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50 free Philippine History trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The history of the Philippines runs from a 900 CE copperplate and a datu who turned back Magellan's landing party, through 333 years of Spanish rule and the galleons that tied Manila to Acapulco, to a revolution lit by two novels, a republic that lasted two years, a half-century of American rule, the Bataan Death March, and a four-day people's revolution on a Manila avenue. It is taught in every Filipino classroom as araling panlipunan, and it rewards anyone who pays attention to the details. These 50 questions cover the sweep: Tabon Man and Homo luzonensis, Lapulapu and Legazpi, Urdaneta's return route, the Suez Canal and the ilustrados, Gomburza, José Rizal's exile, execution and hidden farewell poem, Bonifacio's Katipunan and the Cry of Pugad Lawin, the Tejeros Convention, Dewey at Manila Bay, the June 12 proclamation at Kawit, Marcela Agoncillo's flag and Julián Felipe's march, the Treaty of Paris, Malolos and Mabini, Aguinaldo's capture at Palanan, the Tydings–McDuffie Act and Quezon, Tagalog in 1937, Bataan, the Battle of Manila, Leyte Gulf, Roxas, Magsaysay and the Huks, Proclamation 1081, Ninoy at the airport, EDSA, Hawaii and Cory Aquino. Easy questions stick to Magellan, Rizal and People Power; the hardest ask about the Laguna Copperplate, Kalayaan and the Flag Act of 1907. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss. Play it solo or print it for a classroom or family quiz night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which explorer's expedition made the first documented European arrival, sighting Samar in March 1521?
Ferdinand Magellan
His fleet anchored at Homonhon Island the next day; Elcano would finish the circumnavigation after the commander's death.
Q 02Which datu of Mactan defeated the Spanish expedition on the beach in April 1521?
Lapulapu
He refused to pay tribute while his rival Zula did; the only primary source that names him is Antonio Pigafetta's account.
Q 03Who led the 1565 expedition that founded the first permanent Spanish settlement, in Cebu?
Miguel López de Legazpi
He became the first governor-general of the Spanish East Indies and moved the capital to Manila in 1571; Albay's capital bears his name.
Q 04Who named Leyte and Samar 'Las Islas Filipinas' in 1543, honoring a Spanish prince?
Ruy López de Villalobos
The prince was Philip of Asturias, the future Philip II; the name later spread to the whole archipelago.
Q 05In what year did Spanish forces take Maynila and make Manila the capital of the Spanish East Indies?
1571
Mexico-born Juan de Salcedo helped lead the attack; Maynila had been a vassal of the Brunei Sultanate.
Q 06Which Augustinian friar pioneered the tornaviaje, the return sailing route from the Philippines to Mexico, in 1565?
Andrés de Urdaneta
He and Alonso de Arellano exploited the Kuroshio Current, opening the Manila galleon trade that ran until 1815.
Q 07The Manila galleons sailed between Manila and which Mexican port?
Acapulco
Galleons left Cavite around late June and reached the Pacific coast of New Spain the following March or April.
Q 08What event ended the Manila galleon trade in 1815?
The Mexican War of Independence
The galleons had carried Asian luxury goods west and New World silver east for 250 years, mostly crewed by Filipino natives.
Q 09What date is inscribed on the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, the oldest known Philippine document?
900 CE
It indirectly refers to the Tagalog polity of Tondo, centuries before any European ship arrived.
Q 10The Tabon Man remains, the oldest known modern human bones in the country, were found on which island?
Palawan
They date to about 47,000 years ago; the older Callao Cave bones from Luzon belong to a separate species, Homo luzonensis.
Q 11Bones found in Callao Cave were identified in 2019 as which new hominin species?
Homo luzonensis
The find came from Luzon's Callao Cave; the remains included 12 bones from three individuals.
Q 12The opening of which canal in 1869 cut travel time to Spain and helped create the ilustrado class?
Suez
Educated Filipinos could now study in European universities, and the Propaganda Movement followed.
Q 13Gomburza refers to three priests executed by garrote in 1872 after which uprising?
The Cavite mutiny
Fathers Gómez, Burgos and Zamora died at Bagumbayan; Rizal later dedicated El filibusterismo to their memory.
Q 21During the Cry of Pugad Lawin in August 1896, what did Katipuneros tear up in defiance of Spain?
Their tax certificates
The cédulas personales were proof of allegiance to Spain; the exact date and place of the Cry are still disputed.
Q 22Which 1897 assembly elected Emilio Aguinaldo president in absentia, splitting the revolution?
The Tejeros Convention
Bonifacio nullified the results after his election as interior secretary was questioned; the schism ended with his execution.
Q 23Under the December 1897 Pact of Biak-na-Bato, Aguinaldo and other leaders went into exile where?
Hong Kong
Q 14Who wrote the novels Noli Me Tángere (1887) and El filibusterismo (1891)?
José Rizal
The two books are treated as a national epic; he was an ophthalmologist by profession.
Q 15To which town on Mindanao was Rizal banished in 1892?
Dapitan
He was arrested days after founding La Liga Filipina; in exile he met Josephine Bracken, who became his common-law wife.
Q 16On what date was Rizal executed at Bagumbayan?
December 30, 1896
A backup squad of Spanish regulars stood ready to shoot the Filipino executioners if they refused to fire; the site is now Rizal Park.
Q 17Where was Rizal's farewell poem 'Mi último adiós' hidden before being passed to his family?
In an alcohol stove
The poem was untitled; it first appeared as 'Mi último pensamiento', a title he supplied.
Q 18In what year was the Katipunan, the secret society that launched the revolution, founded?
1892
Its initiation rites resembled freemasonry, and membership was at first open only to men; its initials were KKK.
Q 19Who was the Katipunan's Supremo, often called the Father of the Philippine Revolution?
Andrés Bonifacio
Born in Tondo on the feast of St Andrew, he was executed at Maragondon in May 1897 after the Tejeros power struggle.
Q 20What was the name of the Katipunan's short-lived newspaper, printed only in March 1896?
Kalayaan
The name means 'Freedom'; the society's discovery by Spanish authorities that August triggered the revolution.
Spain also agreed to pay the revolutionaries 800,000 Mexican pesos; Aguinaldo returned aboard a U.S. ship in May 1898.
Q 24Which American commodore destroyed the Spanish squadron at Manila Bay on May 1, 1898?
George Dewey
His Asiatic Squadron had waited in Hong Kong; the battle is often called the Battle of Cavite.
Q 25'You may fire when ready, Gridley' was spoken aboard which flagship at Manila Bay?
USS Olympia
Gridley was the Olympia's captain; the order came at 5:41 in the morning.
Q 26Where was Philippine independence proclaimed on June 12, 1898?
Kawit, Cavite
The ceremony took place at Aguinaldo's ancestral home, then called Cavite el Viejo, about 30 kilometers south of Manila.
Q 27Who sewed the first Philippine flag, unfurled at the 1898 proclamation?
Marcela Agoncillo
She worked with Lorenza Agoncillo and Delfina Herboza in Hong Kong; Aguinaldo himself is credited with the design.
Q 28Who composed the music of 'Lupang Hinirang', the national anthem, in 1898?
Julián Felipe
It began as a wordless national march; José Palma's Spanish poem 'Filipinas' supplied the lyrics in 1899.
Q 29What do the sun's rays on the Philippine flag originally represent?
The first provinces to rebel
The three stars stand for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, and flying the flag red side up signals a state of war.
Q 30How much did the United States pay Spain for the Philippines under the 1898 Treaty of Paris?
$20 million
Spain also gave up Cuba, Puerto Rico and Guam; the treaty took effect in April 1899.