much broader and more splendid than the size and character of this little book reveal. Many subjects have only been briefly touched upon and there are many sources of information, old histories, letters and official documents which the writer had not time and opportunity to study in the preparation of this work. It is not too soon however to present a history of the Philippines even though imperfectly written to the Philippine people themselves. And if this book serves to direct young men and young women to a study of the history of their own island country it will have fulfilled its purpose. The development of the Philippines end of Japan. In many ways the next decade of the history of the Philippine islands may resemble the splendid development of the neighboring country of Japan. Both countries have in past times been isolated more or less from the life and thought of the modern world. Both are now open to the full current of human affairs. Both countries promise to play an important part in the politics and commerce of the Far East. Geographically the Philippines occupy the more central and influential position and the success of the institutions of the Philippines may react upon the countries of southeastern Asia and Malaysia to an extent that we cannot appreciate or foresee. Japan by reason of her larger population, the greater industry of her people, a more orderly social life, and devoted public spirit is at the present time far in the lead. The Philippines. But the Philippines possess certain advantages which in the course of some years may tell strongly in her favor. There are greater natural resources, a richer soil, and more tellable ground. The population while not large is increasing rapidly, as rapidly in fact as the population of Japan or of Java. And in the character of her institutions the Philippines have certain advantages. The position of woman, while unfortunate in Japan, as in China and nearly all eastern countries, in the Philippines is most fortunate and is certain to tell effectually upon the advancement of the race in competition with other eastern civilizations. The fact that Christianity is the established religion of the people makes possible a sympathy and understanding between the Philippines and western countries. Japan. Yet there are many lessons which Japan can teach the Philippines and one of these is of the advantages and rewards of fearless and thorough study. 50 years ago Japan which had rigorously excluded all intercourse of the foreign nations was induced to open its doors by an American fleet under Commodore Perry. At that time the Japanese knew little of western history and had no knowledge of modern science. Their contact with the Americans and other foreigners revealed to them the inferiority of their knowledge. The leaders of the country awoke to the necessity of a study of western countries and their achievements especially in government and in the sciences. Japan had at her service a special class of people known as the Samurai when the life of old Japan were the free soldiers of the feudal nobility and who were not only the fighters of Japan but the students and scholars as well. The young men of this samurai class threw themselves earnestly and devotedly into the study of the great fields of knowledge which had previously been unknown to the Japanese. At great sacrifice many of them went abroad to other lands in order to study in foreign universities. Numbers of them went to the United States frequently working as servants in college towns in order to procure the means for the pursuit of their education. The Japanese government in every way began to adopt measures for the transformation of the knowledge of the people. Schools were opened, laboratories established and great numbers of scientific and historical books were translated into Japanese. A public school system was organized and finally a university was established. The government sent abroad many young men to study in almost every branch of knowledge and to return to the service of the people. The manufacturers of Japan studied and adopted western machinery and modern methods of production. The government itself underwent revolution and reorganization upon lines more liberals to the people and more favorable to the national spirit of the country. The result has been the transformation in less than 50 years of what was formerly an isolated and ignorant country. The lesson for the Filipinos. This is the great lesson which Japan teaches the Philippines. If there is to be transformation here with the constant growth of knowledge and advancement and an elevation of the character of the people as a whole there must be a courageous and unfaltering search for the truth and the young men and women of the Philippines must seek the advantages of education not for themselves but for the benefit of their people and their land. Not to gain for themselves the selfish position of social and economic advantage over the poor and less educated Filipinos but in order that having gained these advantages for themselves they may in turn give them to their less fortunate countrymen. The young Filipino man or woman must learn lessons of truthfulness courage and unselfishness and in all of his gaining of knowledge and in his use of it as well he must practice this these virtues or his learning will be an evil to his land and not a blessing. The aim of this book is to help him to understand first of all the place that the Philippines occupy in the modern history of nations so that he may understand how far and from what beginnings the Filipino people have progressed toward what things the outside world itself has moved during this time and what place and opportunities the Filipinos as a people may seek for in the future. The meaning of history. History as it is written and understood comprises many centuries of human life and achievement and we must begin our study by discussing a little what history means. Men may live for thousands of years without having a life that may be called historical. For history is formed only where there are credible written records of events. Until we have these records we have no ground for historical study but leave the field to another study which we call archaeology or prehistoric culture. Historical races thus there are great races which have no history for they have left no records either the people could not write or their writings have been destroyed or they told nothing about the life of the people. The history of these races began only with the coming of the historical or more advanced race among them thus the history of the black or negro race begins only with the exploration of Africa by the white race and the history of the American Indians except perhaps of those of Peru and Mexico begins only with the white man's conquest of America. The white or European race is above all others the great historical race but the yellow race represented by the Chinese has also historical life and development beginning many centuries before the birth of Christ. For thousands of years the history of the white race was confined to countries bordering or adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea. There was little contract with other races and men and almost no knowledge of countries beyond the Mediterranean shores. The great continents of America and Australia and the beautiful island world of the Pacific and Indian oceans were scarcely dreamed of. This was the status of the white race in Europe a little more than 500 years ago. How different is the position of this race today? It has now explored nearly the entire globe. The white people have crossed every continent in every sea on every continent they have established colonies and over many countries their power. During these last five centuries besides the spread of geographical discovery the mingling of all the races and the founding of great colonies have come also the development of scientific knowledge great discoveries and inventions the utilization of steam and electricity which give to man such tremendous power of the material world. Very important changes also have marked the religious and political life of the race. Within these years came the Protestant revolt from the Roman Catholic Church destroying in some degree the unity of Christendom and the great revolutions of Europe and America establishing democratic and representative governments. This expansion and widening of the life of the European race beginning about 500 years ago brought it into contact with the Filipino people and the historical life of the Philippines states from this meaning of the two races. Thus the history of the Philippines has become a part of the history of nations. During these centuries the people of these islands subjects of a European nation have progressed in social life and government in education and industries in numbers and in wealth. They have often been stirred by wars and revolutions by centuries of piratical invasion and fear of conquest by foreign nations but these dangers have now passed away there is no longer fear of piratical ravage nor of foreign invasion nor is there longer great danger of internal revolt for the Philippines are at the present time under government strong enough to defend them against other powers to put down plunder and ravage and one anxious and disposed to afford to the people such freedom of opportunity such advantages of government and life that the incentive to internal revolution will no longer exist secure from external attack and rapidly progressing toward internal peace the Philippines occupy a position most fortunate among the peoples of the Far East they have representative government freedom of religion and public education and what is more than all else to the aspiring or ambitious race or individual freedom of opportunity how history is written one other thing should be explained here every child who reads this book should understand a little how history is written a most natural inquiry to be made regarding any historical statement is how is this known and this is as proper a question for the schoolboy as for the statesman the answer is that history rests for its facts largely upon the written records made by people who either lived at the time these things took place or so near to them that by careful inquiry they could learn accurately of these matters and write them down in some form so that we today can read their accounts and at least know how these events appeared to men of the time but not all that a man writes or even puts in a book of things he has seen and known is infallibly accurate and free from error partiality and untruthfulness so the task of the historian is not merely to read and accept all the contemporary records but he must also compare one account with another weighing all that he can find making due allowance for prejudice and on his own part try to reach a conclusion that shall be true of course where records are few the task is difficult indeed and on the other hand material may be so voluminous as to occupy a writer a lifetime and make it impossible for any one man completely to exhaust a subject historical accounts of the philippines for the philippines we are so fortunate as to have many adequate sources of a reliable and attractive kind in a few words some of these