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Historical Archaeology of Early Modern Colonialism in Asia-Pacific
University Press of Florida Florida A&M University, Tallahassee Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers Florida International University, Miami Florida State University, Tallahassee New College of Florida, Sarasota University of Central Florida, Orlando University of Florida, Gainesville University of North Florida, Jacksonville University of South Florida, Tampa University of West Florida, Pensacola
Also from the Editors Historical Archaeology of Early Modern Colonialism in Asia-Pacific: The Southwest Pacific and Oceanian Regions, edited by María Cruz Berrocal and Cheng-hwa Tsang
Historical Archaeology of Early Modern Colonialism in Asia-Pacific THE ASIA-PAC IFIC R EG I O N
Edited by María Cruz Berrocal and Cheng-hwa Tsang
University Press of Florida Gainesville / Tallahassee / Tampa / Boca Raton Pensacola / Orlando / Miami / Jacksonville / Ft. Myers / Sarasota
Copyright 2017 by María Cruz Berrocal and Cheng-hwa Tsang All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper This book may be available in an electronic edition. 22 21 20 19 18 17
6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Cruz Berrocal, María, editor. | Zang, Zhenhua, editor. Title: Historical archaeology of early modern colonialism in Asia-Pacific. the Asia-Pacific region / María Cruz Berrocal and Cheng-Hwa Tsang, Editors. Description: Gainesville : University Press of Florida, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017016673 | ISBN 9780813054766 (cloth) Subjects: LCSH: Nationalism—Pacific Area—History. | Nationalism—Southeast Asia— History. | Pacific Area—Colonization—History. | Southeast Asia—Colonization—History. Classification: LCC JV185 H57 2017 | DDC 995—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017016673 The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State University System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida State University, New College of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida. University Press of Florida 15 Northwest 15th Street Gainesville, FL 32611-2079 http://upress.ufl.edu
Contents
List of Figures vii List of Tables ix Notes for Readers xi Maps xiii Introduction: Understanding Early Modern Colonialism in Asia and the Pacific 1 María Cruz Berrocal and Cheng-hwa Tsang
1. Contesting Modes of Colonialism: The Southern Philippines in the Global Net of Asian, Islamic, and European Exchange and Colonialism in the Second Millennium CE 10 John A. Peterson
2. Maritime Trade in the Philippines during the Early Colonial Period (Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries CE) 29 Bobby C. Orillaneda
3. The Impact of the First Conquest on the Indigenous Populations of the Philippines (Sixteenth through Eighteenth Centuries) 60 Miguel Luque-Talaván
4. European Ceramics in the Spanish Philippines: Insights from the University of Michigan Philippine Expedition of 1922–1925 92 Russell K. Skowronek
5. The Power of Images in the Boxer Codex and Cultural Convergence in Early Spanish Manila 118 Ellen Hsieh
6. The Discovery of Spanish Colonial Coins from the Sixteenth through the Eighteenth Centuries in the Southeast Coast of China 146 Miao Liu and Chunming Wu
7. A Geographic Analysis of Traders and Trade Goods in Japan’s Late Medieval Seto Inland Sea 162 Michelle M. Damian
8. The Trade Networks of Japanese Porcelain in the Asia-Pacific Region 186 Takenori Nogami
9. Colonialism in Vietnam and Southeast Asia in the Late Pre-European Period 219 Mark Staniforth and Jun Kimura
List of Contributors 241 Index 245
Figures
1.1. Major trading areas ca. the third century CE to 1600 CE 11 1.2. Butuan boats mapped in relict channel 20 1.3. Agusan River, active channel in center 21 1.4. Boat 4 22 2.1. The Manila galleon shipwreck sites 36 2.2. Excavation on the San Diego shipwreck 40 2.3. The San Diego astrolabe 41 2.4. Photomosaic of the Nuestra Señora de la Vida keel 42 2.5. Large stoneware jars from the Sawankhalok kilns 46 2.6. Excavation of the San Isidro shipwreck site 47 2.7. Chinese porcelain from the Marinduque site 50 3.1. Mapa de las “Tierras Altas” 69 4.1. Map of the Philippines 93 4.2. Carl Eugen Guthe 97 4.3. Late Style “B” or Form II Olive Jars 101 4.4. Stoneware 103 4.5. Jugs 105 4.6. English-made ceramics 107 4.7. English-made “Flow Blue” ceramics 108 4.8. Dutch- and Scottish-made ceramics 109 4.9. White salt-glazed stoneware pitcher with molded floral motif 110 4.10. “Relish dish” circa 1890 111 5.1. The Spanish and the Ladrones 122 5.2. The Ladrones 122 5.3. The Bisayans 124 5.4. The Naturales 126 5.5. The Siamese 128 5.6. The Sangleyes 129 5.7. Chinese deities 130
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5.8. 5.9. 5.10. 5.11. 6.1. 6.2. 6.3. 6.4. 6.5. 6.6. 6.7. 7.1. 7.2. 7.3. 7.4. 7.5. 8.1. 8.2. 8.3. 8.4. 8.5. 8.6. 8.7. 8.8. 9.1. 9.2. 9.3. 9.4. 9.5. 9.6.
Fantastic creatures 130 Realistic animals 131 Locations of the illustrations of the Boxer Codex 133 The Javanese 135 Shield-type cob coin 147 Pillars-and-waves-type cob coin 147 Milled pillar coin 148 Cob coin excavated from Shishan 150 Cob coin excavated from Shishan 151 Milled pillar coin excavated from Chikan 153 Distribution map of the Spanish colonial coins found in the southeast coast of China 156 Iron shipments in the Register and archaeological iron sites 169 Pottery in the Register and archaeological sites 170 Ports affiliated with Hyōe Tarō and his extended network 175 Map showing disputed port sites and potential locations 178 Map of medieval Japanese provinces 179 Map of the galleon trade route and places mentioned in the text 187 Map of Japan and Hizen area, with Saga and Nagasaki prefectures at present 188 The main types and techniques of Japanese porcelain 190 Porcelain excavated in Nagasaki, Tainan area, and Macao 191 Japanese porcelain excavated in Manila 195 Japanese porcelain excavated in Cebu Island 201 Japanese porcelain excavated in Mexico City 204 Japanese porcelain excavated in Oaxaca, Veracruz, La Antigua and La Habana 208 Disarticulated ship timbers 224 Earliest known Goryeo dynasty’s coastal trader 226 A stone anchor stock 228 The early-fourteenth-century (Yuan dynasty) trading vessel known as the Shinan ship 230 Remains of the stone walls in Hakata Bay 233 Excavated wooden stakes 235
Tables
1.1. Radiocarbon ages from Butuan Boats 1, 2, 4, 5, and 9 23 4.1. Guthe collection sites with European ceramics 99 7.1. Hyōe Tarō boats and networks 176 8.1. Catalog of Japanese porcelain found in Nagasaki 193 8.2. Catalog of Japanese porcelain found in Taiwan 194 8.3. Catalog of Japanese porcelain found in Macao 197 8.4. Catalog of Japanese porcelain found in Manila 199 8.5. Catalog of Japanese porcelain found in Cebu 203 8.6. Catalog of Japanese porcelain found in Mexico City 205 8.7. Catalog of Japanese porcelain found in Oaxaca 207 8.8. Catalog of Japanese porcelain found in Veracruz 209 8.9. Catalog of Japanese porcelain found in La Antigua, Guatemala 211 8.10. Catalog of Japanese porcelain found in La Habana 212
Notes for Readers
Since the Chinese dynasties and chronologies are widely referred to in the text, we list them here: Tang 618–907 CE Song, 960–1271 CE Yuan, 1271–1368 CE Ming, 1368–1644 CE Qing, 1644–1911 CE We have used the Spanish names of historical figures (e.g., Legazpi, not Legaspi; Fernando de Magallanes, not Magellan, the English translation from the Spanish name), because the English spellings tend to be more heterogeneous (e.g., Magellan, Magellanes). We have used the English translations of the Spanish original names of this country’s monarchs, well established in the literature. Their chronological order is as follows: Catholic Monarchs, 1475–1504, 1507–1516 Charles I of Spain and V of Germany, 1516–1556 Philip II, 1556–1598 Philip III, 1598–1621 Philip IV, 1621–1665 Charles II, 1665–1700 Philip V, 1700–1746 (he was the first Bourbon) Ferdinand VI, 1746–1759 Charles III, 1759–1788 Charles IV, 1788–1808 Ferdinand VII, 1808, 1813–1833 Also widely used in the texts are works from different religious writers. Their affiliations are abbreviated as follows: OFM, Order of Friars Minor; OP, Order of Preachers; OSA, Order of Saint Augustine; SJ, Society of Jesus; MMB,
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Mercedarian Missionary Sisters of Bérriz; OMZ, Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The mention of chronologies follows standard BCE (Before Current Era), CE (Current Era), BP (Before Present) notations. For the romanization of Chinese and Japanese characters pinyin and romaji, respectively, have been used.
Maps
Maps courtesy of María Sebastián López.
Locations in the Southwest Pacific and Oceanian regions.
