Cebu Under the Spanish Flag 1521-1986: An Economic and Social History

By Bruce L. Fenner (Author)

Quick Overview

"Cebu Under the Spanish Flag, 1521-1896. An Economic-Social History" by Bruce Fenner is the first documented history of the City and Island of Cebu to appear in print. There have been one or two previous attempts at writing what purported to be a history of Cebu but as they were short on documentation and long on legend and hearsay, none of them had a right to the title of "history'. Bruce Fenner, the author of this book has undertaken the indispensable spade-work in various archives in order to reconstruct the up-to-now virtually unknown part of Cebu history in the period covered by his book. For the first there is an answer to that often asked question, "What happened in Cebu between the time when Legaspi transferred the capital of the territory just occupied by the Spaniards to Manila and the Spanish rule in these islands?" The author wisely decided to leave aside the purely political and to devote his attention to the social an economic developments. The emerging story of decline and the eventual re-emergence of Cebu as a center of trade during the last decades under Spain puts the Cebuanos themselves on center stage-- whether they were native to the island or had elected to become its citizens, once the long-closed doors were opened. We are introduced to these men and women who did more than their political masters to set Cebu firmly on that road to eminence on the national scene which it possesses today. The book should be found engrossing reading by all Cebuanos as well by all those whose interest in the City and in the Philippines at large has been aroused by what they have experiences and seen in these island. As a well-documented study in the field of regional history it will be welcomed by professional historians as a further stone for the construction of a real national history of the Philippines.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bruce L. Fenner was born on March 1, 1944 in Seattle, Washington. After graduating from Ballard High School of Seattle in 1962, he entered Washington State University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history with High Honors in 1966. He then attended the University of Hawaii and graduated with a Master of Arts degree in Southeast Asian History in 1968. He began his graduate work at Cornell University the following autumn. Under the Fullbright Hays Program, he did fieldwork in the Philippines and archival research in Spain in 1970-1971. Fenner had been to the Philippines in 1965 and 1967. He received his Ph.D. in Southeast Asian History from Cornell University in 1976. He taught at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois and worked as a counselor and administrator at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Bruce Fenner died in his sleep in the early hours of March 20, 1999. He taught full time at De Paul University from 1980 until ill health forced an early retirement.