will be described nearly all exist in at least a few libraries in the philippines where they may sometime be consulted by the philippino student and many of them at least in later editions may be purchased by the student for his own possession and study the voyages of discovery european discovery of the philippines began with the great voyage of majelin and recounting this discovery of the islands there is the priceless narrative of one of majelin's company Antonio Pigafetta his book was written in italian but was first published in a french translation the original copies made by pigafetta have disappeared but in 1800 a text was discovered in the ambrosian library of Milan Italy and published translations into english and other languages exist it may be found in several collections of voyages and there is a good spanish translation edition of recent date there are several other accounts of majelin's voyage but pigafettas was the best one written by an eyewitness and his descriptions of the bisaya islands sebu borneo and the malucas are wonderfully interesting and accurate there were several voyages of discovery between majelin's time 1521 and the gaspis time 1565 these include the expeditions of louisa savedra and via lobos accounts of them are to be found in volume five of the series of publications made by the spanish government collection de documentos ineditos del archivo de indias in another series collection de los viajes y descubrimientos are the documents of majelin's voyage spanish occupation in conquest as we come to the history of spanish occupation in conquest of the philippines we find many interesting letters and reports sent by both soldiers and priests to the king or two persons in spain the first complete book on the philippines was written by a missionary about 1602 father Pedro chirinos relacion de las islas philippinas printed in rome in 1604 this important and curious narrative is exceedingly rare but a reprint although rude and poor was made in manila in 1890 which is readily obtainable the relacion de las islas philippinas was followed in 1609 by the work of judge antonio de morga sucesos de las islas philippinas this very rare work was printed in mexico in 1890 a new edition was brought out by dr. jose risal from the copy in the british museum there is also an english translation these two works abound in curious and valuable information upon the filipino people as they were at the time of the arrival of the spaniards as does also a later work the conquistas de las islas philippinas by fryer gaspar de san agostin printed in madrid in 1698 this latter is perhaps the most interesting and most important early work on the philippine islands as we shall see the history of the philippines is closely connected with that of the east indian spice islands when the spanish forces took the rich island of turnate in 1606 the triumph was commemorated by a volume finally written though not free from mistakes the conquistas de las islas malucas by leonardo de argan sola madrid 1609 there is an old english translation and also french and dutch translations to no other religious order do we owe so much historical information as to the jesuits the scholarship and literary ability of the company have always been high churino was a jesuit as was also father francisco collin who wrote the labor evangelical a narrative of the jesuit missions in the philippines china and japan which was printed in madrid in 1663 this history was continued years later by father mario velarde who wrote what he called this segunda parte the historia de la provincia de filipinas de la compañía de jesús manela 1749 there is another notable jesuit work to which we owe much of the early history of the great island of mindanao this is the historia de mindanao y holo by father francisco conves the year 1663 marked as we shall see an epic in the relations between the spaniards and the marhamadan malaise in that year the spaniards abandoned the fortress of zambanga and retired from southern mindanao the jesuits had been the missionaries in those parts of the southern acapella and they made vigorous protests against the abandonment of moro territory one result of their efforts to secure the reoccupancy of these fortresses was the notable work mentioned above it is the oldest and most important writing about the island and the inhabitants of mindanao it was printed in madrid in 1667 a beautiful and exact edition was brought out a few years ago by retana a dominican missionary father diego aduarte wrote a very important work the historia de la provincia del santo rosario de la orden de predicadores en filipinas japón y china which was printed in manila at the college of santo tomas in 1640 we may also mention as containing the most interesting account of the filipines about the middle of the 17th century the famous work on china by the dominican father fernandez navarrete tratados históricos políticos étnicos y religiosos de la monarquía de china madrid 1767 navarrete arrived in these islands in 1648 and was for a time a cura on the island of mendoro later he was a missionary in china and then professor of divinity in the university of santo tomas his work is translated into english in church hill's collection of voyages and travels london 1744 second volume the 18th century is rather barren of interesting historical matter there was considerable activity in the production of grammars and dictionaries of the native languages and more histories of the religious orders were also produced these latter while frequently filled with sectarian matter should not be overlooked between the years 1788 and 1792 was published the voluminous historia general de filipinas in 14 volumes by the recollect fryer father juan de la concepción the work abounds in superfluous matter and trivial details yet it is a copious source of information a veritable mine of historical data and is perhaps the best known and most frequently used work upon the philippine islands there are a number of sets in the philippines which can be consulted by the student some years after and as a sort of protest against so extensive a treatment of history the sane and admirable augustinian father hawken martinez de zuniga wrote his historia de las islas filipinas a volume of about 700 pages it was printed in sapolok manila in 1803 this writer is exceptional for his fair-mindedness and freedom from the narrow prejudices which have characterized most of the writers of the philippines his language is terse and spirited and his volume is the most readable and in many ways the most valuable attempt at a history of the philippines his narrative closes with the english occupation of manila in 1763 recent histories and other historical materials the sources for the conditions and history of the islands during the last century differ somewhat from the proceeding the documentary sources in the form of public papers and reports are available and there is considerable mass of pamphlets dealing with special questions in the philippines the publication of the official journal of the government the caseta de manila commenced in 1861 it contains all acts of legislation orders of the governors pastoral letters and other official matters down to the end of spanish rule a vast amount of material for the recent civil history of the islands exists in the archives of the philippines at manila but these documents have been very little examined notable among these original documents is the series of royal cedulas each bearing the signature of the king of spain yo el re they run back from the last years of sovereignty to the commencement of the 17th century the early cedulas on the establishment of spanish rule are said to have been carried away by the british army in 1763 and to be now in the british museum of the archives of the royal audencia at manila the series of judgments begins with one of 1603 which is signed by antonio de morga from this date they appear to be complete the earliest records of the cases which came before this court can that can be found date from the beginning of the 18th century of modern historical writings mentioned must be made of the historia de filipinas three volumes 1887 by mantero evidal and the publications of we retana to the scholarship and enthusiasm of this last author much is owed his work has been the republication of rare and important sources his edition of combis has already been mentioned and there should also be mentioned and if possible procured his archival del bibliofilo filipino four volumes a collection of rare papers on the islands of different dates and his edition the first ever published of zunigas esterismo de las islas filipinas an incomparable survey of the islands made about 1800 by the priest and historian whose history was mentioned above accounts of voyagers who visited the philippines these references give some idea of the historical literature of the philippines they comprise those works which should be chiefly consulted there should not be omitted the numerous accounts of voyagers who have visited these islands from time to time and who frequently give us very valuable information the first of these are perhaps the english and dutch rebooters who prowled about these waters to waylay the richly laden galleons one of these was dumpierre who about 1690 visited the ladrones and the philippines his new voyage around the world was published in 1697 there was also anson who in 1743 took the spanish galleon off the coast of samar and whose voyage is described in a volume published in 1745 there was an italian physician carreri who visited the islands in 1697 in the course of a voyage around the world and who wrote an excellent description of the philippines which was printed in english translation in churchill's collection of voyages a french expedition visited the east between 1774 and 1781 and the commissioner has left a brief account of the spanish settlements in the islands as they then appeared there are a number of travelers accounts written in the last century of which may be mentioned sir john bowring's visit to the philippine islands 1859 and jaguar's race in india philippine travels in the year 1859 and 1860 which has received translation into both english and spanish bibliographies for the historical student a bibliographical guide is necessary such a volume was brought out in 1898 by ritana catalogo abbreviado de la biblioteca filipina it contains a catalog of 5 780 works published in or upon the philippines a still more exact and useful bibliography has been prepared by the honorable th pardo de tavera biblioteca filipina and is published by the united states government it is lamentable that the philippines government possesses no library of works on the archipelago the foundation of such an institution seems to have been quite neglected by the spanish government and works on the philippines are scarcely to be found except as they exist in private collections the largest of these is said to be that of the campania general de tabacos at barcelona which has also recently possessed itself of the splendid library of ritana in manila the honorable dr pardo de tavera possesses the only notable library in the islands the publication of a very extensive series of sources of philippine history has also been begun by the arthur h clark company