Detail of Mariana Islands.
Detail of coastal China.
Detail of Philippine Islands.
Detail of Japanese provinces.
Introduction Understanding Early Modern Colonialism in Asia and the Pacific
María Cruz Berrocal and Cheng-hwa Tsang
The history of Asia-Pacific since 1500 CE has traditionally been told as one of stagnation and decline resulting from the superior regional power of Europeans, allegedly establishing themselves, capitalism, and political and economic domination from the time of their arrival, and opening the era of “the Rise of the West.” In the last decades, scholars (e.g., Abu-Lughod 1989; Blaut 1993; Frank 1998) have been correcting the academic paradigm that placed Europe as the key player in the formation of a globalized, capitalist world, based on a social theory that conceived this continent as an exceptional historical agent at the core of a world-system to which, from the sixteenth century, the rest of the planet became merely peripheral. Slowly but surely, this Europe-centered understanding of world history has been receding, and ever earlier worldsystems have been defined in Asia (e.g., Abu-Lughod 1989), while attention has been paid in particular to China’s economy (e.g., Flynn and Giráldez 1995; Frank 1998; Hamashita 1988). The relevance of this task can hardly be overemphasized: a decentralized global history is being delineated, and the mechanisms by which European colonialism managed eventually to adapt existing “world-economies” and resources to raise a truly global, thriving, and exploitative economy must be made clearer. The Asia-Pacific region deserves a place in global history as a key player before Europeans landed there, but also after— effectively until the nineteenth century—such a comparatively tiny event, if we attend to Frank’s (1998) arguments. A sound, decentralized, inclusive, and “ecumenical” scholarship (see Bentley 2005), truly understanding how the intersection between local and global processes affected the world since the beginnings of the early modern period, is a worthy endeavour, in which this
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current work finds its primary rationale. We have brought together case studies in Vanuatu, the Marianas, the Philippines, Taiwan, China, Vietnam, and Japan, as well as a comparative perspective to frame the region and the topic, and each case study highlights different aspects in the colonial relationship. The project is composed of two companion volumes organized by geographical criteria: this volume, Historical Archaeology of Early Modern Colonialism in Asia-Pacific: The Asia-Pacific Region, and the other, Historical Archaeology of Early Modern Colonialism in Asia-Pacific: The Southwest Pacific and Oceanian Regions. First, we acknowledge that historical agents unrelated to northern Europe have been neglected, including Chinese and Japanese, but also European (see chapter by Cruz Berrocal in the companion volume). We are referring, maybe somewhat surprisingly for some readers, to Iberians—in particular on the Pacific side of the Asia-Pacific equation, and Dutch (Sand, companion volume). Thus, in this region not only have the “colonized,” the natives, the locals, and the subaltern peoples been neglected, but also colonial agents not belonging to Anglo-French imperial orbits in the eighteenth century have been left behind. It is difficult to determine whether this historiographic oversight is due to prejudice against the historical agents or against the region itself. Oceania at large and most areas in Asia-Pacific—probably with the exception of some spots such as Manila—are deemed to exist for global history only since 1768, even for authors who dismiss received views (e.g., Frank 1998; Cruz Berrocal, companion volume). The Pacific is, to begin with, too large a region to disregard: a region where America, Europe, and Asia meet, “closing” the world for the first time. Many phenomena that took place in other regions of the world and which are thought to have shaped it since the early modern period were probably taking place in the Pacific (as well as in Asia-Pacific) at roughly the same time: the spread of plants, consumption of commodities such as tobacco, demographic problems, and the spread of disease. Although research in this regard is still scarce, we contend that both to understand the world since the early modern period and to understand colonialism in its full-fledged implications, it is not acceptable to continue leaving the Pacific out of the picture until the eighteenth century. Our case studies illustrate different trajectories followed by different Pacific archipelagos that hold similarities and dissimilarities and historical specificities among them and with other continental areas. This knowledge will help us to enrich our common history and teach us the many forms that social change and economic exploitation have adopted in the history of colonialism and capitalism. Second, we believe that a combination of archaeology and archival search
Introduction
can bring light to well-studied yet paradoxically still-darkened areas. A traditional landmark in understanding the inception of global trade is the 250 years of activity of the Manila Galleon, the trade route between Manila and Acapulco that began in 1565 CE and involved ships crossing the Pacific Ocean at least twice a year, thus constituting a structuring vector of the three-way trade flows among Spain, its overseas domains in the Americas, and the AsiaPacific region. It is considered the first actual globe-spanning connection with significant repercussions in local lifestyles around different parts of the globe. The Manila Galleon trade is a fine illustration of the mutual interdependence of the global and the local. However, while this role is acknowledged, there is indeed very poor evidence of how global and local were actually articulated through the Galleon. Indeed, as the early modern world is steadily treated as the world in which “connectedness” of all societies began and grew, material evidence of this connectedness is strangely lacking (Frank 1998; Strathern 2012:132). To understand the Manila Galleon, it is also necessary to understand the configuration of preexisting and parallel trade networks in AsiaPacific at a regional and local scale. Chapters by Damian and Nogami in this volume, among others, do exactly that. Moreover, the Manila Galleon is emblematic of global commerce because of its silver trade (Giráldez 2015): it has been demonstrated, even if contested by Eurocentric advocates, that Chinese demand for American silver, extracted and transported by Europeans acting as simple middlemen, completely transformed the world economy (e.g., Flynn and Giráldez 1995; Frank 1998). Thus, agreement on the importance of the role of big powers in Asia (China, Japan) in the core region of global encounter, and not only of often-mentioned European entrepôts, has strengthened in the last decades. Interestingly, however, the evidence that China was a “sink of silver” has not been enough to convince everybody, and debate shifted to the role of silver in China as an object of hoarding or as circulating currency (Frank 1998:153). Archaeology has something to say here: the chapter by Liao and Wu (in this volume) shows the evidence so far in China for hoarding—interestingly, coins were hoarded at much later times than produced, after a life of intense use and reuse. While much of the economic debate still focuses on official numbers, unofficial numbers are also acknowledged as fundamental: much of this trade was small scale, illegal, and diversified among a number of departure points. This is normally called smuggling, which brings to the fore first the important role that archaeology has to play when economic transactions took place out of the reach of established colonial posts and written records (e.g., Junco 2011), and second, the relevance of “peripheral” areas in the regional trade networks
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within Asia-Pacific. It also suggests the possibility of global-regional-local articulation operating through ships at sea. And it clearly shows that silver not only transformed the global economy in the seventeenth century; it also potentially impacted local state and non-state economies (see chapters by Bayman, Coello de la Rosa, Dixon et al., Heylen, and Quimby, in the companion volume, and Peterson and Luque-Talaván, in this volume). Third, many different European agents had a presence in Asia-Pacific (see, in this volume and the companion, chapters by Bayman, Bedford et al., Coello de la Rosa, Cruz Berrocal, Heylen, Hsieh, Luque-Talaván, Quimby, and Skowronek). In a sense, Taiwan can almost synthesize the colonial run in terms of actors and times: Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, English, French, Japanese (and lately, U.S. influence). The Portuguese and Spanish arrived in the region following opposite routes: the Portuguese arrived in India in 1498 and gradually increased their power after gaining the strategic Malacca in 1511, into Siam (Thailand), and above all, into the Moluccas. Here they engaged in conflict with the Spanish after the latter set foot in the Philippines in 1521 and started their expansion into Southeast Asia and the Pacific, following on occasion in the steps of the Portuguese, who in 1525 reached the Caroline Islands. Both nations fought for hegemony during the sixteenth century in Southeast Asia (in particular in Cambodia), but also in China and Japan. Since 1513 Portuguese contacts in China increased and led in 1557 to the establishment of the Macao factory, while in Japan commerce began by the mid-sixteenth century, and there was a growing presence of missionaries well into the eighteenth century. The English created the East India Company in 1600, and the Dutch East India Company was set up in 1602, both trying to break the Portuguese and Spanish control of the trade between China and Japan. But the English presence in the region was fairly limited until the eighteenth century, in spite of their attempted cooperation with the Dutch, which ended with the Amboina massacre in 1623 and the confinement of the English to India until the eighteenth century (with renewed incursions toward the East; see Heylen, companion volume). The French were official latecomers to the region, starting with the colonization of Vietnam in 1874, although French missionaries had been present since the eighteenth century, and France tried to expand into the East, among other things reconquering the former Spanish and Dutch colonial grounds in northern Taiwan and Penghu at the end of the nineteenth century. Finally, German, Japanese, and American colonialism started late, in the nineteenth century, the last mostly taking over Spanish possessions. Against this dense and well-known scenario, all of our case studies highlight the part played by the local peoples in making their own history, emphasizing
Introduction
the local role even when Europeans are the main focus (as in Luque-Talaván, this volume), by showing how even in “successful” conquest processes the indigenous peoples (or rather certain social groups among them) had the last word by accepting the co-opting of their social structures and the overlapping of some other layers (central government, church—see especially chapters by Quimby and Coello de la Rosa, companion volume) when it was beneficial to them, and resisting when it was not (the chapter by Heylen, companion volume, includes a contemporary reflection in Taiwan, where Taiwanese natives themselves shaped their future in the past and aim to do the same in the future, under adverse political circumstances that recently, however, have started to change). It is made clear how the role of the local populations for success/failure was key. The contrast between Vanuatu and Southeast Asia is telling: with equally weak demographic contingents, the Spanish were able to settle down in the Philippines and not in Vanuatu (chapters by Flexner and Spriggs and Bedford et al., companion volume). It is true that the Spanish expectations about Oceania decreased after 1565 and practically stopped after 1606 until the eighteenth century, but other reasons are more important. In Southeast Asia, Chinese, Japanese, and other traders had created fertile grounds: a basic infrastructure of exchange with the local peoples that the Europeans were able to appropriate (not only the Spanish, but the Portuguese and others too). The Spanish displaced the Muslim community but sponsored the Chinese (chapters by Peterson and Hsieh, in this volume). It was often the previous presence of the Chinese and Japanese trade communities that allowed Europeans to settle down successfully, as in the Philippines, Batavia, Macao, and Taiwan. Indeed, the Chinese are one of the earliest “colonial” agents in all of Southeast Asia, as seen in texts and archaeological remains (Finlay 2010; Mijares and Jago-on 2001; Stark and Allen 1998). In Taiwan the evidence is still variable (e.g., Tsang 2010; apparently attested for P’eng-hu as early as the ninth to tenth century CE, Tsang 1992:296–297; see Liu and Wang, companion volume). Our own research in Heping Dao, northern Taiwan (Cruz Berrocal 2016) since the year 2011 begins to yield data of temporary Chinese settlements in the area before the arrival of Europeans. Not only that, but in Taiwan demand for porcelain was apparently rising before European arrival, until at least temporary European absorption of the trade stopped the trend. In turn, a European presence seems to have acted as a pole of attraction for Chinese and even Taiwanese and, later on, the European colonies may have had a role in the interest of Koxinga in Taiwan. Indeed, references to Taiwan in the Chinese texts are scarce until the seventeenth century. Taiwan had never been part of China until the Qing partially incorporated it.
