History of the Philippines (1521–1898) in the context of Cordillera Central (Luzon)

Samar (/ˈsɑːmɑːr/ SAH-mar) is the third largest island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,924,651 as of the 2024 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas and its main language and ethnicity is Waray while its main religion is Roman Catholic. Since 1965, the island is divided into three provinces: Western Samar, Northern Samar, and Eastern Samar. The capitals of these provinces are, respectively, Catarman, Catbalogan, and Borongan., all part of the Eastern Visayas region. In commemoration of the establishment of these provinces, June 19 is celebrated as an annual holiday. The island was first sighted by Ferdinand Magellan on March 16, 1521. Although he did not land, other expeditions were made. Many names, such as Samal, Ibabao, and Tandaya, were given to the island prior to the arrival of the Spaniards in 1596. During the early days of Spanish occupation, Samar was under the jurisdiction of Cebu. In the Philippine–American War, Eugenio Daza led a successful attack against the United States Army, later called the Balangiga massacre. This attack led to the Pacification of Samar and deaths of 2,000 people.

In the American colonization of the Philippines, two uprisings were created; the former was the Pulajan movement which caused massacres in the country. The Battle off Samar was held off the island. In the martial law under Ferdinand Marcos, the Sag-od massacre was caused. After the martial law, the island still has the New People's Army rebellion. Samar is the easternmost island in the Visayas archipelago. The island lies to the northeast of Leyte and lies to the southeast of the Bicol Peninsula on Luzon. To the west is the Samar Sea, and to the north and east of Samar lies the Philippine Sea. The island has the Samar Island Natural Park and has numerous biological discoveries and forests.

The governor-general of the Philippines (Tagalog: Gobernador-Heneral ng Pilipinas; Spanish: Gobernador General de Filipinas; Japanese: フィリピン総督, romanized: Firipin sōtoku) was the title of the government executive during the colonial period of the Philippines, first by the Spanish in Mexico City and later Madrid as "Captain General"– Spanish: Capitán General de Filipinas, Filipino: Kapitan Heneral ng Pilipinas) from 1565 to 1898 and the United States (1898–1946), and briefly by Great Britain (1762–1764) and Japan (1942–1945). They were also the representative of the executive of the ruling power.

On November 15, 1935, the Commonwealth of the Philippines was established as a transitional government to prepare the country for independence from American control. The governor-general was replaced by an elected Filipino president of the Philippine Commonwealth, as the chief executive of the Philippines, taking over many of the duties of the governor-general. The former American governor-general then became known as the high commissioner to the Philippines.

José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (Spanish: [xoˈse riˈsal, -ˈθal], Tagalog: [hoˈse ɾiˈsal]; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is popularly considered a national hero (pambansang bayani) of the Philippines. An ophthalmologist by profession, Rizal became a writer and a key member of the Filipino Propaganda Movement, which advocated political reforms for the colony under Spain.

He was executed by the Spanish colonial government for the crime of rebellion after the Philippine Revolution broke out; the revolution was inspired by his writings. Though he was not actively involved in its planning or conduct, he ultimately approved of its goals, which eventually resulted in Philippine independence.

The principalía or noble class was the ruling and usually educated upper class in the pueblos of Spanish Philippines, comprising the gobernadorcillo (later called the capitán municipal and had functions similar to a town mayor), tenientes de justicia (lieutenants of justice), and the cabezas de barangay (heads of the barangays) who governed the districts. Also included in this class were former gobernadorcillos or municipal captains, and municipal lieutenants in good standing during their term of office.

The distinction or status of being part of the principalía was originally a hereditary right. However, a royal decree dated December 20, 1863 (signed in the name of Queen Isabella II by the Minister of the Colonies, José de la Concha), made possible the creation of new principales under certain defined criteria, among which was proficiency in the Castilian language. Later, wider conditions that defined the principalía were stipulated in the norms provided by the Maura Law of 1893, which was in force until Spain lost the Philippines to the United States in 1898. The Maura Law also redefined the title of the head of municipal government from gobernadorcillo to capitán municipal, and extended the distinction as principales to citizens paying 50 pesos in land tax.

Rajah Humabon (also Hamabao or Hamabar in other editions of the "First Voyage Around the World"), later baptized as Don Carlos Valderrama, was one of the recorded chiefs in the historic polity of Cebu who encountered Ferdinand Magellan in the 16th century. Humabon ruled at the time of the arrival of Portuguese-born Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan in the Philippines in 1521. Humabon, his wife, and his subjects were the first known Christian converts in the Philippines. However, since there were no Catholic priests in Cebu from 1521 to 1565, this Christianity was not practised until the return of the Spaniards to Cebu. There is no official record of Humabon's existence before the Spanish contact. The existing information was written by Magellan's Italian voyage chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta on Humabon and the indigenous Philippine peoples that existed prior to Spanish colonization. Rajah Humabon is cited as the reason for why Magellan fought in the Battle of Mactan, as the latter wanted to earn the trust of Humabon by helping him subdue his opponent Lapulapu, one of the chiefs (or datu) of Mactan. Despite being referred to as "king" in the journal of Antonio Pigafetta, he was not one in the manner of a monarch in centralized societies, it is plausible that the title was mistakenly applied because according to succeeding chroniclers, there were no kingdoms in the pre-colonial Philippines.

According to the book "Visayas en la Epoca de la Conquista" ("Visayas at the Time of Conquest") published in 1889 by Isabelo de los Reyes, the name was also pronounced as Hamabao which contains the Cebuano word, mabaw, "shallow" and the prefix ha-, which is added to adjectives referring to degree, or in poetic usage, gives formal flavor to the style. This is possible as it is common in Philippine languages wherein the sounds of /d/, tapped /ɾ/, and /l/ are sometimes identical to one another, case in point danaw and lanaw ("lake") as in Maguindanao, Maranao, and Lanao. Using this trend, it is possible that the sound shifted through either the /l/ sound shifting to /w/ or through /r/ to /l/ and then eventually /w/.

Samar was a province in the Philippines which is coterminous with the island of Samar and its outlying islands. Samar is significant in the Philippine history because some historians believe that the oldest ancient kingdom of the country is in Samar. It existed from the Spanish colonization era until its division into three provinces—Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, and Western Samar (now simply called as Samar)—in 1965.