Your challenge, with a POD no later than 1850, is to make Spanish the day-to-day language (that is, used in government, in the schools and in business, though not necessarily in the markets) of the Philippines in 100 years. A bilingual situation is acceptable. Bonus points if the majority of the urban population by 2000 can speak Spanish and only Spanish.
AHC: Make Spanish the language of the Philippines
- Thread starter Francisco Cojuanco
- Start date
It doesn't seem hard: the Philippines achieve independence in 1898 (No American occupation). Spanish becomes the official language, and all education is given in Spanish. Eventually, most of the population speaks Spanish, even if most of them have a different mother tongue.
After all, when Spanish American countries achieve independence, Spanish wasn't the main spoken language in some of them. In some places, Amerindian languages were spoken for the majority of the population. Only after public schools were created did Spanish become the most spoken language.
The Americans agressively pushed for education (in the English language) to the masses when they took possession of the Phillipines. Basically, after the soldiers were done, they sent teachers to keep the peace. This is the main reason why the Philippines is an English-speaking country today.
All that has to happen is for no one in the American government to have this foresight to educate the public at large (not just the elite). Spanish would remain the language of the elite, and thus continue as an official language.
BTW, I'm wondering how Spanish was totally displaced by English in the Philippines, but not in Puerto Rico.
The priesthood fought very hard against giving anything more than religious education to the average Filipino, to the extent of sabotaging reforms ordered by the occasional Liberal government back home. The national hero of the Philippines once said something like, "the priests in the Philippines are centuries behind Europe's". Also, a heavily Hispanised dialect called Chavacano existed in enough provinces to have formed the foundation for Spanish as an official language, but the American occupation and massive public education initiative put an end to that.
As has been posted in other threads, a simple method is to have the Virginius Incident lead to a Spainish American War in 1873. It is likely that the USA would defeat Spain and drive them out of Cuba. However, there was little American interest in the Far East at that time. If there is no Spanish -American War of 1898, Spain might be able to hold the Philippines until at least 1936 and perhaps much longer.
I see three likely possibilities. On the one hand, the S-A War, as already mentioned, does not take place. The Philippines declares independence without much fanfare and proceeds to establish ties to Latin America. This would help foster the survival and expansion of Spanish into the Filipino consciousness.
Another version of this would have Spanish colonial rule be more effective earlier. By the time Madrid payed considerable attention to the islands IOTL, the damage was already done (and ongoing), along with an increasingly bitter population swaying to nationalist sentiments. Had the colonial authorities been more competent (as weird as it sounds), GOMBURZA never occurs, Rizal would be more favorable to the Crown, and the Spanish keep control at least for a few decades longer.
On the other hand, if the Americans still take over, they adopt a Cuba-solution to the country. Spanish is maintained as an official language, though American tycoons get all the power.
Another version of this would have Spanish colonial rule be more effective earlier. By the time Madrid payed considerable attention to the islands IOTL, the damage was already done (and ongoing), along with an increasingly bitter population swaying to nationalist sentiments. Had the colonial authorities been more competent (as weird as it sounds), GOMBURZA never occurs, Rizal would be more favorable to the Crown, and the Spanish keep control at least for a few decades longer.
On the other hand, if the Americans still take over, they adopt a Cuba-solution to the country. Spanish is maintained as an official language, though American tycoons get all the power.
I think it is possible if the Spanish avoid occupying the Island of Manila or what is now called Luzon which they used in the Galleon trade or the Spanish cedes it to the British or dutch..because the people there are very hostile (especially the Cordillierans) and that island has a big population and also majority of the Island of Manila was classified on the Commandancia of Nueva Ecija which was not considered a part of the Philippines by the Spanish documents although the King does not recognize it as such..
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POD after 1850, my friend. Luzon is at this time very much a part of the colony.