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Lack of official backing did not impede individual enterprise, even as far as the Caroline Islands, for which there is still unsystematic evidence of contact in the seventh century, and possibly in the Marianas, where contact seems attested. In a sense, “glocalization” (Cruz Berrocal 2016) was really in the hands of now-forgotten agents in marginal outposts. The material evidence for this pre-European contact situation has not yet been systematically collected in order to fully acknowledge this agency and prepare the ground for a historical study on European colonialism and its roots. In fact, it seems that European dependency on these local networks may have been key throughout the colonial period up to and until the nineteenth century. Fourth, the book aims to combine the perspectives of both historians and archaeologists to find common ground for debate and innovation. The work of archaeologists begins where the historian’s normally stops: as mentioned above, archaeological arguments are often lacking in discussions by economists (see Frank 1998). Terrestrial and maritime archaeology gives valuable sources in the discussion about regional power in Asia-Pacific or early global trade (chapters in this volume of the present work by Peterson, Orillaneda, Liao and Wu, Staniforth and Kimura, and Damian). As an important corollary, we join in Staniforth and Kimura’s denunciation of the (unfortunately very widespread) case of underwater archaeology in Asia: scientific excavations that replace private ventures are urgently needed. Like the colonial endeavours in the region, this book is a melting pot of traditions, goals, sources (material culture, texts, ethnography), and ways of writing: although not a rule, Eastern scholars are keen on exhaustive formal descriptions, while Western authors tend to be more holistic in their approach. We have respected different styles and writing, within the margins imposed by English (see Acknowledgments). We believe that the potential challenges that this may create are outweighed by the multiplicity and richness of the points of view brought together in the book. The multinational scholarship in these volumes tends to turn around the traditional coloniality of research in the region (clearly shown in the chapter by Skowronek in this volume), with the shared objective of assembling a picture of what was happening in the region before, during, and in some cases after the Europeans’ arrival, with a long-term perspective that allows for eventual comparative views of colonial/imperial administrations. In all cases it is evident that local dynamic processes and active entrepreneurship created a niche for Europeans who profitably appropriated the preexisting domestic trade networks for their own benefit. Some imbalance results from the fact that some areas have been better
Introduction
studied than others (e.g., for Marianas), albeit from different perspectives, as well as from a predominant Western approach despite our efforts and the background of the previous meetings that lie at the heart of this project: some papers were originally presented in conference sessions (see acknowledgments), although others have been directly commissioned for this book. In spite of this, we are aware of important voids in our compilation, such as the Portuguese and most of Southeast Asia research. Filling these voids would have meant a third and fourth volume, something not available to us. The present work is a contribution to a historical archaeology of early colonialism in the Pacific and Asia-Pacific regions that brings together varying perspectives from experienced researchers in the area who frame a post-Eurocentric approach, revolving around local and regional dynamics. We have gathered little systematic or previously accessible data, and we bring a variety of research normally not available in English. The two volumes offer comprehensive histories of particular places that will give the reader a good overview of the topic. And we hope to have raised thought-provoking questions to be asked by future research.
Acknowledgments This book started to take shape when Cruz Berrocal was in Taiwan as a recipient of the Taiwan Fellowship granted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan, in 2013. At that time she was still a researcher of the Spanish National Research Council, and received funding from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (HAR2011–16017-E, Acciones Complementarias program). This book has been finished thanks to this funding (especially for the English revision) and to her current position as a Research Fellow supported by the EU FP7 Marie Curie Zukunftskolleg Incoming Fellowship Programme, University of Konstanz (grant no. 291784) and the Zukunftskolleg’s generosity in all aspects. These sources also funded Cruz Berrocal’s attendance and organization of sessions at the 2013 SAA 78th Annual Meeting, Honolulu; 2014 Society for Historical Archaeology Conference, Quebec City; and 2014 APCONF Honolulu. The two sessions in 2014 were organized jointly by her and Prof. Mark Staniforth, who encouraged the birth of this book. For Cruz Berrocal and Tsang’s joint work on the book and in our investigations, we must thank the Chiang ChingKuo Foundation (Taiwan), which funded our research project in Heping Dao, northern Taiwan (project “Taiwan in the 17th Century: Archaeology of Early Colonialism and the
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Beginnings of Globalization,” Chiang ChingKuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, Taiwan [2013–2016]). The Zukunftskolleg, Universität Konstanz, kindly supported the editors with the funding necessary to proofread and index the volumes, through the EU FP7 Marie Curie Zukunftskolleg Incoming Fellowship Programme, University of Konstanz (grant no. 291784). We thank our English editor, Aphrodite Chanter, for thoroughly revising the language while respecting the authors’ idiosyncrasies as much as possible. We would also like to thank Meredith Babb, Eleanor Deumens, Lisa Williams, and the rest of the staff at the University Press of Florida.
References Abu-Lughod, Janet 1989 Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250–1350. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Bentley, Jerry H. 2005 Myths, Wagers, and Some Moral Implications of World History. Journal of World History 16(1):51–82. Blaut, James M. 1993 The Colonizer’s Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History. Guilford, New York. Cruz Berrocal, María 2016 Ilha Formosa, 17th Century: Archaeology in Small Islands, History of Global Processes. In Archaeologies of Early Modern Spanish Colonialism, edited by Sandra Montón-Subías, María Cruz Berrocal, and Apen Ruiz, pp. 281–302. Springer, New York. Finlay, Robert 2010 The Pilgrim Art: Cultures of Porcelain in World History. University of California Press, Berkeley. Flynn, Dennis O., and Arturo Giráldez 1995 Born with a “Silver Spoon”: The Origin of World Trade in 1571. Journal of World History 6(2):201–221. Frank, Andrew G. 1998 ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age. University of California Press, Berkeley. Giráldez, Arturo 2015 The Age of Trade: The Manila Galleons and the Dawn of the Global Economy. Rowman & Littlefield, London. Hamashita, Takeshi 1988 The Tribute Trade System and Modern Asia. The Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko 46:7–25.
Introduction
Junco, Roberto 2011 The Archaeology of Manila Galleons—Poster. Collection Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Proceedings, November 2011, the MUA Collection. Electronic document, http://www.themua.org/collections/items/show/1535, accessed May 29 2012). Mijares, Armand S. B., and S. Clyde B. Jago-on 2001 Archaeological Survey of Itbayat Island, Batanes Province, Northern Philippines. Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society 29:296–308. Stark, Miriam, and S. Jane Allen 1998 The Transition to History in Southeast Asia: An Introduction. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 2(3):163–174. Strathern, Alan 2012 Review of Strange Parallels: Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800–1830. Vol. 2: Mainland Mirrors: Europe, Japan, China, South Asia, and the Islands. Journal of Global History 7:129–142. Tsang, Cheng-hwa 1992 Archaeology of the P’eng-hu Islands. Special Publications 95. Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taipei. 2010 The Prehistoric Residents in Shihsanhang. Hsi-Wei Chou, Taipei.
