Manila was founded by the Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi on the banks of the Pasig River, on the site of a Muslim-ruled settlement called Maynila whose rajah had resisted the Spanish. Legazpi made it the capital of the Spanish East Indies, and a walled city, Intramuros, was built to defend it. From the following decade Manila became the western terminus of the galleon trade, in which ships carried Chinese silk and other Asian goods across the Pacific to Acapulco in return for Mexican silver. The city passed briefly to Britain in the 1760s, then to American control in 1898. In 1945 much of it was destroyed in fierce fighting between Japanese and American forces.
Before and after
- 1 July 1569Union of Lublin
- from 27 August 1569 to 1 January 1860Grand Duchy of Tuscany
- 1570Construction of Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral
- from 1570 to 1573Ottoman–Venetian War of 1570–1573
- 24 June 1571Founding of Manila
- 29 September 1571Birth of Caravaggio
- 7 October 1571Battle of Lepanto
- 27 December 1571Birth of Johannes Kepler
- 1572Wilhelmus
More in Civilizations & archaeology
- from 15th century to 18th centuryAge of Discovery
- from c. 1583 to 1997British Empire
- from 16th century to 18th centuryBaroque
- from 1616 to 1912Qing dynasty
- 1623Founding of Barbados
- from 22 October 1721 to 1 September 1917Russian Empire
The era
This moment belongs to the Early modern world (1500 CE to 1760 CE), voyages, printing and new ideas. You can also browse everything in the 16th century.