Environmental History of an Early Spanish Settlement in the Visayas, Philippines: Excavations in the Parian District of Cebu City Kasaysayang Pangkalikupan sa usa ka Karaang Puluy-anan Katsila sa Kabisay-an, Pilipinas: Mga Nakubkoban sa Distritong Parian, Lungsod sa Sugbu 1 2 John A. Peterson , Archie Tiauzon , Mark PEER REVIEWED Horrocks3 and Maria Kottermair4 1 Received June 09, 2020 Department of Anthropology, History, and Accepted August 28, 2020 Sociology, University of San Carlos, Cebu Published November 05, 2020 2 History Flight, Inc DOI: 3Microfossil Research Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand, http://dx.doi.org/10.26721/spafajournal.v4i0.637 and School of Environment, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand Copyright: 4NASA Guam EPSCoR Program, University of @2020 SEAMEO SPAFA and author. Guam This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution Non Commercial-No Derivatives License (CC BY-NC- Correspondence: ND 4.0), which permits copying, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original
[email protected] author and source are credited. Abstract The Jesuit House was built in 1730 on land reclaimed from the Tinago Marsh at the edge of the early Spanish settlement of Cebu City, Philippines, two centuries after it was first encountered by the Spanish explorer Magellan. As the city expanded from its core areas ca. 1565 around Fort San Pedro, Plaza Independencia, and the sites of Santo Nino Church and the Cebu Cathedral, waterways were drained and filled, and canals were dredged to extend the urban Spanish grid. Archaeological excavations at the Jesuit House and in the nearby Casa Gorordo Annex project document these changes in the urban landscape.