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1 Contesting Modes of Colonialism The Southern Philippines in the Global Net of Asian, Islamic, and European Exchange and Colonialism in the Second Millennium CE
John A. Peterson
Introduction Global penetration into Southeast and Island Southeast Asia followed an arc from China to India deep into what is now Indonesia to the eastern ports of Ternate and Tidore, rich with spices and tropical products. This exchange expanded and changed over the past 2,000 years to embrace the major world religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity and had powerful impacts on trade and culture in the region. However, much of the far eastern zone that included what is now the Philippines lay at the edge of these various world powers and religions. Peoples there adopted and localized foreign hegemonic culture but retained a fiercely independent and resilient indigenous culture. In this overview of the major trends, we situate the southern Philippines trading center of Butuan, and how it thrived but culturally survived at the edge of empires. World markets have sought the spices and aromatic woods of tropical Island Southeast Asia since the Roman era in the first and second centuries CE. As trade developed through India to the west and China to the northeast, the nexus of kingdoms, nations, and world religions was through the Straits of Melaka between what is now Malaysia and Indonesia. The source of cloves, peppers, and nutmeg was in the far eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago in Ternate and Tidore, small settlements off Halmahera, where exotic spices were products of the high biodiversity of the region. Sandalwood and camphor were traded from Sumatra and Java, and early Roman, Indian, and
Contesting Modes of Colonialism
Chinese traders sought these items. In return they traded glass beads from India and, over the next two millennia, porcelain ceramics, silk, gold, and silver. Kingdoms and states forming in the region brokered this trade from its source. In the first millennium CE, the Srivijayan kingdom at the straits controlled trade in the region as a maritime power; following the eleventh century, at its decline, the Majapahit kingdom of Java, with centers in both
Figure 1.1. Major trading areas ca. third century CE to 1600 CE. Adapted from Ptak (1999:III:41), figure by J. Schaefer.
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western and eastern Java, emerged as a powerful trading node with coastal entrepôts that exchanged rice to the food-poor eastern islands in exchange for spices in down-the-line trading through the Lesser Sundas (Gunn 2011; Hall 1985; Heng 2009) (Figure 1.1). The Mongolian navy destroyed the Javanese fleet in an invasion in 1292, and Majapahit declined until by the early fifteenth century, maritime trade in the region had begun to shift to a northern route, rather than along the Indonesian archipelago. The spread of Islam in Island Southeast Asia began in the coastal cities in Sumatra but spread rapidly into Borneo with the institution of the Brunei sultanate, and a few decades later, in the 1450s and 1460s, into the Sulu Sea where the Sulu sultanate was established. Chinese merchants already favored this route directly from the south coast of China between the Philippines and Borneo, and this era, beginning in the late Yuan dynasty in the late thirteenth century, marked the first organized entry of global agency into the Philippine Islands. By the early sixteenth century the Brunei sultanate established a trading center at Manila, and in a few other locations in Mindoro. Chinese merchants provided the naval power to counter rampant piracy in the Sulu Sea and forged a direct route to trading centers such as Butuan in Mindanao as well as straight to Ternate and Tidore for cloves and other regional commodities (Hall 1985; Ptak 1999). Until this northern route to the Spice Islands emerged, the southern Philippines were relatively remote from global events. Evidence of the trade with Chinese merchants is apparent from the abundance of blue and white porcelain and stoneware ceramic shards left at coastal sites and carried into the hinterland. Some greenware or celadon ceramics attest to earlier trade in the thirteenth century Yuan dynasty, and rarely, some celadon ceramics are found at sites such as Butuan from the Southern Song dynasty around 1000 CE as well as Southeast Asian porcelain and stoneware from this period (Brown 1989). These artifacts demonstrate the very early connection of the southern Philippines, at least at the coastal river mouth site of Butuan, which had the strategic advantage of lying within reach of the eastern extent of the Indonesian trade route from Srivijaya and Majapahit in the first millennium and in the early centuries of the second, before the Chinese navy altered the balance of power in the region and shifted the axis of trade farther east and north of the earlier Hindu kingdoms. These connections, the first contacts by an external global network, were selective and few at the beginning, but by the fifteenth century, when Muslim culture proliferated in the region, the Philippines rapidly entered world culture, albeit with a Middle Eastern flavor. Within a century of this earliest
Contesting Modes of Colonialism
world contact, Portuguese merchants entered the region from the west, and a few decades later the Spanish expedition of Magallanes introduced a western Christian colony in the Philippines that was to be fully exercised after 1565 with the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi. They soon moved to Manila, lacking sufficient food in the Cebu area, and displaced a nascent Muslim community established by the Brunei sultanate, and, more cordially, sponsored a Chinese Parian community as a trading partner in the region. The ultimate Portuguese goal was the spice trade, while the thrust of Spanish trade was toward direct connections with China and its ceramic, silk, and stoneware exchange. Ultimately, through the Manila Galleon, Manila became the nexus for the exchange of silver from the New World for China’s production (Phelan 1959). Two major world religious cultures were present within the region, Muslim or Moro culture in the Sulu Sea and western Mindanao; and Christian culture in the central and northern Philippines, but occasionally and forcefully migrating into northern Mindanao. Indigenous peoples resisted these global cultures and polities by retreating into the hinterland of the interior mountains or in the maritime hinterland. Lumad peoples sought refugia in the Bukidnon highlands of Mindanao in territory lying between the Christian settlements of Butuan and Surigao and the Moro settlements in Maguindanao and the Sulu Sea (Paredes 2013). Bajau and Bugis people, accustomed to a life of sea nomadism, occupied the coastal margins, and Taosug, Iranun, and Balangingi pirates terrorized coastal settlements in the Christian Philippines on behalf of Moro sponsors. Later these were joined by Western powers, including the Dutch and the English, who sought their own access to markets in the region in the late seventeenth through the nineteenth century (Warren 2002). In this complex intercultural world, religious cultures were accommodated by indigenous peoples in varying ways, and the forms were largely veneers of Western religion and culture over a resilient indigenous core. World cultures were “localized” (Paredes 2013) within native communities as historicized effects of colonialism, and shifting alliances among European polities were reflected in regional alliances in the southern Philippines.
Strategic Cultural Accommodations: Muslimization vs. Conquista, Reducción, Encomienda The spread of Muslim religious culture throughout Southeast and Island Southeast Asia was facilitated by the diversity and dynamic historicity already at play in the region. Mak writes that the “Malay-Muslim world encapsulates
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commonality amidst diversity” and is not “an imagined community but an empirical construct full of historicity” (Mak 2002:10). Islam is an Arab religion, but as a religious culture it embraces a multitude of converts who accommodate to the core values in varying degrees of complicity. The Five Pillars of Islam—acceptance of the one God, Allah, and profession of faith; fasting during the daytime throughout the month of Ramadan; alms-giving and forbearance of interest on debts; daily ritual prayer; and the Haj, or pilgrimage to Mecca—are required of believers, but among converts these requirements were often relaxed. Muslims who first sailed through the region were not missionaries, but traders, intent on developing commercial relationships. They were tolerant of local and indigenous beliefs and practices, as is Islam generally. They “allowed space for ethnic customs” (Mak 2002:21). Pelras writes of the process of conversion in Sulu that began after 1480 by his account (Pelras 1983:109–110): The role of Muslim traders acting as muballigh [Preacher, one who preaches and propagates Islam] is well known everywhere in South Sulawesi; no wonder if they acted in a similar way there [in Sulu] too. The part of that region in the inter-insular trade was then not very important yet, as compared to other places in the Archipelago, but links existed with the most important trading centers in the area, including Ternate, north Javanese harbours, Banten and Melaka. People there, and especially the sailors of local traders in contact with foreigners from those centres, must have been well aware of the progression of Islam in those parts. Whereas the rulers in the South-Sulawesi kingdoms then struggling among each other in the wake of the decline of the formerly powerful Luwu’, could not hear without interest the news about conversion to Islam in neighbouring North and Southeast Sulawesi kingdoms as Gorontalo (1525) and Buton (1542). Sunni Muslims were the dominant denomination that migrated from the Middle East, and their own heterogeneous and non-Arab ethnicities no doubt promoted this tolerance. The merchants themselves were multi-ethnic in a Malay world with 84 languages and few political boundaries. Physical settings in the region were seaports, where coastal migrants developed entrepôts with interior relations among indigenous peoples. The region was one of scattered coastal settlements rather than political entities (Mak 2002:31). Interethnic marriages among Malays, Muslims, Chinese, and Indians were common, also promoting horizontal relations in communities. Muslim rules of marriage promoted polygamy, at least among those whose rank or wealth allowed it; by
Contesting Modes of Colonialism
adat, or common, law, rajahs could have four wives, lower ranks two or three, and commoners only one (Mak 2002:56). The process of “localization” included adoption of honorific titles such as rajah and sultan. Islam is egalitarian, but pre-Islamic titles from Indic culture were already in use as royal or religious titles, and secular and hereditary titles such as sheikh were conferred following Islamic acculturation. Nobility and service titles included datu, commonly used in the Philippines as a marker of tribal or clan affiliation. Naming, however, did not necessarily introduce hierarchical or caste organization. Neoevolutionary models of social organization have led to assertions that the Malay world, and the indigenous Philippines in particular, were organized as chiefdoms. This was based on the use of honorific titles such as rajah and datu observed by Magallanes and Legazpi. However, there was at contact no evidence for organized chiefdoms beyond contingent leadership by “men of prowess” or by honored elders or spirit leaders. No archaeological evidence has been found that confirms rank or hierarchy, despite considerable focus on the subject (Junker 2000). Grave goods that include kris swords, gold ornaments, and Chinese porcelain pottery have been cited as evidence of rank, but recent analyses of large sixteenth- and seventeenth-century burial populations dispute these assertions in favor of markers for prowess or spirit-power and not chiefly status (Barretto-Tesoro 2008; Bersales 2014). Likewise, the concept of practice of slavery was averred by the Spanish translation from the Visayan of the term ulipon as “slavery” (esclavo) or “vassalage” (vassallaje), whereas the term is synonymous with the Visayan words haop or sacun, denoting horizontal networks of affiliation, more like a clan than a tribe (Paredes 2013:128–129). In the case of honorific titles, the adoption of terms was an accommodation to a foreign culture, where the name but not the practice was translated into local cultures (see also Bhabha 1994 and Dean and Leibsohn 2003). Islamic colonization also had a hierarchical element. Muslim traders and merchants not only married into the elite of local trading communities but also sought to convert the leadership. By doing so, their affiliates, whether they were already organized into hierarchies by their prior exposure to Indic and Chinese cultures or were horizontally organized, could be recruited to the Muslim world as converts from among the infidels. Conversion of the rajah of a coastal port led the rapid leapfrogging of Muslim colonies throughout Indonesia. By 1450 the conversion of the sultanates of Brunei and Sulu cemented Muslim influence in the South China and the Sulu seas. Trading missions to coastal villages in Mindanao led to the conversion of powerful maritime nomads, including the Taosug and the Iranun and Balangingi to the Muslim
