The Opening of

The Suez Canal

Suez Canal
▪ is a sea-level waterway running north-south
across the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt to
connect the Mediterranean and the Red seas.
The canal separates the African
continent from Asia, and it provides the
shortest maritime route between Europe and
the lands lying around the Indian and
western Pacific oceans. It is one of the world’s
most heavily used shipping lanes.
Opening of Suez Canal
▪ The change that took place in the 19th Century
▪ Opened in 1869
▪ Resulted in the shorter route and travel time between
Spain and Philippines
▪ Many Spaniard with progressive ideas migrated in the
Philippines, among them are the exiled creoles from
Mexico.
▪ Later on, they influenced some educated Filipinos and
soon both were asking the government to introduce
changes in the administration of the colony.
Opening of Suez Canal

▪ Another effect of the shorter distance between

Spain and Philippines was the influx of
progressive books and periodicals to the country.
▪ Books on American independence and the French
Revolution circulated in the country.
▪ Sending these materials from Spain to Philippines
became easy and inexpensive.
Opening of Suez Canal

▪ Printed literature and magazines, plus the

introduction of modern technology such as the
mail (1854), the telegraph (1873), the telephone,
and the Manila-Dagupan Railway (1890).
▪ Likewise, shorter travel time and distance
between the Mother Country and the colony
encouraged many educated Filipinos to go to
Europe to continue their studies and to prove that
they were the equal of the Spaniards.
Liberalism in the
Philippines
▪ In 1869, a revolution took place in Spain. The
revolutionist were against the autocratic reign of
Queen Isabel II. When the revolutionists won, Queen
Isabell was forced to flee to France. As a result of this,
the Republic of Spain was born.
▪ It lasted from 1868 to 1870
▪ The triumph of the Spanish revolutionists who fought
for popular suffrage, and freedom of speech, the
press, and of religion, brought to the country some
liberal and progressive Spaniards.
 He showed his democratic ways by living
simply and avoiding luxury, by dismissing
the halberdiers of his palace and by
walking the streets of manila in civilian
clothes.

De La Torre’s Administration of the

Philippines was significant because of the
following reasons: 1. He abolished the
censorship of the press, 2. He abolished
flogging as a punishment and 3. he solved
the agrarian unrest in Cavite.

Governor – General
Carlos Maria De La Torre
The Return of
Autocracy
The administration of governor de la Torre was brief. The
Republic of Spain ended in 1870 when monarchy was restored
and a new king assumed the Spanish throne.

Rafael de Izquierdo, who was appointed governor-general in

1871 to replace de la Torre.

Immediately he reversed the reforms od de la Torre. He

disapproved the establishment of a school of arts and trades in
Manila because he was afraid that it might be used as a political
club.

Those who have known to have favored the administration of

de la Torre were considered suspects and were spied upon.
The Campaign for
Secularization
▪SECULARIZATION
▪FILIPINIZATION
Father Pedro Pablo Pelaez
Father Jose A. Burgos (1837-1872)
THE CAVITE
MUTINY
THE EXECUTION
OF GOMBURZA
▪ “The Church by refusing to degrade you, has
placed in doubt the crime that has been
imputed to you; the Government, by
surrounding your trials with mystery and
shadows, causes the belief that thee was
some error committed in fatal moments; and
the Philippines, by worshipping your memory
in no way recognizes your culpability”