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.
Heads of state and government of the Philippines
The Royal Governor-General of the Philippines ruled the Spanish colony that is today the Republic of the Philippines except a two-year British occupation of Manila. This territory was also called the Captaincy-General of the Philippines and thus the governor also held the title of Captain General, a military rank conferred by the Spanish Cortes Generales. The men that held this position governed the Philippines and the rest of the Spanish East Indies from 1565 to 1821, on behalf of the Viceroyalty of New Spain.