3 MARCH

Monument to earlier Basi Revolt

1815 - The Kailianes ("townmates") of the Philippine northern town of Sarrat in Ilocos Norte begin a rebellion against the rule of the Spanish colonizers; soon spreading to other towns such as Batac, Piddig, Paoay, Vintar, and San Nicolas, the uprising under the leadership of Simon Tomas, Mariano Espiritu, Vicente Santiago, and Andres Bugarin will be one of the many unsuccessful revolts in the archipelago prior to the Philippine Revolution of 1896; Spain had colonized the Southeast Asian archipelago some 250 years earlier and onerous tributary arrangements and other conditions conditions of the natives have occasionally fueled (failed) revolts, including the Basi Revolt staged by the people of Ilocos Norte some eight years earlier in the bid to protest the colonial authorities' imposition of wine monopoly; in 1521, the ill-fated expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan "discovered" the islands for the Spanish monarch and some four decades and several fruitless expeditions later,  King Philip II ordered Mexican Viceroy Velasco to prepare for an expedition to conquer the archipelago after being convinced that it fell under the Spanish zone in accordance with the 1493 demarcation line set by the Treaty of Tordesillas.


 Photo credit:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigberto/1002655675/in/photostream/