Expat Community > Philippines

LovePhilly
Joined 2019
Posts: 573

Philippines History

4 years ago

I am an amateur history buff so this might not interest everyone however, I want to share a few things I learned about the Philippines since I've married a Filipina.

First, U.S. military personnel mostly know about "San Juan Hill" and Teddy Roosevelt. What I didn't realize previously is that as they colonized around the world, the Spanish named cities everywhere "San Juan". There is a San Juan in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Philippines, etc. One of my favorite places in the Philippines is San Juan in La Union.

Secondly, my wife's former surname is Martinez. It's the same surname of my half Mexican niece. So this is literally what happened....

The Spanish conquered these 8,000 islands with "Tribes" living there.. Think of American Indians with each tribe having its own language and it's own culture. None of them used "last names". The Spanish couldn't keep track of who was who so they very literally opened a book with Spanish last names and had each family pick a name for themselves.

This is why they all have the same names as the Mexican's do.

I love history.

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Philippines History

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