Wednesday, March 30, 2011

30 MARCH


1591 - During the Spanish colonial period, Governor Perez Dasmarinas issues an ordinance in the city of Manila, Philippines that forbids the native indios to wear silk and other fabrics from China supposedly because such it is detrimental to the general welfare and that of the city government; the ordinance has been prompted by agitation to either ban or restrict the importation of Chinese silk, as well as cotton, which were very popular because of its incredibly low prices, thus threatening the elimination of Peninsular silk in Spain as and of draining gold and silver from the treasury; only a few decades earlier, Western colonization of the Southeast Asian archipelago began in 1565 when the Spaniards first established settlements in Cebu.


Photo credit: http://u.jimdo.com/www30/o/sb2a2e8d5e5ca741a/img/i4261c5997c4fb243/1279246126/std/image.jpg

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