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The World During Rizal's Time

The 19th century saw significant political, economic, and social changes in Europe, Spain, and the Philippines. Increased trade led to the growth of commercial agriculture in the Philippines and the rise of a new social class. Education was limited and controlled by the church. Many wealthy Filipinos were sent abroad for education and were exposed to nationalism. José Rizal emerged as a leader of the Propaganda Movement advocating reform through his writings. Despite forming a modest reform society, Rizal was exiled and executed, further fueling nationalist sentiment. The Katipunan society was formed in response, dedicated to independence under Bonifacio's leadership, and prepared for armed revolt with new nationalist ambitions and education.

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Beatriz Arevalo
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147 views1 page

The World During Rizal's Time

The 19th century saw significant political, economic, and social changes in Europe, Spain, and the Philippines. Increased trade led to the growth of commercial agriculture in the Philippines and the rise of a new social class. Education was limited and controlled by the church. Many wealthy Filipinos were sent abroad for education and were exposed to nationalism. José Rizal emerged as a leader of the Propaganda Movement advocating reform through his writings. Despite forming a modest reform society, Rizal was exiled and executed, further fueling nationalist sentiment. The Katipunan society was formed in response, dedicated to independence under Bonifacio's leadership, and prepared for armed revolt with new nationalist ambitions and education.

Uploaded by

Beatriz Arevalo
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The World during Rizal’s Time

 Rizal’s Century: The 19th Century


 The Needs for Reform
 The Conditions of Europe, America and Asia
 The Changing Religious Front in the Philippines: Secularization

THE 19TH CENTURY


By the late 18th century, political and economic changes in Europe were finally beginning to affect Spain
and, thus, the Philippines. Important as a stimulus to trade was the gradual elimination of the monopoly
enjoyed by the galleon to Acapulco. The last galleon arrived in Manila in 1815, and by the mid-1830s
Manila was open to foreign merchants almost without restriction. The demand for Philippine sugar and
abaca (hemp) grew apace, and the volume of exports to Europe expanded even further after the
completion of the Suez Canal in 1869.
The growth of commercial agriculture resulted in the appearance of a new class. Alongside the
landholdings of the church and the rice estates of the pre-Spanish nobility there arose haciendas of coffee,
hemp, and sugar, often the property of enterprising Chinese-Filipino mestizos. Some of the families that
gained prominence in the 19th century have continued to play an important role in Philippine economics
and politics.
Not until 1863 was there public education in the Philippines, and even if the church controlled the
curriculum. Less than one-fifth of those who went to school could read and write Spanish, and far fewer
could speak it properly. The limited higher education in the colony was entirely under clerical direction,
but by the 1880s many sons of the wealthy were sent to Europe to study. There, nationalism and a passion
for reform blossomed in the liberal atmosphere. Out of this talented group of overseas Filipino students
arose what came to be known as the Propaganda Movement. Magazines, poetry, and pamphleteering
flourished. José Rizal, this movement’s most brilliant figure, produced two political novels—Noli me
tangere (1887; Touch Me Not) and El Filibusterismo (1891; The Reign of Greed)—which had a wide
impact in the Philippines. In 1892 Rizal returned home and formed the Liga Filipina, a modest reform-
minded society, loyal to Spain, that breathed no word of independence. But Rizal was quickly arrested by
the overly fearful Spanish, exiled to a remote island in the south, and finally executed in 1896.
Meanwhile, within the Philippines there had developed a firm commitment to independence among a
somewhat less privileged class.
Shocked by the arrest of Rizal in 1892, these activists quickly formed the Katipunan under the leadership
of Andres Bonifacio, a self-educated warehouseman. The Katipunan was dedicated to the expulsion of the
Spanish from the islands, and preparations were made for armed revolt. Filipino rebels had been
numerous in the history of Spanish rule, but now for the first time they were inspired by nationalist
ambitions and possessed the education needed to make success a real possibility.

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