Philippine nationalist José Rizal is publicly executed on December 30, 1896 by the Spanish Colonial government enraging and uniting Filipinos against Spain. Rizal came from a prosperous family, was educated in Manila and at the University of Madrid.
A brilliant medical student, he became an ophthalmologist by profession. He was also a writer and a key member of the Filipino Propaganda Movement, which advocated political reforms for the colony under Spain, although he never advocated Philippine independence. The night before his execution he wrote “Último adiós” (“Last Farewell”), a masterpiece of 19th-century Spanish verse. More
