Empresa de China

Spanish expansion across the Pacific came finally with the expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi and the discovery of the tornaviaje by his navigator Andrés de Urdaneta, which allowed to link the newly conquered Philippines to New Spain. Although the main goal was gaining access to the Asian spice trade, many of the expeditioners were fresh from the conquest of America and saw the archipelago as the first step to initiate the conquest of the nearby China.[5] As small contingents of Spaniards had been enough to kickstart the fall of the Aztec and Inca empires with native help, they believed the same scheme could be applied to China by securing the help of local Chinese, Japanese and Filipino allies.[6] Legazpi himself choose Manila over Cebú as the Spanish base of operations due to its closeness to the Chinese trade routes.[5]

Martín de Rada, missionary and cosmographer.

An early report was sent to Viceroy Martín Enríquez de Almanza by Martín de Rada, one of the first western ambassadors to mainland China, in 1569. After his visit to the country, Rada stated that, even if China was densely populated, its population was not warlike and depended heavily on their numbers and fortifications for defense, hence it would not be necessary to gather a large Spanish army to subdue them.[5][3] However, Rada advised for a campaign as peaceful as possible, based on persuasion and evangelization.[3]

In 1575, after the Battle of Manila against the Chinese pirate Limahong, the Spanish Empire and the Ming dynasty built diplomatic bridges. Martín de Rada was sent to Fujian as part of a delegation with the goal of negotiating a Spanish settlement in Chinese soil like the Portuguese Macau.[5] The project was fruitless, after which the governor of the Philippines, Francisco de Sande, opted to send letters to King Philip II proposing to attack China,[7] claiming that 4,000-6,000 soldiers would suffice and that the effort would be helped by the tyranny to which the Chinese were subjected.[5][6] However, Philip stated in 1577 that such plan was not convenient at the moment and ordered Sande to cultivate the Ming's friendship.[6] A similar suggestion reached Spain the following year by the hand of Diego García de Palacio, oídor of Guatemala, who proposed to begin a military route from Spain to the Philippines through Honduras, hoping to build a garrison strong enough to pacify the archipelago and make possible to take China as well. His plans were ignored.[5]

The Empresa de China received a religious and political push from the Manila Synode, and in particular of the controversial Jesuit and diplomat Alonzo Sánchez,[8][6] who visited the country in 1582 to confirm the loyalty of Macau after the dynastic union of Spain and Portugal.[8] Sánchez suffered and witnessed arrests by the Chinese authorities, who were angry at not having been properly informed of the union, and after his return the following year, he was of the belief that only through military force Christianity would thrive in China.[5][8]

Domingo de Salazar, missionary and bishop.

Sánchez returned in time to participate in the third council of the synod, in 1583, where he shared the possibility of a conquest with Bishop Domingo de Salazar and missionary Antonio Sedeño, helped by a state of the local economy bad enough to encourage the possibility of expansion.[5][8] Salazar brought to the table Francisco de Vitoria's thesis about just war, arguing that China had dealt enough abuse to Christians to justify a conflict. He collected reports that Chinese authorities were obstructing preaching activity, and also brought attestations from eight Spanish and Portuguese navigators mistreated in their contact with Chinese.[5][9][2] Salazar gave also strategic suggestions, proposing to draw the help of Japan through their local network of Portuguese Jesuits, as well as confiscating the Chinese merchant ships in Manila to fund the initial war effort. However, by carefully following Vitoria's theories, he considered it was soon to decide whether the conquest was legitimated or not.[10] The conclussions were contained in a document sent to King Philip.[11]

Adding to those plans, the superior of the Jesuitic mission in China, Francisco Cabral, informed that the domination of China would bring untold benefit of both material and spiritual nature, for which the existent Chinese imperial administration would be unvaluable once assimilated.[12] Based on his own experiences in Macau, he stated that the country was badly defended, and its population was prone to revolt against the mandarins that oppressed them, making it so that 10.000 Iberian soldiers would be enough for the invasion, joined by 2,000 Japanese soldiers he would recruit thanks to his order's contacts. He also offered himself as a spy to prepare the campaign, including also the services of Matteo Ricci and Michele Ruggieri.[13] Cabral believed the conquest would finish itself as soon as they captured the Wanli Emperor in Beijing.[2]

Konishi Yukinaga, Christian daimyo and admiral.

