The Philippines Capital General ( Spanish Capitanía General de las Filipinas ) is an administrative unit of the Spanish Empire , which existed in 1574-1898.
| Captaincy General of the Philippines | |
|---|---|
| A country | |
| Adm Centre | |
| History and geography | |
| Date of education | |
| Date of abolition | |
In the 16th century, Spanish navigators discovered many islands in the Pacific Ocean , declaring them possessions of the Spanish crown. To manage the inhabited and conquered territories, the captaincy general was formed, administratively part of the viceroyalty of New Spain . Until 1591, the residence of the captain-general was San Miguel , from 1591, Manila became the capital of the captaincy-general.
In the subordination of the captain-general were not only the Philippine Islands , but the entire Spanish East Indies . During the reforms of the Bourbons by royal decree of July 17, 1784, intendance was formed in Manila, under whose authority economic and financial issues were transferred, and in subsequent years additional intendance was established on a number of Philippine islands, but in 1787 they were eliminated and functions returned to the competence of the general captaincy.
Until 1822, civilian officials were appointed captain generals of the Philippines. Since 1822, when, as a result of the revolutions in Latin America, Spain lost almost all of its American colonies and the viceroyalty of New Spain was eliminated, the captaincy began to submit directly to Madrid , and the captains-general were appointed mainly by the military.
The existence of captaincy-general ceased in 1898, when the First Philippine Republic was proclaimed the Filipino rebels. As a result of the Spanish-American War of 1898, most of the Pacific Islands belonging to Spain came under US control, and the rest were sold to Germany in 1899 .