page_title: History of Manila
section_title: British occupation (1762–64)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Manila / History / Spanish period / British occupation (1762–64)
caption_attribution_description: Cabildo Street, Intramuros, Manila.
context_page_description: Manila's history begins around 65,000 BC the time the Callao Man first settled in the Philippines, predating the arrival of the Negritos and the Malayo-Polynesians. The nearby Angono Petroglyphs, are then dated to be around 3,000 BC and the earliest recorded history of Manila, the capital of the Philippines, dates back to the year 900 AD as recorded in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription. By the thirteenth century, the city consisted of a fortified settlement and trading quarter near the mouth of the Pasig River, the river that bisects the city into north and south.
  The official name of the city under its Malay aristocracy was Seludong/Selurung, which was the same name given for the general region of southwestern Luzon at that time, suggesting that it was the capital of Ancient Tondo.
  Manila became the seat of the colonial government of Spain when it gained sovereignty over the Philippine Islands in 1565. The seat of the Spanish government was situated within the fortified walls of Old Manila. The walls were constructed to keep out invading Chinese pirates and protect the city from native uprisings. Several communities eventually grew outside the walls of Manila.
context_section_description: British forces conquered Manila in October 1762 and the city was occupied from 1762–64 as a result of the Seven Years' War. Spain became Britain's enemy when it sided with France due to ties between their royal families. In the ensuing sack of the town by the British, many historical documents of great value were destroyed or stolen from the archives.
  The British accepted the written surrender of the Spanish government in the Philippines from Archbishop Rojo and the Real Audiencia on 30 October 1762. The city remained the capital and key to the Spanish Philippines under the government of the provisional British governor, acting through the Archbishop of Manila and the Real Audiencia. The terms of surrender proposed by Archbishop Rojo and agreed to by the British leaders, secured private property, guaranteed the Roman Catholic religion and its episcopal government, and granted the citizens of the former Spanish colony the rights of peaceful travel and of trade 'as British subjects'. Under the direction of the provisional British governor, the Philippines was to be governed by the Audencia Real, the expenses of which were agreed to be paid for by Spain. The terms of surrender dated 29 October 1762 signed by Archbishop Rojo, and sealed with the Spanish Royal Seal, ceding the entire archipelago to Great Britain. This was rejected by Simón de Anda y Salazar who claimed to have been appointed Governor-General under the Statutes of the Indies.
  Outside of Manila the only armed resistance to the British was in Pampanga where Salazar established his headquarters first in Bulacan, then in Bacolor. So successful was Salazar's efforts that Captain Thomas Backhouse reported to the Secretary of War in London that "the enemy is in full possession of the country".
  At the time of signing the treaty, the signatories were not aware that Manila had been taken by the British and was being administered by them. Consequently, no specific provision was made for the Philippines. Instead they fell under the general provision that all other lands not otherwise provided for be returned to the Spanish Crown.
  An unknown number of Indian soldiers known as sepoys, who came with the British, deserted and settled in Cainta, Rizal, which explains the uniquely Indian features of generations of Cainta residents.
  In January 1798 during the French Revolutionary Wars a British naval squadron entered Manila for reconnaissance, seizing three gunboats in the bloodless Raid on Manila.
caption: Cabildo Street in Intramuros, 1800s
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