Philippines history timeline
This chart puts 12 polities and periods of the Philippines on one timeline in order, from Barangay chiefdoms and Tondo (all from c. 900 CE) to Philippines (1946 CE to the present).
See it on the interactive chart
- Barangay chiefdomsc. 900 to 1565 CE
- Tondoc. 900 to 1589 CE
- Butuanc. 1001 to 1597 CE
- Rajahnate of Cebuc. 1450 to 1565 CE
- Sultanate of Suluc. 1457 to 1915 CE
- Maynilac. 1500 to 1571 CE
- Sultanate of Maguindanaoc. 1515 to 1899 CE
- Spanish Philippines1565 to 1898 CE
- American Philippines1898 to 1946 CE
- First Philippine Republic1899 to 1901 CE
- Japanese occupation of the Philippines1942 to 1945 CE
- Philippines1946 CE to the present
- Austronesian
- Latin and Romance
- Germanic
- Japonic
- People or culture without a state
In order
Barangay chiefdoms
Most Philippine communities were independent villages of 30 to 100 households led by a datu, while larger coastal polities traded with China, Japan, India and the Arab world. Some scholars question whether 'barangay' was a precolonial term.
Tondo
A trading polity on the Pasig delta in Manila Bay, apparently named in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription of 900 CE, the oldest known Philippine document. Its last lords joined the failed Tondo conspiracy against Spain in 1587 to 1588.
Butuan
A Bisaya trading polity of northeastern Mindanao known for gold. It first appears in Chinese records with a tribute mission to the Song court in 1001, and Rajah Siagu met Magellan's expedition in 1521. A church inaugurated in 1597 marked its subjection to Spanish rule.
Rajahnate of Cebu
A Visayan port polity whose ruler Rajah Humabon received Magellan and was baptised in 1521. Lapulapu of Mactan killed Magellan that year, and Legazpi's expedition took Cebu in 1565.
Sultanate of Sulu
A Muslim sultanate in the Sulu archipelago that grew powerful on raiding for the slave trade and held part of north Borneo. It fought Spain intermittently from 1565 to 1898, and the Carpenter Agreement with the United States ended its sovereignty in 1915.
Maynila
A fortified Tagalog polity on the south bank of the Pasig, which Portuguese and Spanish accounts equated with the Kingdom of Luzon. Oral traditions claim a founding in the 1250s, but archaeology points to around the 1500s. Legazpi declared it the Spanish city of Manila in 1571.
Sultanate of Maguindanao
Founded by Sharif Kabungsuwan, a Muslim preacher from Johor, in the Cotabato Valley of Mindanao. Under Sultan Kudarat (1619 to 1671) it resisted Spanish colonisation and made a peace treaty with Spain in 1645.
Spanish Philippines
Legazpi's settlement at Cebu in 1565 began 333 years of Spanish rule, with Manila the capital from 1571. The Manila galleons linked the islands with Mexico from 1565 to 1815, carrying Chinese silk and other Asian goods for American silver.
American Philippines
Spain ceded the islands to the United States for $20 million in 1898, and the US defeated the Filipino republic in a war in which an estimated 250,000 to a million civilians died. The Commonwealth of 1935 prepared for independence, granted in 1946.
First Philippine Republic
Emilio Aguinaldo's revolutionary government declared independence in 1898 and set up the Malolos Republic in 1899. It fell in the Philippine-American War, and Aguinaldo was captured in 1901.
Japanese occupation of the Philippines
Japan invaded in December 1941 and, after the fall of Bataan and Corregidor, ran a puppet republic under Jose P. Laurel. The battle for Manila in 1945 destroyed much of the city.
Philippines
Independent on 4 July 1946, the Philippines lived under Ferdinand Marcos's martial law from 1972 to 1981, and he ruled until the People Power Revolution of 1986. Muslim and communist insurgencies have run for decades in Mindanao and the countryside.
Major events
- Magellan killed at Mactan. Ferdinand Magellan's expedition reaches the Philippines, converts the ruler of Cebu and loses Magellan in battle with Lapulapu on Mactan.
- Manila galleon route opens. Andrés de Urdaneta finds the return route across the Pacific, opening the galleon trade that carried American silver to Asia for 250 years.
- Philippine Revolution. The Katipunan, a secret society, rises against Spain after it is discovered in August. In December the Spanish execute Jose Rizal, the writer whose works had inspired the revolution.
Questions
What is the order of polities and periods of the Philippines?
By start date: Barangay chiefdoms, Tondo, Butuan, Rajahnate of Cebu, Sultanate of Sulu, Maynila, Sultanate of Maguindanao, Spanish Philippines, American Philippines, First Philippine Republic, Japanese occupation of the Philippines and Philippines.
How many polities and periods of the Philippines were there?
This timeline shows 12. Other lists count differently, depending on how they treat rival states and periods of division.
Which came first?
Barangay chiefdoms and Tondo all start around the same date on this timeline, c. 900 CE.
Where do these dates come from?
Each row's dates were checked against the sources listed on that row's own page, mostly English Wikipedia articles, which cite the underlying scholarship. Dates that are uncertain are marked c.