Etymology

Tradition holds that a Tagalog at a swamp on the south of the Pasig River was asked by a visitor, who was Miguel López de Legazpi, for the name of the place. As a result of the language barrier the question was misinterpreted, and the Tagalog pointed to the receding tide of the Pasig River, and he answered, "Makati, kumákáti na", ("Ebbing, the tide is ebbing").^[9]

History[edit]

Parts of the city were once subject to the pre-Hispanic Kingdom of Namayan, whose capital is now in the Santa Ana district ofManila. The Spanish then assigned the area to the town of Santa Ana de Sapa and in the 1600s^[10] began to be developed as a pilgrimage center around the churches of Our Lady of Guadalupe (now Our Lady of Grace) and of Saints Peter and Paul in what is today the población, built by missionary friars to attract worshippers, and also as a farming community. It became an independent municipality in 1670, and was christened San Pedro de Macati in honour of the town's patron, Saint Peter. The town was also famous for its pottery industry since the 18th century, with skilled potters trained by Jesuit priests.^{[citation needed]} Its strategic location also made it a pitstop for pilgrims, travelling by foot or boat, towards the shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage in Antipolo.

In 1851, Don José Bonifacio Roxas (an ancestor of the Zobel de Ayala family) purchased the Jesuit estate of "Hacienda de San Pedro de Macati" for 52,800 pesos.^[11] Since then, the development of Makati has remained linked with the Zóbel de Ayala familyand their company, Ayala Corporation.^[12]

The town was a cradle of Filipino passive resistance against Spanish colonial rule in the 1890s and the subsequent Philippine Revolution, with the participation of the local Katipunan council based in the area with Pio del Pilar, a local resident from the village of Culi-Culi, as its president.^{[citation needed]} Culi-Culi is now a barangay named in honour of Del Pilar.

American period[edit]

By 1898, Spain ceded the Philippines and other overseas possessions to the United States after the former's defeat in theSpanish–American War. In 1901, the Americans declared the whole area south of the Pasig River, including the town of San Pedro de Macati, down to Alabang in Muntinlupa, a US military reservation, thus establishing Fort McKinley (now Fort Bonifacio). That same year, the whole town, with a population of 25,000, was incorporated from Manila to the new province of Rizal, with Marcelino Magsaysay serving as the town president.^{[citation needed]} As the 1910s approached, the Meralco tranvia lines to Fort McKinley and to the western end of the town were built, opening transport lines for its residents and thus brought along potential investors who opened several businesses including the famous Santa Ana Cabaret at the terminus of the streetcar lines.

On February 28, 1914, the The Philippine Legislature passed Act 2390, shortening the name, San Pedro de Macati, to simply Makati. In the 1930s, the first airport in Luzon island, Nielsen Field, opened in what is now the Ayala Triangle, and the tracks of what is now the Philippine National Railways reached the town very early in the decade. During that same period, Santa Ana Park, the nation's second horse racing facility, opened to expectations from horse racing fans.^{[citation needed]}