As the project advanced, the 1586 Memorial General of the Philippines included a document written by Sánchez, titled De la entrada de China en particular, where he collected an immensely detailed treatment of the conquest of China and the future government of the conquered lands.[5] The plan involved to gather an armada led by the governor of the Philippines, containing 10,000-12,000 Iberian soldiers, 6,000 Visayans and 5,000 Japanese recruited in Nagasaki, assisted by Jesuits due to their knowledge of the lands, and endowed with a purse of 200.000 pesos to strategically bribe mandarins and pay mercenaries. The assault would be two-pronged, with the Castilians invading China through Fujian and the Portuguese doing the same through Guangdong.[14][2] Ricci and Ruggieri would be previously recalled to serve as consultants and negotiators with the Chinese authorities,[15] and the submission of the latter would be surveyed under the Vitorian policies of preventing unnecessary violence and abuse of the civilian population.[16][2]

Once the country was subjected to Spanish control, they would proceed to its Christianization, founding encomiendas and nobiliary properties, and building Christian infrastructure like hospitals, universities and monasteries, helped by a plan of mestizaje that would promote interracial marriage between Iberian conquistadors and Chinese women.[16] Success would mean an enormous advance for the Hispanic universal monarchy, as a Spanish China would become an unvaluable base to extend their control across Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, lending forces to subdue and Christianize Cochinchina, Siam, Kampuchea, India, Borneo, Sumatra, Moluccas and other lands, to the point of making it possible to gather regional allies against the Ottoman Empire and opening an eastern front against it.[4]

1587 saw preparations for war in Manila, building fortifications under Sedeño's supervision and cramming weapons and supplies.[4][6] The same year, fortuitously, a Japanese delegation came from Hirado under the command of Konishi Yukinaga, a Japanese Christian and grand admiral of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, to offer 6,000 vassals and "all the people and soldiers [Spain] asked" to collaborate with any invasion against China, Borneo, Siam or Moluccas.[4][17]

José de Acosta, theologian and anthropologist.

Sánchez' and Salazar's project, however, found opposition in another Jesuitic current headed by Alessandro Valignano and Superior General Claudio Acquaviva, who saw the Empresa de China as an injustified violation of the Christian rule of evangelizing peacefully.[8] Portuguese Jesuits also saw it as a danger to their kingdom's economic interests.[2] When Sánchez sailed off to Spain in June 1586 in order to inform about the state of the Philippines, and secretly to address the realization of the Empresa, Acquaviva assigned him supervision under renowned theologian and historian José de Acosta, who was ordered to refute his philosophical bases. Acosta wrote an entire treaty utilizing Francisco de Vitoria's thesis to criticize the invasion of China.[18][5] The protests, added to Sánchez's own actions in New Spain, where he worked to stop a cadre of Dominican missionaries from reaching China in order not to have them obstructing the warring effort, ended up driving a wedge between Salazar and him.[5][19][20]

Sánchez could meet Philip II in December 1587 and, despite Acosta's presence, found the chance to send the king a copy of his document. His aspirations were successful and, as soon as the preparations of the Spanish Armada allowed it, Philip authorized the creation of an official Junta para la Empresa de China in March 1588.[21][22] The council was composed by the Consejo de Indias chairman Hernando de Vega y Fonseca, General Alonso de Vargas, Admiral Joan de Cardona i Requesens, royal secretaries Juan de Idiáquez y Olazábal and Cristóbal de Moura, inquisitor Pedro Moya and four members of the Castilian Council of War.[2] Its development, however, was interrupted by the news of the Armada's failure in August, in midst of new protests by Dominicans and Franciscans that believed the project endangered their own workings. Ultimately, royal interest for the Empresa waned for good.[23][22][3]

The new governor of the Philippines, Gómez Pérez das Mariñas, was chosen by Sánchez's suggestion, but he received explicit orders to avoid military conflict with China.[2]

