Sangley Rebellion facts for kids
The Sangley Rebellion was a big fight that happened in October 1603 in Manila, a city in the Philippines. It was between the Overseas Chinese, who were called the Sangley, and the Spanish soldiers and their allies.
At that time, many Chinese people lived in Manila. They were mostly traders and workers. There were about five Chinese people for every one Spanish person. The Spanish worried about this and didn't like how much trade the Chinese controlled.
Because of these worries, the Spanish made rules against the Chinese. In 1586, they forced the Chinese to move out of the main city to a swampy area. But the Chinese were clever and turned this swamp into a busy town!
Later, the Chinese planned a protest because things were getting worse between them and the Spanish. This protest quickly turned into a rebellion. Sadly, the rebellion ended with a terrible event where more than 20,000 Chinese people were killed by Spanish, Japanese, and Filipino forces.
Contents
Why the Rebellion Happened
Chinese People Settle in Manila
Long before the Spanish arrived, Chinese traders often visited Manila by boat. Records from explorers like Magellan (1521) and Loaysa (1527) mention the Chinese already being there.
In 1570, the Spanish took control of Manila. The Chinese had already settled near the Pasig River. At first, they were friendly with the Spanish. They even helped rescue a Chinese ship in 1571. Soon, trade between the Chinese and the Spanish grew, and Chinese goods were shipped all the way to Acapulco in Mexico. The Chinese quickly became very important in almost all the trade coming into the Americas from Manila.
Spanish Take Control
Soon, problems started between the Chinese and the Spanish. In 1574, a pirate named Lin Feng tried to attack Manila but was stopped by Spanish and Filipino soldiers.
By 1586, the Spanish were worried. The Chinese were making a lot of money from trade. Also, there were many more Chinese people (about 10,000) than Spanish people (about 2,000) in Manila. The Spanish made the Chinese move out of the city to a swampy area. This new area was called the Parian. Even though it was a swamp, the Chinese quickly built it into a busy and successful town.
By 1590, the Chinese were not just trading. They also ran many businesses like bakeries, book-binding shops, inns, and stone-cutting workshops.
In 1587, a group of priests called the Dominicans built a church to teach the Chinese about Christianity. They wrote that many Chinese people seemed interested in converting and adopting Spanish ways. By 1603, the Spanish usually chose a Christian Chinese person to be the mayor for all the Chinese people. But at the same time, the Spanish also tried to limit what Chinese businesses could do.
Around 1600, the Spanish started selling special permits for Chinese people to live in Manila. They only sold 4,000 of these permits. The Spanish also tried to control Chinese trade. They made rules about prices for Chinese goods and even stopped Chinese goods from going to Peru.
Growing Tensions and Conflict
In 1593, the Spanish governor, Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas, was killed by his Chinese boat rowers. The rowers escaped to Vietnam. Because of this, the Spanish worried about the Chinese in Manila. They forced them to move again, this time to the north side of the Pasig River.
In 1596, about 12,000 Chinese people were sent back to China from Manila. By 1603, the Spanish were very afraid of the Chinese. They also depended on them for trade. This fear, along with many Chinese people still moving to Manila, led to efforts to control them. This eventually caused the terrible massacre of over 20,000 Chinese people.
The Rebellion Begins
Strange Visitors from China
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Two Chinese adventurers told a Chinese official that there was a mountain of gold in Manila Bay. The official planned to send ships to get the gold by attacking Manila. But other officials disagreed. They didn't believe there was gold, but they still sent a small group to check.
This Chinese group arrived in Manila in March 1603. The Spanish governor treated them well. But when they tried to make rules for the Chinese community in Manila, the governor told them to stop. In May, the Chinese visitors told the governor they didn't believe in the gold mountain. They just had to follow their orders.
The governor let them go to the area where the gold was supposedly found. They took a basket of dirt and then left for China. The Spanish didn't believe the Chinese had only come to look for gold. The Archbishop of Manila thought it was a spy mission to prepare for a big Chinese invasion. The Spanish, Filipino, and even Japanese people in Manila started to threaten the Chinese residents.
The Rebellion Starts
A large group of Chinese people decided to plan a protest. The Chinese mayor, Juan Bautista de la Vera, was a wealthy Catholic. He tried to stop them, but he found out his own adopted son was a leader of the protest. They tried to get the mayor to lead them, but he refused. Instead, he told the Spanish about the plan. The Spanish arrested him after finding gunpowder in his house, and he was later executed.
The Spanish knew about the unrest among the Chinese. On the night of October 3, they closed the city gates. One Spanish family was killed outside the city. An attack on a church was stopped by Spanish soldiers. Their commander, Luis Pérez Dasmariñas, was very confident. He decided to chase the Chinese. His officers warned him not to attack, but he called them cowards. He said, "twenty-five Spaniards were enough to conquer the whole of China." They followed the Chinese into a swamp, where they were surrounded and killed.
On October 6, the Chinese rebels crossed the Pasig River. They got ready to attack the city walls with ladders and tall towers. They had some guns from the Spanish soldiers they had defeated, but not enough to fight against the cannons on the walls. Their attacks failed, and their ladders and towers were destroyed by cannon shots.
After a day or two, Spanish and Japanese soldiers started to come out of the city and attack the Chinese. Filipino soldiers also helped them. The Chinese fled and were chased through the countryside for weeks. Anyone captured was killed; no prisoners were taken. It's believed that between 15,000 and 25,000 Chinese people were killed.
What Happened Next
After the terrible killings, the Spanish realized they needed Chinese trade and goods to survive. They promised the remaining Chinese merchants that trade would go back to normal. Spanish officials sent letters to Chinese leaders explaining what had happened. The Chinese officials blamed one of the adventurers for the trouble. They also said the Spanish should not have killed so many Chinese people and that the widows and children should be sent back to China. No further action was taken by China.
Because the Chinese town had been destroyed, Chinese merchants who visited Manila in 1604 were given nice places to stay inside the walled city. Trade quickly returned to normal. Between 1606 and 1610, the value of trade was very high, averaging over 3 million pesos each year.
The Chinese continued to live under Spanish rule. They didn't have to do the same work or pay the same small fees as Filipinos. However, Chinese people had to pay a license fee of 8 pesos each year. They often faced more demands for money and unfair treatment. The Spanish also tried to control how many Chinese people lived in Manila, setting a limit of 6,000. But the Chinese population in the 1620s and 1630s was much higher, between 15,000 and 21,000.
The Chinese asked the King of Spain if they could govern themselves, but this idea was rejected in 1630. As the Chinese population grew even more, reaching 33,000 to 45,000 by 1639, they started working in other areas like farming. They worked on their own, on religious estates, or as farm workers in forced settlement projects. This large group of Chinese farmers rebelled again in 1639, and another massacre happened.
See also
In Spanish: Revuelta de los sangleyes (1603) para niños
