Manila 1570: The Battle That Burned a Kingdom!

This "Araw ng Maynila" (Manila Day), step back into 1570 to witness the fiery siege that forever altered Manila’s fate. Explore the city’s vibrant precolonial days and the intense battle with Spanish invaders. Unravel the mysteries of a day that defined Manila’s legacy of resilience and transformation.

Related Videos & Playlists:

Video Chapters:
00:00 Intro: Unveiling Manila: The City Before the Conquistadors
01:26 The Golden Age of Manila? Precolonial Trade, Culture, and Power
05:45 Edge of Empire: Manila's Stand Against Spanish Conquistadors
09:15 When Manila Burned: The Battle of 1570 Unfolded
12:42 The Echoes of Fire: What Manila's Ashes Tell Us
13:06 Intramuros: Rebuilding Manila from the Ruins of War
15:54 Manila’s Enduring Legacy: From Ashes to Resilience
18:10 Learn more!

About Manila Day:
Manila Day, or Araw ng Maynila, commemorates the founding of the city as a Spanish colony on June 24, 1571. This annual celebration reflects on Manila's colonial past, acknowledging both the cultural transformations and the enduring impacts of foreign domination. It honors the city's rich history and the resilience of its people who have thrived despite centuries of colonial influence.

About KIRBY:
Kirby Pábalan-Táyag Aráullo is a Filipino American historian, content creator, and renowned culture bearer based in California. He is also the author of the groundbreaking book “Black Lives & Brown Freedom: Untold Histories of War, Solidarity, & Genocide,” and the Co-Founder and former Director of Operations for the Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies at the University of California, Davis.

Kirby is a direct descendant of the last indigenous Paramount Kings of Luzon (of both Lakandúlâ of Tondo and Rája Matandá of Maynílâ), of the anti-colonial revolutionary Katipuneros, and of World War II Guerilyeras who fought for the liberation of the islands we now call the Philippines.

Born in Angeles City, Philippines, Kirby spent his childhood amidst the rebuilding of his homeland in the aftermath of Mt. Pinatubo’s cataclysmic eruption. His childhood beneath the shadows of the city’s red-light district, slum neighborhoods, and Clark Air Base (a former U.S. military installation) sparked his lifelong passion in advocating for the rights and the well-being of marginalized and disenfranchised communities. As a direct descendant of revolutionaries, politicos, and activists, Kirby’s upbringing was molded by productively engaging and navigating the realms of advocacy, traditional politics, and grassroots activism.

With a keen interest in varying fields (such as history, public affairs, and filmmaking) and a strong commitment to serving the community, Kirby studied at some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, such as Harvard University, the University of California, Davis, and the Université catholique de Louvain (one of Europe’s oldest universities). He has been teaching Filipino people’s history through writing in indigenous Philippine scripts (Kulitan & Baybayin) for over a decade.

Today, Kirby is well-known for his educationally engaging YouTube channel where you can find videos about history, culture, and everything in between! He is also currently working on his next big book “Luzones & the New World: Forgotten Histories from Southeast Asia to the Americas” along with an easy-to-read book and zine series known as “Know Our Roots,” and an educational coloring book series called “Color Our Roots.”

Kirby is an educator who is well-rooted in his culture and passionate about his colorful heritage (Kapampángan, Tagálog, Indigenous Áytá, Pangasinan, and Spanish-Basque-Portuguese-Irish Mestizo); he strives to decolonize Philippine history and democratize Ethnic Studies through knowledge and creativity. Kirby is a Dátû and Lakan by blood but an Artist-Scholar-Activist at heart.

[KirbyAraullo]

