Manila and the Philippines.

in the year 1521, while rendering aid to a native chieftain who professed allegiance to the king of Spain. From the original compliment
of five ships, and 268 men, only one ship and 18 men finally completed
the circumnavigation of the earth, the dream of their bold and
cherished leader.
Visions of world empire were unfolding to the Spanish sovereigns, and four expeditions were rapidly organized, and set out
only to end in disaster, although two expeditions actually reached
the Philippine Islands. It is important to note that one expedition
under Villalobos, Spanish navigator and explorer, fitted out in
America, then known as new Spain, reached the Philippine Islands
(Mindanao), in 1543, giving to them the name "Filipinas" (Philippines) in honor of Crown Prince Don Felipe of Spain.
The actual conquest of the Philippine Islands by Spain was the
result of an expedition under the command of Don Miguel de Legaspi,
a distinguished Spanish officer who had previously served his
sovereign in Mexico. Accompanied by his kinsman, Urdaneta, the
historian of Magellan's early voyage, and now an Augustinian friar,
he embarked with a fleet of four small vessels and three hundred
and eighty men, and in 1565 anchored in the Philippines near the
island of Cebu.
In spite of the hostility of the natives Legaspi constructed a
fort, chose sites for the Spanish quarters and for the first church,
and gave the name of San Miguel to the town. It is said that the
wise and considerate administration of Legaspi soon won the friendship of the natives and the Christianizing of the people was commenced on a large scale, one of the first converts being Tupas, the
native king of Cebu.
Legaspi next turned his attention to the northern islands, and
as a result the island of Luzon as well as the Visayan islands were
added to the Spanish Empire. Legaspi, whose body is said to lie
in the Augustinian Church in Manila, is properly ranked as one of
the greatest of the early pioneer explorers. Starting with four small
vessels and four hundred men, accompanied by five Augustinian
monks and re-enforced from time to time by small contingents of
soldiers and monks, by a combination of tact, courage, and resourcefulness, he won over the natives, repelled the Portuguese and laid
a sound foundation for a new Spanish Empire in the Orient.
From his first arrival in the islands, Legaspi had heard of an
important trading center on the island of Luzon. For the conquest
of this region he sent his able general, Martin de Goiti, with Salcedo
and a force of Spanish soldiers and native Visayan allies. This
expedition found the trading center, Manila, a crudely fortified town
on the south bank of the Pasig river near its entrance into Manila
Bay, was the stronghold of the native chieftain, Rajah Soliman.

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