Chapter 40 Philippine former Mexican territory

The Eurasian continent extends eastward into the Pacific Ocean, and the front part is exposed from the sea level, forming a semi-circular arc island group, from the Kamchatka Peninsula to Java Island, and the Philippine Islands are part of this island group.Seawater flooded the lowlands between this semi-arc island group and the mainland, and the Sea of ​​Japan, East China Sea, and South China Sea emerged. There are more than 7,000 islands that make up the Philippine archipelago, but only 462 are larger than one square mile.The remaining islands are either some large cliffs or a small swamp. Because the weight is too light, only 25% of the islands are named.The area of ​​the Philippine Islands is roughly equal to the combined area of ​​Scotland and England, with a population of about 11 million, of which Chinese and Japanese account for the vast majority, and about 100,000 whites.Although there are only 25 discovered volcanoes in the Philippines, and, except for two or three active volcanoes, the others seem to have been inactive for a long time, but it must have been a frequently volcanic area in history.

People should be very grateful for this.From a geographical point of view, the location of the Philippines is very dangerous.Currently, east of the Philippines, people have discovered the deepest trench on earth (the Mariana Trench, located 11,039 meters below sea level --- Translator's Note).How deep is it? If the trench is the resting place of the Himalayas, the summit of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth, is still 5,000 feet below sea level.Just imagine that everything in the world is sliding into the abyss of the earth, then there will be no traces left. Luzon is the most important island in the Philippine archipelago.Luzon is tadpole-shaped, with a high rise in the middle, and the highest point is 7,000 feet high.The capital, Manila, is located on the east coast of Luzon Island, and it is the most important city in the Philippines.On the ruins of an ancient Islamic village, the Spaniards built the city in 1571. The name of the city comes from Manila, a kind of tobacco that is rich in the Philippine Islands. In 1590, the Spaniards built the city wall again.History has proven that the walls outlasted the reign of their builders.

Even though the Spaniards' management of Manila was bad, Manila still developed rapidly and became the most important business center in the entire Far East.Merchant ships from China, Japan, India, and even the distant Arab world filled the port of Manila.In Manila they exchanged their full loads for European goods transshipped by the Spaniards from the Mexican colonies in Central America.Since taking this route across the Indian Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope, the Spaniards might be attacked by the British and the Dutch, and they were afraid to take the risk, so the Spaniards chose another route, that is, a direct flight from Manila. Arrive at Tehuantepec Bay, then load the goods, cross the American Isthmus, transship by land, reload the goods, pass through Cuba and Puerto Rico, and finally return to Spain.

There are more than a dozen larger islands scattered in the south of Luzon Island, Samar Island, Panay Island (the island has the second largest city in the Philippines - the famous city of Iloilo), Negros Island and Cebu Islands are the most famous of them all.Further south is Mindanao, which is only slightly smaller than Luzon.In order to maintain their independence, the indigenous Moro people who believed in Islam on the island of Mindanao had fought desperately against the Spaniards and Americans, so their reputation spread far and wide.Facing the Sulu Sea, Zamboanga City is the largest city on Mindanao Island.Generally speaking, Filipinos are not interested in the Pacific Ocean, and the West is what Filipinos really pay attention to, because their religion comes from the West, their initial concept of civilization also comes from the West, and the object of their trade is also the West.Orientals discovered the Philippines purely by accident.

In 1521, Magellan landed in the Philippine Islands.At that time, a dispute arose that got his employer, the Pope and King of Spain, into trouble.In order to quell the dispute, Magellan chose this unusual route.In the Iberian peninsula, a dispute arose between the beloved children of the Pope, and in order to put an end to it forever, the Pope in 1494 west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands (roughly at 50 W. degrees) draws a line from north to south, dividing the world into two halves. The west side is the Spanish sphere of influence, and the east side is the Portuguese sphere of influence. This is the famous "Treaty of Tordesillas".According to the Treaty of Tordesillas, the Spaniards have the right to punish anyone who dares to cross this line into the Spanish sphere of influence, so for the British and the Dutch, their early expeditions to the American continent The expedition has become a very dangerous activity: as long as anyone dares to cross the thunder pool for half a step, no matter who they are, they will be regarded as ordinary pirates and immediately hanged.

However, the Pope who made Magellan's voyage possible, the infamous Alexander VI, father of Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, was himself Spanish.Therefore, the Portuguese claimed that the Treaty of Tordesillas was unfair and their interests were harmed.As a result, quarrels and wars have been triggered for as long as 100 years on the issue of who should own what.Magellan was also embroiled in the dispute.Although he was Portuguese, he was employed by the King of Spain.Seeking to find out whether the rich Moluccas lay in the part of Portugal or Spain that the pope had given to him, Magellan sailed east, toward the Indian Ocean, and proved the Portuguese right.Moluccas belonged to the Portuguese, but it didn't take long before it fell into the hands of the Dutch.During this voyage, the Spaniards accidentally discovered the Philippines, and included the Philippine Islands into the sphere of influence of the Spaniards, and the Spanish agency in Mexico administered the Philippines.Then, due to the depopulation of Central America, the monks left in large numbers from New Castile to the much more promising Philippines.

One has to admit that in the Philippines, monks have done a lot of comprehensive work.To be honest, if they did a little worse, our work in the Philippines would be much easier. In 1898, when we took over what medieval Spain had left in the Philippines, we had to deal for the first time with people who were almost 100 percent Catholic. From the standpoint of the government, the United States may not belong to the country of Christianity, but the general philosophy of life of Americans definitely belongs to Christianity, not Catholicism.Perhaps we Americans will be proud of our generous treatment of Filipinos: countless high-quality roads, thousands of primary and secondary schools, three universities, a large number of hospitals and doctors, nurses, incubators, meat and fish epidemic prevention, The health care methods, and the countless benefits of advanced science, these are given by the Americans, all of which were not even heard of by the Spaniards who ruled the Philippines before the United States.But all these good gestures of generosity mean nothing to Filipinos.These earthly advancements and comforts are good, but compared with being able to be rescued and enter the kingdom of heaven, sanitation and epidemic prevention, hospitals, good roads and schools, are nothing!This is what Filipinos have been taught since childhood.