History of Science and Technology in the Philippines

Question 1

Identify the Age:

Archeological findings show that modern men from the Asian mainland first came overland on across narrow channels to live in Batangas and Palawan about 48,000 B.C. Subsequently, they formed a settlement in Sulu, Davao, Zamboanga, Samar, Negros, Batangas, Laguna, Rizal, Bulacan, and Cagayan.

Answer 1

Stone Age

Question 2

___________, the earliest human fossil remains in the Philippines was discovered in Palawan.

Answer 2

Tabon Man

Question 3

It is estimated to be more than ______. They made simple tools and weapons of stone flakes and later developed a method of sawing and polishing stones around 40,000 B.C.

Answer 3

20 000 years old

Question 4

By around 3,000 B.C. they were producing adzes ornaments of seashells and pottery. Pottery flourished for the next 2,000 years until they imported Chinese porcelain. Soon they learned to produce copper, bronze, iron, and gold metal tools and ornaments.

Answer 4

Stone Age

Question 5

The Iron Age lasted from there third century B.C. to 11th century A.D. During this period Filipinos were engaged in the extraction, smelting, and refining of iron from ores until the importation of cast iron from Sarawak and later from China.

Answer 5

Metal Age Inventions/Discoveries

Question 6

They learn to weave cotton, make glass ornaments, and cultivate lowland rice and dike fields of terraced fields utilizing spring water in mountain regions. They also learned to build boats for trading purposes. Spanish chronicles noted refined plank built warships called caracoa suited for inter-island trade raids.

Answer 6

Metal Age Inventions/Discoveries

Question 7

Filipinos from the Butuan were trading with Champa (Vietnam) and those from Ma-I (Mindoro) with China as noted in Chinese records containing several references to the Philippines. These archaeological findings indicated that regular trade relations between the Philippines, China and Vietnam had been well established

Answer 7

10th century A.D.

Question 8

The People of Ma-I and San-Hsu (Palawan) traded bee wax, cotton, pearls, coconut heart mats, tortoiseshell and medicinal betel nuts, panea cloth for porcelain, leads fishnets sinker, colored glass beads, iron pots, iron needles, and tin.

Answer 8

10th century A.D.

Question 9

Filipinos were already engaged in activities and practices related to science forming primitive or first wave technology.

Answer 9

Before the Spaniards

Question 10

They were curative values of some plants on how to extract medicine from herbs.

Answer 10

Before the Spaniards

Question 11

They had an alphabet, a system of writing, a method of counting and weights, and measure.

Answer 11

Before the Spaniards

Question 12

They had no calendar but counted the years by the period of the moon and from one harvest to another.

Answer 12

Before the Spaniards

Question 13

Year of Spanish Regime

Answer 13

(1521 - 1898)

Question 14

Spanish at first viewed the Philippines as the gateway to the richest of the East Indies (Spice Islands). Even after several failed expeditions, including Ferdinand Magellan’s exploration to Cebu where he met his untimely death, King Philip II sent Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, who first established the first Spanish settlement in Cebu, 1565. Years later, Spanish City of Manila was founded in 1571, and by the end of the 16th century most of the coastal and lowland areas from Luzon, Panay and Northern Mindanao were under Spanish control.

Answer 14

Spanish Regime (1521 - 1898)

16th century

Question 15

Hospitals were founded, Hospital de Real de Manila (1577), San Juan Lazaro Hospital the oldest, and existing hospital in the Far East was founded in (1578). San Juan de Dios Hospital (1596)

Answer 15

Spanish Regime (1521 - 1898)

16th century

Question 16

First Schools were founded, Colegio de San Ildefonso-Cebu-1595, Colegio de San Ignacio-Manila-1595, Colegio De Nuestra Senora del Rosario-Manila -1597, Colegio De San Jose-Manila-1601

Answer 16

Spanish Regime (1521 - 1898)

16th century

Question 17

Successive shipwrecks of and attacks of pirates on the galleons led to declining profits from the trade that led to economic depression in Manila during the later part of the 17th century.

Answer 17

17th and 18th Century Spanish Regime

Question 18

The Real Sociedad Economica de los Amigos Del Pais de Filipinas founded by Governador Jose Basco y Vargas in 1780 encouraged research in agriculture and industry.

Answer 18

17th and 18th Century
Spanish Regime

Question 19

The society promoted the cultivation of indigo, cotton, cinnamon, and silk industry. In 1789 Manila was opened to Asian shipping, inaugurating an era of increase in export of rice, hemp, tobacco, sugar, and indigo, and imports of manufacturing goods.

Answer 19

17th and 18th Century
Spanish Regime

Question 20

In 1863 the colonial authorities issued a royal decree to reform the existing educational system.

Answer 20

19th Century Spanish Regime

Question 21

In 1871 the school of medicine and pharmacy were opened to UST, after 15 years it had granted the degree of Licenciado en Medicina to 62 graduates.

Answer 21

19th Century Spanish Regime

Question 22

The licentiate degree equivalent to a Master’s degree was granted a Bachelor’s degree in pharmacy to its 1st six graduates who included Leon Ma. Guerrero considered was the father of Philippine Pharmacy due to his works on Medicinal Plants of the Philippines.

Answer 22

19th Century Spanish Regime

Question 23

There was no school for engineering but they offered the nautical four-year course for the pilot of a merchant marine that includes the subject: Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Physics, Hydrography, Meteorology, Navigation, Pilotage

Answer 23

19th Century Spanish Regime

Question 24

Higher education was generally viewed with suspicion as an encouraging rebellion among native Filipinos and thus only a few daring students were able to undertake higher studies.

Answer 24

19th Century Spanish Regime

Question 25

The expanded world trade and commerce in the later part of the 19th century led to the rapid development of Manila as a cosmopolitan center.

Answer 25

19th Century Spanish Regime

Question 26

Modern amenities such as steam tramways, waterworks, newspapers, electric lights, banking systems were introduced.

Answer 26

19th Century Spanish Regime

Question 27

Jesuits promoted meteorological studies founding Manila observatory at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila in 1865.

Answer 27

19th Century Spanish Regime

Question 28

Science during the relatively short American period was inclined towards agriculture, food processing, medicine, and pharmacy. Not much focus was given on the development of industrial technology due to free trade policy with the United States which nurtured an economy geared towards agriculture and trade

Answer 28

American Regime

Question 29

The American curriculum was introduced. University of the Philippines-1908, College of Agriculture in Los Baños-1909, College of Liberal Arts, Engineering and Veterinary-1910, College of Law-1911, Courses on Tropical Medicine and Public Health-1915, Courses on Forestry-1916, College of Education-1918

Answer 29

American Regime