#i would've liked to talk more in-depthly

[agentomato]

Any headcannons about the interactions between Piri, Mexico, and Spain? Since Piri was technically directly administered by Mexico for the majority of their time as colonies of Spain, how do you think their relationship would have been? And then what are your thoughts on how it would have been like when the colonial link between Piri and Mexico abruptly ended, and Spain was suddenly in and around Piri more often than before?

small note: I'm not as familiar with the histories of spain and mexico respectively, so i apologize for any errors or inaccuraries on my part! there's a lot i'm missing here as well because of how expansive this period was (literally 300+ years) but if you want any specifics feel free to send an ask anyway. as always, i'm defaulting to my PH OC for this, but you may use what i have for your interpretation of canon PH if you wish

i have the current personification of the philippines originally be the precolonial polity of tondo in my personal headcanon (and there's a lot to unpack and discuss there), so when she met spain for the first time they were pretty close in physical age with both more or less being in their teens (philippines being a younger teen at the time, but still); mexico, however, i see as being a result of colonization, born from the ruins of tenochtitlan as spain fashioned new spain into being, and as a result was very much a child in comparison. the hilarity that it's mexico-- still a kid-- who technically had more authority as the spanish east indies (philippines) were administered under new spain ensues

mexico being young also meant that a lot of the time she was operating under spain's instructions and influence, and often his authority superseded her's when it came to the spanish east indies, which was really more of a region part of the viceroyalty of new spain; i want to acknowledge the different power dynamics that were at play under the spanish empire, and that mexico was very much an important jewel to the spanish empire, but both she and philippines were still, at the end of the day, colonies under the spanish empire's eyes

that said i do think mexico and philippines interacted regularly with each other, mostly through trade (manila-acapulco galleon trade ties); the disparity between their physical ages helped to even out their dynamic a bit, and they often shared and exchanged aspects of their cultures with one another, influencing each other whether it be in food (ie. the evolution between the mexican drink champurrado and the rice porridge champorado, both utilizing chocolate, or the evolution of champoy/kiamoy in chinese-filipino communities to the chamoy sauce in mexico) or clothing or theater; both left an undeniable mark upon one another, and despite the disagreements and issues they had they were more or less very good friends-- a childhood friend on mexico's end even

that said, there were disagreements; it's bad enough philippines had gradually lost her sovereignty (although the conditions of that were complicated), spain had decided to put her under the technical administration of a viceroyalty whose personification was more or less a child, and the differences in that power dynamic on was felt; philippines did understand mexico was only doing what was instructed of her and much of her resentment fell more towards spain, but that didn't mean she and mexico didn't have disagreements from time to time

philippines (as tondo) had first met spain when he arrived together with the command of miguel lopez de legazpi at the shores of what is now manila bay (when spain had arrived with ferdinand magellan prior he had met a different polity), and while mexico was the one technically administering philippines spain was certainly still present, often intervening especially during times of more expansive military conflict such as the seven years war-- the spanish empire was expansive, and a lot of the basic tasks of administration as a result fell on mexico's shoulders, but that doesn't mean spain wasn't present in his own way as well, stepping in even at mexico's own protests at times

philippines and spain's close physical age gap and the fact both met as personifications with centuries already under their belts evidently means i don't see them as parent-child, but it doesn't mean spain wasn't also a big influence on her; the nature of their relationship during the colonial period was Complicated(tm), and i could probably expound on this another time, but essentially spain was sort of like an upperclassman mentor she was suspicious of but still drew influence from regardless; there's a lot more i could go into, from the colonial violence to the ways in which spanish cultural influence in religion and otherwise came with the creation of systemic structures that would make their adoption an implicit pressure that required conformity to access any amount of privilege under colonialism, but i don't want to discount hers (or even mexico's tbh but i'm less familiar with that history) agency for that matter either; philippines did feel the pressure to conform in a lot of areas, but sometimes she did adopt influences because she thought it was fashionable, and a lot of times even made some of those influences her own (indigenization/filipinization); it's messy and complex and maybe someday i'll expound on this in the future, but that day isn't today

whether it came from mexico or spain though, philippines did often more or less carry on doing her own thing; the physical distance between the spanish east indies and spanish crown did mean a lot of the time philippines pushed forward with doing what she wanted anyway, sometimes even ignoring missives from above completely if she could get away with it. mexico was usually far and only administering on a technical level, and spain was often too far away in europe or elsewhere in some other colony to do much anyway, so insert shrug emoji here

philippines had watched mexico grow, probably was bewildered by how fast she grew too (as these new world kids often did grow exponentially fast), and overall i do think she was sympathetic as insurgencies grew and she began demanding independence from spain; ultimately though i don't think philippines saw her fate tied with mexico. mexico did await the day philippines would gain her own independence again though, so that they could restart their relations as true equals; of course the road to ph independence... definitely had a lot of setbacks

after mexico became independent full administration of the philippines came fully under the spanish crown, and spain was more present in philippines's life; evidently she didn't receive it well as by the end of the century she would fight for her own independence, and even prior revolts against colonial authority were a regular par of the philippine experience under spain (although definitely complicated in its own right, something i'll also need to expand on someday)

there's. a lot more i would have wanted to go into and some stuff here is tentative but!! here's a rough idea basically