Early history-

The first human  reached Philippines, about 40,000-50,000 years ago, around the same time as Australia.

In 1521, Ferdinand Magellan reached Philippines on his voyage to circumnavigate the globe.  In 1542, the islands were named Philip after the heir to the Spanish throne.  Philippines became Spanish colony in 1565, when Miguel Lopez de Legazpi was appointed the first governor. Manila was selected  as capital due to the location, with harbours and rich farming lands surrounding it. 

In 1896, the first revolution broke out, but lasted only some months.  In 1897, peace was reached with Spain.  However, the peace was repeatedly broken by both sides and when the Spanish-American war neared its end in May 1898, the Filipinos had taken over the island of Luzon and declared on June 12, 1898 their independence.  The Treaty in Paris the same year, crushed those hopes when Philippines was transferred from Spain to the United States.  In 1899, a new revolt started, lead by Filipinos' leader Emilio Aguinaldo. It ended in 1901 with his capture.

Modern history-

On December 1941 Japanese troops invaded the Philippines. Puppet government was installed with Jose P. Laurel as president by the Japanese in Oct. 14 1943. On Oct. 20 1944, a liberation force landed in Leyte in the island of Visayas. After intense battle with the Japanese forces Gen. MacArthur announced "All the Philippines are now liberated".

Philippines finally gained its independence on 4th of July 1946 by the United States and was proclaimed the Filipino-American Friendship Day from then on.

Inspite of the political instability since Philippines gained its independence in 1946, the late 1960’s until early 1970’s, the country saw economic development that was second in Asia after Japan.

 

Presidents were elected and changed.  Marcos was the first President, who declared Martial Law and stayed in office for 20 years.  Aquino followed him.  She worked to restore constitutional stability while President Ramos worked to establish economic stability. He set out to improve the nation’s long neglected energy, communications, transportation infrustructure and introduced economic and financial reforms. In 1998, moviestar Joseph Estrada won the second democratic presidential election.  He was the people’s President.

 

Philippines is rich in natural resources which is untouched by human hands.  The Banaue Rice Terraces is the one of the eight wonders of the world. Philippines is giving importance on the tourism industry and continue discovering and preserving the natural resources of the country that only you can find in the Philippines.