Rizal had returned briefly to the islands in 1887, but because of the furor surrounding the appearance of Noli Me Téngere the previous year, he was advised by the governor to leave.

He had returned to Europe by way of Japan and North America to complete his second novel and an edition of Antonio de Morga's seventeenth-century work, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinos (History of the Philippine Islands).

The latter project stems from an ethnological interest in the cultural connections between the peoples of the pre-Spanish Philippines and those of the larger Malay region (including modern Malaysia and Indonesia) and the closely related political objective of encouraging national pride.

De Morga provides positive information about the islands' early inhabitants and reliable accounts of pre-Christian religion and social customs.