The Moro Sulu Sultanate wanted to be incorporated with China as a protectorate to defend them against the Spanish, but ethnic Manchus like the Kangxi emperor were against fighting Spain and rejected it. Han Chinese threatened to invade the Spanish Philippines, killing Spanish governor generals including Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas and his son Luis Pérez Dasmariñas, Han southern Ming commander Koxinga and his son Zheng Jing threatened to invade the Spanish Philippines forcing Spain to lose their Maluku colony forever and with forcing Spain to withdraw from Mindanao's Zamboanga for decades. 4,000 Han joined the Moros to fight against the Spanish in the 18th century with Han merchants shipping guns to the Moros to fight against Spain in the late 19th century. Kangxi also rejected war against the Dutch East India company and he and many Manchus wanted to abandon Taiwan to the Dutch which was overruled by Han officials.

Manchus like the Qianlong emperor also refused to aid Javanese Muslims and Han Chinese Peranakan who were fighting against the Dutch East India company in the Java War (1741–1743). Han were selling rifles to Batak chiefs fighting against Dutch rule in the late 19th and early 20th century

Despite Koxinga's death stopping his planned invasion of the Spanish Philippines, Koxinga's son Zheng Jing forced Spain to pay tribute to him in Taiwan and forced Spain to grant him extrajudicial rights over the Chinese community in Manila and forbade the Spanish to proselytise their religion to Chinese, with the Spanish Governor General Manuel de León and Queen-Regent Mariana helpless and unable to resist his demands as Zheng Jing prepared his own invasion against the Spanish.[24] Zheng Jing also ridiculed and insulted Manchu religious practices.[25][26]

The Spanish garrison in Manila were in terrible condition and both the English and Dutch East India companies said that if Zheng Jing followed threw with his planned invasion in 1671 after monsoon season, he would have won.[27]

The Spanish declared that all Moros (Muslims), Armenian Oriental Orthodox Christians and pagan Chinese were enemies of the Holy (Catholic) faith and forced them to reside in the Parián ghetto in Manila.

In the Spanish Philippines, on July 27, 1713, the tribunal, acting in a legislative capacity, decreed that within thirty days “all Moros, Armenians, Malabars, Chinese and other enemies of the Holy Faith" should be lodged in the Parián when visiting Manila, or when living there temporarily for purposes of visit or trade. Penalties were also prescribed for the infraction of the above law.[28][29][30][31][32][33]

Gomez was killed by the 250 Chinese rowers he forced to row his galley in 1593.[34]

Chinese-Spanish friction began with the Chinese rebellion of P'an Ho Wu in 1593. In part the Ming Annals say:

In the eighth moon of the twenty-first year of the reign of Wan Li (1593), when the chieftain Lei Pi Li Mi Lao (Don Pérez Gómez Dasmariñas) undertook a raid on the Moluccas, he employed 250 Chinese to assist him in the combat. P'an Ho Wu was their lieutenant. The eavages (i. e., the Spaniards) lay down drowsy in the daytime and commanded the Chinese to row the galley: As they were somewhat lazy, they were suddenly beaten with a whip 80 severely that several of them died. Whereupon Ho Wu stirred up the fighting spirit of the Chinese in the following language: “Lot us revolt and die that way. Should we submit to being flogged to death or suffer any other such ignominious death? Should we not rather die in battle? Let us stab this chieftain to death and save our lives. If we are victorious, let us hoist the sails and return to our country. If we should succumb to be fettered, it will be time enough then to die."

After the assassination of the chieftain, the Chinese crew took possession of the ship and its valuables and proceeded to Annan. Lei Mao Lin (Don Luis Pérez Dasmariñas), the son of the deceased chieftain, immediately went to China to ask for indemnity for the murder of his father, but was disappointed.[35][36][37][38]

