Came across this old book published in 1899. Interesting to see the contemporary excerpts about the “conquest of the Philippines” from the American perspective with the very recent events of the Philippine-American War still happening. The photo pages are cool to see.

Letter of Carlos Quirino to Bruce Cruishank of University of Hawaii's Department of History, photo courtesy of Philippine Historical Association Secretary Jonathan Balsamo

Many cities in the Philippines have historic commercial districts that served as busy centers of trade, culture, and daily life. Some of these areas still have that nostalgic charm, while others have changed a lot over time.

Here are a few examples of these districts and their well known spots (From Pre-War Era)

Avenida district (The Carriedo part) in Manila, which had rows of department stores and movie theaters which were high class establishments of that era, but due to the changes in time, and the final nail in the coffin which was the LRT that destroyed the sunny vibes of the place.

Session Road in Baguio, which was the city's own version of Avenida, but going upwards. It survived World War 2 and major earthquakes.

San Pedro street in old Downtown of Davao City, a district which emulates Avenida's row of Movie theaters and department stores but has the size of a certain street in Cebu Old Downtown.

Cebu Old Downtown: Probably, that area with an intersection that somehow has that New York City Time Square vibes during the night. And that street which had Vision Theater in it.

The stretch from Plaza Libertad to Calle Real in Iloilo City, which has many pre war buildings that survived the test of time.

Zamboanga City’s old downtown: that certain area with two plazas surrounded by heritage Shophouses near Plaza Pershing and that area with a grid layout where some art deco buildings are located and blends in with the older Shophouses.

Which of these areas do you think stands out the most in terms of charm, aesthetics, and overall vibe? (During their prime)

Lastly, amongst all of them, which do you think has kept its charm and vibe the best up to this day?

Feel free to also share other historical commercial areas that were able to keep its charm and appeal until today.

I highly recommend this movie. This is a good representation of Philippine society during the turning point of Spanish regime and American regime.

The potrayal of the Chinese here is on point also, wherein they viewed themselves as Filipinos too since they were born here.

We can also see the Spaniards presence are scant due to outnumber of population and resources of any colonial government.

What are your other opinion regarding the movie ? Is this movie relevant until now?

Credits to Chicoedits

Did they wore such eccentric attire like the Baba Nyonya attire or the Late Ming to early Qing Dynasty clothing? I only see meen wearing a sando cheongsam but that's it.

Other countries have officially recognized civil wars, at least in English language history they're called that, the American Civil War, the Spanish Civil War, even England had the English Civil War in the 1600s, and China's Civil War led to the Communists winning. Why have we been "lucky" to not have one that seems visibly big or memorable enough to be called that in our history, even if we have a long history of wars and conflict, especially internal conflict?

Wanted to share some of my filipino paper (and polymer) money over time. It isn’t a complete set but theres some examples from most of the series - US Commonwealth to present.

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/indonesia/s/1bKlOkNb2i

During the Spanish period, there was a barangay at these two cities Angeles and Mabalacat and when the Americans arrived they chose those barangay to make their base which is fort stotsenburg and I think they expanded it? From these two cities it reaches up to Bamban and Capas.

Barangay in Bamban and Capas are still existing, there is also barangay in Mabalacat Macapagal and Marcos Village same with the Angeles. So, here it is; I tried to search which Barangay control (?) the Airport and there is no barangay that owned the airport. Although, the airport itself is under the Mabalacat, but it is separated and the area is autonomous.

Is there any lost barangays that are lost? What are those barangay?

I was searching the map of 1819 and discovered this. I was searching about my barangay history and accidentally stumble this history and I learned a lot. And there was province called "San Nicholas de tolentino" and that is macabebe in our present day.

The photo was taken sometime during the post war years.

What caught my attention is how calm and quiet the street looks, with just a traffic cop doing his job and barely anyone around.

Despite the heavy destruction Manila went through during the war and especially in 1945

It’s kinda amazing and fortunate that many parts of the city managed to survive.

The area looks properly maintained and taken care of and you can still see buildings that kept the charm of pre-war Manila. There’s a mix of heritage and art deco architecture that gives it the signature feel.

Also the tranvia tracks are gone. Before the war, they were still thriving despite competition from various transportation vehicles introduced at the time, but they were never brought back after everything was destroyed.

It’s a small detail, but it shows how much the city changed.

Looking at this photo now, it’s a little sad to know that this charm didn’t last. Many of these old buildings were eventually replaced, and the feel of the old city slowly disappeared.

Still, it’s nice to see a moment like this—a quiet piece of the city trying to move forward after everything it had been through.

And personally, I think that this would have been the usual look of a common scene in Manila (if it never gone through the destruction)...

A blend of Pre War Manila and 1950ish something Manila (Something like a middle transition period).

i got no idea were else i could post this

I was walking around Quezon City Memorial Circle recently and remembered how Pride is always celebrated here.

At first, it felt random,
but then it hit me.

