Disasters and devotion in the urban genesis of a colonial town: A local history of Zamboanga, 1635-1899

Date of Publication

3-26-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in History

Subject Categories

Asian History

College

College of Liberal Arts

Department/Unit

History

Thesis Advisor

Jose Rhommel B. Hernandez

Defense Panel Chair

Ma. Florina Y. Orillos-Juan

Defense Panel Member

Lars Raymund C. Ubaldo
Marlon S. Delupio
Shriley O. Lua
Crisanto Q. Regadio, Jr.

Abstract/Summary

This study attempted to write a narrative of the historical process engendering the formation of the bayan, or town, around the occurrence of disasters (natural and human-induced) and devotion to a Marian religious image. It examined individual disasters as well as the combined and cumulative effects of multiple disasters and how they influenced the course of regional or local history. Alongside assessing the immediate, intermediate, and long-term ramifications of catastrophic events, the ensuing narrative weaves a local history accounting for both the destructive and transformative legacies of disasters on society and communities over time.

The study of the history of disasters in Zamboanga offers an opportunity to examine its transformational force and legacies in the genesis of a town and ethnicity. There is an indissoluble link between disasters as drivers of the historical processes and the formation of colonial towns or etnikong bayan, as shown in the case of Zamboanga. The establishment of Zamboanga as a presidio or a fortified town, and the subsequent founding of more towns coincided with a period marked by frequent and intense geophysical and biological hazards and shocks in the latter half of the nineteenth century. As the capital, Zamboanga was situated at the crossroads of significant traffic associated with deportation, slave-holding activities, trade, migration, and modern developments. Across the historical continuum, Zamboanga hosted people from disparate geographic, social, and cultural backgrounds to become one of the nineteenth century’s most urbanized centers with a highly variable profile yet common traits. The core population of the Spanish-held settlement in Bagumbayan (the alternate name of Zamboanga), in general, consisted of aggregately displaced groups of people induced by disasters over time.

Notwithstanding the destruction, displacement, and disruption associated with disasters, the resulting convergence and innovations galvanized the formation of the towns and the development of an ethnicity in Zamboanga. A key was the devotion to La Virgen del Pilar, which served as a constructive force for various social groups to exercise authority and power, helping to establish a certain social and cultural order. To the natives, devotion and solidarity in times of disasters were organic practices deeply entrenched in preexisting ecological knowledge systems and customs intimately connected with nature and its elements. These actions are crucial elements in shaping the town's formation and nurturing its ethnic identity around long-held values that promoted social cohesion among the population at the crucible of disasters.

One of the interesting aspects of the combined effects of these multiple disasters in Zamboanga is that they facilitated an adaptive tool for language development (later identified as Chabacano) to reduce alienation and create a network of social relationships, which ultimately influenced the shaping of the Zamboangueño ethnic identity. The collective memory conditioned by a devotion to a Marian cult, La Virgen del Pilar, and the Chabacano (a language generally associated with the common people) became enduring cultural by-products created in response to conditions generated by disasters.

Abstract Format

html

Language

English

Format

Electronic

Keywords

Urbanization--Philippines--Zamboanga; Disasters--Philippines--History; Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint—Devotion to—Philippines; Collective memory

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Embargo Period

4-24-2025

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