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world (Warren 2002). Later dubbed “Moros” by Spanish colonists in the central Philippines, their historical emergence in the region as raiders, slavers, and pirates of the Sulu Sea was contingent on global trading contact with the Muslim expansion into the region, and Muslim and later Dutch and English merchants and military interests engaged with the Moros in a proxy war with Spain. A battle for converts to Muslim or Christian beliefs also ensued, but local and hinterland peoples retained a vital and resilient indigenous core in the face of either (Paredes 2013). Spanish colonial practice was hierarchical from the beginning (Phelan 1959). The often brutal practice of the Conquista had already accomplished the subjugation of much of the New World in central and southern Mexico and South and Central America. However, the impact of the writings and pleadings of Bartolomé de las Casas ameliorated the worst of this practice, at least in royal decree and law. De las Casas had witnessed the atrocities of the capture of the Aztec and Mayan polities and then posited the question “Do Indians have souls?” to which he replied positively, so establishing the second powerful thrust of Spanish colonial practice, the mission of the Catholic Church. What Spanish armies had begun, ranks of Augustinian and Jesuit, and later Recoleto, priests continued, swarming into the Philippines and establishing parishes throughout to further the Spanish conquest. Within 40 years from the arrival of Legazpi, major Catholic churches had been established at key strategic points in Cebu (1565), Bohol, Negros (1580), and Butuan (1596) in the central and southern Philippines, and in Panay, Samar, and Luzon (1580s), where churches and more rustic visitas flourished. The parishes were not uniformly successful, and occasional uprisings led to the killing of priests and the destruction of the visitas. However, the priests held influence as “men of prowess” whose personal and unmilitaristic sacrifices were impressive to indigenous Filipinos. The missions enforced the practice of reducción, or the gathering of communities and clans into the parish surround. These were convenient centers for counting people as well as collecting tithes, and the third tool of Spanish colonization, the encomienda, or land grant, was enforced to accrue personal wealth as well as to advance the Church. Neither was entirely successful, however, as the parishioners often disappeared into the hinterlands in the mountains and on the sea. Sourcing studies of native earthenware ceramics conducted on sherds found in several sites in Cebu and Bohol suggest that most of the pottery was still being made in remote villages even into the seventeenth century and was brought to the Carcar Mission despite the local presence of an excellent source of clay adjacent to the church. This suggests that settlement around the church was not permanent or extensive, and
Contesting Modes of Colonialism
that people continued to reside in remote villages in the mountains as well as across the strait in Bohol (Peterson et al. 2011). The coastal church communities were often targets of raiding by Taosug and Iranun Moros. Their target was capture of plunder and slaves, mostly women from the Visayan villages. To the Moros the women were Ulipon who might become wives, but they were also commodities who were traded down the line through Muslim trading centers, ultimately to Melaka in the straits, where they were exchanged for much valuable armament, powder, and other weapons. A linguistic study of Taosug shows Visayan introductions for terms pertaining to the hearth and women’s domestic practice, suggesting that many of the female slaves became additional wives in warrior households (Pallesen 1985). However, those traded into the mercantile capitalist world were likely not to be treated so well or integrated into social networks. The church of Santa Catarina was built in 1599 on the Valladolid peninsula near Carcar, about 30 km south from the main Spanish settlement in Cebu City. Valladolid was the center in Spain from which Augustinian priests were sent out to missions in the New World and the Philippines. The church and convento were destroyed in a Moro raid in 1622, creating a time capsule almost as narrow in its occupation as a shipwreck. The ceramics from a paved floor in the buried church structure provided an assemblage of late Ming dynasty porcelain and stoneware as well as local earthenware from scattered hinterland villages in the region that contributed to the sourcing study mentioned above (Peterson 2005). Moro raiding along the coast persisted into the nineteenth century in the central Philippines, promoted in large part by Dutch and later English merchants and military. By the late seventeenth century, the English were trading weapons and ordnance for slaves taken in the Visayas. They attempted to introduce opium into the market as a means to addict the Taosug and other warriors, but Muslim practice, and a preference for betel nut, prevented opium from becoming a major factor in Sulu trade. In the 1790s an Augustinian priest, Fr. Julián Bermejo, a polymath who mastered local languages, church architecture, and administration, conceived a line of baluartes, or tower forts, along the southern coasts of Bohol and Cebu. They were intervisible, and provided lines of sight for signals when Moro raiders would enter the Straits of Bohol, or the Tanon Straits between Cebu and Negros (Peterson 2013). Bermejo organized local militias who would launch war parties while the villagers escaped into the hills. By 1812, in a decisive victory on Sumilon Island off Oslob, Cebu, the Moro raids ceased in the Visayas, and were carried out only farther north in the Philippines in undefended territory. By the 1840s Euro-
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pean conflicts had subsided in the Philippines region, and the Moro pirates were no longer supported in a global network of exchange and proxy warfare (Peterson 2013; Warren 2002).
Butuan: Global Gateway for the Philippines Archipelago Few Philippines settlements received attention from Chinese and port records from the period of growing globalization in the region, even into the sixteenth century. Only Butuan and possibly the site of Mait in Mindoro were named in foreign records. Butuan, or Pu’tuan, was listed as possibly a Cham mission in 1000 CE and appears in Chinese shipping records from Canton and Guangzhou as well as Song dynasty (960–1279) imports of cloves in 1007 and 1011 from Pu’tuan. As Ptak concluded (1999:XII:7): How did cloves reach Song China? Some sources on pre-Song and Song maritime trade mention the Moluccas but are silent about direct connections between China and other eastern Indonesian areas. Nor is there any evidence of east Indonesians living among the foreign communities in China’s ports. Hence . . . it appears that Java, Srivijaya, Champa, and perhaps Butuan on Mindanao (if Pu’tuan is really Butuan) functioned as the chief re-exporters of cloves to the Far East. The first two places and Butuan probably had the most direct access to the Moluccas, while Champa probably received its cloves through the Indonesians themselves or through the foreign community resident on its shores. However, there is no clear evidence pointing to direct connections between Champa and eastern Indonesia, nor can I find any written statement on Philippine merchants sailing to the north Moluccas. All this might imply two things. Comparably few ships sailed through the Celebes Sea and if consignments of cloves passed through this area, they were likely to change hands (in Butuan?) before reaching Champa or China. However, in view of Srivijaya’s and Java’s commercial influence, most cloves arriving in Song China probably left the Moluccas by way of Java. By the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), the China trade appears to have been direct from southern China to the Moluccas from “Champa to northern Borneo and Mait in the Philippines . . . from the South China Sea to the Sulu zone, the Celebes Sea, and eastern Indonesia. In short, then, it is very likely that in Yuan times most cloves were shipped to China by way of the Sulu zone and northern Borneo” (Ptak 1999:XII:9). All the port documents indicate that
Contesting Modes of Colonialism
no cloves were shipped to China from central or western Indonesia during the Yuan dynasty. In 1292 the Mongols launched an invasion of the Java Sea, eclipsing the influence of Majapahit from this period forward, and it was from this period that Muslim pilots and preachers were swarming into the coastal entrepôts of the region and eventually converting the region point by point at coastal trading ports. Butuan was certainly one of the principal of these in the southern Philippines. Situated at the mouth of the Agusan del Sur River, Butuan commanded a powerful position in Mindanao. The Agusan del Sur is the largest and longest river in the Philippines, and in its headlands was a vast wealth of forest products and gold. Of all localities in the Philippines except possibly Manila, Butuan conformed to the necessary conditions for the establishment of entrepôts and powerful polities. Hall (1985) proposes a riverine model for the emergence of powerful monarchies and state level organization in Southeast and Island Southeast Asia. From the powerful Burmese kingdoms on the Irawaddy and later state formation along the Mekong River to the location of Majapahit in eastern Java, riverine access to interior resources was critical as a source of trade materials through coastal port cities. Other areas, like Sulawesi, developed state-level organization later, even though it provided high-quality ore for Javanese kris swords and other metallurgy (T. Ames 2014, personal communication). Wet-rice farming was another ingredient and required not only broad alluvial plains for the development of paddies but also organizational structures to manage water resources as well as to capture surpluses for trade. Wet-rice does not appear to have been grown in western Java until the seventeenth century, and production was mostly dry-rice based in the uplands of western Java (Hall 1985). Following the catastrophic eruption of Mount Merapit ca. 925 CE, the seat of power shifted to eastern Java on the Brantas Delta and drew on substantial suitable terrain for wet-rice. This became a staple for trade in the region, especially down the line to eastern Indonesia. Resources plus location were critical to state-level formation and to participation in the global commerce within the region. Hutterer cites Chinese documents that Butuan sent a mission to China in 1003, and again in 1007, this time asserting equality with Champa as a trading mission. They were rejected, however, as Butuan was a tributary to Champa trade to China (Hall 1985:334, n. 154). Butuan appears to have had the advantage of excellent location not only at the mouth of Agusan del Sur, but also within easy access to trading routes that were connected very early with Java and later, by the thirteenth century, with a northern route directly to Champa and China as well as to the west through Java trade.
