What was the sociocultural aspects during the Spanish colonization of the Philippines?
I’m pretty sure that a lot of the native chiefs were able to keep their power by converting to Catholicism, swearing allegiance to the King of Spain, and taking Hispanic surnames. If I’m right, this would be in contrast to what happened in Mexico and Peru where the native aristocracies were almost exterminated. The conquistadors referred to the Filipinos as “Indios”, the same word they used for the natives of the Americas so clearly the Spanish perceived the two races as similar. There were however important differences. The Phillippines was in intermittant contact with the mainland of Eurasia. As a result, Filipinos, unlike the doomed Amerindians, had immunity to the most common Eurasian diseases. Also unlike Amerindians, the Filipinos had metal technology included steel bladed weapons. These two factors put together gave the Filipinos a vastly greater ability to defend themselves than the warriors of the Aztecs, the Mayas, or the Incas. And in turn, the robust defensive capabilities
