For hundreds of years, the Philippines' walled city of Intramuros was Manila: the Spanish settlement at the mouth of the Pasig River sat at a strategic location for trade and defense, and the settlers ruled their growing Philippine empire from within their settlement's walls.
Intramuros served as the main trading link between Spain and China; in exchange for silver mined from Spain's Southern American colonies, Chinese traders provided silks and other fine finished products, which the Spanish then loaded onto galleons for the long trip back to Acapulco.The Spanish colonizers defined their milieu by the walls that girded their fair city - Intramuros (within the walls) was where civilized (i.e. Spanish Catholic) folk lived, traded, and prayed; while outside the walls, out there lived barbarians and savages.