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Spanish East Indies
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Spanish East Indies (Spanish: Indias Orientales Españolas), was a term used to describe Spanish territories in Asia-Pacific which lasted over three centuries (1565 to 1899). It encompassed the Philippine Islands (Las Islas Filipinas), and its dependencies including the Mariana Islands and the Caroline Islands, and for a period of time, parts of Formosa (Taiwan), Sabah, and parts of the Moluccas. Following the Spanish-American War in 1898, most of the islands were occupied by the United States while the remaining territories were sold to Germany during the German-Spanish Treaty of 1899.
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Spanish East Indies (Spanish: Indias Orientales Españolas), was a term used to describe Spanish territories in Asia-Pacific which lasted over three centuries (1565 to 1899). It encompassed the Philippine Islands (Las Islas Filipinas), and its dependencies including the Mariana Islands and the Caroline Islands, and for a period of time, parts of Formosa (Taiwan), Sabah, and parts of the Moluccas. Following the Spanish-American War in 1898, most of the islands were occupied by the United States while the remaining territories were sold to Germany during the German-Spanish Treaty of 1899. The king of Spain traditionally styled himself "King of the East and West Indies" (Rey de las Indias orientales y occidentales).
History
Exploration and Settlement (1521–1643)
Spanish contact began on March 6, 1521, when the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan reached the Mariana Islands. He named Guam "Isla de Ladrones" (Island of Thieves) because some of his supplies in the galleon Trinidad were stolen. Magellan's crew eventually left the island and reached the island of Homonhon in the Philippines on March 16, with only 150 crewmen. There, they met the indigenous peoples and were able to communicate with them because the Malayan interpreter, Enrique of Malacca, could understand the natives' language.
Seeking to develop trade between the East Indies, and the Americas across the Pacific Ocean, Antonio de Mendoza encouraged the exploration of Spain's new territories, as he commissioned the expedition of Ruy López de Villalobos to the Philippines in 1542-1543. Miguel López de Legazpi established the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines in 1565, which became the town of San Miguel. Andrés de Urdaneta discovered an efficient sailing route from the Philippines returning to Mexico. In 1570, the native city of Manila was conquered and trade links soon began in the Manila-Acapulco Galleons.
The Manila-Acapulco galleons shipped products gathered from both Asia-Pacific and the Americas, such as silk, spice, silver, gold and other Asian-Pacific islander products to Mexico. Products brought from Asia-Pacific were sent to Veracruz and shipped to Spain and, via trading, to the rest of Europe. While Spanish-Mexican colonist brought with them Spanish or indigenous Mexican customs, religion, languages, foods and cultural traditions to the Philippines, Guam and the Mariana Islands.
In 1606, the Spaniards established some form of trade links with the Maluku Islands and remained until 1663. Contacts with Japan were also established and Sebastián Vizcaíno was sent as ambassador in 1611, until Japan closed it's trading post in 1630. On the north eastern coastal region near Taiwan, the Spaniards built Fort Santo Domingo near Keelung in 1626 and a mission in Tan-shui in 1628, which they occupied until 1642. Several Pacific islands were visited by Spanish ships in the 16th century, including New Guinea (Yñigo Ortiz de Retez in 1545), the Solomon Islands (Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa in 1568) and the Marquesas Islands (Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira in 1595), but they made no effort to trade with or colonize them.
The last Spanish Habsburgs (1643–1713)
In 1668, Diego Luis de San Vitores established the first mission in the Mariana Islands.
The Bourbon period (1713–1898)
Spanish rule in the Philippines was briefly interrupted in 1762, when British troops captured the capital city of Manila during the Seven Years' War. The British, however, were unable to establish control over other areas of the Philippine Islands. Through the efforts of the Spanish lieutenant governor, Simón de Anda y Salazar, the remainder of the islands remained loyal to Spain. The British promised support for an uprising led first by Diego Silang and later by his wife Gabriela, but the British force never materialized. The city remained in British hands for 18 months and was given back to Spain in April 1764.
The Seven Years' War prompted Charles III to initiate extensive governmental reforms throughout the overseas possessions. An Intendencia was established in Manila in 1784 to handle the government finances and to promote the economy. (The plan to introduce more Intendancias throughout the Philippines did not materialize.) In a similar vein, to promote innovation and education among the residents of the islands, Governor-General José Basco y Vargas established the Economic Society of the Friends of the Country in 1781.