in the united states under the editorship of miss e h blare and mr j a robertson the series will embrace 55 volumes and will contain in english translations all available historical matter on the philippines from the age of discovery to the 19th century this notable collection will place within the reach of the student all the important sources of his country's history and will make possible more extensive and accurate writing of the history of the islands that has ever performed when possible in addition to the published works there were posed numerous unstudied documents of philippine history in the archives of the indies at civil historical work for the philippino student after reading this book or a similar introductory history the student should procure one by one as many as he can of the volumes which have been briefly described above and by careful reading and patient thought try to round out the story of his country and learn the lessons of the history of his people he will find it a study that will stimulate his thought and strengthen his judgment but always he must search for the truth even though the truth is sometimes humiliating and sad if there are regrettable passages in our own lives we cannot find either happiness or improvement in trying to deny to ourselves that we have done wrong and so conceal and minimize our error so if there are dark places in the history of our land and people we must not obscure the truth in the mistaken belief that we are defending our people's honor or by trying to conceal the fact and excuse the fault we only add to the shame it is by frank acknowledgement and clear depiction of previous errors that the country's honor will be protected now and in the future very interesting and important historical work can be done by the philippino student in his own town or province the public and parish records have in many towns suffered neglect or destruction in all possible cases these documents should be gathered up and cared for for many things they are worthy of study they may show the growth of population the dates of erection of the public buildings the former system of government and social conditions this is a work in which the patriotism of every young man and woman can find an expression many sites throughout the islands are notable for the historic occurrences which they witnessed these should be suitably marked with tablets or monuments and the exact facts of the events should take place and the exact facts of the events that took place should be carefully collected and put in writing towns and provinces should form public libraries containing among other works books on the philippines and it should be a matter of pride to the young philippino scholar to build up such local institutions and to educate his townsmen in their use and appreciation but throughout such studies the student should remember that his town or locality is of less importance from a patriotic standpoint than his country as a whole that the interests of one section should never be placed above those of the archipelago and that while his first and foremost duty is to his town and to his people among whom he was born and nurtured he owes a greater obligation to his whole country and people embracing many different islands in different towns and to the great government which holds and protects the philippine islands and which is making possible the free development of its inhabitants end of chapter one chapter two of history of the philippines this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org a history of the philippines by David Barrows chapter two the peoples of the philippines the study of ethnology the study of races and peoples forms a separate science from history and is known as ethnology or the science of races ethnology treats of how and where the different races of mankind originated it explains the relationships between the races as well as the differences of mind of body and of motive living which different peoples exhibit all such knowledge is of great assistance to the statesman as he deals with the affairs of his own people and of other peoples and it helps private individuals of different races to understand one another and to treat each other with due respect kindness and sympathy in as much too as the modern history which we are studying deals with many different peoples of different origin and race and as much of our history turns upon these differences we must look for a little at the ethnology of the philippines the negritos physical characteristics the great majority of the natives of our islands belong to what is usually called the malayan race or the oceanic mongols there is however one interesting little race scattered over the philippines which certainly has no relationship at all with malayans these little people are called by the tagalog aeta or ita the spaniards when they arrived called them negritos or little negroes the name by which they are best known since they were without question the first inhabitants of these islands of whom we have any knowledge we shall speak of them at once they are among the very smallest peoples in the world the average height of the men being about 145 centimeters or the height of an american boy of 12 years the women are correspondingly smaller they have such dark brown skins that many people suppose them to be quite black their hair is very woolly or kinky and forms thick mats upon their heads in spite of these peculiarities they are not unattractive in appearance their eyes are large and of a fine brown color their features are quite regular and their little bodies often beautifully shaped the appearance of these little savages excited the attention of the first spaniards and there are many early accounts of them padre terino who went as a missionary in 1592 to panay begins the narrative of his labors in that island as follows among the besayas there are also some negroes they are less black and ugly than those of guinea and they are much smaller and weaker but their hair and beard are just the same they are much more barbers and wild than the besayas and other philippinos for they have neither houses nor any fixed site for dwelling they neither plant nor reap but live like wild beasts wandering with their wives and children through the mountains almost naked they hunt the deer and wild boar and when they kill one they stop right there until all the flesh is consumed of property they have nothing except the bow and arrow manners and customs the negritos still have this wild timid character and few have ever been truly civilized in spite of the efforts of some of the spanish missionaries they still roam through the mountains seldom building houses but making simply a little wall and roof of brush to keep off the wind and rain they kill deer wild pigs monkeys and birds and in hunting they are very expert but their principal food is wild roots and tubers which they roast in ashes frequently and traveling through the mountains although one may see nothing of these timid little folk he will see many large freshly dug holes from each of which they have taken out a root the negritos ornament their bodies by making little rows of cuts on the breast back and arms and leaving the scars and ornamental patterns and some of them also cut their front teeth to points in their hair they wear bamboo combs with long plumes of hair or of the feathers of the mountain cock they have curious dances and ceremonies for marriage and for death distribution negritos have retired from many places where they lived when the spaniards first arrived but there are still several thousand in luson especially in the cordieres zambales and in the sierra madre range on the pacific coast and in the interior of benay and and negros and in sir yao of mindanao relation of the negritos to other dwarfs of the world although the negritos have had very little effect on the history of the philippines they are of much interest as a race to scientists and we cannot help asking whence came these curious little people and what does their presence here signify while science cannot at present fully answer these questions what we do actually know about these pygmies is full of interest the aetas of the philippines are not the only black dwarfs in the world a similar little people who must belong to the same race live in the mountains and jungles of the malay peninsula and are called samans on the andaman islands in the indian ocean all the aboriginal inhabitants are similar pygmies some traces of their former existence are reported for many other places in the east indies thus it may be that there was a time when these little men and women had much of this island world quite to themselves and their race stretched unbrokenly from the philippines across malaysia to the indian ocean as it would have been impossible for so feeble a people to force their way from one island to another after the arrival of the stronger races who have now confined them to the mountainous interiors we're obliged to believe that the negritos were on the ground first and that at one time they were more numerous the indian archipelago was then a world of black pygmies it may be that they were even more extensive than this for one of the most curious discoveries of modern times has been the finding of similar little blacks in the equatorial forests of africa the negritos must not be confused with the black or negro race of new guinea or melanesia who are commonly called pop ones for those negros are of tall stature and belong with the true negros of africa though how the negro race thus came to be formed of several widely separated branches we did not know the malayan race origin of the race it is thought that the malayan race originated in southeastern asia from the mainland it spread down into the peninsula and so scattered southward and eastward over the ridge neighboring islands probably these early malayans found the little negritos in possession and slowly drove them backward destroying them from many islands until they no longer exist except in the places we have already named with the beginning of this migratory movement which carried them from one island to another of the great east indian archipelago these early malayans must have invented the boats or pros for which they are famed and have become skillful soldiers living much upon the sea effect of the migration life for many generations upon these islands so warm tropical and fruitful gradually modified these immigrants from asia until they became in mind and body quite a different race from the mongol inhabitants of the mainland characteristics the malayan peoples are of a light brown color with a light yellowish undertone on some parts of the skin with straight black hair dark brown eyes and though they are a small race and stature they are finely formed muscular and active the physical type is nearly the same throughout all malaysia but the different peoples making up the race differ markedly from one another in culture they are divided also by differences of religion there are many tribes which are pagan on bali and little islands east of java the people are still brahman like most inhabitants of india in other parts of malaysia there are mohammedans while in philippines alone they are mostly christians the wild malayan tribes considering