Miguel López de Legazpi was a Spanish explorer who established Spain's dominion over the Philippines in the 16th century. He arrived in the Philippines in 1565 and founded the first Spanish settlement on the island of Cebu. Legazpi then served as the first governor of the Philippines from 1565 until his death in 1572. During his time as governor, he established the city of Manila as the new capital and major trading port, repulsed attacks from the Portuguese, and began converting the local population to Christianity.
Miguel López de Legazpi was a Spanish explorer who established Spain's dominion over the Philippines in the 16th century. He arrived in the Philippines in 1565 and founded the first Spanish settlement on the island of Cebu. Legazpi then served as the first governor of the Philippines from 1565 until his death in 1572. During his time as governor, he established the city of Manila as the new capital and major trading port, repulsed attacks from the Portuguese, and began converting the local population to Christianity.
Miguel López de Legazpi was a Spanish explorer who established Spain's dominion over the Philippines in the 16th century. He arrived in the Philippines in 1565 and founded the first Spanish settlement on the island of Cebu. Legazpi then served as the first governor of the Philippines from 1565 until his death in 1572. During his time as governor, he established the city of Manila as the new capital and major trading port, repulsed attacks from the Portuguese, and began converting the local population to Christianity.
Miguel López de Legazpi was a Spanish explorer who established Spain's dominion over the Philippines in the 16th century. He arrived in the Philippines in 1565 and founded the first Spanish settlement on the island of Cebu. Legazpi then served as the first governor of the Philippines from 1565 until his death in 1572. During his time as governor, he established the city of Manila as the new capital and major trading port, repulsed attacks from the Portuguese, and began converting the local population to Christianity.
Miguel López de Legazpi, (born c. 1510, Zumárraga, Spain—died
Aug. 20, 1572, Manila, Phil.), Spanish explorer who established Spain’s dominion over the Philippines that lasted until the Spanish-American War of 1898 Legazpi went to New Spain (Mexico) in 1545, serving for a time as clerk in the local government. Although Ferdinand Magellan had discovered the Philippine archipelago in 1521, no European settlements had been made there, so Luis de Velasco, the viceroy of New Spain, sent Legazpi to claim it in 1564. He left Acapulco with five ships and reached Cebu, one of the southern islands of the archipelago, in April 1565, founding the first Spanish settlement on the site of modern Cebu City.
Legazpi served as the first governor of the Philippines, from 1565 until his death. In 1570 he sent an expedition to the northern island of Luzon, arriving there himself the next year. After deposing a local Muslim ruler, in 1571 he established the city of Manila, which became the capital of the new Spanish colony and Spain’s major trading port in East Asia.
Legazpi repulsed two attacks by the Portuguese, in 1568 and 1571, and easily overcame the poorly organized Filipinos’ resistance. The Muslims in the southern islands resisted Spanish rule up to the 19th century, but Islām was weak in Luzon and the northern islands, and Legazpi and his chaplain, Andrés de Urdaneta, were able to lay the foundations for the conversion of the people to Christianity, which proved their most durable legacy.
