The history of the Philippines from 1521 to 1898, also known as the Spanish colonial

period from 1565, was the period following the arrival of Magellan in the Philipinnes and during
which Spain financed expeditions to the Philippine islands and then ruled them as the Captaincy
General of the Philippines within the Spanish East Indies, initially under New Spain until Mexican
independence in 1821, which gave Madrid direct control over the area. 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.