The Treaty of Cebu is a peace treaty

Peace treaty

A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, that formally ends a state of war between the parties...

 signed on 4 June 1565 between Miguel López de Legazpi

Miguel López de Legazpi

Miguel López de Legazpi , also known as El Adelantado and El Viejo , was a Spanish conquistador who established one of the first European settlements in the East Indies and the Pacific Islands in 1565. He is the first Governor-General in the Philippines...

, representing King Philip II of Spain

Philip II of Spain

Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....

, and Rajah Tupas

Rajah Tupas

Rajah Tupas was the Rajah of Cebu in the Philippines. He was the son of Sri Parang the Limp, and the nephew of Rajah Humabon. He is known to have been baptized on 21 March 1568 at age 70,He had also been baptized during Magellan's day together with his wife, her parents, his brother, two sisters...

 of Cebu

Cebu

Cebu is a province in the Philippines, consisting of Cebu Island and 167 surrounding islands. It is located to the east of Negros, to the west of Leyte and Bohol islands...

. The treaty effectively created Spain suzerain

Suzerainty

Suzerainty occurs where a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which controls its foreign affairs while allowing the tributary vassal state some limited domestic autonomy. The dominant entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the more powerful entity itself, is called a...

 over Cebu

Cebu

Cebu is a province in the Philippines, consisting of Cebu Island and 167 surrounding islands. It is located to the east of Negros, to the west of Leyte and Bohol islands...

.

Legazpi had sailed from Mexico on November 20, 1564 with a fleet of four ships: San Pedro (the flagship), San Pablo, San Juan de Letran and San Lucas and a force of several hundred conquistador

Conquistador

Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...

s. The expedition reached the Philippines in January 1565 and went ashore in Samar

Samar

Samar, formerly and also known as Western Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Catbalogan City and covers the western portion of Samar as well as several islands in the Samar Sea located to the west of the mainland...

, Leyte

Leyte

Leyte is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Tacloban City and occupies the northern three-quarters of the Leyte Island. Leyte is located west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran...

, Limasawa, Bohol

Bohol

Bohol is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of Bohol Island and 75 minor surrounding islands. Its capital is Tagbilaran City. With a land area of and a coastline long, Bohol is the tenth largest island of the Philippines...

, and Negros to make blood compact

Blood compact

Blood compact was a ritual in the Philippines where tribes would cut their wrist and pour their blood into a cup filled with liquid and drink each other's blood as part of the tribal tradition to seal a friendship, a pact or treaty, or to validate an agreement...

s, claim possession for Spain, and seize or barter foodstuffs.

On April 15, 1565 the expedition anchored in Cebu

Cebu

Cebu is a province in the Philippines, consisting of Cebu Island and 167 surrounding islands. It is located to the east of Negros, to the west of Leyte and Bohol islands...

, where Rajah Tupas

Rajah Tupas

Rajah Tupas was the Rajah of Cebu in the Philippines. He was the son of Sri Parang the Limp, and the nephew of Rajah Humabon. He is known to have been baptized on 21 March 1568 at age 70,He had also been baptized during Magellan's day together with his wife, her parents, his brother, two sisters...

 had treated with Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer. He was born in Sabrosa, in northern Portugal, and served King Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" ....

 in 1521 as representative of Rajah Humabon

Rajah Humabon

Rajah Humabon was the Rajah of Cebu at the time of Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan's arrival in the Philippines in 1521. There is no official record of his existence before the Spanish arrival, but extensive narration by Italian historian Antonio Pigafetta was made on Humabon and the...

. An envoy went ashore seeking to make a pact with Tupas who, having heard of the return of the Spaniards, evacuated the town and relocated to the interior of the island. Unable to treat with Tupas, the Spanish envoy announced that the Cebuanos had submitted to Spanish Suzarainty 40 years before and were rebellious Spanish subjects. The Spanish sacked the town and began construction of a stockaded camp and took possession of the whole island of Cebu in the name of Spain. Around May 8, Tupas presented himself at the Spanish fort and agreed to formalize a treaty. After some delay, the treaty was formalized on July 3, 1565.

Historian William Henry Scott

William Henry Scott (historian)

William Henry Scott was a historian of the Gran Cordillera Central and Prehispanic Philippines. He personally rejected the description anthropologist as applying to himself.-Early life:...

characterizes the treaty as "... actually the terms of an unconditional surrender. ... a kind of prototype of the unequal treaties which western nations were to fasten on Oriental peoples for the next three centuries."