Old Manila (Images Of Asia)

By Ramon M. Zaragoza

Book Overview

In 1571, half a century after the discovery of the Philippines by Ferdinand Magellan, Manila was founded by the Spanish on the site of the Malay settlement of Maynila. Situated in a magnificent bay and at a strategic point between the Pasig River and the sea, Manila quickly became important as the oriental entrepot of the Galleon Trade and the Spanish dominions in the Americas. The Spaniards fortified Manila with walls, moats and fortifications, and transformed the inner city, Intramuros into an exciting, unique and harmonious blend of the Orient, Europe and the Americas. Intramuros was the hub of Spain's colonial enterprise and the mother country ensured its survival through typhoons, fires, earthquakes, invasions, and epidemics. When the United States acquired the Philippines from Spain in the late 19th century, the areas outside the walls assumed a new importance reflective of the dynamic, forward-looking thrust of the new regime, but Intramuros remained a compact, genteel, and elegant enclave. However, with the Japanese occupation of Manila during World War II, Manila was devastated and Intramuros was completely destroyed. The author takes the reader on a tour of Manila-past and present-ending with today's brace attempts to restore Intramuros to its past glories. His imaginative account, spanning four centuries of Manila's history, is charmingly illustrated in colour and black and white, with reproductions of old maps and prints, and a selection of early photographs.

• Format: Unknown Binding
• ISBN: 0195889789
• ISBN13: 9780195889789
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Oxford
• Length: 77 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.