The Colonial Department

The island of Balangingi stands halfway between Borneo and Mindanao. Surrounding Balangingi were sharp reefs and surging cross-currents that would be lethal to any boatman… except for the Balangingi Samal, of course. Surrounding the main landmass were little islets that would wink in and out with the tides. On the coast were thick snarls of mangrove; in the parched interior were swaying groves of coconut. During the Spanish occupation, the Balangingi Samal—also known as the Banguingui Sama or the Sama Balangingi—visited the Philippines twice a year, raiding coastal villages across the Philippines and capturing many of their inhabitants as slaves. And then the Spanish struck back. This is the story of the rise and fall of a fierce seafaring people.Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/thecolonialdeptFollow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: thecolonialdept@gmail.comReferences: Cojuangco, Tingting (1993). Kris of Valor: The Samal Balangingi’s Defiance and Diaspora. Manisan Research and Pub. Inc.Warren, James Francis (2020). “In Search of Julano Taupan: His Life and His Times.” Journal of Indian Ocean World Studies, 4, pp. 2-31.Warren, James Francis (2021). The Sulu Zone, 1768-1898: The Dynamics of External Trade, Slavery, and Ethnicity in the Transformation of a Southeast Asian Maritime State (40th Anniversary Ed.). Ateneo de Manila Press.Mastura, Datu Michael Ong (2023). The Rulers of Magindanao in Modern History, 1515–1903: Continuity and Change in a Traditional Realm in the Southern Philippines. Ateneo de Manila University Press.Nimmo, H. Arlo (1968). “Reflections on Bajau History.” Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, 16(1), pp. 32-58.Roxas-Lim, Aurora (2017). “Marine-Oriented Sama-Bajao People and Their Searchfor Human Rights.” Public Policy, 18, pp. 50-66.Cojuangco, Margarita delos Reyes (2003). “The Samal People in the Mindanao Sea, Pre-History to 1900s: A Historical Study in Ethnic Origination, Dispersion, and Migration” [doctoral dissertation]. Faculty of the Graduate School, University of Santo Tomas.Moreno, Frede (2023). “Stateless sea gypsies in Bangsamoro coastlines: Understanding the Sama Bajau ethnic tribe in the Philippines.” MPRA Paper No. 117900, pp. 1-17.Silvestre, Jojo G. (24 June 2023). “Tingting Cojuangco — Christian Espiritu’s ultimate muse.” Daily Tribune. https://tribune.net.ph/2023/06/23/tingting-cojuangco-christian-espiritus-ultimate-muse

It was the Great War, the War to End All the Wars… and Philippine abaca merchants were raking in sky-high profits. The world’s most powerful navies relied on this plant—which is native to the Philippines—to keep their warships in battle-ready shape. But what the First World War giveth, the First World War also taketh away.Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: thecolonialdept@gmail.comReferences:Dacudao, Patricia Irene (2023). Abaca Frontier: The Socioeconomic and Cultural Transformation of Davao, 1898-1941. Ateneo de Manila University Press.Crapo, G.R. (February 1926). “The Philippine Fiber Industry.” Proceedings, 52(2). https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1926/february/philippine-fiber-industryLayton, J. Kent (undated). “Lusitania 100 years later: never forget.” National Museums Liverpool. https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/stories/lusitania-100-years-later-never-forgetJose, Ricardo Trota (1988). “The Philippine National Guard in World War I.” Philippine Studies, 36(3), pp. 275-299. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42633097Nagano, Yoshiko (2012). “The Philippine National Bank and Credit Inflation after World War I.” Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series gd11-216, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.Ybiernas, Vicente Angel (2012) "Philippine Financial Standing in 1921: The First World War Boom and Bust." Philippine Studies, 55(3), pp. 345-372.

In fiestas in a bygone age, the corrida de toros—the coursing of the bulls—would always be part of the festivities and celebrations in town plazas across the Philippines. Why did this tradition disappear from our shores?In this two-part episode, we examine the history of bullfighting in the Philippines. In Part One, join Antonio Luna as he watches his first bullfight… and then travel back in time to the very start of the Spanish occupation, when the fiesta de toros became a fixture in our holidays!Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: thecolonialdept@gmail.comReferences:Vibal, Gaspar (2022). Bullfighting in the Philippines, 1602-2022. Vibal Books. Hemingway, Ernest (1927). Fiesta; or, The Sun Also Rises. Jonathan Cape Ltd.Hartwell, Rafael Ernest (2019). “Bad English and Fresh Spaniards: Translation and Authority in Philippine and Cuban Travel Writing.” Unitas, 92(1), pp. 43-74.Cornwell, Zach (Host). (13 December 2021). “Gore: The Brutal History of Bullfighting” [Audio podcast episode]. In Conflicted, Evergreen Podcast.