Resources & Recommended Readings
📖 Aguilar, Carmencita T. 1987. The Muslims in Manila Prior to Colonial Control. Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia.
📖 Araullo, Kirby. 2021. The Fierce Women of Southeast Asia.
📖 Araullo, Kirby. 2021. Tondo, Slavery, & the Revolt of the Lakans.
📖 Araullo, Kirby. 2021. What They Never Told You About the ‘Discovery’ of the Philippines
📖 Araullo, Kirby. 2024. Who Were the Luzones? Notes & Doodles on Precolonial Luzon
📖 Bergaño, Diego. 1860. Vocabulario de La Lengua Pampanga En Romance.
📖 Blair, Emma Helen, and James Alexander Robertson. 1903. The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898. Vol. 1–55.
📖 Constantino, Renato. The Philippines: A Past Revisited.
📖 Furlong, Matthew J. 2014. Peasants, Servants, and Sojourners: Itinerant Asians in Colonial New Spain, 1571-1720. University of Arizona.
📖 Gallop, Annabel Teh. 2019. Silsilah Raja-Raja Brunei: The Manuscript of Pengiran Kesuma.
📖 Hasyim, Muhammad. Archipel: Études Interdisciplinaires Sur Le Monde Insulindien, no. 97 (June): 173–212.
📖 Henson, Mariano A. 1955. The Province of Pampanga and Its Towns (A.D. 1300-1955) with the Genealogy of the Rulers of Central Luzon.
📖 Jocano, F. Landa. 1998. Filipino Prehistory: Rediscovering Precolonial Heritage.
📖 Jumsai, Brig. Gen. M.L. Manich. 1987. History of Thailand & Cambodia from the Angkor to the Present. Chalermnit Press.
📖 Junker, Laura Lee. 2000. Raiding, Trading, and Feasting: The Political Economy of Philippine Chiefdoms. Quezon City: Ateneo De Manila University Press.
📖 Laarhoven, Ruurdje. 1989. Triumph of Moro Diplomacy: The Maguindanao Sultanate in the 17th Century. Quezon City, Philippines: New Day Publishers.
📖 Loarca, Miguel, Juan Plasencia, Pedro Chirino, Francisco Colin, and Antonio Pigafetta. 1975. The Philippines at the Spanish Contact.
📖 Majul, Cesar Adib. 1965. Political and Historical Notes of the Old Sulu Sultanate. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 38 (1): 23–42.
📖 Munoz, Paul Michel. 2016. Early Kingdoms: Indonesian Archipelago & the Malay Peninsula. Singapore: Editions Didier Millet.
📖 Parker, Luther. 1931. The Gats and the Lakans. Philippine Magazine, January.
📖 Parker, Luther. 1931. The Lakandolas. Philippine Magazine, February.
📖 Parker, Luther. 1931. The Last of the Lakans. Philippine Magazine, March.
📖 Pigafetta, Antonio, and T J Cachey. 2007. The First Voyage around the World, 1519-1522: An Account of Magellan’s Expedition. Toronto: University Of Toronto Press.
📖 Postma, Antoon. 1992. The Laguna Copper-Plate Inscription: A Valuable Philippine Document. Philippine Studies 40 (2): 183–203.
📖 Reid, Anthony. 1995. Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680. New Haven: Yale University Press.
📖 Saleeby, Najeeb. 1908. The History of Sulu.
📖 San Agustin, Gaspar de, and Manuel Merino. 1975. Conquistas de Las Islas Filipinas (1565-1615). Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas.
📖 Santiago, Luciano P. R. 1990. The Houses of Lakandula, Matanda, and Soliman (1571-1898): Genealogy and Group Identity. Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society 18 (1): 39–73.
📖 Scott, William Henry. 1982. Cracks in the Parchment Curtain and Other Essays in Philippine History. Quezon City, Philippines: New Day Publishers.
📖 Scott, William Henry. 1992. Looking for the Prehispanic Filipino. Quezon City, Philippines: New Day Publishers.
📖 Scott, William Henry. 1997. Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society. Quezon City, Manila, Philippines: Ateneo De Manila University Press.
📖 Souza, George Bryan, and Jeffrey Scott Turley. 2016. The Boxer Codex: Transcription and Translation of an Illustrated Late Sixteenth-Century Spanish Manuscript Concerning the Geography, Ethnography and History of the Pacific, South-East Asia and East Asia. Leiden: Brill.
📖 Wadi, Jukipli. 2008. Rajah Sulayman, Spain and the Transformation of the Islamic Manila. In More Hispanic than We Admit 1: Insights into Philippine Cultural History. Quezon City, Philippines: Vibal Foundation.

[azizizul]

From Brunei, lots of Bruneians (and borneans) also wondered what happened to Maynila in 1570s. We just learnt a bit that it fell right before Spaniards tried to conquer and colonise Brunei in 1578. The fall of Maynila really affects demographics and geopolitics in the Southeast Asia region (especially in Malay world). Thank you for the video, insight and knowledge.

[BatAskal]

As a result of the conquest of Manila, it also emerged as the first global city as it connected Asia, Europe and Americas by trade through Manila Acapulco Galleon trade. It was the only city in Asia able to trade across the Pacific and Atlantic.

[LizaDejos-xu]

Sana nabuhay ako nung pre colonial era para nasulat ko Yung boung history ng pilipinas bago mga kastila😢

[AmazingPhilippines]

I enjoy your discussions of Philippine History.

[maattthhhh]

Man, imagine if we're able to pull off a Shogun or even Vikings level of production value to be able to tell these historical events.

[odd-ysseusdoesstuff]

I often comw back to find sources! This has been very welcome ^^

[jbsarmiento]

Thank you so much, as an aspiring history professor/historian, I love your contents they're factual, animated and engaging. More power po 😉

[CARL_]

thanks you very much kirby
The Battle of Manila (1570) was fought in Manila between the native Filipinos led by Raja Soliman (III) and the Spaniards led by Martin de Goiti, Maestro de Campo on May 24, 1570. The forces under Goiti were victorious and as a result Manila became a capital of the Philippines.

[biggieching]

Sana ma cover din ang kasaysayan ng Ilocos bago dumating mga Kastilla. Halos hindi na babanggit ang kasaysayan ng kaharian ng Ilocos kung meron man. At kung ano ang Vigan bago naging Intramuros ng norte.

