The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 01 of 55: 1493-1529; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 01 of 55: 1493-1529; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
As a sign of their allegiance and to meet the expenses of government
every Indian family was assessed a tribute of eight reals, about one
dollar, and for the purpose of assessment the people were set off in
special groups something like feudal holdings (_encomiendas_). The
tribute from some of the _encomiendas_ went to the king. Others had
been granted to the Spanish army officers or to the officials. [33]
The "Report of the _Encomiendas_ in the Islands in 1591" just twenty
years after the conquest of Luzon reveals a wonderful progress in
the work of civilization. In the city of Manila there was a cathedral
and the bishop's palace, monasteries for the Austin, Dominican, and
Franciscan Friars, and a house for the Jesuits. The king maintained a
hospital for Spaniards; there was also a hospital for Indians in the
charge of two Franciscan lay brothers. The garrison was composed of
two hundred soldiers. The Chinese quarter or _Parián_ contained some
two hundred shops and a population of about two thousand. In the suburb
of Tondo there was a convent of Franciscans and another of Dominicans
who provided Christian teaching for some forty converted Sangleyes
(Chinese merchants). In Manila and the adjacent region nine thousand
four hundred and ten tributes were collected, indicating a total of
some thirty thousand six hundred and forty souls under the religious
instruction of thirteen missionaries (_ministros de doctrina_), besides
the friars in the monasteries. In the old province of La Pampanga
the estimated population was 74,700 with twenty-eight missionaries;
in Pangasinán 2,400 souls with eight missionaries; in Ilocos 78,520
with twenty missionaries; in Cagayán and the Babuyan islands 96,000
souls but no missionaries; in La Laguna 48,400 souls with twenty-seven
missionaries; in Vicol and Camarines with the island of Catanduanes
86,640 souls with fifteen missionaries, etc., making a total for the
islands of 166,903 tributes or 667,612 souls under one hundred and
forty missionaries, of which seventy-nine were Augustinians, nine
Dominicans, forty-two Franciscans. The King's _encomiendas_ numbered
thirty-one and the private ones two hundred and thirty-six. [34]
Friar Martin Ignacio in his _Itinerario_, the earliest printed
description of the islands (1585), says: "According unto the common
opinion at this day there is converted and baptised more than foure
hundred thousand soules." [35]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account