Philippines—Economic System
Before the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, which began in the sixteenth century, the Philippines had never been ruled by a single state, though a sultan state was established in the Sulu archipelago of the southern Philippines around the mid-fifteenth century under Islamic influence. Some historians say that if the Spanish conquest had been delayed for half a century, Luzon and Visayan islands (in the northern and central Philippines) might also have been placed under the influence of Islamic culture.
At the time of the Spanish conquest, a hamlet or village (barangay) served as the basic community unit for the.....
