rizal second trip to europe summary

15 Nov The Travels of Rizal

Disillusioned with how Filipinos in the Philippines were regarded as second-class citizens in institutions of learning and elsewhere, the National Hero Jose Rizal left the country in May 1882 to pursue further studies abroad. He enrolled in a course in medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid in Spain. In June 1883, he traveled to France to observe how medicine was being practiced there.

After his three-month sojourn in France, Rizal returned to Madrid and thought about publishing a book that exposed the colonial relationship of Spain and the Philippines. This idea was realized in March 1887, with the publication of the novel Noli Me Tangere in Germany.

Rizal was actively involved in the Propaganda movement, composed of Filipinos in Spain who sought to direct the attention of Spaniards to the concerns of the Spanish colony in the Philippines. He wrote articles for publications in Manila and abroad; convened with overseas Filipinos to discuss their duty to the country; and called on Spanish authorities to institute reforms in the Philippines, such as granting freedom of the press and Filipino representation in the Spanish Cortes.

Rizal returned to Manila in August 1887, after five years in Europe. However, his homecoming was met by the friars’ furor over Noli Me Tangere . The Archbishop of Manila issued an order banning the possession and reading of the novel, an order that was later reinforced by the governor-general. Six months later, pressured by the Spanish authorities as well as by his family and friends to leave the country and avoid further persecution, Rizal left Manila for Hong Kong.

From Hong Kong, Rizal traveled to Macau and Japan before going to America. Entering San Francisco, California, in April 1888, he visited the states of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Illinois, and New York. He jotted down his observations of the landscape in his diary.

Rizal arrived in England in May 1888. In August, he was admitted to the British Museum, where he copied Antonio de Morga’s massive study of the Philippines, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas , which Rizal later annotated for publication “as a gift to the Filipinos.” In the museum he devoted his time reading all the sources on Philippine history that he could find. He kept up his correspondence with various people, including his family, who were being oppressed by the Spanish religious landowners; the Filipino patriots in Spain; and his Austrian friend, Ferdinand Blumentritt, with whom he planned to form an association of Philippine scholars. From 1888 to 1890 he shuttled between London and Paris, where he wrote ethnographic and history-related studies, as well as political articles. He also frequently visited Spain, where he met with fellow Filipino intellectuals like Marcelo H. del Pilar, Mariano Ponce, and Graciano Lopez-Jaena.

In March 1891, Rizal finished writing his second novel, El Filibusterism o, in France. He planned to publish the book in Belgium, but was financially hard up. His brother’s support from back home was delayed in coming, and he was scrimping on meals and expenses. Finally, in September 1890, El Filibusterismo was published in Ghent using donations from Rizal’s friends.

Meanwhile, a rivalry had ensued between Rizal and del Pilar over the leadership of the Asociación Hispano Filipino in Spain. Rizal decided to leave Europe to avoid the worsening rift between the Rizalistas and Pilaristas, and to help maintain unity among Filipino expatriates. After staying for some time in Hong Kong, where he practiced medicine and planned to build a “New Calamba” by relocating landless Filipinos to Borneo, Rizal came home to the Philippines in June 1892.

10 Comments

Jessa pepito

Hi ,good eve .can I use this information for my brother’s research?thank you ..

Filipinas Heritage Library

Sure. Please just cite accordingly. Thank you!

I think it was September 1891 when Jose Rizal published his second novel, El Filibusterismo. And also, thank you for the information! :)))

Edalyn Jude Egan

Hi, I was confused with the dates when he finished El Filibusterismo. It was stated that he finished it in March 1891, but it was published in September 1890? Is it also 1891? Thank you!

Greggo Dela Cruz

Good day can I use this info for my module?

Roel Camaso

hello! can I use this information for my subject research?

Raquel tacay

Can i get some of the information here for my assignment.?

Beverly Anos

Can i view Rizal’s sojourn abroad?

Can I have a research on rizal’s sojourn abroad?

Jessica ongog

Hi good afternoon ca i ask you a question about the comment of Jose Rizal in europe

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• Fast Facts about Jose Rizal
• Rizal’s Childhood
• Rizal In Ateneo
• Rizal in UST
• Rizal’s First Trip
• Rizal’s First Return to the Philippines
• Rizal’s Second Trip
• La Liga Filipina & Exile to Dapitan
• Hero’s Death
• The Rizal Law

In his 2 nd time of going to other places in the world, he went to Europe again for a while then went to Hongkong to practice his being a doctor of the eyes and to study Chinese. He also went to Japan and had a Japanese romance with a girl named Seiko Usui. He also studied Japanese when he was staying there. He started his novel called El Filibusterismo in Paris and continued it in Brussels. He wanted to go back to the Philippines but his family and friends did not approve of it. The police at that time saw a copy of the El Filibusterismo, Noli Me Tangere and other writings of La Salle which were against the Spanish. In his novels, he made the 2 top characters of the story himself. In El Filibusterismo he made Simoun which was a revolutionist and the students which were reformist. After I read his travels to other countries, I realized that  he was really a person who has a principle, loving his country and his family and always studying.

