Philippine History
Philippine History items ask you to place events, people, and documents on a timeline and to know why each mattered. Dates recur, but so do cause-and-effect and "which came first" questions.
Timeline anchors
- 1521 Magellan lands in Cebu; 1565 Legazpi begins Spanish colonization.
- 1872 Gomburza executed after the Cavite mutiny.
- 1892 Bonifacio founds the Katipunan; 1896 the Revolution breaks out (Cry of Pugad Lawin).
- 1898 June 12, independence proclaimed in Kawit; December, the Treaty of Paris cedes the islands to the United States.
- 1899 Malolos Constitution and the First Philippine Republic.
- 1935 Commonwealth; 1942–45 Japanese occupation; 1946 July 4, independence from the United States.
- 1972 martial law; 1986 EDSA People Power; 1987 Constitution ratified.
Worked example
Which came first: the Pact of Biak-na-Bato or the proclamation of the First Philippine Republic? Place both on the line: Biak-na-Bato was a truce between Aguinaldo and Spain in 1897; the First Republic was proclaimed in Malolos in 1899 → Biak-na-Bato came first. "Which came first" items are solved by dating each option, not by guessing which sounds more famous.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing June 12, 1898 (declaration) with July 4, 1946 (recognized independence).
- Attributing the Katipunan to Aguinaldo instead of Bonifacio.
- Placing the Malolos Constitution before the 1898 declaration.
- Assuming Magellan completed colonization - Legazpi began it in 1565.