Jose Rizal and Las Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas

 Antonio Morga’s Spanish chronicle Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas was annotated by Rizal
in 1890. Before, Jose Rizal only heard about an ancient history of the Philippines written
by a Spaniard named Antonio Morga from his uncle Jose Alberto.

 By publishing his annotated version of de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas , he

intended to provide the Filipino people with the history during the Spanish era and
present the authenticity of the cultures and tradition of the country.

 He selected this book because he considered it necessary to invoke the testimony of an

illustrious Spaniard who governed the destinies of the Philippines at the beginning of her
new era and witness the last moments of our nationality.

 Some of his annotations include different clarification and amplification about details and
refutations of statements, and confirmation of the credibility of sources.

Important Dates:
 1888 (August 18)- After two hundred seventy-nine (279) years, Jose Rizal began to copy
by hand the entire first edition of Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas.
 1888 (December 11)- Rizal went to Madrid and Barcelona to search the historical
materias in the Bibliotheque Nationale (National Library)
 1889 (By the end of September)- He brought to Paris for printing and send a letter to
Ferdinand Blumentritt requesting him to write an introduction.

The Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas as annotated by Rizal, appeared for the first time in the
Philippines sixty-eight years later when a publisher in Manila, published the new work in 1958,
to contribute his bit to the national effort to honor Rizal.