first the pagan or the wild malayan peoples we find that in the interior of the malay peninsula and of many of the islands such as sumatra borneo and celebes there are wild malayan tribes who have come very little in contact with the successive civilizing changes that have passed over the sarca pelago the true malays call these folk orang benua or men of the country many are almost savages some are cannibals and others are headhunters like some of the dyaks of borneo in the philippines too we find what is probably the same class of wild people living in the mountains they are warlike savage and resist approach sometimes they eat human flesh as a ceremonial act and some prize above all other trophies the heads of their enemies which they cut from the body and preserve in their homes it is probable that these tribes represent the earliest and rudest epic of malayan culture and that these were the first of this race to arrive in the philippines and dispute with the negritos for the mastery of the soil in such wild state of life some of them like the malayans of indoro have continued to the present day the tribes in northern luzon northern luzon in the great cordillera central there are many of those primitive tribes these people are preeminently mountaineers they prefer the high cold and semi-arid crests and valleys of the loftiest ranges here with great industry they have made gardens by the building of stone walled terraces on the slopes of the hills sometimes hundreds of those terraces can be counted in one valley and they rise one above the other from the bottom of a canyon for several miles almost to the summit of a ridge these terraced gardens are all under most careful irrigation water is carried for many miles by log flumes and ditches to be distributed over these little fields the soil is carefully fertilized with the refuse of the villages two and frequently three crops are produced each year here we find undoubtedly the most developed and most nearly scientific agriculture in the philippines they raise rice cotton tobacco the taro maize and especially the kamote or sweet potato which is their principal food these people live in compact well-built villages frequently of several hundred houses some of these tribes like the igorots of ben gucht and the tingins of abra are peaceable as well as industrious in ben gret there are fine herds of cattle much excellent coffee and from time immemorial the igorots here have mine gold besides these peaceful tribes there are in bontoc and in the northern parts of the cordier many large tribes with splendid mountain villages who are nevertheless in a constant and dreadful state of war nearly every town is infused with its neighbors and the practice of taking heads leads to frequent mortar and combat the most curious tribe of persistent headhunters are the ebilao or ilungots who live in the carabao sore mountains between nuova iyeja and nuova viscaya on other islands of the philippines there are similar wild tribes on the island of palawan there are the tagban was and other savage folk characteristics of the tribes of mendonow in mendonow there are many more tribes three of these tribes the bagovo mandaya and manobo are on the eastern coast and around mont apple in western mendonow there is quite a large but scattered tribe called the subanon these people make clearings on the hillsides and support themselves by raising maize and mountain rice they also raise hemp and from the fiber they weave truly beautiful blankets and garments artistically dyed in very curious patterns these people are nearly all pagans though a few are being gradually converted to mohammedanism and some to christianity the pagans occasionally practice the revolting rites of human sacrifice and ceremonial cannibalism the civilized malayan peoples their later arrival at a later date than the arrival of these primitive malayan tribes there came to the philippines others of a more developed culture and a higher order of intelligence those peoples mastered the low country and the coasts of nearly all the islands driving into the interior the earlier comers in the aboriginal negritos these later arrivals though all of one stock differed considerably and spoke different dialects belonging to one language family they were the ancestors of the present civilized philippino people distribution of these peoples all through the central islands sibu panay negros leite samar bohal and northern mendonow are the bisayas the largest of these peoples at the southern extremity of luson in the provinces of sorsagon and the camarines are the bicoals north of these holding central luson patangas cavite manila laguna patan pula khan and nuova ijeja are the tagalogs while the great plain of northern luson is occupied by the pampangos and pangasinans all the northwest coast is inhabited by the ilicanos and the valley of the kagayan by a people commonly called kagayanes but whose dialect is ibanag in nuova fiskaya province on the batanes islands and the calamianes there are other distinct branches of the philippino people but they are much smaller numbers and less important than the tribes mentioned above importance of these peoples they form politically and historically the philippino people they are the philippinos whom the spaniards ruled for more than 300 years all are converts to christianity and all have attained a somewhat similar stage of civilization early contact of the malays and hindus these people at the time of their arrival in the philippines were probably not only of a higher plane of intelligence than any who had preceded them in the occupation of the islands but they appeared to have had the advantages of contact with a highly developed culture that had appeared in the eastern archipelago some centuries earlier early civilization in india more than 2000 years ago india produced a remarkable civilization there were great cities of stone magnificent palaces a life of splendid luxury and a highly organized social and political system writing known as the sanskrit had been developed in a great literature of poetry and philosophy produced two great religions brahminism and buddhism arose the latter stole the dominant religion of tibet china and japan the people who produced this civilization are known as the hindus 14 or 1500 years ago hinduism spread over berma sam and java great cities were erected with splendid temples and huge idols the ruins of which still remain though their magnificence has gone and they are covered today with the growth of the jungle influence of hindu culture on the malayan peoples this powerful civilization of the hindus established thus in malaysia greatly affected the malayan people on these islands as well as those who came to the philippines many words in the tagalog have been shown to have a sanskrit origin and the systems of writing which the spaniards found in use among several the philippino peoples had certainly been developed from the alphabet then in use among these hindu peoples of java the rise of muhammad anism muhammad a few hundred years later another great change due to religious faith came over the malayan race a change which has had a great effect upon the history of the philippines and is still destined to modify events far into the future this was the conversion to muhammad anism of all the great religions of the world muhammad anism was the last to arise and its career has in some ways been the most remarkable muhammad its founder was an arab born about 572 ad at that time christianity was established entirely around the mediterranean and throughout most of europe but arabia was idolatrous muhammad was one of those great prophetic souls which arise from time to time in the world's history all he could learn from hebraism and christianity together with the result of his own thought and prayers led him to the belief in one god the almighty the compassionate the merciful who as he believed would win all men to his knowledge through the teachings of muhammad himself thus inspired muhammad became a teacher or prophet and by the end of his life he had won his people to his faith and inaugurated one of the greatest errors of conquest the world has seen spread of muhammad anism to africa and europe the armies of arabian horsemen full of fanatical enthusiasm to convert the world to their faith in a century's time rested from christian dumb all judaea syria and asia minor the sacred land where jesus lived and taught and the countries where paul and the other apostles had first established christianity thence they swept along the north coast of africa bringing to an end all that survived a roman power and religion and by 720 they had crossed into europe and were in possession of spain for the nearly 800 years that followed the christian spaniards fought to drive muhammad anism from the peninsula before they were successful the conversion of the malayans to muhammad anism not only did muhammad anism move westward over africa and europe it was carried eastward as well animated by their faith the arabes became the greatest sailors explorers merchants and geographers of the age they sailed from the red sea down the coast of africa as far as madagascar in eastward to india where they had settlements on both the malibar and coromandel coasts thence arab missionaries brought their faith to malaysia at that time the true malays tribe from which the common term malayan has been derived were a small people of samatra at least as early as 1250 they were converted to muhammad anism brought to them by these arabian missionaries and under the impulse of this mighty faith they broke from their obscurity and commenced that great conquest and expansion that has diffused their power of language and religion throughout the east indies muhammad an settlement in borneo a powerful muhammad an malay settlement was established on the western coast of borneo probably as early as 1400 the more primitive inhabitants like the dax who were a tribe of the primitive malayans were defeated and the possession of parts of the coast taken from them from this coast of borneo came many of the adventurers who were traversing the seas of the philippines when the spaniards arrived the muhammadan population of min danau and holo owes something certainly to the same malay migration which founded the colony of borneo but the mcgin danau and ilanon moros seemed to be largely descendants of primitive tribes such as the manobo and turore which were converted to muhammad anism by malay and arab prosletters the traditions of the mcgin danau moros ascribe their conversion to kabun swan a native of or the son of an arab father and malay mother he came to mcgin danau with a band of followers and from him the da'tos of mcgin danau traced their lineage kabun swan through his arab father is supposed to be descended from muhammad and so the da'tos of megan danau to the present day proudly believe that in their veins flows the blood of the prophet the coming of the spaniards muhammad anism was still increasing in the philippines when the spaniards arrived the muhammadans already had a foothold on manila bay and their gradual conquest of the archipelago was interrupted only by the coming of the europeans it is a strange historical occurrence that the spaniards having fought with the muhammadans for nearly eight centuries