The Colonial Department

Swimming. Smoking. Sunsets. It’s just another day for the conyo colonials, living the good life inside Manila. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Mallat, Jean (1846). The Philippines: History, Geography, Customs, Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce of the Spanish Colonies in Oceania (Pura Santillan-Castrence, Trans.) (2021). National Historical Commis...

Caught in between religion and revolution, opium turned from a politically dicey government cash crop into an evil and illegal narcotic. And the minds behind the anti-opium campaign in the Philippines would arguably set the tone for anti-drug wars around the globe. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Bamero, Alma (2006). “Opium: The Evolution of Polici...

Opium: the plant of joy, the poppy of oblivion, God’s own medicine. It changed the course of history in the nineteenth century. So what was its effect in the Philippines? Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Wertz, Daniel P. (2013). “Idealism, Imperialism, and Internationalism: Opium Politics in the Colonial Philippines, 1898-1925.” Modern Asian Studies...

In 1943, the Japanese selected 10 prisoners of war—veterans of the battles of Bataan and Corregidor, survivors of the Death March—for a "re-education" program in the heart of the empire. What could go wrong? Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Villarin, Mariano (1990). We Remember Bataan and Corregidor: The Story of the American and Filipino Defenders...

“The Sultan of Sulu”, a smash hit Broadway play from the early 1900s, had it all: a musical monarch, multiple wives, plenty of laughs, and a sly, anti-imperialist message tucked into the libretto. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Mendoza, Victor Roman (2015). Metroimperial Intimacies: Fantasy, Racial-Sexual Governance, and the Philippines in U.S. Im...

From sleepy village… to coffee boomtown! The enterprising people of Lipa brewed beans into cold, hard cash, building fortunes that lasted generations. But how did the coffee boom turn into a bust? Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Castro, Bel S. (2003) Demythologising the History of Coffee in Lipa, Batangas in the 19th Century [Masteral Dissertation,...

As British, American, and French merchant houses and enterprises pour into the Philippines to fill the void left by the Galleon Trade, a giant crocodile lurks inside one such plantation in the wetlands of Laguna de Bay. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Gironiere, Paul P. De La (1854). Twenty Years in the Philippines (trans.) Harper & Brothers, N...

In 1930s Shanghai, the sweet sound of slot machines and swinging bands soundtracked the bars and nightclubs of the city’s seedy underworld. Guess where they all came from. Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thecolonialdept/ References: French, Paul (2018). City of Devils: The Two Men Who Ruled the Underworld of Old Shanghai . Picador. French, Paul (February 2018). “Gangs of Shanghai.” That...

Silent predators stalk the seas of the Philippines! But as the Japanese naval invasion commences, what role did these stealthy subs play in the archipelago’s defense? Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thecolonialdept/ References: Parrish, Thomas (2004). Submarines: A History. Viking. Sturma, Michael (2021). “Submarine Special Missions: One Day in the Philippines.” The Great Circle, 34(1)...

What is The Colonial Dept.? Find out what makes this Philippine history podcast tick in this trailer.

On the crater of Bud Dajo in Sulu, a brutal massacre of Moros sparks outrage… and a cover-up from colonial authorities eager to package its troops as heroes. Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thecolonialdept/ References: Charbonneau, Oliver (2021). Civilizational Imperatives: Americans, Moros, and the Colonial World. (Philippine Edition.) Ateneo de Manila University Press. Sanford, Wayne...

In 2008, a long-lost map, dating back to the early 1600s, was discovered inside an Oxford library. On it was a depiction of the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the great sea that lay in between them. What mysteries did this map hold? Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecolonialdept/ References: Brook, Timothy (2013). Mr. Selden's Map of China: The Spic...

When first contact was made between the Spanish and the Filipinos, feasts followed, before the fighting. What food and drink did these seafarers encounter in their first meetings? Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thecolonialdept/ References: Sta. Maria, Felice Prudente (2021). Pigafetta’s Philippine Picnic: Culinary Encounters During the First Circumnavigation, 1519-1522. The National Hi...

Gazing out at the sweeping highlands of northern Luzon, architect Daniel Burnham conjures up an ambitious, audacious vision: a summer capital for America’s new prize. Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thecolonialdept/ References: Hines, Thomas S. (1988). “No Little Plans: The Achievement of Daniel Burnham.” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, (13)2, 96-105. Kirsch, Scott (2017). “Aes...

Let’s take to the wild blue yonder with the Aguilas Aztecas, a squadron of volunteer fighter pilots from Mexico who helped liberate the Philippines from the Japanese. References: Lozano, Gustavo Vazquez (2021). 201st Squadron: The Aztec Eagles—The History of the Mexican Pilots Who Fought In World War II. Libros de Mexico. Parker, Richard (27 May 2020). “When the Mexican Air Force Went To War Along...

The conclusion of our conversation with Albert Samaha, author of the critically acclaimed Concepcion: An Immigrant Family’s Fortunes. What did he learn about writing a book that spans five centuries of Philippine and American history? Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com The book version of this podcast, entitled Silk, Silver,...

Count a Maranao princess and an American spy among this author’s ancestors. Albert Samaha, author of Concepcion: An Immigrant Family’s Fortunes, guests in this episode as he discusses his critically acclaimed book. 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...

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.