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 nearb 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. However, the city became known by the name given to
it by its Tagalog inhabitants, Maynil, based on the nilad plant, a flowering mangrove plant that
grew on the marshy shores of the Manila Bay.[1]

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 (now referred to as Intramuros meaning within the walls). 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. The city became the center of
trade between Manila and Acapulco, which lasted for three centuries and brought the goods from
the Americas to South East Asia and vice versa.

In 1762 the city was captured and then occupied by Great Britain for two years as part of the
Seven Years' War. The city remained the capital of the Philippines under the government of the
provisional British governor, acting through the Archbishop of Manila and the Real Audiencia.
Armed resistance to the British was centered in Pampanga.

In 1898, Spain ceded control of the Philippines after over three hundred year of colonial rule to
the United States after the Treaty of Paris (1898), which ended the SpanishAmerican War.
During the American Period, some semblance of city planning using the architectural designs
and master plans by Daniel Burnham was done on the portions of the city south of the Pasig
River.

During World War II, much of the city was destroyed, but the city was rebuilt in after the war.[2]
It was the second most destroyed city in the world after Warsaw, Poland during World War II.
The Metropolitan Manila region was enacted as an independent entity in 1975.