The Philippines before and after 1521

Ages 9 to 12 Read alone or together · about 40 minutes

Read together

Long before 1521, people in the islands lived in communities called barangays, led by leaders called datu. They sailed in boats called balangay, farmed rice, traded with China and Southeast Asia, and used a script called baybayin. The Laguna Copperplate Inscription, dated 900 AD, is the oldest known written document found in the Philippines.

In March 1521, the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, sailing for Spain, reached the islands. On April 27, 1521, he was killed at the Battle of Mactan by forces led by Lapulapu, a chief of Mactan. Spain returned in 1565 and began a colonial rule that lasted more than three hundred years.

Spanish rule brought Christianity, new laws, towns and crops, and also forced labour and loss of land and freedom. Filipinos resisted in many ways. In 1898, the Philippine Declaration of Independence was proclaimed on June 12, and the country became fully independent in 1946.

Do it

1. Make a timeline with these dates: 900, 1521, 1565, 1898, 1946. Add one picture or phrase for each.
2. Find the island of Mactan near Cebu on a map. Trace Magellan's route from Spain to the Philippines.
3. Read two descriptions of Lapulapu: a Spanish-era account and a Filipino account. How are they different?
4. Talk to an older relative: what family stories do you know about the Philippines' past?

Talk about it

• How did life in the islands change after 1565?
• Why do different people tell the story differently?

For the grown-up

This history is told differently depending on who tells it. Written sources from the time include the account of Antonio Pigafetta, who sailed with Magellan. Colonial rule brought lasting changes, including Christianity, which most Filipinos practise today. Present the story with respect for the resilience and dignity of Filipinos.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• Antonio Pigafetta, Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo (account of Magellan's voyage, 1520s)
• William Henry Scott, Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1994)
• National Museum of the Philippines, information on the Laguna Copperplate Inscription and the Butuan balangay boats

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.