author
Antonio de Morga
1559–1636
Best known for writing one of the earliest detailed histories of the Spanish Philippines, this Spanish colonial official combined the lives of lawyer, soldier, and chronicler. His work remains a key firsthand source for readers interested in the early modern Pacific world.
1 Audiobook
History of the Philippine Islands
by Antonio de Morga
About the author
Born in Seville on November 29, 1559, Antonio de Morga built a long career in the Spanish Empire as a trained lawyer and royal official. He served in the Philippines from the 1590s into the early 1600s, later held judicial office in Mexico, and went on to become president of the Audiencia of Quito, where he spent many of his final years.
For many readers today, his lasting importance comes from Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, published in 1609. The book draws on his own experience in the Philippines and has become an important early account of Spanish colonial rule, trade, conflict, and daily life in the islands.
Antonio de Morga died on July 21, 1636. Although he wrote from the viewpoint of a Spanish imperial administrator, his history is still widely read because it preserves valuable details about the Philippines at a formative moment in its recorded past.