Colonial government
For over 256 years, the Spanish East Indies were governed by a governor-captain general, and an audiencia. The government of the Philippines were part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Therefore the government correspondence, in addition to commerce that included the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade, went through Mexico, rather than directly to Spain (with the exception of a short period at the end of the XVIII century), until the New Spanish Viceroyalty collapsed in 1821, following the Mexican War of Independence. The Spanish East Indies continued to be governed from Madrid, Spain, until the United States took control of Spanish territories in the Asia-Pacific region after the Spanish American War of 1898.
The Audiencia and Captaincy General
The Real Audiencia of Manila was the highest tribunal of the Crown of Castile in the East Indies. Its President was the Governor, and Captain General of the Philippines. These institutions were created by royal decree on May 5, 1583.
Law XI (Audiencia y Chancillería Real de Manila en las Filipinas) of Title XV (De las Audiencias y Chancillerias Reales de las Indias) of Book II of the Recopilación de Leyes de las Indias of 1680—which compiles the original decree and the one of May 25, 1596—describes the limits and functions of the Audiencia and its President.
In the city of Manila on the Island of Luzon, Head of the Philippines, shall reside another Royal Audiencia and Chancellery of ours, with a president, who shall be governor and captain general; four judges of civil cases [oidores], who will also be judges of criminal cases [alcaldes del crimen]; a crown attorney [fiscal]; a bailiff [alguacil mayor]; a lieutenant of the Gran Chancellor; and the other necessary ministers and officials; and which shall have for district said Island of Luzon, and the rest of the Philippines, the Archipelago of China, and its Mainland, discovered and to be discovered. And we order that the governor and captain general of said Islands and Provinces, and president of their Royal Audiencia, have exclusively the superior government of the entire district of said Audiencia in war and peace, and shall make provisions and favors in our Royal Name, which in conformity to the laws of this Compilation and the rest of the Kingdoms of Castile and the instructions and powers that We shall grant, he should and can do; and in gubernatorial matters and cases that shall arise, that are of importance, said president-governor should consult on them with the judges of said Audiencia, so that they give their consultive opinions, and having heard them, he should provide the most convenient to the service of God and ours and the peace and tranquility of said Province and Republic.
Territories
The Spanish East Indies came to be defined as:
- Las Islas Filipinas (today the Republic of the Philippines): Manila, Luzon, Visayas, Palawan, Balambangan Island, Northern Mindanao, Zamboanga, Basilan, Jolo, Palmas Islands, including isolated outposts in Keelung, Taiwan, and in the islands of Gilolo, Ternate, and Tidore in the Maluku Islands and Manado in Northern part of Sulawesi (formerly Celebes).
- Islas Carolinas (the Federated States of Micronesia)
- Islas Marianas (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Territory of Guam)
- Islas Palau (Republic of Palau)
The Spanish used several names that are not currently used. Gran Moluccas (Great Molluccas) for the island of Mindanao and Nueva Castilla (New Castile) for Luzon.
Spanish control over this area expanded slowly throughout the centuries. The Batanes Islands were conquered in the eighteenth century. The highlands of Luzon remained outside of Spanish control until the early nineteenth century, and the southernmost tip of Palawan, not until the late 1890s. The rest of Mindanao—aside from outposts in Northern Mindanao, Zamboanga, Cotabato, and the islands of Basilan and Jolo, the rest was only nominally under Spanish control, remaining fairly independent from direct Spanish administration under both the Sulu, and the Maguindanao sultanates, as well as a number of other Lumad tribes not affiliated with either. Similarly, Palau and the vast majority of the Caroline Islands were not governed by Spanish missions until the early nineteenth century.
Spanish cultural influence
Hispanic
Spain's influence on its former colonies in Asia-Pacific is significant and to this day, the majority of the people of the Philippines, Guam and the Mariana Islands belong to the Roman Catholic faith. Many of these people also use Spanish names and surnames, their languages have many Spanish loanwords, and their national cuisine has much Spanish or Mexican influence. These nations also have a small minority of descendants of Spanish and Latin American settlers, known as mestizos.
Filipino
A sizeable proportion of the current population of the Northern Marianas Islands (45-55%) and Guam (30-45%), as well as that of Palau (15-25%) is of Filipino descent. Some of the local peoples in the previously stated territories also use Filipino names and surnames (one example is the surname Pangelinan, which comes from the Filipino surname Pangilinan). The current Chamorro population is believed to be partly of Filipino descent, both through historic links before and during the Spanish rule, and in the present through transmigration.
Bibliography
- Cunningham, Charles Henry. The Audiencia in the Spanish Colonies as Illustrated by the Audiencia of Manila (1583-1800). Berkeley, University of California Press, 1919.
- Phelan, John Leddy. The Hispanization of the Philippines: Spanish Aims and Filipino Responses, 1565-1700. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1959.
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