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Slavery had been present in the Philippine islands even before the Spanish conquerors arrived. The Spanish added to the native slave policy during the colonial period. This article points out the major events that happened from the start of slavery in the country down to its end during the 19th century. == Comparison of Spanish Slavery and Native Philippine Slavery== Spaniards considered it legitimate to enslave non-Christian captives from wars and trade them legally in the past. This is because they did not consider this as an uncivilized and unchristian act because they believed that men were not created equal and the inferior men may be ruled by the superior ones. Christians, however, were anticipated to show sympathy to the people suffering and this made some masters free their slaves. A lot of them apprenticed their slaves so they could still work under their supervision once they were freed. There were two major types of legal slaves: the esclavos negros who were Africans purchased from Portuguese, and the esclavos blancos who were Moros taken from wars. They were usually sold in public auctions. People from both the middle and the upper classes bought them, as well as the clergy. On the other hand, the Philippine community in the olden times were composed of baranganic societies with small populations and low production levels. To harness the rich natural resources of the country, the datus thereafter increased the manpower and made the legal penalties not limited to fines but also included labour services. The debtors also did the same for the creditors since a lot of them did not have many properties to offer as collaterals. This lack in manpower also brought wars that not only did widen a barangay’s territories but also increased the number of captives who could work for them. These dependents were called alipin in Tagalog or oripun in Visayan. These slaves were traded legally from one owner to another. The people under a datu also paid tributes except for his personal supporters called timawa who accompanied him in wars. The difference of the Philippine slavery from the Spanish slavery was that it was arbitrary in a sense that datus may take slaves just from committing minor violations from their laws. Also, Philippine slavery was less harsh in a sense that some of them could eat together with their masters and those who did not live in their masters’ houses supported themselves. On the other hand, Spanish slaves worked solely for their masters and everything that they earned were given to them (the masters). A slave owned by a Spaniard debtor could even be rented out to his creditor and work to pay his debt and the slave could also serve a jail sentence in place of his master. Filipinos make other Filipinos their alipins. On the other hand, Spaniards generally get slaves from other races or religions. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Spanish Slavery in the Philippines」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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