The Colonial Department

To combat an outbreak of bubonic plague in turn-of-the-century Manila, the American authorities assembled a crack force of ratcatchers and waged a war against rodents.

Over the course of the Galleon Trade, the Spanish bought silk from China for millions of silver pieces. But what if, some canny entrepreneurs thought, the Philippines made its own silk industry?

For centuries, the forbidding stone walls of Intramuros protected the forces occupying the archipelago. How were they built? How were they tested? And how did they eventually fall? 

In 1872, the year of the execution of Gomburza, a king visits the Philippines… and falls head over heels in love with a lady from Bulacan.

From missionary reports to primetime sitcoms, the occupiers of the Philippines have obsessed about Filipinos, monkeys, and that strange question of whether the inhabitants of the archipelago possessed tails.

When we think of the Galleon Trade, we usually think of rich cargoes of silver, or spices, or silk. But it also carried human beings, in chains, from Manila, to be sold in Mexico. This was the Transpacific slave trade.  Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com The book version of this podcast is called Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves:...

As The Colonial Dept moves onto a new season, we look back at our first thirteen episodes... and give a sneak peek of the stories that are coming next. The archives of the occupied Philippines are rich with untold stories, and we're here to bring them to light.

Magellan may have been the first European to sail to the Philippines, but it would be an aged friar, charts in hand, eye to the east, who would steer the Philippines into the colonial age.

In the aftermath of the British conquest of Manila, the East India Company had to answer an important question: How will they wring every penny they could out of their new prize?

To win the battle of hearts and minds in their newly conquered colony, both the Americans and Japanese use a terrifying new weapon: cinema.

From the coves of Spanish California, to the jade courts of the Qing Dynasty—and in the middle, the great port city of Manila. This is the story of the Philippine otter fur trade.

Even as a new war swept the fledgling republic, one final, furious ember of the Spanish Empire still burned in Baler. And try as Spain, the US, and the Philippines might, this stronghold would not surrender. Part 2/2

As the empire crumbled around them, a detachment of Spanish troops transforms the church of Baler into a fortress... one that would outlast the Spanish surrender. This is the story of the Siege of Baler. Part 1/2

From May to December 1754, all of Taal was ash, and tremor, and hell, as the deadly volcano's eruption changed the face of Southern Luzon forever. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com The book version of this podcast, entitled Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves: Lost Tales from the Philippine Colonial Period, 1565-1946, is now availa...

Born in 1931, Frank Ephraim grew up under the shadow of Nazi tyranny. But after the horrors of Kristallnacht, his family decided to flee to the Philippines—a country that was opening its borders when many others were closing theirs. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com The book version of this podcast, entitled Silk, Silver, Sp...

Anxious? Depressed? Fatigued? Slowly losing your mind? In their new colony, American colonial officers began succumbing to a strange mental disorder that they could not explain. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com The book version of this podcast is called Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves: Lost Tales from the Philippine Colonial P...

The Japanese called it Z Sakusen: Operation Z, a last-ditch plan to turn the tide of the war. And then, in 1944, on the Cebu coast, a copy of the plans was lost. Follow us on IG: ⁠⁠⁠@thecolonialdept⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠@thecolonialdept⁠⁠⁠ Email us: ⁠⁠⁠thecolonialdept@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠ The book version of this podcast is called Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves: Lost Tales from the Philippine Colonial...

The Americans bring professional sports to the archipelago, and in 1914—during Philippine baseball's golden age—a match is fought between an all-Filipino team and an all-Black team.  Follow us on IG: ⁠⁠@thecolonialdept⁠⁠ Follow us on TikTok: ⁠⁠@thecolonialdept⁠⁠ Email us: ⁠⁠thecolonialdept@gmail.com The book version of this podcast is called Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves: Lost Tales from the Philip...

During the Taiping Rebellion in the 1860s, Filipino mercenaries form an elite corps of troops to protect the ancient port city of Shanghai. Their leader? The fearless Vicente Macanaya, whom his own men call "bulletproof." Follow us on IG: ⁠@thecolonialdept⁠ Follow us on TikTok: ⁠@thecolonialdept⁠ Email us: ⁠thecolonialdept@gmail.com⁠ The book version of this podcast is called Silk, Silver, Spices,...

Who were the three mandarins who visited Manila in 1603, and why did their arrival set off one of the bloodiest rebellions—and massacres—in Philippine history? Follow us on IG: ⁠@thecolonialdept⁠ Follow us on TikTok: ⁠@thecolonialdept⁠ Email us: ⁠thecolonialdept@gmail.com The book version of this podcast is called Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves: Lost Tales from the Philippine Colonial Period, 1565-1...