for the possession of spain should have come westward around the globe to the philippine islands and there resumed the ancient conflict with them thus the spaniards were the most determined opponents of muhammadanism on both its western and eastern frontiers their ancient foes who crossed into spain from morocco had been always known as moros or moors and quite naturally they gave to these new muhammadan enemies the same title and moros they are called to the present day summary such then are the elements which form the population of these islands a few thousands of the little negritos many wild mountain tribes of the primitive malayans a later immigration of malayans of higher cultivation and possibilities than any that had preceded them who had been influenced by the hinduism of java and who have had in recent centuries an astonishing growth both in numbers and in culture and last the fierce muhammadan sea rovers the true malays end of chapter two chapter three part one of a history of the philippines this is a libra box recording all libra box recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra box dot org recording by mario pinetta a history of the philippines by david boros chapter three part one europe and the far east about 1400 ad the medieval period in europe linked of the middle age by the middle ages we mean the centuries between 500 and 1300 ad this period begins with the fall of the roman empire and diluting of the imperial city by the rude german tribes and ends with the rise of a new literature a new way of looking at the world in general and a passion for discovery of every kind these 800 years have been centers of cruel struggle intellectual darkness and social depression but also a great religious devotion edward gibbon one of the greatest historians speaks of this period as the triumph of barbarism and religion the population of europe was largely changed during the first fifth century so the christian era as the roman empire the greatest political institution of all history is slowly decayed new peoples of german authoritarian origin came fighting their way into western europe and settling wherever the land attracted them those spain and italy received the goths france timborgandians and francs england the saxons and angles or english these people were all fierce warlike free unlettered barbarians fortunately they were all converted to christianity by roman priests and missionaries they embraced this faith with ardor at the same time that other peoples and lands were being lost to christendom thus it has resulted that the countries where christianity arose and fierce establish itself are now no longer christian and this religion which had an asianic and semenic origin has become the distinguishing faith of the people of western europe for centuries the countries of europe were firstly raided and disturbed by pillaging and monitoring horrors but the haunts who followed in the germans from the east but the northmen cruel part in semen from scandinavia and as we have already seen by the mohammedians or saracens as they were called who came into central europe by way of spain character of the life during this period feudalism life was so beset with peril that independence or freedom became impossible and there was the bell of this society which had lasted almost down to the present time and which we call feudalism the free but weak man gave up his freedom and his lands to some stronger men who became his lord his oral medians to this lord while the lord engaged to furnish him protection and gave back him his lands to hold as a thief both sharing in the product this lords were allegiance to some still more powerful men or overlord and became his basil pledged fall of him to war with a certain number of our men and this overlord on his part of the allegiance to the prince who was perhaps a duke or bishop bishops at this time were also feudal lords or to the king and our emperor those were men united into large groups of nations for help or protection there was little understanding of love of country patriotism as we feel it was replaced by the passion of fidelity of religions to one's feudal superior disadvantages of feudalism the great course of this system was that the feudal lords possessed the power to make war upon one another and so continuous were their jealousies and quarrelings that land was never free from armed bands could aid waste an opponent's country killing the miserable serfs who tilled the soil and destroyed their homes and cattle there was little joy in life and no popular learning if a man did not enjoy warfare but one other life was open to him and that was in the church war and religion were the pursuits of life and it is no wonder that many of the noblest and best turned their backs upon a life that promised only fighting and bloodshed and renouncing the world became monks monasticism developing Europe under such conditions as these and so strong were the religions feeling so the age that at one time a third of the land of France was owned by the religious orders the town the two typical institutions of the early middle age were the feudal castle with its high stones walls and gloomy towers with its fierce bands of warriors armed in mail and fighting on horseback with lands and sword and the monastery which represented in hospital and school gradually however a third factor appeared this was a town and it is to these medieval cities with their busy trading life their free citizenship and their useful occupations that the modern world owes much of its liberty and its intellectual light the renaissance changes in political affairs by 1400 however the middle age had nearly passed and a new life had appeared a new epoch was in progress which is called the renaissance which means rebirth in political affairs the spirit of nationality had arisen and feudalism was already declining men began to feel attachment to country to king and to fellow citizens and the national states as we now know them each with its natural bounded territory its common language and its approximately common race were appearing France and England were of these states the two most advanced politically just previous to the 15th century at this distant time there were still engaged in a struggle which lasted quite a century and it is known as the hundred years' war in the end England was forced to give up all reclaims to territory on the continent and the power of France was correspondingly increased in France the monarchy king and curt was becoming the supreme power in the land the feudal nobles lost what power they had while the common people gained nothing in England however the foundations for foreign representative government had been laid the powers of legislation and government were divided between the English king and a parliament the parliament was first called in 1265 and consisted of two parts the lords represented the nobility and the commons composed of persons chosen by the common people Germany was divided into a number of small principalities Saxony, Bavaria, Franconia, Bohemia, Austria, the Rhine principalities and many others which united in the great assembly or diet the head of which was some prince chosen to be emperor Italy was also divided in the north in the valley of the Po or Lombardy where the Duchy of Milan and the republican Venice south on the western coast where the Tuscany states including the splendid city of Florence then stretching north and south across the peninsula were states of the church because ruler was the pope for until less than 50 years ago the pope was not only the head of the church but also a temporary ruler embracing this southern part of the peninsula was the principality of Naples in the Spanish Peninsula Christian states had a rising in the west Portugal in the center and east Castile, Aragorn and Laon from all of which the Mohammedans had been expelled but the Moors are still held at southern parts of Spain including the beautiful plains of Andalusia and Granada the Mohammedans in the centuries of their life in Spain had developed an elegant and prosperous civilization by means of irrigation and skillful planting they had converted southern Spain into a garden they were the most skillful agricultures and breeders of horses and sheep in Europe and they carried the perfection many fine arts while knowledge and learning were nowhere further advanced than here through contact with these remarkable people the Christian Spaniards gained much unfortunately however the spirit of religious intolerance was so strong and the hatred and gender by the centuries of religious war was so violent that in the end the Spaniard became imbued with so fierce a fanaticism that he thereafter appeared unable to properly appreciate or justly to treat those who differ from him in religious belief the conquest of the Mohammedans in the 15th century religious toleration was but little known in the world and the people of the great Mohammedan faith is still threatened to overwhelm Christian Europe since the first great conquests of Islam in the 8th century had been repulsed from central Europe that faith had shown a wonderful power of winning its way in the 10th century Asia Minor was invaded by horrors of Sijuks or Turks who purred down from central Asia in conquering bands these tribes have overthrown the Arabs powered in Mesopotamia and Asia Minor only to become converts to his faith with fresh and sealed they hurled themselves upon the old Christian empire which at Constantinople had survived the fall of the rest of the Roman world the Crusades the Sijuk Turks had conquered most of Asia Minor, Syria and the Holy land a great fear came over the people of Europe that the city of Constantinople would be captured and they too be overwhelmed by these new Mohammedan enemies the passionate religious seal of the middle age also roused the princes and Knights of Europe to try to rest from the infidel the Holy land of Palestine where were the birthplace of Christianity and the site of the Sepulchre of Christ Palestine was recovered and Christian states were established there which lasted for over 180 years then the Arab power revived and operating from Egypt finally retook Jerusalem and expelled the Christian from the Holy land to which he has never yet returned as a conqueror effects of the crusades these long holy wars or crusades had a profound effect upon Europe the world Christian warrior from the west was astonished and delighted with his splendid and luxurious life which he meted at Constantinople and the Arabian east even though he was a prince his life at home was barium of comforts and beauty glass linen rugs tapestries silk cotton spices and sugar were some of the things which the Franks and the Englishman took home with them from the Holy land demand for these treasures of the east became irresistible and trade between western Europe and the east grew rapidly the commercial cities of Italy the cities of Italy developed discomers they placed fleets upon the Mediterranean they carried the crusaders out and brought back the wearers that Europe desired in this way these cities grew and became very wealthy on the west coast where this trade began were Amalfi, Pisa, Genoa and Florians and on the east at the head of the Adriatic was Venice the rivalry between these cities