History of the Philippines: A Captivating Guide to Philippine History

by Captivating History

Discover the fascinating Philippines in this captivating book on its history, from the origins of the archipelago’s first peoples until modern times. Free History BONUS Inside! The Philippines is possibly the most intriguing nation of maritime Southeast Asia. The archipelago has almost eight thousand islands that form the apex of the Coral Triangle of the Asian Pacific, as well as abundant marine life that constitutes almost half of this magnificent area’s oceanic megadiversity. Created from volcanic activity, the archipelago offers everything from extensive beaches to tropical forests and Himalayan-type highlands. Lush valleys and world-renowned rice terraces nestle between the mountains and volcanoes. The Philippines boasts an overwhelming array of biodiversity, both fauna and flora, with many of the species being endemic. The islands have not always been as distant from the mainland, and as sea levels rose and fell during the ice ages, the Philippines became home to successive waves of migrants over the millennia. The Philippines is as old as it is beautiful, and it has produced one of the earliest examples of ancient humankind on Earth and provides a wealth of ancient artifacts from human civilizations, as well as prehistoric creatures. The Philippines is further gifted with abundant mineral and metal resources, and in the Common Era, powerful Filipino principalities built upon foreign trade that emerged at strategic places on the ancient maritime trade routes. The Filipinos’ interactions with the Indianized kingdoms of Java and Sumatra merged with influences from Arabia and the Asian mainland. Trade, piracy, intermarriages, and cultural blending created a diverse and unique archipelagic culture. Once colonial influences arrived in the 16th century, the Philippines was mostly involved with the Sultanate of Brunei from Borneo, China, and Japan. Spanish colonists eventually had control of the Philippines—which they demarcated and named—by the late 1500s and retained suzerainty over the islands for over three hundred years. For the first half of the 20th century, the Americans controlled the Philippines, mostly as a strategic military stronghold. The Americans and Filipinos battled together to throw off Japanese occupation during the Second World War, and finally, in 1946, the Philippines became an independent state. Still heavily influenced by the West because of its history, the Filipino people are mostly Roman Catholic, and English is one of their primary languages. Beauty, history, and cultural diversity ensure this archipelago’s tradition as the “Pearl of the Orient Seas.” In this book, you will That the Philippines is an area of biological and maritime megadiversity.Why the islands have one of the oldest, multi-layered histories on Earth.Why the Philippines was so attractive to colonizers.How the Spanish managed to rule a diverse archipelago for over three centuries.To understand the ongoing relationship between the United States and the Philippines.Why the islands are ethnically and culturally abundant but still unified.How history has created its own island regions of independent rule.Scroll up and click the “add to cart” button to learn more about the history of the Philippines!

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Historical

130 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 17, 2021

Reviews

[Joe Boenzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this ebook (can you really pick up an ebook?) because I am teaching a unit on Christianity in the Philippines in a Church History course for seminarians and grad students this semester at the GTU in Berkeley. This book is part of a series called "Captivating History". It is a quick ready that offers an overview rather than in depth scholarship. Still, I found it useful for my purposes, which was to become more familiar with Filipino History.

I do hope to find some resources on the Church in the Philippines that will suit my purposes for the Church History courses that I conduct. Until I do, this has been a happy way to enter into the history and Culture of Asia's only Catholic nation.

[Gerald Farinas · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s basically a really long Wikipedia article. Still worth the read for the basics.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful starting point for those who want a very basic overview of Filipino history.

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is another must read in my opinion. To some if may seem as simply a book that will solely focus on the history of the Philippines but to me it did more. There was discussion of people in the area in years back to 58,000 to 16,500 years ago. To me that is always interesting to find information on where some people were back in time. Who were actually the first ones to begin civilization and making a certain life style. There was even discussion of different marine animals that were around reefs. Before this book I never knew that dugong is another word for a manatee. See, you learn something new every day when you least expect it. Another interesting fact was that there were even pirates that were attacking due to the goods that were available in the area. Overall, this was a great book and I enjoyed the read. Hopefully you will find your favorite parts and enjoy too!

[Clifford Luebben · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quick, accessible, and informative read on the history of the Philippines. This is my first time reading something by Captivating History. The general aesthetics of the book made me worried about how soundly informed it would be (I suppose I was judging the book by its cover), but resources on Filipino history are hard to find so I decided to try it. While there are some occasional editing errors, the books content was up to snuff with more scholarly books & articles I’ve read on the subject. It is also has much less (though it is not absent!) ideological bias worked in compared to Luis H. Francia’s book which seems to be the current go to on the subject. As such for those looking to be introduced to Filipino history, “History of the Philippines: A Captivating Guide to Philippine History” is the book I would recommend

[Mx5z3n · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is solid for what it is: an extremely lightweight survey level history of the Philippines, stretching all the way from pre-history to the modern day. As a result, it’s scant on deep details or full characterizations of anybody mentioned, and major events are covered in a few sentences. The whole thing very much reads as an extra long university history paper. However, there is usually enough context to understand the history discussed, and as a very quick read, I think it checks all the boxes. Good prep for a trip to the Philippines!

[Ikramul Haque · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned a LOT about the Philippines! A very well put together book. A lot of details and insight about the Filipino people and how they have come to be the way they are. Filipino people have a very distinct nature that makes them stand apart from all the other south-east asian nations. This book has all the details I need to prepare if I decide to move their. And I will understand why they are the way they are :-)

Much thanks to the brilliant author!

[Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on the history of the Philippines! Information was digestible and to the point.

[Reflector · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hard to get through

Not sure what happened in the writing of this book but seems like there was no real through line in the narrative. Was barely even a narrative to the history.

[Ericka Black]

Horrible, awful, dated colonial perspective.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good cliffs note history of the Philippines that helped me now know what I want to dog into more. My one beef is that it really focuses on the colonizers view - at times it reads like a European history of the Philippines, missing the story of what was happening from indigenous peoples POV. Still, worth a listen for some fundamentals.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

99 cents on Kindle, you get what you pay for. Reads like it was copied from Wikipedia.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very broad strokes. Prehistory to 2016.