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Figure 1.2. Butuan boats mapped in relict channel (Lacsina 2014).
Archaeology of Butuan: Evidence of Global Tenth-Century CE Exchange The discovery in 1972 of nine large balangays, or seafaring boats, in a relict channel of the Agusan del Sur delta (Figures 1.2, 1.3) demonstrates the connections of Butuan with global commerce. The cargo on the boats included Song dynasty celadon as well as Thai and Vietnamese porcelain and stoneware dating from the period around 1000 CE, and radiocarbon dates
Contesting Modes of Colonialism
Figure 1.3. Agusan River, active channel in center, relict channel scar showing to west, where boats were buried 2 m deep.
recently acquired from the wood from seven samples indicate the same period (Table 1.1) (Brown 1989). The calibrated ages of the samples all overlap within 800–900 CE. The stratigraphic context of burial in what is now a relict channel of the river (Figures 1.2, 1.3) and the overlap of calibrated radiocarbon ages suggest that burial could have been simultaneous, within a single massive flood event. Microfossil analysis of a chronostratigraphic column at the site of Boat #4, collected in September 2013, supports this assumption. Horrocks (2014:1) concluded: The plant microfossils show that Castanopsis/Lithocarpus trees were a major part of the catchment vegetation at the time, and suggest that the sampled profile formed over a short period of time. Also, the results strongly suggest that the profile was not associated with major cropping. The pollen, phytolith, and starch residue samples were collected from a 160cm column ending about 1/2 m below the present ground surface, and begin-
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Figure 1.4. Boat 4; column of samples for microfossil study was collected from upper left corner by pump. (Photograph courtesy of S. B. Acabado)
ning just beneath the level of the boat. The samples were very uniform in their results, as indicated by Horrocks, and show a combination of materials from both near and distant sources. Some is wind-blown, some in-washed (from estuarine and tidal currents), and some from water transport. Microscopic fragments of charcoal were found in all samples. Castanopsis/Lithocarpus was a major component of vegetation, with coconut, mangroves, palms, pandanus, possibly breadfruit, southern beech (Nothofagus), possibly from longdistance transport. Phytoliths were dominated by grass and palm varieties, and none were found of any cultivated crops, including rice. Sponge spicules indicate a mix of estuarine environments introduced to the sediment. “Neither the pollen nor the phytolith assemblages in the Butuan profile show any major trends, appearing largely homogeneous. This suggests that the analyzed profile formed in a short period of time” (Horrocks 2014:2) (Figure 1.4).
Sample Type
Wood
Wood
Wood
Wood
Wood
Wood
Wood
ANSTO code
OZQ841
OZQ842
OZQ844
OZQ845
OZQ846
OZQ848
OZQ851
Boat 9—wing end
Boat 5—keel
Boat 4—keel
Boat 2—wing end
Boat 2—keel
Boat 1—wing end
Boat 1—keel
Submitter ID
−26.8 ± 0.1
−25.5 ± 0.3
−25.4 ± 0.2
−25.3 ± 0.1
−25.5 ± 0.1
−25.0 ± 0.1
86.56 ± 0.27
86.65 ± 0.28
86.67 ± 0.36
85.83 ± 0.29
86.14 ± 0.30
86.67 ± 0.29
86.69 ± 0.27
pMC error
(‰) −24.9 ± 0.4
Percent carbon
δ13C
1,160 ± 30
1,150 ± 30
1,150 ± 35
1,230 ± 30
1,200 ± 30
1,130 ± 30
1,145 ± 25
yrs BP 1 error
Conventional Radiocarbon Age
Table 1.1. Radiocarbon Ages from Butuan Boats 1, 2, 4, 5, and 9, conducted by Ligaya Lacsina, 2014
773 to 968
776 to 971
775 to 973
689 to 882
715 to 940
777 to 988
777 to 974
cal CE 2 range
Calibrated Age (IntCal13 dataset using OxCal 4.2
870
890
888
787
825
924
904
cal CE
Median Age
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Unfortunately, radiocarbon samples analyzed from the sediments in this 2013 column appear to have been contaminated, as radiocarbon ages were mostly modern, even from the base (0–10 cm from the bottom), the middle (50–60 cm from bottom), and the top of the column. Since a wood dowel from the planks of the vessel also dated modern, there may have been systematic contamination of the samples. The best radiocarbon assemblage so far for the boats and their provenience is that done by Lacsina (2014) for her dissertation research (Table 1.1). Prior dating in the 1970s was also problematic, as the ages ranged from 1630 ± 110, 960 ± 70, and 700 ± 90 for wood samples from Boats 1, 5, and 2, respectively, and these were shown to have been roughly contemporaneous by Lacsina. Though not conclusive, the most parsimonious explanation for the burial of the boats is a sudden catastrophic flood, possibly associated with the eruption of Mount Merapi in 925 CE (940 ± 100 by radiocarbon analysis) that also buried the upland rice terrain in western Java and led to a major shift into eastern Java along the Brantas River. Frequent volcanic eruptions in this era from other sources, as well as considerable seismicity that has regularly produced earthquakes in the range of 7.7 on the Richter scale over recorded history, suggest that a cataclysmic event could have led to landslides and flooding. Typhoons also could have been a source for a cataclysmic event. The discovery and dating of the Butuan balangays situates this place within global events occurring around 1,000 years ago that eventually linked the Philippines into a broad trading network. Butuan was the best-sited of any Philippines locality until Muslim traders and Chinese merchants opened up the northern route, and other sites, including Manila, emerged as regional entrepôts. By the time that Magallanes made his ill-fated trip to Cebu in 1521, Butuan and Manila were part of the commercial network of the region, and by the time Legazpi relocated his capital to Manila, both Muslim and Chinese trading communities were found there and quickly subjugated by the Spanish. Magallanes’ visit to Butuan was evocative of the importance and the wealth of this trading center that had probably endured throughout various regimes in the region since at least as early as 900 CE. As Pigafetta reported, they were met with gifts of gold bars, a chest full of ginger, and food served in “china dishes” with rice and cooked pork. They found there, “a ballanghai, that is to say, a boat, eighty feet or thereabouts, resembling a fusta” [the fusta or fuste— also called foist or galliot—was a narrow, light, and fast ship with shallow draft, powered by both oars and sail]. They reported mines of gold upriver, cloth of cotton worked with silk, and a long-handled dagger. Despite these contacts,
Contesting Modes of Colonialism
however, the core identity of Butuanons appears to have been resilient and indigenous, and uncolonized by foreigners, who by this time included Javanese, Cham, Chinese, and Muslim traders, but obviously in contact with exchange from the outside world. When asked if they were Moors or Gentiles, “they answered that they did not perform any other adoration, but only joined their hands, looking up to heaven, and they called their God, Aba” (Pigafetta 1874). A Jesuit mission to the Butuan, Agusan del Norte, area was sent in 1596, but it was only after another decade that Recoleto priests established a permanent mission to the Lumad in the area. As Paredes recounts the mission (2013:21): Their fate in Mindanao would be one of frustration, discomfort, and suffering, punctuated by the occasional violent death. But they also achieved surprising success in Christianizing the area, particularly with warrior-chieftains whose often dramatic public conversions incited their own followers to convert. Granted, doctrinal adherence under these conditions may have been unlikely, but the conversions were nonetheless heartfelt enough that there are documented cases of Lumad warriors loyally defending the lives of missionaries and fighting alongside Spanish troops against their Muslim neighbors, with whom they were historically allied, and once even against their own brethren. It is this curious relationship, in part that forms the unifying thread . . . of the colonial experience of all Lumad groups. In the 1580s the Moro and Christian war encircled the globe, from the expulsion of Moors in Granada to the Moro raids on Christian settlements in the Philippines, and then followed a thread of history that had first linked the region 2,000 years earlier. In the midst of this global connection, indigenous peoples were exploited, expropriated, acculturated, and enslaved, but among the Malay and Filipino peoples there remained a fiercely resilient core culture and pockets of resistance in the hinterlands of the region, in remote mountains and along the undeveloped seacoasts. On one side of a vague and fuzzy line in the mountains of central Mindanao was the divide between these two very different styles of colonization, one demanding hierarchical submission and reducción, and the Moro style more accommodating and tolerant of ethnic and animistic practice. Nonetheless, the indigenous peoples, in this case the Lumad, in northern Luzon the Igorot, retained a fierce independence and cultural resilience expressed for many years through preservation of language and cultural practice, and lifeways that were adapted to the hinterland. In fact, the maritime hinterland was the home to sea nomads, the Bugis and the Bajau, who also were resilient