of Italy was very fierce they fought and plundered one another each striving to win a monopoly for itself of this invaluable trade Venice finally was victorious her location was very favorable from her docks the wearers could be carried easily and by the shortest routes up the Port River and then sent to France or northward over the Alps to the Danube in Bavaria grew up in this trade these plenty German cities of Osburg and Nuremberg which passed these goods on to the cities of the Rhine and so down this mutus beautiful river to the coast here the towns of Flanders and of the low countries or Holland received them and passed them on again to England and is worth to the countries of the Baltic development of modern language thus commerce and trade grew up in Europe and with trade trade and city life greater intelligence learning and independence education became more common at the universities of Europe were thronged latin in the middle age had been the only language that was written by the learned class now the modern languages of Europe took their form and began to be used for literary purposes italian was the first to be so used by the great dante and in the same helps entry the english poet shows her sang in the hamlet english tongue and soon in France germany and spain national literatures appeared with this went greater freedom of expression authority began to have less weight men began to inquire into causes and effects to doubt certain things to seek themselves for the truth and so the renaissance came with it came a greater love for the beautiful a greater joy in life a fresh zest for the good of this world a new passion for discovery a thirst for adventure and it must also be confessed a new laxity of living and a new greed for gold christian europe was about to burst this narrow bounds it could not be repressed nor confined to its all limitations it could never turn backward of all the great changes which have come over life and thought probably none are greater than those which saw the transition from the medieval to the modern world end of chapter three part one chapter three part two of a history of the philippines this is a livery box recording all livery box recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liverybox.org trade with the east articles of trade now we must go back for a moment and pursue an all inquiry further whence came all these beautiful and inviting wares that had produced new tastes and passions in europe the italian traders drew them from the lament but the lament had not produced them neither pepper spices sugarcane costly gems nor rich silks were produced on the shores of the mediterranean only the rich tropical countries of the east were capable of growing these rare plants and up to the time of delivering to the delbar many precious stones india the rich malaysian archipelago the kingdom of china these are the lands on islands which from time immemorial have given up their treasures to be forwarded far and wide to amaze the delight the native of calder and less productive lands routes of trade to the far east free old sailing and caravan routes connect the mediterranean with the far east these are so old that we cannot guess when men first used them they were old in the days of solomon and indeed very ancient when alexander the great conquered the east one of these routes passed through the black sea and around the caspian sea to turkistan to those strange and romantic asian cities bokara and samarkand thence it ran easterly across asia entering china from the north another crossed syria and went down through mesopotamia to the indian ocean a third began in egypt and went through the red sea passing along the coast of arabia to india all of these had been induced for centuries but by the year 1400 two had been closed a fresh immigration of turks the ottomans in the 14th century came down upon the scourge country of the euphrates and syria and although these turks also embraced mohammedanism their hostility closed the first two routes and commerce over them had never been fully resumed benitian monopoly of trade those an interest centered upon the southern route by treaty with the sultan or ruler of egypt benis secured a monopoly of the products which came over this route goods from the east now came in fleets after the red sea went through the hands of the sultan of egypt who collected the duty for them and then were passed on to the ships of the wealthy benitian merchant prince princes who carried them throughout europe although the object of intense jealousy it seemed impossible to arrest this monopoly from benes her fleet was the strongest in the Mediterranean and her rule extended along the Adriatic to the grecian islands all eager minds were bent upon the trade with the east but no way was known save that which now benes had gained extent of geographical knowledge the maps of this period to realize how the problem looked to the sailor genoa or the merchant of flanders at that time we must understand how scanty and erroneous was the geographical knowledge of even the 15th century it was believed that jerusalem was the center of the world a belief founded upon a biblical passage the maps of these and earlier dates represent the earth in this way in the center palestine and beneath it the Mediterranean sea the only body of water which was well known on the left side is europe on the right africa and at the top asia the last two continents very indefinitely mapped around the hall was supposed to flow an ocean beyond the first few miles of which it was perilous to proceed lest the ship be carried over the edge of the earth or encounter other parents ideas about the earth the greek philosophers before the time of christ had discovered that the world is a club or bowl and had even computed rudely its circumference but in the middle ages this knowledge had been disputed and contradicted by a geographer named cosmos who held that the world was a vast plain twice as long as it was broad and surrounded by an ocean this belief was generally adopted by the churchmen who were the only scholars of the middle ages and came to be the universal belief of christian europe the renaissance survived the knowledge of the written writings of the old greek geographers who had demonstrated the earth's shape to be round and had roughly calculated its size but these writings did not have sufficient circulation in europe to gain much acceptance among the christian scommographers the arabes however after conquering egypt syria and northern africa translated into their own tongue the wisdom of the geeks greeks and became the best informed and most scientific geographers of the middle age so that intercourse with the arabes which began with the crusades helped to acquaint europe somewhat with india and china the far east the tartar mongols then in the 13th century all northern asia and china fell under the power of the tartar mongols russia was overrun by them and western europe threatened adid anew however this tide of asian conquests stopped and then followed the long period when europe came into diplomatic and commercial relations with these mongols and through them learned something of china marco polo visits the great can several europeans visited the court of the great can or mongol king and one of them marco polo we must speak in particular he was a venetian and when a young man started in 1271 with his father and uncle on a visit to the great can they passed from italy to syria across to bagdad and down to ormus once they journeyed northward through upper persia and then across the palmers along the caravan route to calpinfu where the can had his court here in the service of this prince marco polo spent over 17 years so valuable indeed were his services that the can would not permit him to return year after year he remained in the east he traversed most of china and was for a time tautai or magistrate of the city of jiangchang near the jiangxia river he saw the amazing wonders of the east he heard of sipago or japan he probably heard of the philippines finally the opportunity came for all three venetians to return the great can had relative who was a ruler of persia and ambassadors came from this ruler to secure mongol princes for him to marry the dangers and hardships of the travel overland were considered too difficult for the delicate princes and it was decided to send her by water marco polo and his father and uncle were commissioned to accompany the expedition to persia history of marco polo's travels they sailed from the port of chinchu probably near amoni amoy in the year 1292 note one see jules marco polo for a discussion of this point and for the entire history of this great explorer as well as a translation of his narrative the book of sir marco polo has been most critically edited with introduction and voluminous notes by this english scholar sir henry jule in this edition the accounts of marco polo covering so many countries and people sort of far east can be studied end of note one they escorted the coasts of cambodia and ciam and reached the eastern coast of sumatra where they waited five months for the changing of the monsoon of the malei people of sumatra as well as of these islands their animals and productions marco polo has left us most interesting and quite accurate accounts the malei sumatra were beginning to be converted to mohammedanism for marco polo says that many of them were syracians he gained a good knowledge of the rich and mysterious in the isles where the spices and flavorings grew it was two years before the party having crossed indian ocean rich persia and the court of the pension king when they arrived they found that while they were making this long voyage the persian king had died but they married the mongol princes to his son the junk prince who had succeeded him and that did just as well from persia the venetians crossed to the black sea sailed for italy and at last reached home after an absence of 24 years more market polo says adventures did not end with his return to venez in a fierce sea fight between the venetians and genoese he was made the prisoner and confined in jenna here a fellow captive wrote down from marcos onwards the story of his eastern adventures and this book we have today it is a record of adventure travel and description so wonderful that for years he was doubted and it's accuracy disbelieved but since in our own time men have been able to traverse again the routes over which market polo passed fact after fact has been established quite as he truthfully stated them centuries ago to have been the first european to make this mighty circle of travel is certainly a strong title to endure in frame countries of the far east india let us now briefly look at the counters of the far east with which the year 1400 had come to exercise over the mind of the european so irresistible a fascination first of all india as we have seen had for centuries been the principal source of the western commerce but long before the date we are considering the deceptor of india had fallen from the hand of the indu from the seventh century india was a prey to mohammedan conquerors who entered from the northwest into the valley of the indus at first these were saracens or arabs later were the same mongol converse to mohammedanism whose attacks upon