Conquistadores or Merchants? Spanish Settlers of Manila and their Aspirations towards China, 1565-1586
Abstract
From the initial phase of the colonization of the Philippines and the founding of Manila (1572), the Spaniards relied on the lucrative trade with China to sustain the colony and accumulate wealth rather than depend on the encomiendas, as was previously done in Central and South America.
It will be argued that the shift from land-control focused colonization to trade as the main means of profit caused social tensions among the Spanish settlers. These tensions were manifested in a series of plans for the invasion of China, composed by various officials in Manila in the 1570’s and the 1580’s, of which the most detailed is the plan of 1586.
Whereas the phenomenon of these plans was previously ignored or taken as a ridiculous example of Spanish folly and hubris, this paper suggests that by studying them we might learn about the way the Spaniards grasped themselves as a rising power in Asia, and also of their perception of China and its culture.
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About the Speaker
Omri Bassewitch Frenkel is a PhD candidate in the Department of
History and Classical Studies, McGill
University.