Captaincy General of the Philippines

Captaincy General of the Philippines
  • Capitanía General de Filipinas (Spanish)
  • Kapitaniya Heneral ng Pilipinas (Tagalog)
1565–1898
Motto: Plus Ultra
"Further Beyond"
Anthem: Marcha Real (1770–1899)
"Royal March"
Lesser coat of arms:
Location of Philippines
StatusCaptaincy General of the Spanish Empire
Capital
Official languagesSpanish
Common languagesPhilippine languages
Micronesian languages
Hokkien
Other immigrant languages
Religion
Catholicism (state religion), Islam, Philippine traditional religion
GovernmentMonarchy
King 
• 1565–1598 (first)
Philip II
• 1886–1898 (last)
Alfonso XIII
Governor-General 
• 1565–1572 (first)
Miguel López de Legazpi
• 1898 (last)
Diego de los Ríos
LegislatureCortes Generales
History 
27 April 1565
15 March 1646
24 September 1762
20 January 1872
23 August 1896
12 June 1898
13 August 1898
10 December 1898
CurrencySpanish dollar, Spanish peseta
Time zone16 to 12 hours behind GMT
(27 April 1565–30 December 1844)
8 to 12 hours ahead of GMT
(1 January 1845 onwards)
ISO 3166 codePH
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Precolonial barangays
Military Government of the Philippine Islands
Naval Government of Guam
Dictatorial Government of the Philippines
Today part of

The Captaincy General of the Philippines[a] was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire in Southeast Asia governed by a governor-general as a dependency of the Viceroyalty of New Spain based in Mexico City until Mexican independence when it was transferred directly to Madrid.

The Captaincy General formed part the Spanish East Indies, which included among others the Philippine Islands, the Mariana Islands, and the Caroline Islands. It was founded in 1565 with the first permanent Spanish forts.

For centuries, all the administrative, political and economic aspects of the Captaincy General were administered in Mexico City by the Viceroyalty of New Spain for the Spanish Crown. However, in 1821, following the independence of the Mexican Empire, all control was transferred to Madrid. It was succeeded by the short-lived First Philippine Republic following its independence through the Philippine Revolution.
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