europe we have already noticed in 1398 came the furious and bloody warrior the greatest of all mongols timur or tamer lane he founded with capital adelli the empire of the great mogul whose rule over india was only broken by the white man his word across the ranges and in the decan or southern part of india where states ruled over by indian princes china we have seen now at the time of marcopolo china also was ruled by the tartar mongols the chinese have ever been subject to attack from the wandering horse riding tribes of sabiria 200 years before christ one of the chinese kings built the great wall that stretches across the northern frontier for 1300 miles for a defense against northern foes through much of their history the chinese have been ruled by aliens as they are today about 1368 however the chinese overthrew the mongol rulers and established the main dynasty the last chinese house of emperors who ruled china until 1644 when the manchus the present rulers conquered the country china was great and prosperous under the mings commerce flourished and the fleets of chinese junks sailed to india the malay islands and to the philippines for trade the grand canal which connects pecking with the junks river basin and han shua was completed it was an age of five productions of literature the chinese seem to have been much less exclusive than then than they are at the present time much less a peculiar isolated people than now they did not then shave their heads nor wear a q this customs as well as that hostility to foreign intercurses which they have today were forced upon china by the manchus china appeared at that time ready to assume a position of enormous influence among the peoples of the earth a position for which she was well fitted by the great industry of our classes and the high intellectual power of her learned man japan compared with china or india or even some minor states the development of japan at this time was very backward her people were divided and there was constant civil war the japanese borrowed their civilization from the chinese from them they learned writing and literature and the buddhist religion which was introduced about 550 ad but in temperament they are very different people being spirited warlike and until recent years have despised trading and commerce since the beginning of her history japan has been monarchical the ruler the mikado is believed to be of heavenly descent but in the centuries we are discussing the government was controlled by powerful nobles known as the shoguns who kept the emperors in retirement in the palaces of kiro and themselves directed the state the greatest of these shoguns was izayasu who ruled japan about 1600 soon after manila was founded they developed in japan a series of feudalism the great lords or daimus owning allegiance to the shoguns and about the daimus as feudal retainers bodies of samurai who form a partly noble class of their own the samurai carried arms fought at their lord's command were students and literati and among them developed that proud loyal and elevated color morality known as bushido which has done so much for the japanese people it is this samurai class who in modern times have affected the immense revolution in the condition and power of japan the malay archipelago if now we look at the malay islands we find as we have already seen the changes have been affected there hinduism had first elevated and civilized at least a portion of the race and mohammedanism and the daring simonship of the malay had united these islands under a common language and religion there was however no political union the malay peninsula was divided jama java formed a central malay power is word among the beautiful celebs and malukas the true spice islands were a multitude of small native rulers righteous or datos who surrounded themselves with retainers kept rude curts and gathered wealthy tributes of cinnamon nutmegs and clubs the sultans of ternate titur and amboyna were especially powerful and the islands they ruled the most rich and productive between all these islands there was a busy commerce the malay is an intrepid sailor and an eager trader sleets or pros laden with goods passed with the changing moonsoons from part to part risking the perils of piracy which have always troubled the archipelago borneo while the largest of all these islands was the least developed and down to the present day has been hardly explored the filipines were also outside of most of these busy intercurses and had at that date few products to offer for trade their main connection with the rest of the malay race was through the mohammedan malaise of jolo amboyna the fame of the spice islands had long failed europe but the existence of the filipines was unknown summary we have now reviewed the condition of europe and of further asia as they were before the period of modern discovery and colonization opened the east had reached a conditional quiet stability mohammedanism through still though still spreading did not promise to affect great social changes the institutions of the east had become fixed in custom and her people's neither made changes nor desire them on the other hand western europe had become aroused to an excess of ambition new ideas new discoveries and inventions were moving the nations to activity and change that era of modern discovery and progress of which we cannot yet perceive the end had begun end of chapter three part two chapter four part one of a history of the filipines this is a libre box recording all libre box recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librebox.org recording by mario pineda a history of the filipines by david borrows chapter four part one the great geographical discoveries an eastern passage to india the portuguese we have seen in the last chapter have been is held a monopoly of the only trading route with the far east some new way of reaching india must be sought that would permit the traders of other christian powers to reach the march of the orient without passing through mohammedan lands this surpassing achievement was accomplished by the portuguese so low at the present day has the power of portugal fallen that few realize the daring and courage once displayed by her seamen and soldiers and the enormous colonial empire that she established portugal freed her territory of the mohammedan moors nearly a century earlier than spain and the vigor and intelligence of a great king john the first brought portugal about the year 1400 to an important place among the states of europe this king captured from the moors the city of suda in morocco and this was the beginning of modern european colonial possessions and almost the first line outside of europe to be held by a european power since the times of the crusades king john's jungle song was prince henry famous in history under the title of the navigator this young prince with something of the same adventurous spirit that filled the crusaders was ardent to extend the power of his father's kingdom and to widen the sway of the religion which he devotedly professed the power of the mohammedans in the mediterranean was too great for him hopfully to oppose and so he planned the conquest of the west coast of africa and its conversion to christianity with these ends in view he established a point sagas on the southern west post of portugal a naval academy and observatory here he brought together the skill navigators charts and geographies and all scientific knowledge that would assist in his undertaking note one see denoted work the life of prince harry of portugal surnamed the navigator and its results by richard henry major london 1868 many of the views of mr major upon the importance of prince henry's work and especially its early aims have been contradicted in more recent writings the importance of the sagers observatory is belittled doubts are expressed as to the foresightiness of prince henry's plans and the best opinion of today holds that he did not hope to discover in the route to india by way of africa but sought simply the conquest of the guinea which was known to the europeans through the arab geographers who called it by latgana or land of wealth the students if possible should read the essay of mr ej pain the age of discovery in the cambridge modern history volume one end of note one he began to construct ships larger and better than any in use to us they would have less timber clumsy and small but this was the beginning of ocean shipbuilding the compass and the astralab or sextant the little instrument with which by calculating the height of the sun above the horizon we can tell distance from the equator we're just coming in to use these as well as every other practical device for navigation known at that time were supplied to these ships exploration of the african coast those equipped and ably man the little fleets began the exploration of the african coast cautiously filling their way southward and ever returning with reports of progress made year after year this work went on in 1419 the madera islands were rediscovered and colonized by portuguese settlers the growing of sugarcane was begun and mines were brought from burgundy and planted there the wine of the maderas have been famous to this day then were rediscovered the canneries and in 1444 the asores the southward exploration of the coast of the main line steadily continued until 1445 the portuguese reached the mouth of the senegal river up to this point the african shore had not yielded much of interest to the portuguese explorer or trader below morocco the great sahara desert reaches to the sea and renders barring the coast for hundreds of miles south of the mouth of the senegal and comprising the whole guinea coast africa is tropical well watered and populous this is the home of the true african negro here for almost the first time since the beginning of the middle ages christian europe came in contact with a race of rotary culture in different color than its own this coast was found to be worth exploiting for a gilded besides various desirable virginius gums the three articles which have distinguished the exploitation of africa namely gold ivory and slaves beginning of negro's labor in europe at this point begins the horrible and revolting story of european negro's slavery the ancient world had practiced this ownership of human chattels and the roman empire had declined under the burden of half the population's sunk advantage to the enormous detriment on suffering of mankind mohammed how tolerated the institution and slavery is permitted by the quran but it is the glory of the medieval church that it abolished human slavery from christian europe however dreary and jews feudalism might have been he knew nothing of that institution which degrades men and women to the level of cattle and remorselessly recels the husband from his family the mother from her child slaves in portugal the arrival of the portuguese upon the coast of guinea now revive not only the bondage of one white man to another but that of the black to the white the first slaves carried to portugal were regarded simply as objects of peculiar interest captives to represent to the court the population of those shores which had been added to the portuguese dominion but southern portugal from which the moors had been expelled had suffered