Colonial cities or regions in southeastasia Essay

Colonial cities or regions in southeastasia - Essay Example Colonial cities are the conquered trading ports basically by Europeans and later on Americans that are part of a country or nation which were heavily influenced with culture. In Southeast Asia, these may include Singapore, Jakarta, Manila, Hong Kong and Saigon. Historically, the Philippines is rich in culture and tradition prior to the conquest of the Spaniards in the 16th century. Negritos or Aetas came to the area via land bridges during ice age, while the vast majority of Filipinos are believed to have come from Austronesians from Taiwan. Filipinos intermarried with its neighbouring races Indonesian and Malays and these mixes traded with Hindus from India, Chinese and the Arabs (Zaide, 1993). Trade has been established in most of its earlier ports including Cebu, Davao, Manila, and Dagupan. Doeppers (1972) called these coastal villages. While there had been proofs of a very early settlement in the Philippines, its coastal villages and river courses engaged in wet rice agriculture combined with hunting and fishing. The villages were fragmented and there were frequent inter-village fighting. Each village roughly made up of thirty to a hundred families make up the barangay headed by a datu or chief, followed in rank by the warriors, free men and slaves (Zaide, 1993). Intra-island trade were present and exte... Philippine settlements in pre-Hispanic period were not at all cities such as Cebu which was a minor port call, and Manila or Maynilad which was a point of importation for the Tagalog living around Laguna de Bay (3) and it was also said that of the 2,000 Manila inhabitants, forty were Chinese and twenty were Japanese (Doeppers, 1972). In fact, due to its location at an outer extremity of the Southeast Asian insular, Philippines also remained more detached with its Southeast Asian neighbours so that Buddhism and Hinduism did not take roots, except for Islam in the south. Mindanao, nevertheless showed an integrated group of Muslims that were able to "defend themselves effectively" (Doeppers, 1972, p 771) and it remained culturally rich with Jolo as the seat of the Sultan of Sulu. Ming naval vessels also visited the area. Colonial Period The Colonial Era In 1564, an expedition set out from Nueva Espana or Mexico which was the fourth to exploit Magellan's discovery of the Pacific Indies. Ferdinand Legaspi, the expedition commander was commanded by the Royal Audiencia to spread the Roman Catholic faith and send back to Spain spices and wealth. Cebu, specifically the island of Panay, became Legaspi's choice of settlement. But unlike the South Americas, Manila had no gold or "easily exploitable wealth" (Doeppers, 1972, p 772). Instead, it was an established trade port that made Legaspi propose a trade with China. So, a move of the seat of operations became inevitable in 1571. Urbanisation started to occur only during the Spanish period where coastal villages were turned into coastal clusters or settlements with at least 10,000 engaged beyond agricultural activities. These are called ciudades for cities and villas for towns. Their purpose had