Readings in Philippine History - Unit 1

Vocabulary flashcards covering key definitions, historians, historical sources, methodological tools, and major historical events from Unit 1 of Readings in Philippine History.

The Greek word from which 'history' is derived, meaning knowledge acquired through inquiry and investigation.

Historia

Narratives such as myths, legends, and theology that tell of a society's past but are concerned with non-human entities and are not records of facts.

Quasi-History

The 'Father of History' who established history as a science and wrote 'Histories' to describe human deeds and explain the reasons behind them.

Herodotus

The 'Father of Scientific History' and author of 'History of the Peloponnesian War', who emphasized eyewitness testimonies and impartial collection of evidence.

Thucydides

A 19th-century philosophy asserting that real knowledge lies in the actual observation of facts, represented by the mantra 'No document, No History'.

Positivism

The four components involved in constructing historical accounts: The Historian/Author, Place, Period, and Sources.

Elements of History

A historical source produced simultaneously with the event, period, or subject being studied, created by a participant or direct eyewitness.

Primary Source

A historical source produced by an author who relied on primary sources rather than direct eyewitness experience to write the material.

Secondary Source

The practice of verifying a historical source's genuineness and authenticity by examining its physical characteristics, materials, author, date, and origin.

External Criticism

The examination of the content and accuracy of a historical document to evaluate what the text says and its truthfulness.

Internal Criticism

The repository of official public documents in the Philippines containing tens of millions of records, with Spanish colonial documents dating back to the 1560s.

National Archives of the Philippines (NAP)

The official national library holding rare Filipiniana materials, including original manuscripts of Rizal's Noli Me Tangere, El Filibusterismo, Mi Ultimo Adios, and the Philippine Declaration of Independence.

National Library of the Philippines (NLP)

The technical study of handwriting, including historical writing forms and execution processes.

Paleography

The legitimate process of re-examining and revising historical interpretations based on new evidence, improved methods, or new perspectives.

Historical Revisionism

The act of presenting history in a misleading or inaccurate way by exaggerating, concealing, or manipulating facts.

Historical Distortion

The refusal to acknowledge documented historical events, often by rejecting overwhelming evidence or promoting unsupported alternative narratives.

Historical Denialism

The officer recognized as the last Filipino army general to surrender to the Americans in 1903, modifying the traditional view held for Miguel Malvar (1902).

Simeon Ola

Discovered near Laguna de Bay in 1987, a 20 by 30 cm copper plate fully covered on one side with ten lines of finely written characters, serving as the oldest written document of Philippine history.

Laguna Copperplate Inscription (LCI)

The Dutch anthropologist who conducted key analysis examining the authenticity and script of the Laguna Copperplate Inscription.

Antoon Postma

The independent scholar who calculated the exact date of the Laguna Copperplate Inscription as April 21, 900 CE using ancient Indian and Indonesian calendars.

Hector Santos

A unit of gold measurement referenced in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, where 8 suwarna and 1 kati of debt belonged to Namwaran before being cleared.

Suwarna

An ancient center of trade mentioned in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, identified as the old name for Pila, Laguna.

Pailah

An agreement between Spain and Portugal signed on June 7, 1494, setting a line of demarcation 370 leagues west of Cape Verde to divide rights over non-Christian lands.

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

An Italian scholar and adventurer on board the Trinidad who recorded Magellan's circumnavigation in 'The First Voyage Around the World', a primary source on pre-colonial Philippines.

Antonio Pigafetta

A Portuguese navigator sailing under the Spanish Crown who commanded the Armada de Molucca expedition to locate a western route to the Spice Islands.

Ferdinand Magellan

The five-ship Spanish fleet (Trinidad, San Antonio, Concepcion, Santiago, Victoria) commissioned by King Charles V for Magellan's 1519 expedition.

Armada de Molucca

The Spanish navigator who assumed command of the Victoria after Magellan's death and completed the first global circumnavigation in September 1522.

Juan Sebastián Elcano

Magellan's slave and interpreter from Sumatra who facilitated communication between the Spanish expedition and Visayan island rulers.

Enrique de Malacca

Meaning 'Island of Thieves', the name given by Magellan's crew to the islands known today as the Mariana Islands.

Ladrone Islands

The Visayan island (termed Humunu) reached on March 18, 1521, where Magellan's crew found gold traces and named the site 'Watering Place of Good Signs'.

Homonhon Island

The king of Mazzava/Mazaua (Limasawa) who welcomed Magellan's fleet, entered into friendship, and attended the first Mass in the Philippines.

Raia Siagu

The king of Zuluan and Calagan (Butuan and Caragua) and brother of Raia Siagu, who possessed abundant gold and piloted Magellan's fleet to Cebu.

Raia Calambu

The Easter Sunday Catholic Mass celebrated on Limasawa island on March 31, 1521, followed by the planting of a wooden cross on the island's hill.

First Mass in the Philippines

The king of Cebu (Zubu) who performed a blood compact (Sandugo) with Magellan and was baptized into Christianity on April 14, 1521.

Rajah Humabon

The engagement fought on April 27, 1521, on Mactan island where 49 European soldiers led by Magellan were attacked by 1,500 native warriors, resulting in Magellan's death.

Battle of Mactan

The chief of Mactan who refused to submit to Rajah Humabon and the King of Spain, leading the native forces that defeated Magellan in 1521.

Silapulapu (Lapulapu)