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and resistant to colonization. They lived in the margins of colonizing powers and not only survived but often thrived, as with the Taosug and Iranun and Balangingi who adopted a form of Muslim religion, at least enough that the Christian enemies across the mountains and the sea distinguished them as Moros. In Paredes terms, the natives had “localized” the foreign cultures, incorporating practices, terms, and behavior without embracing the content. Global events and different forms of colonial practice overlapped and interpenetrated this region in the eastern edge of Island Southeast Asia, as it had done since early in the first millennium CE. While the Romans and, later, Chinese traders were aloof from the region early on, down-the-line trading from as far to the east as Halmahera and the ports of Tidore and Ternate connected this distant region to the major ports of exchange such as Melaka in the straits between Malaysia and Sumatra. The Chinese extended their initial trading into the area past Melaka as early as 1000 CE, and by 1300 CE a powerful Chinese navy was forging foreign dominance as far south and east as the Javanese kingdom of Majapahit. Soon afterward the Chinese navy and trading vessels were a significant force in the regional trade as well as controlling piracy in the region. Even so, they did not directly contact many ports but gathered resources such as cloves, peppers, and other spices; trepang; birds’ nests; and forestry products, including aromatic and tropical hardwoods from the region. In exchange, they traded a significant quantity of silks, as well as porcelain and stoneware. The broken sherds of these vessels abound in the region today, often littering the ground surface at sites in the Philippines. They signify connectivity to an expansive, global commerce over the past 2,000 years. Those connections eventually drew hinterland peoples into extended networks of Muslim and Christian polities, though the effects of colonization were often elusive for the colonizers, and cultural and ethnic patterns still persist and demonstrate a resilience even after several hundred years of foreign penetration.
References Barretto-Tesoro, Grace 2008 Identity and Reciprocity in 15th Century Philippines. BAR International Series 1813. Oxford, UK. Bersales, Jose Eleazar R. 2014 Negotiating Social Identities through Ritual and Symbolic Behaviour: An Archaeological Analysis of Protohistoric Burials in Cebu. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of San Carlos, Cebu, Philippines.
Contesting Modes of Colonialism
Bhabha, Homi 1994 The Location of Culture. Routledge, New York. Brown, Roxanna M. 1989 Guangdong Ceramics from Butuan and Other Philippine Sites. Oriental Ceramic Society of the Philippines/Oxford University Press, London. Dean, Carolyn, and Dana Leibsohn 2003 Hybridity and Its Discontents: Considering Visual Culture in Colonial Spanish America. Colonial Latin American Review 12(2):5–35. Gunn, Geoffrey C. 2011 History without Borders: The Making of an Asian World Region, 1000–1800. Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong. Hall, Kenneth R. 1985 Maritime Trade and State Development in Early Southeast Asia. University of Hawai‘i Press, Honolulu. Heng, Derek 2009 Sino-Malay Trade and Diplomacy from the Tenth through the Fourteenth Century. Ohio University Research in International Studies. Southeast Asia Series No. 121. Ohio University Press, Athens. Horrocks, Mark 2014 Plant Microfossil Analysis of an Archaeological Profile at Butuan Boat Site, Mindanao, Philippines. Microfossil Research Report, 22 February 2014, Auckland. Junker, Laura Lee 2000 Raiding, Trading and Feasting: The Political Economy of Philippine Chiefdoms. Ateneo de Manila University Press, Quezon City. Lacsina, Ligaya 2014 Re-examining the Butuan Boats: Pre-colonial Philippine Watercraft. Poster, Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage, Honolulu. Electronic document, http://www.themua.org/collections/items/show/1674. Mak, Lau-Fong 2002 Islamization in Southeast Asia. Asia-Pacific Research Program, Academica Sinica, Taipei. Pallesen, A. Kemp 1985 Culture Contact and Language Convergence. LSP Special Monograph Issue No. 24. Linguistic Society of the Philippines, Manila. Paredes, Oona 2013 A Mountain of Difference: The Lumad in Early Colonial Mindanao. Southeast Asia Program Publications. Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, Ithaca. Pelras, Christian 1983 Religion, Tradition and the Dynamics of Islamization in South Sulawesi. Lecture to the Indonesia Study Group, Australia National University. Peterson, John A. 2005 Visayan Settlement by the River: Archaeological Investigations at the Late 16th and 17th Century Site of Salug in Carcar, Cebu. Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society: Special Issue: Cebuan Archaeological Advances in Carcar 33(3–4):155–217. 2013 World Powers at Play in the Western Pacific: The Coastal Fortifications of Southern
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Cebu, Philippines. In Archaeology of Interdependence: European Involvement in the Development of a Sovereign United States, edited by Douglas C. Comer. Briefs in Archaeology 1. New York, Springer. Peterson, John A., Andrea Yankowski, Grazyna Badowski, and Eric de Carlo 2011 The Tuyom Clay Source and Ceramics from the Central Visayas, Philippines: Comparative Studies Using ICPMS Elemental Analysis. In Crossing Borders in Southeast Asian Archaeology: Selected Papers from the 13th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, Berlin, 2010. Vol. 2. NUS Press, Singapore. Phelan, John 1959 The Hispanization of the Philippines: Spanish Aims and Filipino Responses, 1565–1700. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison. Pigafetta, Antonio 1874 The First Voyage round the World by Magellanes. Translated from the account of Pigafetta; accompanied by original documents, with notes by Lord Stanley of Alderley. Hakluyt Society, London. Ptak, Roderich 1999 China’s Seaborne Trade with South and Southeast Asia (1200–1750). Ashgate Variorum, Aldershot, Great Britain. Warren, James 2002 Iranun and Balangngi: Globalization, Maritime Raiding and the Birth of Ethnicity. Singapore University Press, Singapore.
2 Maritime Trade in the Philippines during the Early Colonial Period (Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries CE)
Bobby C. Orillaneda
Introduction The arrival of seaborne expeditions from Portugal and Spain in the Southeast Asian region can be attributed to territorial and economic expansionist ambitions (Dixon 1991). Both countries wanted to acquire Southeast Asian spices and other natural and manufactured products that were in growing demand in Europe (Boxer 2002 [1953]; Phelan 1959). The missions also had a very strong religious component, as both countries aimed at bringing Christianity to the indigenous Southeast Asian populations. The Portuguese first reached the region via the western route, through the Cape of Good Hope, India, and ultimately reaching Melaka in the Malay Peninsula in the early sixteenth century CE. By 1511 Afonso de Albuquerque captured Melaka, Southeast Asia’s premier city in the fifteenth century, in order to control Southeast Asia’s maritime trade (Boxer 2002; Hall 2004).1 By the middle sixteenth century, Andaya (1992:355) notes, “Portuguese trade had to all intents and purposes become a part of the Asian system.” Melaka continued its role as an entrepôt under Portuguese authority for more than a century, albeit in gradually declining capacity before the Dutch successfully seized the city in 1641 (Dixon 1991). Spain’s arrival in the Philippines passed through the eastern route. The Spanish expedition of an initial five ships led by Fernando de Magallanes departed Europe, passed South America, and crossed the Pacific Ocean until three ships finally reached Samar Island on March 13, 1521 (Desroches et al. 1996; Fabella 1998). Magallanes’ voyage was spurred by his desire to reach Asia using the
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westward route while following Spain’s main objective of extending its empire toward the source of the much-coveted spices in the East (Schurz 1985). Phelan (1959:7) enumerated Spain’s three objectives in subjugating the Philippines: “One was to secure a share in the lucrative trade, which heretofore had been a Portuguese monopoly. Another was to establish direct contacts with China and Japan, which might pave the way for their conversion to Christianity. And the third goal was to Christianize the inhabitants of the archipelago.” After initial occupations in Cebu and Panay, Miguel López de Legazpi finally settled in Manila in 1571 (Doeppers 1972; Reed 1979). Manila soon developed into a primary city and became the commercial center of the world in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, primarily due to the galleon trade that linked trading commodities of the East and West (Fish 2011; Schurz 1985). Both centers of trade were part of the larger Southeast Asian region economic network that played an important role in the development of a global maritime economy during the sixteenth century. Anthony Reid’s thesis on the Age of Commerce highlighted the economic prosperity in Europe, the eastern Mediterranean, China, Japan, and perhaps India from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century (Reid 1988, 1990, 1993). The “long sixteenth century,” Wallerstein (2004:x) noted, is the period “during which our modern worldsystem came into existence as a capitalist world-economy.” The raison d’être for this commercial boom was largely the demand for spices (pepper, cloves, nutmeg, camphor) and other exotic marine and forest products in India and Southeast Asia (Reid 1980, 1993). Although the spice trade intensified in the fifteenth century, it was more of an interregional experience. The arrival of the Europeans created new market opportunities and reoriented maritime network circuits as the region accommodated the new players in addition to the Southeast Asian, Chinese, and Indian Ocean merchants.2 This led to the emergence of insular and mainland Southeast Asian–controlled trade centers such as Aceh, Banten, Makassar, Demak, Gresik, Surabaya, and Hoi An that catered mostly to international seaborne trade (Lockard 2010; Reid 1989, 1999). The Europeans later established their own port cities, with the Portuguese in Melaka, the Spanish in Manila, and, a century later, the Dutch in Batavia (Andaya 1992; Doeppers 1972; Thomaz 1993).
