1.

What was the role played by spices in the history of the

Philippines?

 The Philippines was one of the big trading centers in Asia because of
geographical location before the colonization by Spain. These were
important outposts both for spices and the China trade. Since the
Spanish conquistadors came, it became a Spanish colony. Charles I
(better known as Charles V, commissioned Magellan to find a passage
through the Americas to the Spice Islands. Magellan sailed from Seville
(1519) and explored the Plate estuary (1520) before crossing into the
Pacific through the straits at the tip of South America now named for
him. He claimed the Philippines for Spain, but was killed there (1521).
One of his ships managed to return to Seville, completing the first
circimnavigation of the world (1522). A series of Spanish expeditions
followed. The exploers named the Islands the Filipinas, in honor of
Philip II, Spain's agressively Catholic monarch.. Spain's colonial empire
included the Philippine Islands and the East Indies (the Moluccas and
Malaca). Three centuries of Spsanish rule made the Philippines “The
Most Numbered Christian Country in Asia”. Roman Catholic became a
majority. Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States as a result of
the Spanish American War (1898). Spain also ceded Cuba, Guam and
Puerto Rico. After a short period of American rule, the United States in
the 1930s began to prepare the Philippines for independence. The
Philippines played an important role in World War II. Independence was
postponed by the the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent
invasion of the Philippines (December 1941).

Why were spices very expensive commodities in Europe?

 Spices were an important commodity in the Middle Ages with an allure

and mythology dating back to Antiquity. Spices were expensive and a
sign of status in the Roman Empire. They were consumed in large
quantities by the wealthiest citizens. Like many other goods, spices
were easy to transport because of safe and maintained routes
controlled by the Romans. When the Empire fell, local powers took
control of routes and travel became more difficult as these entities
engaged in war, embraced different religions, and neglected
maintenance of old Roman roads. As a result, for several centuries in
the early middle Ages, people in Western Europe lacked consistent
access to spices.
 After religious crusaders tasted the cuisines of the Middle East in the
high middle Ages, they renewed a widespread European interest in
spices for culinary and medicinal applications. Merchants procured a
wide range of spices for consumers, including pepper, ginger,
cinnamon, clove, and saffron, as well as the now-obscure spices like
 grains of paradise and spikenard. Sugar was also used as a spice
during the middle Ages.

2. Why and how did Spain and Portugal become bitter rivals in
the discovery and colonization of new lands?

 Portugal and Spain emerged as the two strongest powers in the world
in the fifteenth century. Although there was no actual war between the
two nations, competition between them—particularly on the high seas
—was intense. The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) was an attempt to
mitigate their rivalry.
 This period in world history is known as the Age of Discovery or the
Age of Exploration. Europeans sought new trade routes to the silk and
spices of Asia. These routes were blocked by hostile Muslim forces by
the mid-fifteenth century. Seafaring techniques had improved, and
Portugal and Spain were able to launch multi-ship voyages to distant
lands.
 Portugal and Spain were, in some ways, natural rivals because of
geography. This rivalry became heated enough that the two countries
had to get the pope to divide up the New World into parts that would
be Spanish and parts that would be Portuguese.

3. How was the rivalry between the two European colonial powers
peacefully resolved?

 Portugal and Spain emerged as the two strongest powers in the world
in the fifteenth century. Although there was no actual war between the
two nations, competition between them—particularly on the high seas
—was intense. The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) was an attempt to
mitigate their rivalry.This period in world history is known as the Age of
Discovery or the Age of Exploration. Europeans sought new trade
routes to the silk and spices of Asia. These routes were blocked by
hostile Muslim forces by the mid-fifteenth century. Seafaring
techniques had improved, and Portugal and Spain were able to launch
multi-ship voyages to distant lands.
 Prince Henry the Navigator (1394–1460) of Portugal led the way. Under
his patronage, Portuguese sailors began exploring the western coast of
Africa. Portugal's ultimate goal—completed after Henry's death—was
to find a route to India by going around Africa.

4. Of what significant is the treaty of tordesillas to the history of

our country?
 On June 7, 1494, the governments of Spain and Portugal agreed to
the Treaty of Tordesillas, named for the city in Spain in which it was
created. The Treaty of Tordesillas neatly divided the “New World” of
the Americas between the two superpowers. Spain and Portugal
divided the New World by drawing a line in the Atlantic Ocean, about
370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, then controlled by
Portugal. All lands east of that line (about 46 degrees, 37 minutes
West) were claimed by Portugal. All lands west of that line were
claimed by Spain. Spain and Portugal adhered to the treaty without
major conflict, and the results linger throughout the Americas today.
Most Latin American nations are Spanish-speaking countries, for
instance, but Portuguese is the leading official language in Brazil. This
is because the eastern tip of Brazil penetrates the line agreed to in the
Treaty of Tordesillas, so the region was colonized by Portugal. The
treaty ignored any future claims of the British and French, the other
European superpowers of the time. The British, French, and
Russian empires did not claim parts of the Americas for years after the
Treaty of Tordesillas.
 Most importantly, however, the Treaty of Tordesillas, completely
ignored the millions of people already living in established
communities in the Americas. The treaty stipulated that any lands with
a “Christian king” would not be colonized. Christianity had not spread
to the Americas, and the resulting colonization
proved disastrous for indigenous cultures such as the Inca, Taino,
Aztec, Tupi, and thousands of other bands throughout the Americas.

