History of the Philippines (1521–1898)
The history of the Philippines from 1521 to 1898, also known as the Spanish colonial period, was a period during which Spain controlled the Philippine islands as the Captaincy General of the Philippines, initially under New Spain until Mexican independence in 1821, which gave Madrid direct control over the area. It was also known as Spanish East Indies to the colonialists. It started with the arrival in 1521 of European explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailing for Spain, which heralded the period when the Philippines was a colony of the Spanish Empire, and ended with the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution in 1898, which marked the beginning of the American colonial era of Philippine history.
Mampirao
During the Spanish invasion of the Philippines, stories from old folks revealed that the Spaniards are exploring every place to study, learn and try to understand the different Filipino cultures. They would frequently asked questions about something that caught their keen interests. An anecdote was told that one of the incidences that occurred during those times was about a group of Spaniards who lost their way. The place of Mampirao today was then thickly covered by forest. As they trekked along a very small path and reached at a crossroad, the Spaniards saw a native indio and consequently asked about the name of place. The indio without knowledge of the Spanish language, hence, he did not understand what the Spaniards were asking, and instead sensing that he was asked about what he was doing, he immediately responded that he was just "nagpipirao" which means "sleeping". Accordingly, the Spaniards understood that the name of the place was "Mampirao" as they have difficulty in pronouncing the world "nagpipirao".