"In 1603 three Chinese mandarins arrived at Manila. They said they were sent by the emperor to investigate the report of a mountain of gold in Cavite. The Spaniards were distrustful. They suspected that these men had come to spy out the situation and fortifications of the city, and that the story of the mountain of gold was merely an excuse. So alarmed were the government officials that after the departure of the mandarins they took measures to improve the defenses. These preparations in turn aroused suspicion on the part of the Chinese in Manila, who feared that the Spaniards were about to massacre them. They rose in revolt. In Tondo and Quiapo they set fire to buildings and made terrible massacres. To put down the revolt, one hundred and thirty Spaniards under Luis Dasmariñas marched against the rebels, but were defeated and nearly all killed. Then the Chinese stormed the Walled City, but here they were repulsed and driven to San Pablo del Monte. At this place they were attacked by a large force of Spaniards and Filipinos, and twenty-three thousand of them perished in the fight."[39] "The Three Mandarins.-A strange thing happened in the year 1603, when Acuña was governor. 1 Three Chinese mandarins, as the great men of China are called, arrived in Manila. They wished to see if a mountain of gold existed in Cavite, as they had been told was the case. Acuña showed them that this was an idle tale so they went away. The Spaniards could not believe that the search for a mountain of gold was the real purpose of the mandarins. They thought these men wished to see if Manila could be captured. The Chinese in Manila now began to act strangely. Many of them went back and forth between the city and the country. The Spaniards fearing a plot began to threaten them. Then the Chinese became alarmed and planned to destroy the Spaniards. Chinese Revolt of 1603.—On the night of October 3, 1603, the entire Chinese population of Manila, nearly 25,000 in number, rose in revolt. They burned many houses in Quiapo, and killed many natives. There were few Spaniards in Manila. A force of one hundred and fifty men attacked the Chinese. All but four of the Spaniards were killed. At dawn, October 5th, the rebels attacked the walled city. The fight lasted several days. Every Spaniard, including the friars, armed himself and fought. It is said that Father Flores sat all day in a boat near the wall, firing two arquebuses, and killed many Chinese. Defeat of the Chinese.—Finally the Spaniards, with the aid of some Japanese and Pampangans, drove away the Chinese. They fled to the moun tains of San Pablo. Here a large force of Spaniards and Filipinos surrounded and besieged them. Hunger and attacks of the natives, who hated the Chinese, caused the death of about 23,000."[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]

A Threatened Invasion of the Philippines. — Exalted by his success against European arms, Koxinga resolved upon the conquest of the Philippines. He summoned to his service the Italian Dominican missionary, Ricci, who had been living in the province of Fukien, and in the spring of 1662 dispatched him as an ambassador to the governor of the Philippines to demand the submission of 'the archipelago.

Manila was thrown into a terrible panic by this demand, and indeed no such danger had threatened the Spanish in the Philippines since the invasion of Limahong. The Chinese conqueror had an innumerable army, and his armament, stores, and navy had been greatly augmented by the surrender of the Dutch. The Spaniards, however, were united on resistance. The governor, Don Sabiano Manrique de Lara, returned a defiant answer to Koxinga, and the most radical measures were adopted to place the colony in a state of defense.

More than all this, the Moluccas were forsaken, never again to be recovered by Spaniards; and the presidios of Zamboanga and Cuyo, which served as a kind of bridle on the Moros of Jolo and Mindanao, were abandoned. All Spanish troops were concentrated in Manila, fortifications were rebuilt, and the population waited anxiously for the attack. But the blow never fell.[49][50][51][52]

Koxinga, unable to communicate with the mainland of the Empire, turned his attention to the conquest of Formosa Island, at the time in the possession of the Dutch. According to Dutch accounts, the European settlers numbered about 600, with a garrison of 2,200. The Dutch artillery, stores and merchandise were valued at $8,000,000, and the Chinese, who attacked them under Koxinga, were about 100,000 strong. The settlement surrendered to the invaders' superior numbers, and Koxinga established himself as King of the Island. Koxinga had become acquainted with an Italian Dominican missionary named Vittorio Riccio, whom he created a Mandarin, and sent him as Ambussador to the Governor of the Philippines. Riccio therefore arrived in Manila in 1662, the bearer of Koxinga's despatches calling upon the Governor to pay tribute, under threat of the Colony being attacked by Koxinga if his demand were refused.

The position of Riccio as an European Friar and Ambassador of a Mongol adventurer was as awkward as it was novel. He was received with great honour in Manila, where he disembarked, and rode to the Government House in the full uniform of a Chinese envoy, through lines of troops drawn up to salute him as he passed. At the same time, letters from Formosa had also been received by the Chinese in Manila, and the Government at once accused them of conniving at rebellion.. All available forces were concentrated in the capital; and to increase the garrison, the Governor published a Decree, dated 6 May 1662, ordering the demolition of the forts of Zamboanga, Yligan (Mindanao Island), Calamianes and Ternate' (Moluccas).