5. What was the primary mission of the Magellan expedition was

this mission accomplished?

 Ferdinand Magellan (a Portuguese sea captain sailing for Spain) had an

important goal when he left the town of Seville on the 10th of August,
1519:  Find a westward route to the Spice (Maluku) Islands.  He did not
personally achieve that goal, but his crew (led by Juan Sebastian
Elcano) did. Despite a grossly inaccurate map, and
ubelievably wretched conditions aboard ship, remnants of Magellan's
crew circumnavigated the world in a ship called Victoria.  Their
expedition lasted about three years.
 Magellan (1480-1521) never planned to sail around the globe.  His
assignment  - to reach the Spice Islands, also known as the Moluccas
(or Maluku Islands), thereby proving they belonged to Spain - already
had more-than-enough challenges. 
 A month later - on the 28th of November, 1520 - Magellan's expedition
reached the Pacific Ocean.  Because the water seemed so calm
(especially compared to the Atlantic), Magellan gave the vast body of
water a name which means "peaceful sea." Five ships originally began
 the expedition - Trinidad, San
Antonio, Concepción, Victoria and Santiago - but only Victoria made it
back to the starting point.
 One of the most significant problems was to find a way (safer than
sailing round Cape Horn) to reach the Pacific (via the Atlantic) Ocean. 
In October of 1520, he and his men found such a passageway -
between Chile and Tierra del Fuego - known today as the Strait (or
Straits) of Magellan. 

The significant of the Magellan expedition?

 Magellan had proved that the East could be reached by sailing

westward from Europe. His "discovery" of the Philippines brought the
archipelago into the awareness of Europe. On September 6, 1522, the
ship Victoria, under the command of Sebastian Del Cano, reached the
Port of Seville. One ship and eighteen men were all that remained of
the Magellan expedition, yet they were responsible for completing the
first circumnavigation of the world. 

6. Do you think it is historically accurate to claim the Magellan

discovered the Philippines? Explain your answer.

 A very important day in our history is the 497th anniversary of the

“discovery” of the Philippines by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand
Magellan, in the name of the crown of Spain. Had the western voyagers
not landed “by accident” on the shores of Homonhon on a Saturday,
the 16th of March 1521, this archipelagic nation of more than 7,000
would have been a Muslim country, with much different culture,
language, and history than what we have today. Our names would
have been Yusof, instead of Joseph, Sulaiman instead of Solomon, and
Ibrahim, instead of Abraham. Our women would have been Mariam
instead of Mary and Zoraida, Tarhata, and Aisha or Anisha.
 He Philippines was not the intended goal of the Magellan expedition; it
was the Moluccas Islands, in search of, of all things, spices. That
expedition, which was funded by the King of Spain, did not search for
gold, or silver or fine garments. They were looking for herbs and other
plants from the fabled richness of the eastern flora and fauna. When
Magellan left Seville, Spain, on the 20th of September 1519, they were
not in search of precious stones or other material possessions as signs
of wealth and power. They were just bored with the food in Europe,
and they wanted something unique and exotic to spice up their foods
and delicacies. The mission seems to us now as not very important
then, judging from the object of their expedition.
7. Characterized the action of Magellan in connection with the
battle of mactan was it use for Magellan to do what he did in
mactan? Explain.

 The hubris of Ferdinand Magellan caused the Battle of Mactan. As he

worked his way down the South American coast, Magellan and crew
had encountered Amerinds who had no metals and had never seen
large ocean going vessels with cannon. Rajah Sula asked for Magellan
s help to defeat his rival, Rajah Si Lapu Lapu, who Sula said, refused to
recognize the King of Spain as his king. Upon hearing that, Magellan
with some sixty men, embarked to Mactan to punish Lapu Lapu. I think
Magellan had a wrong behavior and choice to fought with Lapu-Lapu.
Lapu-Lapu is the first Filipino to resist foreign invaders. The Battle of
Mactan, even if it was situated in the early years of Spanish invasion
marks the start of an organized Filipino resistance against foreign
aggression. The defeat and death of Magellan is a humiliation in the
part of Spain.

8. What was the treaty of Zaragoza?

 The Treaty of Zaragoza, or Treaty of Saragossa, also referred to as

the Capitulation of Zaragoza, was a peace treaty between Castile
and Portugal, signed on 22 April 1529 by King John III and the Emperor
Charles V, in the Aragonese city of Zaragoza. The treaty defined the
areas of Castilian and Portuguese influence in Asia, in order to resolve
the "Moluccas issue", which had arisen because both kingdoms
claimed the Moluccas islands for themselves, asserting that it was
within their area of influence established by the Treaty of Tordesillas in
1494.
 The conflict began in 1520, when expeditions of both kingdoms
reached the Pacific Ocean, because no agreed meridian of longitude
had been established in the orient.

Was this treaty fair to both spain and Portugal? Why.

 Treaty of Tordesillas, (June 7, 1494), agreement between Spain and

Portugal aimed at settling conflicts over lands newly discovered or
explored by Christopher Columbus and other late 15th-century
voyagers.