This book has been prepared at the suggestion of the educational authorities for pupils in the public high schools of the Philippines, as an introduction to the history of their country. Its preparation occupied about two years, while the author was busily engaged in other duties,—much of it being written while he was traveling or exploring in different parts of the Archipelago. No pretensions are made to an exhaustive character for the book. For the writer, as well as for the pupil for whom it

Purpose of this Book. —This book has been written for the young men and young women of the Philippines. It is intended to introduce them into the history of their own island country. The subject of Philippine history is much broader and more splendid than the size and character of this little book reveal. Many subjects have only been briefly touched upon, and there are many sources of information, old histories, letters and official documents, which the writer had not time and opportunity to stu

The aim of this book is to help him to understand, first of all, the place that the Philippines occupy in the modern history of nations, so that he may understand how far and from what beginnings the Filipino people have progressed, toward what things the world outside has itself moved during this time, and what place and opportunities the Filipinos, as a people, may seek for in the future. The Meaning of History. —History, as it is written and understood, comprises many centuries of human life

The Negritos ornament their bodies by making little rows of cuts on the breast, back, and arms, and leaving the scars in ornamental patterns; and some of them also file their front teeth to points. In their hair they wear bamboo combs with long plumes of hair or of the feathers of the mountain cock. They have curious dances, and ceremonies for marriage and for death. Distribution. —The Negritos have retired from many places where they lived when the Spaniards first arrived, but there are still s

There was little joy in life and no popular learning. If a man did not enjoy warfare, but one other life was open to him, and that was in the Church. War and religion were the pursuits of life, and it is no wonder that many of the noblest and best turned their backs upon a life that promised only fighting and bloodshed and, renouncing the world, became monks. Monasticism developed in Europe under such conditions as these, and so strong were the religious feelings of the age that at one time a th

Arguments to Justify Slavery. —So arose the institution of Negro slavery, which a century later upon the shores of the New World was to develop into so tremendous and terrible a thing. Curiously enough, religion was evoked to justify this enslavement of the Africans. The Church taught that these people, being heathen, were fortunate to be captured by Christians, that they might thereby be brought to baptism and conversion; for it is better for the body to perish than for the soul to be cast into

The Tagálog Language. —It should be a matter of great interest to Filipinos that the great scientist, Baron William von Humboldt, considered the Tagálog to be the richest and most perfect of all the languages of the Malayo-Polynesian family, and perhaps the type of them all. “It possesses,” he said, “all the forms collectively of which particular ones are found singly in other dialects; and it has preserved them all with very trifling exceptions unbroken, and in entire harmony and symmetry.” The

“The Encomenderos.” —Spain’s system of controlling the lives and the labor of the Indians was based to a certain extent on the feudal system, still surviving in the Peninsula at the time of her colonial conquests. The captains and soldiers and priests of her successful conquests had assigned to them great estates or fruitful lands with their native inhabitants, which they managed and ruled for their own profit. Such estates were called first “repartimientos.” But very soon it became the practice

Legaspi at Bohol. —About the middle of March the fleet arrived at Bohol, doubtless the southern or eastern shore. While near here Goyti in a small boat captured a Moro prao from Borneo and after a hard fight brought back the Moros as prisoners to Legaspi. There proved to be quite a trade existing between the Moros from Borneo and the natives of Bohol and Mindanao. Here on Bohol they were able to make friendly terms with the natives, and with Sicatuna, the dato of Bohol, Legaspi performed the cer

We are fortunate to have a review of these encomiendas, made in 1591, about twenty-five years after the system was introduced into the Islands. 2 There were then 267 encomiendas in the Philippines, of which thirty-one were of the king, and the remainder of private persons. Population under the Encomiendas. —From the enumeration of these encomiendas, we learn that the most populous parts of the archipelago were La Laguna, with 24,000 tributantes and 97,000 inhabitants, and the Camarines, which in

In 1598 the merchants of Amsterdam defeated a combined Spanish and Portuguese fleet in the East, and trading settlements were secured in Java and Johore. In 1605 they carried their factories to Amboina and Tidor. Effect of the Success of the Dutch. —The exclusive monopoly over the waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, which Portugal and Spain had maintained for a century, was broken. With the concurrence of the Roman See, they had tried to divide the New World and the Orient between them. Tha

Troubles with the Natives at Guam. —This first year was the most successful in the history of the mission. Almost immediately after, the Jesuits angered the islanders by compulsory conversions. There were quarrels in several places, and priests, trying to baptize children against the wishes of their parents, were killed. In 1670 the Spaniards were attacked, and obliged to fortify themselves at Agaña. The Jesuits had a guard of a Spanish captain and about thirty Spanish and Filipino soldiers, who

English Victory over French in India and America. —English power in India was represented during these years by the greatest and most striking figure in England’s colonial history—Lord Clive. To him is due the defeat of France in India, the capture of her possessions, and the founding of the Indian Empire, which is still regarded as England’s greatest possession. The French were expelled from India in the same year that the great citadel of New France in America—Quebec—was taken by the English u

Many of the old abuses which had characterized the government of the alcaldes had been at least partially remedied. After 1844 they had no longer the much-abused monopoly privilege of trade, nor had they as free a hand in controlling the labor of the inhabitants; but opportunities for illegal enrichment existed in the administration of the treasury and tax system, and these opportunities were not slighted. Up to the very end of Spanish rule the officials, high and low, are accused of stealing pu

Such in brief is the history of the American nation, so gifted with political intelligence, so driven by sleepless energy, so proud of its achievements, and inwardly so contemptuous of the more polished but less liberal life of the Old World. Europe has never understood this nation, and not until a few years ago did Europeans dream of its progress and its power. Relation of the United States to South American Republics. —Toward the republics of Spanish America the United States has always stood

Price, 25 cents Unlike all other books, this primer teaches the most elementary ideas and forms of number and of language, at the same time. It may be used either with or independently of the regular reading primer. As a Language Primer it develops a practical vocabulary and the power of reading and expression. As a Number Primer it teaches in a very simple, logical way, the first steps in number. It is easy, and appeals to the natural interest of the child in counting, besides being adapted to

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