Puerto Rico, IIRC, was run mostly by the civil authorities; Las Islas were effectively run by the religious orders. During the 19th Century, many of the more ultraroyalist priests were sent to the Philippines as exiles. To them education of the masses may have smacked too much of anticlerical liberalism (which wasn't completely unjustified, see Rizal). The new generation of religious, in other words, were still thinking they were in the Metropolitan.
Maybe the home country doesn't exile the ultraroyalist religious, or they go somewhere else like Cuba?
Freeing the Philippines Earlier will cause the Philippines to Balkanize unless there is foreign intervention..
If that happened (before the S-A war), chances are that either the British, French or Germans would race for it.
wouldn't it be the same case even post SA war? I mean, assuming it does not happen, and the Philippines declares independence, wouldn't any country eventually covet and claim the Philippines? Not only American, but German and Japanese interests were also eyeing the Philippines during the late 19th. I mean it was located at a strategic position in Southeast Asia.
How about this, is this more possible? How about make Spanish, English and Tagalog all official languages considering the SA war happened? I mean i know OP said make Spanish the only language, but this probably seems more realistic. Perhaps the elites are more adamant about their Spanish heritage and as a result work out a compromise with the US Government, making all three languages mandatory?
Or maybe have Quezon be more sympathetic to the old Manila and its Spanish heritage. I read somewhere that what contrasted between Osmena and Quezon was the former's image as that of belonging to the old elite while Quezon was "forward-thinking" and also spoke English as contrasted to Osmena. Or maybe just have Osmena win the battle for Commonwealth President and have him promote Spanish
Well, for me:
- If the Americans agreed to make the Philippines a protectorate, the public school system will implement bilingual/trilingual educational system: Spanish and English (in Manila) or Spanish, English and the local language (rest of the archipelago).
- If Americans agreed to regulate the radio stations (a BBC-like structure), the national station (Manila-based) will broadcast programs in Spanish, while most provincial stations will broadcast programs in their local languages.
- If the provinces of Bulacan and Nueva Ecija were populated by immigrants from the rest of Luzon (and some from Visayas) like Cavite. However, due to a decree from Manila (as well as higher percentage of Filipino mestizos), Spanish (tal y como son) will be the mother tongue of the population of these two provinces.
(number 3 is already realized in my TL, btw.
)
- If the Americans agreed to make the Philippines a protectorate, the public school system will implement bilingual/trilingual educational system: Spanish and English (in Manila) or Spanish, English and the local language (rest of the archipelago).
- If Americans agreed to regulate the radio stations (a BBC-like structure), the national station (Manila-based) will broadcast programs in Spanish, while most provincial stations will broadcast programs in their local languages.
- If the provinces of Bulacan and Nueva Ecija were populated by immigrants from the rest of Luzon (and some from Visayas) like Cavite. However, due to a decree from Manila (as well as higher percentage of Filipino mestizos), Spanish (tal y como son) will be the mother tongue of the population of these two provinces.
(number 3 is already realized in my TL, btw.
)
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Why did some native Philippine language like Tagalog not become the common language of the people and the national language of the Philippines? Even after attaining independence, I think the Philippine Government did not encourage the development of a native language as the national language.
The problem is, the general public or rather, the poor masses were deprived of decent education by the priests. Only those with money, in the case of the Ilustrados became fluent in Spanish. There are some individuals from poor families who have some knowledge of it through self-teaching, but without public education, and liberalism, Spanish would not be the staple language of the majority of the population but the elites.
A liberal Spain (still too late), plus an administration who proves to be resilient as to counter priest and reactionary elitist attacks on the reforms will at least prepare the nation for a bilingual Spanish/[insert some invented/formed Filipino language here]-speaking population in the future.
A liberal Spain (still too late), plus an administration who proves to be resilient as to counter priest and reactionary elitist attacks on the reforms will at least prepare the nation for a bilingual Spanish/[insert some invented/formed Filipino language here]-speaking population in the future.
Cuāuhtemōc
Banned
Wasn't it because there were so many different ethnicities who spoke different languages in the Philippines that Spanish was seen at the time by the Filipino revolutionaries as a good, neutral compromise to unite the nation?