from a lack of laborers and it was found profitable to introduce negroes to work these fields augments to justify slavery so arose the institution of negro slavery which a century later upon the shores of the new world was to develop into so tremendous and a terrible thing curiously enough religion was a book to justify this slave man of the africans the church thought that these people being heathen were fortunate to be captured by christians that they might thereby be brought to baptism and conversion for it is better for the body to perish than for the soul to be cast into hell at a later age when the falsity of this teaching had been realized men still sought to justify the institution by arguing that the almighty had created the african of a lower state especially that he might serve a superior race the coast of guinea continued to be the resort of slavers down to the middle of the last century and such scenes of cruelty wickedness and debauchery have occurred along these shores as can scarcely be paralleled in brutality in the history of any people the portuguese can hardly be said to have colonized the coast in the sense of racing up there a portuguese population as he approached the equator the white man found that in spite of his superior strength he could not permanently people the tropics diseases new to his experience attacked him his energy declined if he brought his family with him his children were few or feeble and shortly his race hard died out the settlements of the portuguese were largely for the purposes of trade a seer alone cameroon or loango they built four unestablished horizons mountain pieces of artillery that gave them advantage over the attacks of the natives and erecting warehouses and love some barracud where the slaves were confined to await shipment such ticket in little settlements still linger a coast along the african coast although the ocean's slave trade happily has ended the successful voyage of basco de gama throughout the century prince henris's policy of exploration was continued slowly the middle coast of africa became known at last in 1487 bar to lemudias rounded the extribity of the continent he named it the cape of storms but the portuguese king with more prophetic vision renamed it the cape of good hope it was 10 years however before the portuguese could send another expedition then bank of the basco de gama rounded the cape again followed up the eastern coast until the arab trading stations were reached then he struck across the sea landed at the malabar coast of india and in 1498 arrived at calico the end dreamed of all by all of europe had been achieved a sea route to the far east had been discovered results of the gama's voyage the importance of this performance was instantly recognized in europe benes was ruined it was a terrible day said a contemporary writer when the war reached benes bells were wrong men wept in the streets and even the bravest were silent the arabs and the native rulers made a desperate effort to expel the portuguese from the indian ocean but their opponents were too powerful in the course of 20 years portugal had found an empire that had its force and trading marches from the coast of arabia to malaysia san ciber aidan oman goa calico and madras were all portuguese stations fortified and secured in the malay peninsula was captured the city of malacca which retained its commercial importance until the last century when it dwindled before the competition of singapore the work of building up this great domain was largely that of one man the intrepid albu kirk think what his task was he was thousands of miles from home and supplies he had only such forces and munitions as he could bring with him in his leaderships and opposed to him were millions of inhabitants and a multitude of mohammedan princes yet this great captain built up an indian empire portugal at one bound became the greatest trading and colonizing power in the world her sources of wealth appeared fabulous and like venice she made every effort to secure her monopoly the fleets of other nations were warned that they could not make use of the cable goodhub route on penalty of being captured or destroyed reaching india by sailing west the earth as a sphere meanwhile just as portugal was carrying to completion her project of region india by selling east europe was electrified by the supposed successful attempt of reaching india by sailing directly west across the atlantic this was the plan directly attempted in 1492 by christopher columbus columbus was an italian sailor and cosmographer of genoa the idea of sailing west to india did not originate with him but his is the immortal glory of having persistently sought the means and put the idea into execution the portuguese discoveries along the african coast gradually revealed the extension of this continent and the presence of people beyond the equator and the possibility of passing safely through the tropics tropics this this knowledge was a great stimulus to the peoples of europe the geographical theory of the greeks that the world is round was revived the geographers however in making their calculations of the earth's circumference had fallen into an error of some thousands of miles that is instead of finding that it is fully 12 000 miles from europe around to the east indies they had supposed it about 4 000 or even less marco polo too had exaggerated the distance he had traveled and from his accounts men had been led to believe that china japan and the spice islands lay much further to the east than they actually do by sailing west across one wide ocean with no intervening lands it was thought that one could arrive at the island world of the continent of asia this was the third that was revived in italy and which clung in men's minds for years and years even after america was discovered an italian named toscanelli drew a map showing how this voyage could be made and sent columbus a copy by sailing first to the source a considerable portion of the journey would be passed with a convenient resting stage then about 35 days favorable sailing would bring one to the islands of sipango or japan which marco polo had said later of the continent of asia from here the passage could really be pursued to cathay and india the voyage of christopher columbus the romantic and inspiring story of columbus is told in many books his poverty his genius his long and discouraging pursuit of the means to carry out his plan he first applied to portugal but as we have seen this country had been pursuing another plan steadily for a century and now that success appeared almost achieved naturally portuguese king would not turn aside to favor columbus's plan for years columbus labored to interest the spanish court a great event had happened in spanish history ferdinand king of aragon had wedded isabella of castile and this marriage united these two kingdoms into the modern country of spain soon these modern states except portugal were added and the war for the expulsion of the moors was prosecuted with new biker in 1492 grenade as a splendid stronghold in the mohammedan city peninsula surrendered and in the same year isabella furnished columbus with the ships for his budget of discovery columbus sailed from palos august 3rd 1492 reached the canaries august 24th and sail westward on september the sixth day after day pushed by the strong winds called by trade called the trades they went forward many duds and fears beset the cruise but columbus was stout-hearted at the end of 34 days from the canaries on october the 12th they sided land it was one of the groups of beautiful islands lying between the two continents of america but columbus thought that he had reached the east indies that really lay many thousands of miles far the west columbus sailed among the islands or the archipelago discovered cuba and hispanola heidi and then returned to gumbul's europe with excitement over the new found way to the east he had not found the rich spice islands the peninsula of india kate or japan but everyone believed that this must be close to the islands on which columbus had landed the tall straight-haired copper color natives whom columbus met on the islands but he naturally called indians and is namely still burr afterwards the islands were called the west indies columbus made three more budges for spain on the fourth in 1498 he touched on the cost of south america here he discovered the great orinoco river because of his large size he must have realized that a large body of land opposed the passage to the orient he died in five in 1506 disappointed at his failure to find india but never knowing what he had found nor that the history of a new hemisphere had begun with him the voyage of the cabots in the same year that columbus discovered the orinoco sebastian cabot of italian parentage like columbus secured ships from the king of england hoping to reach china and japan by selling west on an orange route what he did discover was a rugged and an abiding coast with a stormy headlands called climate and gloomy forests of bayon reaching down to the sandy shores for 900 miles he sailed southward but everywhere this unprofitable cost closed the passage to india it was the coast of labrador and the united states yet for years and years it was not known that a continent three thousand miles wide and the greatest of all oceans lay between cate and the shore visited by cabot ships this land was thought to be a long peninsula an island or a series of islands belonging to asia no one supposed or could suppose that there was a continent here naming the new world but in a few years europe did realize that a new continent had been discovered in south america if you look at your maps you will see that south america lies far to the eastward of north america and in brazil approaches very close to africa this brazilian coast was visited by a portuguese fleet on the african route in 1500 and two years later another fleet traversed the coast from the orinoco to the harbour of rio janeta their voyage was a bearable revelation they entered the mighty current of the amazon the greatest river on the earth they saw the wondrous tropical forests full of monkeys great snakes and stranger animals they dealt and fought with the wild and ferocious inhabitants whose ways had startled and appalled the european all that they saw fell them with the greatest wonderer this evidently was not asia nor it was the indies here in fact was a new continent a better double mundus nubus the pilot of the expedition was an italian named americovis pucci under return this man wrote a very interesting letter or little pamphlet describing this new world which was widely read and brought the right of fame a few years later a german cosmographer in preparing a new edition of thalamis geography proposed to give to this new candidate the name of the man who had made known its wonders in europe so it was called america long after when the northern shores were also proved to be those of a continent this great land was named north america no injustice was intended to columbus when america was so named it was not then supposed that columbus had discovered a continent the people then believed that columbus had found a new route to india and had discovered some new islands that lay off the ghost of asia end of chapter four part one