Philippine E-Journals

Spanish Program of Urbanization and the Revolution of Bikol Towns: 1570-1800

Danilo M. Gerona

Discipline: History, Philippine History

 

Abstract:

The Spaniards who came in the early phase of the conquest were greeted by a myriad of indigenous settlements scattered throughout the vast expanse of the Bikol region. Existing independently from each other, each settlement maintained a definite form ofsocio-political organization which was strongly based on kinship ties. The Spaniards referred to them as "rancherias”, roughly equivalent to the English word hamlet, and widely known in the Philippines as barangay.

                                                                                                                                              

The paper discusses the evoultion of such Bikol towns and their Urbanization during the Spanish period.