[dhpfuxu]

Very informative! I have to Subscribed! I hope you’ll do the Burning of Macabebe next.

[piopaolovalenzuela]

I hope i can see a Filipino version of Game of Thrones centered on Manila’s fate before and after the Spanish Arrived

[mickscapeX]

You deserve to have a chair in historical teaching or at least involve in restructuring the Philippine History subjects from primary to tertiary level.

[dayangmarikit]

This is very good, but I also have some correction...

1. I don't think that Lankandula was a "king"... The title "Lakan" seems to roughly translate to "Landlord" its cognate in Javanese is "Raka" but it also appears in a Sanskritized form as "Rakarayan" and in Malay it appears as "Karayan". Lankandula owned properties on both Luzon and Brunei, his relative (brother or cousin) was the Rajah of Manila, while his nephew was the crown prince/heir apparent to the throne and his grandfather was the Rajah of Brunei (I know that people nowadays call him "Sultan" but historically the ruler of Brunei was still referred to as "Rajah" during those times)... With all of these said, Lakandula was probably more like a Duke rather than a King.

2. The term "sultan" was rarely used back then. Even the "sultans" used the title "Rajah" at the time of the arrival of the Europeans.

Pigafetta on Moluccas:

"*...et chiamaſſe raia ſultan Manzor" "...and he was called Rajah Sultan Mansur."*

On Brunei's king:

*"...Queſto re e moro et ſe chiama raia Siripada..." "That king is a Moro and his name is Raia Siripada."*

\*He likely used the term "sultan" as a proper name rather than the actual title ie "rajah".

They also STILL used the term "Rajah" (which was pronounced by the SEAsians/Filipinos more like "raya", "laya, or "ladya" per later Sp. dictionaries NOT "ra-ha" or "ra-zha" as we use today in Sp. and English) even on those that continued to use the native term "datu".

Eg. Pigafetta on chiefs in Sangir (Sangihe/N. Moluccas): "*Queſta yſola tenne quato re raia matandatu raia lalagha Raia bapti et raia parabu ſonno gentili ſta in tre gradi et mezo a lartico et 27. legue longi de ſaranghany. et edetta ſanghir.*"

English: "*That island has four kings, \[namely\], * ***Raia Matandatu***, *Raia Lalagha, Raía Bapti, and Raia Parabu. The people are heathens. The island lies at a latitude of three and one-half degrees toward the Arctic Pole and is 27 leguas from Saranghany ('Sarangani, PH'). Its name is Sanghir*."

In a later PH example that was similar: "Rajah Matanda" (per accounts by the Legazpi expeditions). I spoke about the concept of "old" vs. "young" kings, which is a type of system continued from the pre-Islamic period and carried on by the later Muslim states which considered themselves "sultanates" (note at the bottom of the post).

\**If tldr: pre-colonial chiefs, essentially groomed their successors (who usually were their nephews or their sons). The "old king" essentially reaches a certain age and he "semi-retire" leaving his successor to do most of the tasks of the state eg. like a vizier or prime minister + top military general, until he (the older) dies or fully abdicates at which time the "prime minister" ie "young king" becomes the senior; thus he and his successor will continue a similar cycle.*

*An example of this in the PH is the relationship of Ache (ie "Raxa Matanda" ie "old Rajah") and his nephew, Sulayman ("Young Rajah"), the last kings of Manila, who were ousted from power by the Spanish. This type of system was continued on by Muslim chiefdoms ie "sultanates" like in Maguindanao, evidenced by their history and accounts of the British (read post). This type of system probably pre-dated Islamic and Hindu influence.*

"Sultan" was an emerging term and had not fully displaced the term "rajah" because this time period (15th and 16th, even the 17th c.) was a transition period between Islamization of once heavily Hindic region. The earliest "sultanates" in the region that were prominent enough only emerged in the 1400s (Malay Peninsula ie Malacca sultanate), while those in Java and Sumatra only emerged after the 1520s and later (Banten and Mataram). Some of these existing "sultanates" that emerged.

[jowelmoisesubana]

Sir Kirby, are there any maps that outline the old pre-colonial Manila based on actual anthropological excavations and studies? How I wish we, especially the youth, could visualize our past civilization.

[RobbinCotran]

They don't teach history like this in schools na. Thank you. Earned a sub

[KenX-lt]

i hope we can learn about Federal State of the Visayas, and what its history.

[LeslieCabuling]

I met a Moroccan man, he told me, regarding the name of “Capital City of the Philippines, was derived from popular Arabic Phrases said “Fi aMANILLA, ” — meaning “I leave you in the care of ALLAH or be with the safety of ALLAH. And informed me & he searched this historical narrative from Morocco Library as well as in British Library, & he’s historian & traveller person. ⭐️⭐️⭐️☀️🇵🇭📚✍️✍️✍️💯✅👀

[SamG-ur]

Of course, the victorious can rewrite history to their advantage. That is why put always a grain of salt to any history taught in schools.

[jcpmaling]

which was the capital of the Kingdom of luzon, Tondo or Manila?