Member of the Filipino educated class during the Spanish colonial period
Ilustrados in Madrid, c.1890; Standing clockwise from left: Vicente Francisco, Cajigas, José Abreu, Mariano Abella,
Dominador Gómez ,
Francisco Tongio Liongson , Flaviano Cordecruz, a Tuazon from Malabon, Alejandro Yance de Lara, Lauro Dimayuga,
Marcelo H. del Pilar , Gregorio Aguilera,
José Rizal ,
José Alejandrino , Baldomero Roxas, Moises Salvador, Modesto Reyes, Gaudencio Juanengo, Pablo Rianzares Bautista; Seated from left: Dr. Santamaria, Candido Morada, Damaso Ponce, Ariston Bautista, Pedro Serrano Lactao, and
Teodoro Sandiko
The Ilustrados (Spanish:
[ilusˈtɾaðos] , "erudite",
[1] "learned"
[2] or "enlightened ones"
[3] ) constituted the
Filipino
intelligentsia (
educated class) during the
Spanish colonial period in the late 19th century.
[4]
[5] Elsewhere in
New Spain (of which the Philippines were part), the term
gente de razón carried a similar meaning.
They were late
Spanish-colonial-era
middle to
upper class Filipinos, many of whom were educated in
Spain and exposed to
Spanish liberal and European nationalist ideals. The ilustrado class was composed of
Philippine -born and/or raised intellectuals and cut across ethnolinguistic and racial lines—
mestizos ( both
de Sangleyes and
de Español ),
insulares , and
indios , among others—and sought
reform through "a more equitable arrangement of both political and economic power" under Spanish tutelage.
Stanley Karnow , in his
In Our Image: America's Empire in the Philippines , referred to the ilustrados as the "rich
Intelligentsia " because many were the children of wealthy landowners or
inqulino (
tenant )
lessee families. They were key figures in the development of
Filipino nationalism .
[3]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
History
Three prominent ilustrados in Spain: Dr. José Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar and Mariano Ponce (from left to right) . Photo was taken in Spain in 1890.
The most prominent ilustrados were
Graciano López Jaena ,
Marcelo H. del Pilar ,
Mariano Ponce ,
Antonio Luna and
José Rizal , the Philippine
national hero . Rizal's novels
Noli Me Tangere ("Touch Me Not") and
El Filibusterismo ("The Subversive") "exposed to the world the injustices imposed on Filipinos under the Spanish colonial regime".
[9]
[11]
In the beginning, Rizal and his fellow ilustrados preferred not to win
independence from
Spain , instead they wanted legal equality for both
peninsulares and natives—
indios ,
insulares , and
mestizos , among others—in the economic reforms demanded by the ilustrados were that "the Philippines be represented in the
Cortes and be considered a
province of Spain" and "the
secularization of the parishes ."
[10]
[11]
However, in 1872, nationalist sentiment grew strongest, when three Filipino
priests ,
José Burgos ,
Mariano Gomez and
friar
Jacinto Zamora , who had been charged with leading a military
mutiny at an
arsenal in
Cavite , near
Manila , were executed by the Spanish authorities. The event and "other repressive acts and activities, Rizal was executed on December 30, 1896. His execution propelled the ilustrados . This also prompted unity among the ilustrados and
Andrés Bonifacio 's radical
Katipunan .
[10] Philippine policies by the
United States reinforced the dominant position of the ilustrados within Filipino society.
Friar estates were sold to the ilustrados and most government positions were offered to them.
[10]
See also
References
Notes
^ The American Heritage Spanish Dictionary (2nd ed.)
^ RAE - ASALE.
"Diccionario de la lengua española - Edición del Tricentenario" . Diccionario de la lengua española .
^
a
b
Glossary: Philippines, Area Handbook Series, Country Studies, Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, LOC.gov (undated) , retrieved on: July 30, 2007
^ Thomas, Megan Christine (2012).
Orientalists, Propagandists, and Ilustrados: Filipino Scholarship and the End of Spanish Colonialism . U of Minnesota Press. p.
213 .
ISBN
978-0-8166-7190-8 .
^ Cullinane, Michael (1989).
Ilustrado Politics: Filipino Elite Responses to American Rule, 1898-1908 . Ateneo University Press.
ISBN
978-971-550-439-3 .
^
Grimsley, Mark. The Philippine War: 1899-1902, Ohio-State.edu, 1993, 1996
Archived October 9, 2012, at the
Wayback Machine , retrieved on: August 1, 2007
^
Karnow, Stanley .
In Our Image: America's Empire in the Philippines , Ballantine Books, Random House, Inc., March 3, 1990, 536 pages, page 15. -
ISBN
0-345-32816-7
^
The Rise of the Philippine Middle Class (Ilustrados), Mega Essays LLC, MegaEssays.com, 2007 , retrieved on: August 1, 2007
^
a
b
Philippines: The Spanish Colony, Student Encyclopedia Article, Encyclopædia Britannica Online, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., Britannica.com , retrieved on: August 1, 2007
^
a
b
c
d
History of the Philippines , Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines, Department of Foreign Affairs, PhilippineEmbassy-USA.org (undated, archived from
the original on July 13, 2007), retrieved on: August 1, 2007
^
a
b
Salvador, Fr. Emerson, Liberalism in the Philippines, The Revolution of 1898: The Main Facts, Newsletter of the District of Asia, Society of St. Pius X, District of Asia, January - March 2002 , retrieved on: August 1, 2007
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Owen, Norman G., Compadre Colonialism: Studies in the Philippines Under American Rule, A Review by Theodore Friend, The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Nov., 1972), pp. 224-226, JSTOR.org, 2007 , retrieved on: August 1, 2007
Majul, Cesar A. The Political and Constitutional Ideas of the Philippine Revolution, A Review by R. S. Milne, Pacific Affairs, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Spring, 1969), pp. 98-99, JSTOR.org, 2007 , retrieved on: August 1, 2007
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Veneracion, Jaime B., Ph. D. (Professor of History, University of the Philippines and Visiting Professor, BSU), Rizal's Madrid: The Roots of the Ilustrado Concept of Autonomy, Diyaryo Bulakenya, Bahay Saliksikan ng Bulakan (Center for Bulacan Studies), Geocities.com, April 4, 2003 , retrieved on: August 1, 2007
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