The only provincial fort preserved was that of Surigao (then called Caraga), consequently in the south the Mussulmans became complete masters on land and at sea for half a year.

The troops in Manila numbered 100 cavalry and 8,000 infantry. Fortifications were raised, and redoubts were constructed in which to secrete the Treasury funds. When all the armament was in readiness, the Spaniards incited the Chinese to rebel, to afford a pretext for their massacre.

Two junk masters were seized, and the Chinese population was menaced; therefore they prepared for their own defence, and then opened the affray, for which the Government was secretly longing, by killing a Spaniard in the market place. Suddenly artillery fire was opened out on the Parian, and many of the peaceful Chinese traders, in their terror, harged themselves; many were drowned in the attempt to reach the canoes in which to get away to sea; some few did safely arrive in Formosa Island and joined Koxinga's camp, whilst others took to the mountains. Some 8,000 to 9,000 Chinese remained quiet, but ready for any event, when they were suddenly attacked by Spaniards and natives. The confusion was general, and the Chinese seemed to be gaining ground, therefore the Governor sent the Ambassador Riccio and a certain Fray Joseph de Madrid to parley with them. The Chinese accepted the terms offered by Riccio, who returned to the Governor, leaving Fray Joseph with the rebels, but when Riccio went back with a general pardon and a promise to restore the two junk masters, he found that they had beheaded the priest. A general carnage of the Mougols followed, and Juan de la Concepcion says that the original intention of the Spaniards was to kill every Chinaman, but that they desisted in view of the inconvenience which would have ensued from the want of tradesmen and mechanics. Therefore they made a virtue of a necessity, and graciously pardoned in the name of His Catholic Majesty all who laid down their arms.

From this date the Molucca Islands were definitely evacuated and abandoned by the Spaniards, although as many men and as much material and money had been employed in garrisons and conveyance of subsidies there as in the whole Philippine Colony up to that period.[53][54][55][56][57]

The Spanish constable in the Parian ghetto was killed by Chinese on 28 May 1686 and the Spanish governor was also targeted.[58][59]

The Sulu kingdoms were tributaries to the Ming dynasty and one Sulu king died in China during a tribute mission. After Spanish persecution against Chinese in Luzon, thousands of Chinese fled to Sulu and Sulu's Sultan Israel (1773-1778) was backed by 4,000 Chinese against the Spanish. Chinese participated in Sulu's war against western colonialists like the 5 March 1775 attack against the Balambagan British outpost which was led y the Chinese merchant Datu Teteng, and at the 19 December 1726 treaty between Spain and Sulu, the representative was the Chinese Ki Kuan. Many Chinese assimilated into Tausug-Sama people and Chinese surnames are found among them.[60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71] "About the time that Maj. Pitcairn heard at Lixing-ton-Concord the shot that was also heard around the world, an Englishman named Brun, with 4,000 Chinese who had been, by the British, expelled from Manila, joined the Jolo Moros under Datto Tetenz, and ravaged Cebu, harassing the oast as it had never been before."[72] " In 1642 Generals Corcuero and Almonte made peace with Corralat, but piratical depredations by the Moros continued; Chinese rebellions embarrassed the Spaniards, who evacuated many places, and many fights were chronicled between the Moro fleets of Praus and the Spanish fleets. The priests egged on the Spanish, and the Spanish King re-established, and then abandoned, many stations in Mindoro, Basilan Mindanao and Jolo. Treaties were made and unmade. Expeditions intended to be punitive were undertaken. The Tawi-Tawi Moros nearly captured Zamboanga. Engagements were constant with varying success until 1737. King Philip V. of Spain, pestered the Sultans of Jolo and Tomantaca (Mindanao) about not being Christians, but expeditions were as frequent as baptisms."[60][73][74][75][76][77][78][79]

