Jose Rizal is known as the hero of the Philippines and the largest champion of Flipino nationalism for independence. Raised by an upper-class family of 11 children, Rizal left the Philippines for Spain in order to finish his education. Through his extensive travels and studies, he mastered 22 languages and practiced various professions, including journalism and medicine. His first novel, Noli Me Tangere, was published in Berlin in 1887, to the ire of the Spanish civil and religious servants in the Philippines whom it satired. Its sequel, El Filibusterismo, further angered the Spanish authorities, and, when the revolution broke out in the Philippines, Rixal was captured and imprisoned for sedition and rebellion. Rizal was executed on December 30th, 1896, at the age of 35.