Philippine Colonial

Economy and Society

Jervy C. Briones
Department of Social Sciences
University of the Philippines Los Baños
Galleon Trade
• On the 1st of June 1565, San
Pablo, under the command of
Felipe de Salcedo, sailed from
Cebu. The guiding spirit on
this voyage was the navigator-
friar, Andres de Urdaneta.
She arrived the 8th of
September at Acapulco. The
route came to be the
approximate route followed
by the Manila-Acapulco
vessels jn the next two
centuries and a half.
https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/500x600/14757.png?v=1635755403
• Some of Legaspi's men under Admiral Juan Pablo Carrion had occasion to succor the
crew of a Chinese junk which was found sinking in the waters off Mindoro. To this
incident is attributed the opening of a new page in the history of Philippine commerce, the
beginning of direct trading connections with China.
• The goods brought by these traders formed the eastward cargoes of the galleons. They
included a wide assortment: Persian rugs; fine cottons from India; objects made of ivory,
jasper, jade, copper and brass; spices, musk, borax, lead and camphor; porcelain and
earthenware; pearls and precious stones; japanned boxes and inlaid escritoires and
furniture.
• Philippine products that figured in the trade were gold dust, wax, cordage, blankets and
sail cloth from Ilocos, lampotes or gauze from Cebu, cotton stockings from Manila, bed
coverlets from Lubang and Ilocos, petticoats and hammocks from Ilocos, linen sheets,
tablecloths and bed canopies.
• Most important of all, however, were silk goods from China. "Silks in every stage of
manufacture and of every variety of weave and pattern formed the most valuable part of
their cargoes," The Chinese were therefore the most important among all the foreigners
whose ships converged on sixteenth-century Manila.
• In order to keep the Chinese in
a place where they could be
observed and controlled,
Governor Ronquillo in the
1580's built the Parian across
the river from old Manila. This
was the Chinatown of those
times; Chinese retailers and
artisans resided arid kept their
shops there.

https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/ancx/culture/2018/14/8binondo.jpg?ext=.jpg
• Since the defeat of the
Spanish armada in 1588,
Spain began to decline and
never recovered. Further
internal strife made Spain a
dependent empire and
satellite of Britain.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Loutherbourg-Spanish_Armada.jpg/625px-Loutherbourg-Spanish_Armada.jpg
• The galleon trade brought massive disruption to the trade and political influence of
Mindanao sultanates. However, the Spaniards failed to subjugate the Moros and the latter
could resist because of their advanced political organization not to mention the notion of
Islamic unity under dar-ul-Islam (Majul, 1999).
• At the same time, slavery continued to flourish in Sulu characterized by acquired persons:
chattel slaves and bond slaves. Sulu slavery had the lord-follower relations (Warren,
1981).
New Economy
• During the eighteenth
century, the Anglo-Chinese
partnership played a
significant role in the
economic development of the
Philippines, particularly its
opening to international
trade.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/23/Coat_of_arms_of_the_East_India_Company.svg/800px-Coat_of_arms_of_the_East_India_Company.svg.png
• The economic opportunities of Spanish colonization attracted Chinese immigration where
more than twenty thousand Chinese resided in Manila by the beginning of the
seventeenth century. Meanwhile, it was the commercial activities of the British that
eventually opened the country to international trade.
• The reorientation of the colonial economy began with the arrival in 1778 of Governor-
General José de Basco y Vargas, who saw the futility of the galleon trade and the potential
for large-scale production of cash crops for export.
• The hundred years between 1750 and 1850 became a significant period for the Philippines
where the colonial society suffered drastic changes due to Spain’s revision of outlook.
• The termination of the galleon trade in 1813 and the abolition of the Royal Philippine
Company in 1834 led to greater liberalization of commerce.
• The nineteenth century saw
the transformation of the
export economy with the
rapid development of cash
crops. The Philippine
economy began monetization
and the regional
specialization of crops.

http://ffemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Philippine-HiStory-Today-Hukbalahap-Formed-2.png
• By the 1840s, though, almost 90 percent of total export revenue came from six Philippine-
grown cash crops: sugar, tobacco, abaca (hemp) fiber and cordage, indigo, coffee, and
cotton.
• As exports rose, economic life became more complex and “metropolitan Manila”—
Intramuros and its growing suburbs—grew into a real commercial center. It contained
people enjoying more diverse jobs, more money transactions, and more cultural
diversions.
• Manila’s population increased from 100,000 in 1822 to about 150,000 by mid-century.
The steady stream of internal migrants in the nineteenth century came mainly from the
nearby Tagalog-speaking province.
• Many Spaniards also migrated to the Philippines, especially after the opening of the Suez
Canal in 1869 dramatically decreased travel time from Europe.
Social
stratification
• There were five principal
social classes in Philippine
society during this period:
peninsulares, creoles or
insulares, Spanish mestizos,
Chinese mestizos, and the
Chinese.

https://live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au/71bd969ffb01a74df40d5be228078eea?impolicy=wcms_crop_resize&cropH=1533&cropW=2048&xPos=0&yPos=128&width=862&height=647
• The religious corporations, the Spaniards, the creoles, and the Chinese mestizos were now
active participants in the acquisition of land. Growing capitalism created a demand for
cash crops thus making landowning very attractive.
• Accumulation also occurred through land grabbing, often by the powerful religious
orders. To expand their vast holdings, friar estates simply demanded rent on land they
wanted or conducted fraudulent land surveys.
• The uneven impact of these economic changes devastated rural populations. The end-of-
century revolution against Spanish rule would have a strong basis in the woeful
conditions accompanying economic transformation.
• Landlordism through royal grants, pacto de retroventa, and land-grabbing were the ways
by which vast estates were amassed.
References
• Abinales, P. N. & Amoroso, D. J. (2005). State and Society in the Philippines. Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
• Constantino, R. (1975). A History of the Philippines: From the Spanish Colonization to
the Second World War. Monthly Review Press.
• Legarda, B., Jr. (1955). Two and a Half Centuries of the Galleon Trade. Philippine Studies,
3(4), 345-372.
• Majul, C. A. (1999). Muslims in the Philippines. University of the Philippines Press.
• Warren, J. F. (1981). The Sulu Zone, 1768-1898. Singapore University Press.