Sangley Rebellion
The Sangley Rebellion was a series of armed confrontations between Overseas Chinese, known as the Sangley, and the Spanish and their allied forces in Manila, Captaincy General of the Philippines, in October 1603. The Chinese had dominated trading and outnumbered Spanish residents in Manila by a five-to-one ratio. The Spanish feared and resented them. Policies of persecution were enacted against the Chinese and they were expelled from the city to an undesirable swamp area in 1586, which the Chinese turned into a thriving town. The Chinese planned a strike due to worsening relations, but it resulted in the execution of their mayor, and became a rebellion. It ended in the massacre of more than 20,000 Chinese in Manila by Spanish, Japanese, and Filipino forces. Background Chinese settlement Chinese merchants had been making trading voyages to Manila well before the Spanish arrival. The Chinese were noted in the first Spanish records of the area made by Magellan in 1521 and Loaysa in 1527. In 1570, the Spanish conquered Manila. The locals had started developing a monarchical institution only recently under Muslim influence; they did not raise sustained opposition to Spanish occupation after their king's town was destroyed. The Chinese had been