The Colonial Dept.

• Extra Credit: “Epidemia maligna”—the devastating outbreaks that hit Luzon and Visayas in the late 1500s

  “Peste general.” “Pestilencial epidemia.” “Epidemia maligna.” In the Philippine archipelago, Spanish chroniclers wrote of deadly epidemics that struck their new possession. (Listen to S7E4 before this one.)

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• S7E4: The Plague Years

  Smallpox was one of the deadliest diseases known to man—and not even the Philippines was immune to its virulent dangers! But how did the dreaded disease arrive on our shores? And what devastating effects did it have during the long centuries of our occupation?Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: [email protected] thumbnail image, which dates from the 16th century, depicts Aztec victims of smallpox.References:Newson, Linda A. (2011). Conquest and Pestilence in the Early Spanish Philippines. Ateneo de Manila University Press.Fenner, F.; Henderson, D.A.; Arita, I.; Jezek, Z.; Ladnyi, I.D. (1988). Smallpox and Its Eradication. World Health Organization.“Termination of Smallpox Vaccination.” DOH Memorandum Circular, May 08, 1980.Herzog, Richard (23 September 2020). “How Aztecs Reacted to Colonial Epidemics.” JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/how-aztecs-reacted-to-colonial-epidemics/Mursell, Ian. (7 April 2020) “IN THE NEWS: epidemic, self-isolation, dedication and the preservation of memory.” Mexicolore. https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/spanish-invasion/epidemic-self-isolation-dedication-and-the-preservation-of-memoryThein, M.M.; Goh, L.G., Phua, K.H. (1988). “The Smallpox Story: From Variolation to Victory.” Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 2(3), pp. 203-210.Wise, Edwin (2019). Manila, City of Islands. Ateneo de Manila University Press.

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• Extra Credit: The complicated story of the 1800s coffee boom

  Crucial to the story of coffee in the Philippines is the industry’s boom years in Lipa during the late 1800s. What really happened then? (Listen to S7E3 before this one.)

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• S7E3: A Short Philippine History of Beverages

  Coffee. Tea. Cocoa. The three have a surprisingly rich, complex, and layered history in the Philippines. How did they arrive here, and what effect did they have in the archipelago’s colonial period?Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: [email protected] to Beach Reads Book Club (based in The Beach House cafe in Kapitolyo) for hosting the live premiere of this episode last July 5. References:Acabado, Stephen (4 May 2025). “[Time Trowel] A drunk history of the Philippines.” Rappler. https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/time-trowel-drunk-history-philippines/Edgar, Blake (2010). “The Power of Chocolate.” Archaeology, 63(6), pp. 20-25. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41780626Doeppers, Daniel (2016). Feeding Manila in Peace and War, 1850-1945. Ateneo de Manila University Press.Topik, Steven (2003). The World Coffee Market in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, from Colonial to National Regimes. GEHN Conference, Bankside, London.Sonnad, Nikhil (11 January 2018). “Tea if by sea, cha if by land: Why the world only has two words for tea.” Vox.Chia, Lucille (2006). “The Butcher, the Baker, and the Carpenter: Chinese Sojourners in the Spanish Philippines and Their Impact on Southern Fujian (Sixteenth-Eighteenth Centuries).” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 49(4), pp. 509-534.Lanzona, Claudine (2019). “The Search Party.” Grid. “Cocoa (cacao).” (n.d.) Plant Village. https://plantvillage.psu.edu/topics/cocoa-cacao/infosCrawford, John (1852). “History of Coffee.” Journal of the Statistical Society of London, 15(1), pp. 50-58.

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• Extra Credit: Pianos in 1800s Phillippines

  In the last decades of Spanish rule in the Philippines, pianos—both foreign and local—provided the tinkling music of the colony’s rising middle class. (Listen to S7E1 before this one.)

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