Written by: Danina Palafox

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Leave a comment cancel reply, rizal’s words of wisdom.

"He who does not love his own language is worse than an animal and smelly fish."

"Filipinos don't realize that victory is the child of struggle, that joy blossoms from suffering, and redemption is a product of sacrifice." (La Solidaridad)

"Without education and liberty, which are the soil and the sun of man, no reform is possible , no measure can give the result desired." (La Solidaridad)

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New docu on Rizal’s first trip to Europe marks National Hero’s 160th birthday

Little known aspects of Dr. Jose Rizal's first trip to Europe are revealed in the new documentary,  Finding Rizal in a Time of Barriers . The project began when former senator Loren Legarda toured Heidelberg and the small German town of Wilhelmsfeld in 2019 together with Dr. Fritz Hack Ullmer. Dr Ullmer is the great grandson of Pastor Karl Ullmer who hosted Rizal for three months in Wilhelmsfeld in 1886. The memories of that stay, as well as Rizal's correspondence and memorabilia, have since become part of the Ullmer family's legacy through three generations.

In the middle of production plans, the project came to a halt due to the pandemic. But with the perseverance of the Philippine Embassy in Berlin led by Ambassador Theresa de Vega and the Philippine Consulate General in Frankfurt, Germany, headed by Consul General Evelyn Austria Garcia, the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila and the Office of Deputy Speaker Legarda, the documentary took shape and was finished in time for the celebration of our national hero's 160th birthday this month.

Amidst the challenging circumstances, Legarda says she was inspired and uplifted by Rizal’s life. "Rizal lived in a time of barriers created by skin color, religion, political ideologies, and colonialism. Yet he broke through these barriers to affirm his humanity and his genius. His trip to Germany was marked by the completion of the  Noli Me Tángere . It was also on that first trip that he wrote the immortal poem,  A Las Flores De Heidelberg .”

Rizal was studying ophthalmology and was also being introduced to the academic circles of Berlin as a culture bearer for scientists and humanists like Blumentritt and Virchow. “His time in Wilhelmsfeld, though short, was marked by the friendship and acceptance of the Ullmer family, who treated him as a friend,” notes Legarda. “It was a challenging time for Rizal, but it was also a joyful and productive one."

For Floy Quintos, the award-winning playwright who gave the creative direction for the project, “the process of completing this documentary was our own way of coming to terms with the barriers that the pandemic had imposed on all of us."

Historians Ambeth Ocampo and Dr. Mila Guerrero annotated aspects of this significant journey of Rizal through Germany, giving context and meaning to the facts often regarded as mere trivia. But the documentary also becomes a more personal one through the voice of Dr. Fritz Hack Ullmer, who tenderly recounts the memories passed on to him by his grandfather, Friedrich, who was only fourteen at the time of Rizal's stay in their home.

“Hopefully, this documentary will open our own eyes to the admiration that other countries, like Germany, have for our national hero,” adds Legarda. “There are markers everywhere that trace Rizal's journey, streets, plazas named after him, markers that bear his name. As Filipinos, we should have that same appreciation for Rizal's genius and contributions to world culture.”

Legarda believes this story needs to come home, to be told in Rizal’s motherland. “It is so resonant for all of us whose lives have been changed by the pandemic. We draw inspiration from Rizal, a Filipino travelling through Europe in the late 19th century who overcame many obstacles,” Legarda continues. “In this documentary, that first trip of Rizal through Europe shows that while these obstacles were not easy to overcome, he gained knowledge of his own humanity and his limitless possibilities. He grew—as an intellectual, a scientist and doctor, as a human being in the company of other human beings who gave much value to his personhood and intellect much more. Hopefully, through Rizal’s story, we find the means to overcome the barriers that we face today."

Finding Rizal in a Time of Barriers  was conceptualized and envisioned by the 3-term Senator, now Deputy Speaker and Antique Congresswoman in collaboration with the Department of Foreign Affairs-Philippine Embassy in Berlin and Philippine Consulate General in Frankfurt. The documentary will air on the ABS-CBN News Channel on June 19, 2021, Saturday at 7:00pm (Manila time) with a simultaneous livestream on the ABS-CBN News YouTube channel and the Facebook Pages of the Department of Foreign Affairs, National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Office of Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda. It will have a replay on June 20, Sunday at 4:00pm (Manila time) on ANC.