Antonio De Morga and his Sucesos De Las Islas Filipinas

The value of Antonio de Morga's Sucesos de las Islas has long been recognized. A first-hand account of
the early Spanish colonial venture into Asia, it was published in Mexico in 1609 and has since been re-
edited on a number of occasions. It attracted the attention of the Hakluyt Society in 1851, although
the edition prepared for the Society by H. E. J. Stanley was not published until 1868. Morga's work is
based on personal experiences, or on documentation from eye-witnesses of the events described.
Moreover, as he tells us himself, survivors from Legazpi's expedition were still alive while he was
preparing his book in Manila, and these too he could consult. As a lawyer, it is obvious that he would
hardly fail to seek such evidence. The Sucesos is the work of an honest observer, himself a major actor
in the drama of his time, a versatile bureaucrat, who knew the workings of the administration from
the inside.It is also the first history of the Spanish Philippines to be written by a layman, as opposed to
the religious chroniclers. Morga's book was praised, quoted, and plagiarized, by contemporaries or
successors. Filipinos have found it a useful account of the state of their native culture upon the coming
of the conquistadors; Spaniards have regarded it as a work to admire or condemn, according to their
views and the context of their times; some other Europeans, such as Stanley, found it full of lessons
and examples.
Antonio de Morga Sánchez Garay (29 November 1559 – 21 July 1636) was a Spanish soldier, lawyer
and a high-ranking colonial official for 43 years, in the Philippines (1594 to 1604), New Spain and Peru,
where he was president of the Real Audiencia for 20 years. He was also a historian. After being
re*igned to Mexico, he published the book Sucesos de las islas Filipinas in 1609, considered one of the
most important works on the early history of the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. As Deputy
Governor in the Philippines, he restored the audencia. He took over the function of judge or oidor. He
also took command of Spanish ships in a 1600 naval battle against Dutch corsairs, but suffered defeat
and barely survived. His history was first published in English in 1868; numerous editions have been
published in English, including a 1907 edition that is online at the Gutenberg Project. It has also been
reprinted in Spanish and other languages.

What is the significance of Antonio de Morga Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas?

What is the significance of Antonio de Morga Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas?

The title literary means Events in the Philippine Islands and thus the books primary goal is a
documentation of events during the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines as observed by the
author himself. The book also includes Filipino customs, traditions, manners, and religion during the
Spanish conquest.

What is the purpose of Antonio Morga in writing Sucesos?

Morga’s purpose for Writing Sucesos Morga wrote that the purpose for writing Sucesos was so he
could chronicle “the deeds achieved by our Spaniards I the discovery, conquest, and conversion of the
Filipinas Islands – as well as various fortunes that they have from time to time in the great kingdoms
and among the pagan …

What was Rizal’s view of the pre-colonial past?

Rizal was much too impulsive, too committed to portray the past, as he himself said “cold-bloodedly
and as an impartial judge.” Rizal wanted to point out, above all, three things with the publication:
firstly, that the Filipinos possessed an independent culture before the arrival of the Spaniards;
secondly, that the …

How would you describe the lifestyle of Filipino natives prior to the coming of the Spaniards?

Before the Spaniards came to the Philippines, the people lived in small towns called barangays. The
leader of a barangay was called a Datu. Many barangays would cluster together for safety and
protection. This way of life could have had a great affect on the languages at this time (Bautista).

What did Rizal emphasize in annotating the Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas?

Rizal emphasizes that Morga was the evidence and the primary source of history in the Philippines.
Rizal’s argued that Filipinos before has their own culture, and did not require a new religion or
“civilization” from Spain.

Who is Antonio Morga’s main contribution to Philippines history?

After being reassigned to Mexico, he published the book Sucesos de las islas Filipinas in 1609,
considered one of the most important works on the early history of the Spanish colonization of the
Philippines. As Deputy Governor in the Philippines, he restored the audencia. He took over the
function of judge or oidor.

Why Rizal annotated the book of Morga?

Rizal found the answer to his idea in Morga’s book and it was this work that he decided to reprint with
his annotations. The Morga annotations provided the seeds of the idea of how the Filipinos should
view themselves amidst a growing nationalism that eventually led to the formation of a nation.

Why did Rizal chose Morga’s work over the other accounts of the pre colonial past what was Rizal’s
motivation of annotating Morga’s Sucesos?

By publishing his annotated version of de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (Events of the
Philippine Islands, originally published in 1609), Rizal’s intent was not only to provide the Filipino
people their early history, a pre-Spanish history, but to present to them their own authentic culture
and identity.

How did Rizal rewrite the Philippine history?

Rizal studied and copied de Morga’s book verbatim. He also annotated extensive passages of the book
to correct de Morga’s misconceptions about the Philippines and the Filipinos. It was during the course
of his undertaking that Rizal began to conceive the idea of a truly national Filipino identity.

What is Philippines before colonization?

