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Philippines (1521 and 1844)

Ferdinand Magellan claimed the Philippines for Spain on Saturday, 16 March 1521, having sailed westwards from Seville across the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. As part of New Spain, the Philippines had its most important communication with Acapulco in Mexico, so it was on the eastern side of the IDL despite being on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. As a result, the Philippines was one day behind its Asian neighbours for 323 years, 9 months and 2 weeks from Saturday, 16 March 1521 (Julian Calendar) until Monday, 30 December 1844 (Gregorian Calendar).

After Mexico gained its independence from Spain on 27 September 1821, Philippine trade interests turned to Imperial China, the Dutch East Indies and adjacent areas, so the Philippines decided to join its Asian neighbours on the west side of the IDL. To advance the calendar by one day, on 16 August 1844 the then governor-general Narciso Claveria, ordered that Tuesday, 31 December 1844 should be removed from the calendar. Monday, 30 December 1844 was followed immediately by Wednesday, 1 January 1845. The change also applied to the other remaining Spanish colonies in the Pacific: the Caroline Islands, Guam, Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands and Palau as part of the Captaincy General of the Philippines. Western publications were generally unaware of this change until the early 1890s, so they erroneously gave the International Date Line a large western bulge for the next half century.