History of the Philippines in the context of "History of the Philippines (1565–1898)"

A sitio (Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a sitio's location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own barangay if its population were high enough. Sitios are similar to puroks, but the latter are more urban and closer to the center of the barangay, especially the barangay hall. The term is derived from the Spanish word sitio meaning "place".

During the Spanish colonial period the colonial government employed the reducción policy, allowing the remapping of various settlements. Several far-flung hamlets were identified, named, and organized into "sitios" so that municipalities and cities could more easily be governed through the barangay system, then known as the barrio system. A sitio does not have an independent administration; it is established purely for organizational purposes only.

The recorded pre-colonial history of the Philippines, sometimes also referred to as its "protohistoric period" begins with the creation of the Laguna Copperplate Inscription in 900 AD and ends with the beginning of Spanish colonization in 1565. The inscription on the Laguna Copperplate Inscription itself dates its creation to 822 Saka (900 AD). The creation of this document marks the end of the prehistory of the Philippines at 900 AD, and the formal beginning of its recorded history. During this historical time period, the Philippine archipelago was home to numerous kingdoms and sultanates and was a part of the Indosphere and Sinosphere.

Sources of precolonial history include archeological findings; records from contact with the Song dynasty, the Brunei Sultanate, Korea, Japan, and Muslim traders; the genealogical records of Muslim rulers; accounts written by Spanish chroniclers in the 16th and 17th centuries; and cultural patterns that at the time had not yet been replaced through European influence.

The archaeology of the Philippines is the study of past societies in the territory of the modern Republic of the Philippines, an island country in Southeast Asia, through material culture.

The history of the Philippines focuses on Spanish colonialism and how the Philippines became independent from both Spain and the United States. During the colonial times in the Philippines archaeology was not used as it is today, it mainly focused on ethnographic and linguistic studies. Archaeology was influenced greatly by H. Otley Beyer who taught anthropology in the Philippines in 1914. Beyer's teachings in the Philippines gained many students to follow in his footsteps into the field of archaeology.

Cape Bojeador Lighthouse, also known as Burgos Lighthouse, is a cultural heritage structure in Burgos, Ilocos Norte, that was established during the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines. The lighthouse was first lit on March 30, 1892, and is set high on Vigia de Nagpartian Hill overlooking the scenic Cape Bojeador where early galleons used to sail by. After over 100 years, it still functions and serves ships that enter the Philippine archipelago from the north and guide them safely away from the rocky coast of the town.

The light marks the northwesternmost point in Luzon. The northeasternmost being Cape Engaño Lighthouse on Palaui Island, Santa Ana, Cagayan.

The history of the Philippines from 1898 to 1946 is known as the American colonial period, and began with the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in April 1898, when the Philippines was still a colony of the Spanish East Indies, and concluded when the United States formally recognized the independence of the Republic of the Philippines on July 4, 1946.

With the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States. The interim U.S. military government of the Philippine Islands experienced a period of great political turbulence, characterized by the Philippine–American War.