“The first documented European contact with the Philippines was made in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan in his circumnavigation expedition,[1] during which he was killed in the Battle of Mactan. Forty-four years later, a Spanish expedition led by Miguel López de Legazpi left modern Mexico and began the Spanish conquest of the Philippines in the late 16th century. Legazpi's expedition arrived in the Philippines in 1565, a year after an earnest intent to colonize the country, which was during the reign of Philip II of Spain, whose name has remained attached to the country.”

“The Spanish colonial period ended with the defeat of Spain by the United States in the Spanish–American War and the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898, which marked the beginning of the American colonial era of Philippine history.”