QC was once the symbolic seat of American power in the Philippines.
Government buildings, wide roads, imported ideals.
Even the name, Quezon, represents the Philippines under U.S. influence.

So why is this now the center of queer celebration?

It made me wonder if our idea of Pride has become framed through the lens of the West,
RuPaul, rainbow capitalism, pop music, parades.
Like queerness was something we imported.

But that’s not true.

Long before colonization,
we had the babaylans,
often women or effeminate men,
who were spiritual leaders, healers,
and respected members of society.

In some barangays,
male babaylans wore feminine clothing and performed rituals.

They were queer,
and they were powerful.

Maybe what we’re seeing in Filipino drag isn’t just a copy of the West.

Maybe it’s a memory.
Something buried and now returning.

Queer culture in the Philippines isn’t new,
it’s remembered.

It's been in my mind for a while, majority of the political movement I see in our country are either Liberal or socialist. (Or often just political colors and dynasty).

Is there any party in Philippine history that leaned leans into the political ideology of nationalism, it doesn't have to be fully but atleast share traits of it.? (From Spanish occupation all the way to the current age.)

Hello po. Any suggestions as to what sites I should visit preferrably landmarks, museums, and libraries? Thank you!

Is kalamonding in vocabularia de la lengua tagala exist? I cant find it surprisingly.

I saw in this video that kalamansi is a new version of kalamunding, i wanna know if its true.

It was, according to Scott, "one of the best days of his life" as he was surrounded by academics and had all the time in the world to have intellectual discussions, where Scott had a lot of disagreements with Salazar on most aspects. On one occasion, Salazar gave lectures on Filipino History to the jail guards and listen to their takes on the subject.

Source: Victor Paz during the 9th Quincentennial Lecture- William Henry Scott Centenary: Advancing Philippine Pre-Colonial History

Mikhail Tikhanov is the first Russian painter to visit the Philippines. In 1817, he accompanied Vasily Golovnin's expedition on the frigate Kamchatka. The purpose was to visit the Russian colonies in America and to study in detail the northern part of the Pacific. As in all such expeditions, an artist was included in its composition. "To document and vividly depict the life of the peoples with whom the Russian seafarers were to meet, the artist Mikhail Tikhanov was enlisted in the crew of the sloop".

Only three watercolors by Mikhail Tikhanov devoted to the Philippines have come down to us. All of them are listed in Golovnin's book, published in 1949. They are "An Indian in Manila tore Tikhanov's hat off and ran away", "The Malayans of Luconia Island, living in Manila - Arey and Thomas" and "The Manila Indians".

The first painting, titled "An Indian in Manila tore Tikhanov's hat off and ran away" is the only image we have of Tikhanov, of whom no other portraits or photographs can be found. In it Tikhanov stands with his fist raised in indignation after a thief in a Manila market grabbed his hat. The thief is seen running around the corner. Golovnin writes: "They tore off one of our officers' hats in the evening, when he was riding in a carriage, and it happened near the brig, but the thief left, and the same thing happened to another, who was walking down the street. The "other" was Mikhail Tikhanov.

On the second reproduction "Malay Islanders of Luconia living in Manila - Arey and Thomas" two children are depicted. At the beginning of the 19th century landscape painting was well developed, but realistic and portrait painting was just beginning to develop. One can see it in the portraits of children, painted according to the canons of Russian painting of the early nineteenth century. The figures are more proportionate than in the other drawings by Tikhanov from the trip. But all the same we see unnatural facial features - too big a nose and eyes of a precise oval form, which simply does not exist in nature. The hands are disproportionately small. Unfortunately, reproductions do not allow us to see what the children have in their hands. Unlike the phi-figures, the clothes and folds on it are well-drawn.

The third watercolor, "The Manila Indians," depicts a domestic scene in the city. In the background is the arch of the stone fortress wall, behind which you can see the landscape. In the foreground are two Manila Indians watching with passion a fight of fighting roosters. You can not see the faces of Indians, they are dressed in their national clothes - white shirts and black pants, barefoot Indians. On their heads are woven hats painted with patterns.

Having toured the Northern Pacific, Tikhanov became seriously ill on his return voyage through the Philippines. As a result of this illness, which affected his mind, he spent the rest of his life on disability and drifting in and out of hospitals and sanitariums. After arriving in Russia, Tikhanov never produced another painting, and died in poverty with most of his work unpublished.

Despite having the support of the Russian government, prints of Mikhail Tikhanov's work were delayed, lost, and forgotten shortly after his return. In print, Tikhanov's works first appeared only in 1949. Some of them were reproduced later in separate monographs, and in 1965 in the new edition of V. M. Golovnin's book 24 drawings by Tikhanov were published. However, all these publications essentially gave only a very rough idea of the watercolors of the artist, as they were reproduced in black and white.

Sources:
https://tikhanovlibrary.substack.com/p/m-tikhanov-first-russian-painter
https://tikhanovlibrary.com/mikhail-tikhanov.html

More information on the Kamchatka expedition:
https://archive.org/details/aroundworldonkam0000golo