Anda took what precautions were available to restrain the Moro pirates, but great difficulties arose in his way. Ali-Mudin, whom the English had restored to his sway in Joló, and his son Israel (in whose favor the father had abdicated) were friendly to the Spaniards, with many of their dattos; but another faction, led by Zalicaya, the commander of the Joloan armadas, favored the English, who had established themselves (1762) on the islet of Balambangan" in the Joló archipelago, which they had induced Bantilan to grant them; and the English were accused of endeavoring to incite the Joloans against the Spaniards by intrigue and bribery. Anda decided to send an expedition to make protest to the English against their occupation of this island, as being part of the Spanish territory, and entrusted this mission to an Italian officer named Giovanni Cencelly, who was then in command of one of the infantry regiments stationed at Manila; the latter sailed from Zamboanga December 30, 1773, bearing careful instructions as to his mode of procedure, and to avoid any hostilities with the English and maintain friendship with the Joloans. But Cencelly seems to have been quite destitute of tact or judgment, and even of loyalty to his governor; for he disobeyed his instructions, angered the Joloans, o who could hardly be restrained by Ali-Mudin from massacring the Spaniards, and at the end of three weeks was obliged to return to Zamboanga. He was on bad terms with the commandant there (Raimundo Español), and refused to render him any account of his proceedings at Joló; and he even tried to stir up a sedition among the Spanish troops against Español. The English gladly availed themselves of this unfortunate affair to strengthen their own position in Joló, stirring up the islanders against Spain and erecting new forts. Later, however, the English at Balambangan showed so much harshness and contempt for the Moro dattos (even putting one in the pillory) that the latter plotted to surprise and kill the intruders; and on March 5, 1775, this was accomplished, the English being all slain except the commandant and five others, who managed to escape to their ship in the harbor. The fort was seized by the Moros, who thus acquired great quantities of military supplies, arms, money, and food, with several vessels. Among this spoil were forty-five cannons and $24,000 in silver. Elated by this success, Tenteng, the chief mover of the enterprise, tried to secure Zamboanga by similar means; but the new commandant there, Juan Bayot, was on his guard, and the Moros were baffled. Teteng then went to Cebú, where he committed horrible ravages; and other raids of this sort were committed, the Spaniards being unable to check them for a long time. A letter written to the king by Anda in 1773 had asked for money to construct light armed vessels, and a royal order of January 27, 1776, commanded that 50,000 pesos be sent to Filipinas for this purpose. This money was employed by Anda's temporary successor, Pedro Sarrio, in the construction of a squadron of vintas, "vessels which, on account of their swiftness and exceedingly light draft, were more suitable for the pursuit of the pirates than the very heavy galleys; they were, besides, to carry pilots of the royal fleet to reconnoiter the coasts, draw plans of the ports, indicate the shoals and reefs, take soundings in the sea, etc." "The Datos at once feared the vengeance of the English, and declared Tenteng unworthy of the rights of a Joloan and an outlaw from the kingdom with all his followers. The Sultan wrote to the governor of Zamboanga, assuring him that neither himself nor the Datos had taken part in this transgression; and he asked the governor to send him the Curia filipica and the Empresas políticas of Saavedra, in order that he might be able to answer the charges which the English would make against him. (This sultan Israel had studied in the college of San José at Manila.)" Tenteng repaired to Joló with his booty and the captured English vessel; "these were arguments in his favor so convincing that he was at once admitted." He surrendered to the sultan all the military supplies, besides $2,000 in money, and divided the spoils with the other datos; they received him with the utmost enthusiasm, and raised the ban from his head. “About the year 1803, in which the squadron of General Alava returned to the Peninsula, the English again took possession of the island of Balanbangan; and it appears that they made endeavors to establish themselves in Joló, and were instigating the sultan and datos to go out and plunder the Visayas, telling the Joloans that they themselves only cared to seize Manila and the Acapulko galleon.

When the Chinese were expelled from Manila in 1758, many of them went to reside in Joló, where some 4,000 were found at the time of Cencelly's expedition; these took sides with the Joloans (Tausug Moros) against the Spaniards, and organized an armed troop to fight the latter.[80][81][82][83][77]

Pagan (non-Catholic, pure Han Chinese were expelled from Manila in 1755 and 1766, leaving only Chinese mestizo Catholics behind. Chinese mestizos made up a huge fraction of the Philippine population and took over the retail trade from the pure Chinese.[84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97]