Escrima
	The best is to say that Escrima is a generic term for all Phillipine martial arts with sticks and swords. The word comes from the Spanish "la esgrima" that stands for fencing. The Phillipine culture is influenced by Indian, Indonesian, Malaysian and spanish elements,so is Escrima which became finally an own Phillipine martial art with stick-fighting and swordplay as well as with weaponless self-defence. The first Europeans who landed on a Phillipine island were the Spanish under the leadership of the Portuguese sailor and conqueror Fernando Magellán. At first Magellán landed on the island Mactan in the central Phillipines, which he conquered for the Spanish crown. From this place he conquered the other islands around Mactan. The native population of course defied his intentions and on April 27th, 1521 the decisive battle of Mactan took place. Under the leadership of Lapu Lapu the population of the island succeeded in defeating the colonialists and Magellán lost his life.
			The memorial of the victorious Lapu Lapu on the island Mactan in the central Phillipines
	The Italian annalist Antonio Pigaffetta, who belonged to the fleet of Magellán told about the unexpected heavy opposition of the native population. He reported that they very effectively striked back at the well armed Spanish troops only with swords, spears,knives and machetes and with elaborated techniques. Only 50 years later in 1565 the Spanish returned with a greater number of soldiers and beat the Filippinos due to the fact that they had more soldiers, sofisticated weapons like pistols, muskets and canons. The Spanish occupied the islands for nearly 400 years, after that from 1898 on a US-American and during World War II a Japanese occupation followed. Under all foreign rulers fighting with sticks and swords was officially prohibited, but underhand it was told from master to pupil.
	In contrast to i.e. Japanese martial arts and similar to the Viet Vo Dao in Vietnam Escrima never was only used for sports or formed part of a religious ritual. The Filippinos always used Escrima for self-defence and during the periods of occupation became a feared martial art. Under the US occupation numerous Filippinos emigrated to Hawaii where gradually a sportive aspect developed. A commercialisation began in the sixties, at the same time however the originally dangerous and very effective techniques were reduced.Nowadays there are only a few masters who know about the original style and are able to teach it. The history of Escrima is very bloody. Escrima belonged to the daily struggle for survival of the poor population and the techniques became sophisticated and more and more effective. Only a few decades ago, the followers of different rivaling Escrima styles were combatting each other. They organized fights without any protective clothing. The fights had no rules and were practiced with a stick of hardwood with a length of sixty cm. A decision could only be that either one fighter gave up or was incapacitated.
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