Beyond the bullets, the tanks, the planes, the bombs, the Japanese also brought other weapons to bear against the Filipinos: Typewriters. Radio waves. Movie theaters.Here is one story from the frontlines of shisōsen, or "the thought war."Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: thecolonialdept@gmail.comReferences:Campoamor II, Gonzalo (2017). “Re-Examining Japanese Wartime Intellectuals: Kiyoshi Miki during the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines.” Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia, 53(1), pp. 1-38.Terami-Wada, Motoe (1990). “The Japanese Propaganda Corps in the Philippines.” Philippine Studies, 38(3), pp. 279-300.Lagmay, Alfred (1977). “Bahala Na!” In Pe-Pua, Rogelio (ed., 2018), Handbuk ng Sikolohiyang Pilipino, Bolyum I: Perspektibo at Metodolohiya, University of the Philippines Press.Jose, Ricardo T. (1998). The Japanese Occupation. In Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People. Asia Publishing Company Limited.Griggs, Alyson (2020). There Were Children on the Battleground: Japanese and Filipino Youth in the Second World War [masteral dissertation]. Utah State University.

Smallpox was one of the deadliest diseases known to man—and not even the Philippines was immune to its virulent dangers! But how did the dreaded disease arrive on our shores? And what devastating effects did it have during the long centuries of our occupation?Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: thecolonialdept@gmail.comThe thumbnail image, which dates from the 16th century, depicts Aztec victims of smallpox.References:Newson, Linda A. (2011). Conquest and Pestilence in the Early Spanish Philippines. Ateneo de Manila University Press.Fenner, F.; Henderson, D.A.; Arita, I.; Jezek, Z.; Ladnyi, I.D. (1988). Smallpox and Its Eradication. World Health Organization.“Termination of Smallpox Vaccination.” DOH Memorandum Circular, May 08, 1980.Herzog, Richard (23 September 2020). “How Aztecs Reacted to Colonial Epidemics.” JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/how-aztecs-reacted-to-colonial-epidemics/Mursell, Ian. (7 April 2020) “IN THE NEWS: epidemic, self-isolation, dedication and the preservation of memory.” Mexicolore. https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/spanish-invasion/epidemic-self-isolation-dedication-and-the-preservation-of-memoryThein, M.M.; Goh, L.G., Phua, K.H. (1988). “The Smallpox Story: From Variolation to Victory.” Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 2(3), pp. 203-210.Wise, Edwin (2019). Manila, City of Islands. Ateneo de Manila University Press.

As the United States moves to take over Mindanao, both the Americans and the Moros invoke the name of the Ottoman Empire—seat of the Caliph—to support their campaigns. But in 1914, an actual Ottoman emissary arrives in Zamboanga. How will the American occupiers react to his visit?Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: thecolonialdept@gmail.comReferences:Dwight, H.D. (1915). Constantinople: Old and New. Charles Scribner’s Sons.Inanc, Yusuf Selman. “Abdulhamid II: An autocrat, reformer and the last stand of the Ottoman Empire.” Middle East Eye. https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/abdulhamid-ii-last-stand-ottoman-empireGöksoy, Ismail Hakki (2024). “The Ottomans’ Shaykh Al-Islam of Philippines, Mehmet Vecih Efendi: His Life, Duties and Activities.” In Göksoy, Kadi (eds.), Studies on the Relations Between the Ottoman Empire and Southeast Asia, YTB Publications.Charbonneau, Oliver (2021). Civilizational Imperatives: Americans, Moros, and the Colonial World. Ateneo de Manila University Press.Amirell, Stefan Eklöf (25 August 2022). “‘An Extremely Mild Form of Slavery … of the Worst Sort’: American Perceptions of Slavery in the Sulu Sultanate, 1899–1904,” Slavery & Abolition, 43(3), pp. 517-532.Vatin, Nicolas (19 December 2017). “The Death of Ottoman Sultans.” Politika. https://www.politika.io/en/notice/the-death-of-ottoman-sultans

The route of a Spanish galleon from Manila to Acapulco was littered with the wrecks of ships that sailed before—hit by storms, hammered by tides, preyed on by pirates. Meanwhile, on the filthy decks, hunger and disease stalked the ranks of the sailors, slaves, and passengers. Spanning thousands of kilometers, every voyage of the Galleon Trade was grueling and lethal… but for the investors who bet fortunes on the trade ships, the payoff was worth every dead body. In this episode, let’s sail aboard a galleon as it makes its way from Manila to Mexico. Will we make it to the end alive?Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: thecolonialdept@gmail.comReferences:Casabán, José Luis (2014). “The Reconstruction of a Seventeenth-Century Spanish Galleon.” 2014 Underwater Archaeology Proceedings.Legarda, Benito J. (1999). After the Galleons: Foreign Trade, Economic Change and Entrepreneurship in the Nineteenth-Century Philippines. Ateneo de Manila Press.Seijas, Tatiana (2014). Asian Slaves in Colonial Mexico: From Chinos to Indians. Cambridge University Press.Isorena, Efren B. (2015). “Maritime Disasters in Spanish Philippines: The Manila-Acapulco Galleons, 1565-1815.” International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies, 11(1), pp. 53-83.Schurz, William Lyle (July 1918). “Acapulco and the Manila Galleon.” The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 22(1), pp. 18-37.Hayes, Lieutenant John D. (December 1934). “The Manila Galleons.” Proceedings of the US Naval Institute, 60(12).Worrall, Simon (15 January 2017). “A Nightmare Disease Haunted Ships During Age of Discovery.” National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/scurvy-disease-discovery-jonathan-lambMorris, David Z. (17 May 2016). “Cruel ships of prosperity.” Aeon. https://aeon.co/essays/the-manila-galleons-that-oceaneered-for-plague-and-profit