Before European colonization, different parts of the Philippines at different times, were parts of or
outposts for Southeast Asian kingdoms, most notably the powerful Majapahit Kingdom in East Java,
which ruled over the islands of what is now Indonesian from 1294 to the 15th century.
Why is Rizal’s Morga important to Philippine history?

It attempts to place Rizal’s Morga within the framework of his work, as well as in the larger context of
Philippine historiography. Rizal’s Morga may not have been read widely, but its significance lies in the
fact that with this edition, Rizal began the task of writing the first Philippine history from the
viewpoint of a Filipino.

What was the Philippines like before the Spanish arrived?

We were often led to believe that the Philippines was “discovered” by Magellan and was at that point
the Philippines’ history commenced. It’s these history books that also say that prior to the Spanish
arrival, we were uncivilized – think barbaric, nomadic, or how a typical high school student would put
it: little brown men in bahag

What did the ancient Filipinos believe in?

According to Fr. Pedro Chirino, Antonio de Morga and other Spanish writers, the ancient Filipino
believed in a supreme being called Bathala, the creator of heaven and earth, and all living things.

Rizal’s annotation also had three main propositions:

1. The people of the Philippines had a culture of their own before the coming of the Spaniards

2. The Filipinos were decimated, demoralized, exploited and ruined by Spanish colonization

3. The present state of the Philippines was not necessarily superior to its past.

RIZAL’S ANNOTATIONS OF MORGA’S WORK

“As a child José Rizal heard from his uncle, José Alberto, about an ancient history of the Philippines
written by a Spaniard named Antonio de Morga. The knowledge of this book came from the English
Governor of Hong Kong, Sir John Browning, who had once paid his uncle a visit. While in London, Rizal
immediately acquainted himself with the British Museum where he found one of the few remaining
copies of that work. At his own expense, he had the work republished with annotations that showed
the Philippines was an advanced civilization prior to the Spanish conquest. Austin Craig, an early
biographer of Rizal, translated into English some of the more important of these annotations.

“Governor Morga was not only the first to write but also the first to publish a Philippine history. This
statement has regard to the concise and concrete form in which our author has treated the matter.
Father Chirino’s work, printed in Rome in 1604, is rather a chronicle of the Missions than a history of
the Philippines; still it contains a great deal of valuable material on usages and customs. The worthy
Jesuit in fact admits that he abandoned writing a political history because Morga had already done so,
so one must infer that he had seen the work in manuscript before leaving the Islands.”

“By the Christian religion, Dr. Morga appears to mean the Roman Catholic which by fire and sword he
would preserve in its purity in the Philippines. Nevertheless in other lands, notably in Flanders, these
means were ineffective to keep the church unchanged, or to maintain its supremacy, or even to hold
its subjects.
These centuries ago it was the custom to write as intolerantly as Morga does, but nowadays it would
be called a bit presumptuous. No one has a monopoly of the true God nor is there any nation or
religion that can claim, or at any rate prove, that to it has been given the exclusive right to the Creator
of all things or sole knowledge of His real being. The civilization of the Pre-Spanish Filipinos in regard
to the duties of life for that age was well advanced, as the Morga history shows in its eighth chapter.
Morga shows that the ancient Filipinos had army and navy with artillery and other implements of
warfare. Their prized krises and kampilans for their magnificent temper are worthy of admiration and
some of them are richly damascened. Their coats of mail and helmets, of which there are specimens in
various European museums, attest their great advancement in this industry. Of the native Manila
rulers at the coming of the Spaniards, Raja Soliman was called “Rahang mura,” or young king, in
distinction from the old king, “Rahang matanda.” Historians have confused these personages. The
artillery cast for the new stone fort in Manila, says Morga, was by the hand of an ancient Filipino. That
is, he knew how to cast cannon even before the coming of the Spaniards, hence he was distinguished
as “ancient.” In this difficult art of ironworking, as in so many others, the modern or present-day
Filipinos are not so far advanced as were their ancestors. From the earliest Spanish days ships were
built in the islands, which might be considered evidence of native culture. Nowadays this industry is
reduced to small craft, scows and coasters. In Morga’s time, the Philippines exported silk to Japan
whence now comes the best quality of that merchandise. Morga’s views upon the failure of Governor
Pedro de Acuña’s ambitious expedition against the Moros unhappily still apply for the same conditions
yet exist. Ancient traditions ascribe the origin of the Malay Filipinos to the island of Sumatra. These
traditions were almost completely lost as well as the mythology and the genealogies of which the
early historians tell, thanks to the zeal of the missionaries in eradicating all national remembrances as
heathen or idolatrous. The study of ethnology is restring this somewhat. Filipinos had had minstrels
who had memorized songs telling their genealogies and of the deeds ascribed to their deities. These
were chanted on voyages in cadence with the rowing, or at festivals, or funerals, or wherever there
happened to be any considerable gatherings. It is regrettable that these chants have not been
preserved as from them it would have been possible to learn much of the Filipinos’ past and possibly
of the history of neighboring islands.”