The Manila–Acapulco Galleon Trade The Manila–Acapulco galleon trade became the dominant form of maritime trade in the Philippines during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. When Spain gave up its claim to the Spice Islands stipulated in the Treaty of Sara-
Maritime Trade in the Philippines during the Early Colonial Period
gossa (Zaragoza) in 1525, expeditions were dispatched around the archipelago to search for tradable commodities (Desroches et al. 1996; Schurz 1985). While the search yielded abundant natural resources, the desired natural and manufactured products (e.g., spices, silver, silk, and fine ceramics) that colonial Spain hoped for had not been found. Instead, the colonists took advantage of the strategic location of the Philippines between Asia and the Americas and made Manila a repository of Asian goods and a transshipment center for the Americas (Fish 2011). The galleon trade was born out of the desire to transport people and merchandise between trade entrepôts in Asia (Manila, the Philippines) and the Americas (Acapulco, Mexico) via the Pacific Ocean, the world’s largest ocean, which stretches approximately 18,000 km in length (Desroches et al. 1996; Schurz 1985). The vessels also served to transmit official documents needed to run and maintain the political and economic state of the western terminus of the Spanish Empire. Further, it also carried agents of religion, through the missionaries whose aim was the proselytization of native populations to Christianity (Phelan 1959). These voyages would run for 250 years, from 1565 to 1815. While the earlier Magallanes expedition first sailed westward across the Pacific from South America to the Philippines in 1521, the eastward route, or the tornaviaje, was discovered only in 1565, after five previous unsuccessful expeditions, with the vessel San Pedro, captained by Felipe de Salcedo and Fray Andrés de Urdaneta acting as chief navigator, thus laying the foundation of the Manila Galleon trade route (Boncan 2015; Schurz 1985). Manila became the envisioned trade entrepôt and developed into a cosmopolitan city, attracting various nationalities and ethnicities from the East and Southeast Asia, and even as far as the Indian Ocean states and beyond (Fish 2011; Schurz 1985). Foremost were the Chinese, whose desire for American silver was limitless, as the metal was used as monetary currency in China. They also had the necessary trade items,3 especially silk and porcelain, to exchange. China became Spain’s main trading partner. Scores of Chinese merchant ships, sometimes surpassing 50 vessels, annually visited Manila (Andaya 1992; Fish 2011; Phelan 1959). Reid (1995) notes the large number of Chinese junk licenses (wen-yin) issued for Manila during the periods 1589 and 1592. While the Spanish lived in Intramuros, or the walled city, non-Spanish peoples lived elsewhere. The Chinese, who numbered in the thousands during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, lived in the Parian, the assigned Chinese enclave that also served as a central market (Ang See 1998; Fish 2011; Schurz 1985). They became instrumental in the galleon trade as sailors and primary agents of trade, among other occupations essential in maintaining the
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economy. However, the relationship between the colonizers and the Chinese people was marred by ambivalence and, sometimes, extreme violence.4 Other nationalities that lived in Manila at various periods included the Japanese, with their own set of trade items (see Nogami, this volume),5 the Europeans (Portuguese, English, and Dutch), the Americans (Mexicans), and the Southeast Asians (Cambodians, Thais, Javanese), among others (Fish 2011). Manila also engaged in trade and commerce with Southeast Asian regional port cities. Melaka, the premier center of trade in the fifteenth century under Muslim rulers, maintained commercial ties with Manila in the late sixteenth century, this time under Portuguese authority. Indian Ocean traders carried a wide range of goods from different Indian states (e.g., Goa, Coromandel, Surat, and Bengal), and as far as Persia and Turkey. Port cities in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand also brought their trade goods to Melaka, some of which were then carried to Manila (Schurz 1985). Manila also sent vessels to Melaka to procure items of trade. The Moluccas, or Spice Islands, contributed to the maritime trade of the Philippines as the source of the coveted spices. The volume of trade was, however, fluctuating, as the battle for the possession of the Spice Islands by the Spanish and Portuguese and later the Dutch and the English resulted in unstable political and economic conditions that did not favor regular trade. During the late seventeenth century, Batavia in Java, Indonesia, under the Dutch, commenced trade with Manila, albeit in lesser volume and frequency and mostly centered on spices.6 People from Borneo also carried out trading activities, although Schurz (1985:121) speculated that the items7 were for the native populations, though the Manila galleons may have carried some wax and camphor to Acapulco. Spanish Manila recorded the opening of trade with Cambodia in 1594, Cochin-China (present-day Southern Vietnam) in 1596, and Siam8 (present-day Thailand) in 1599 (Schurz 1985:121). These connections, however, were tenuous and did not progress to substantial trade, as Spanish representatives got involved in political matters that hindered stable economic ties between Manila and the other mainland Southeast Asian states. Moreover, the Spanish government in Manila was also preoccupied with other matters. Of particular interest is the commercial partnership between Spanish Manila and Portuguese Macao starting in the early seventeenth century (Arcilla 1998; Schurz 1985). Portugal and Spain had maintained an acrimonious relationship in Southeast Asia that centered on the right to monopolize trade, especially the spice and the China trade in the region.9 Despite a trade ban imposed by the Spanish government in the late sixteenth century as part of
Maritime Trade in the Philippines during the Early Colonial Period
the Treaty of Union, Macao sent its first merchant ships to Manila in 1608 that gradually increased in frequency, volume, and profit. In 1630 imports from the Macao–Manila trade were valued at 1,500,000 pesos (Schurz 1985). Although silks made up the majority of the cargo, Arcilla (1998:212) mentioned that other merchandise included “fine gilt furniture made in China, amber, musk, pearls, precious stones, and slaves.” This profitable trade ended when Portugal gained independence from Spain in 1641. Spanish assets in Macao were confiscated, and the Spanish people were deported to Manila. Sporadic direct and indirect trade through other sources continued until the eighteenth century. Despite the lack of scholarly research on the interisland maritime trade in the Philippines, it is safe to assume that significant and substantial trading activities also occurred between the major and small port polities all throughout the archipelago, exchanging natural marine and forest products as well as local and foreign manufactured goods that may have been derived from the galleon trade or from the interregional Southeast Asian trade network carried by Chinese and Malay vessels and local vessels. Legarda (1955) listed different types of clothes mentioned above from Ilocos, Cebu, and Lubang that were part of the Manila galleons’ cargo. Fish (2011:277) stated that Filipinos from the different parts of the archipelago brought rice, beeswax, civet, wine, oil, textiles, and embroideries to Manila. On the American side, the Mexicans and, indirectly, the Europeans became huge consumers of manufactured Chinese products as well as Southeast Asian spices, foodstuffs, and other exotic forest and marine products. The Philippines also contributed its own produce as reflected in the galleon inventory.10 The initial galleon run in the late sixteenth century quickly sold its merchandise and fetched as high as 300 percent of its original price (Arcilla 1998; Boncan 2015). This consequently caused a deluge of ships and merchandise on American markets. The demand for Asian textiles was so high that merchants of southern Spain petitioned the Spanish king to regulate the Manila galleon trade to prevent the loss of their business. After the initial fluctuation in the number of ships that plied the Manila–Acapulco route, it was decided that two galleons would travel per year, one outgoing and one incoming. A third vessel acted as a reserve in Acapulco (Fish 2011; Schurz 1985). There were periods when no galleons were dispatched, for numerous reasons (e.g., British occupation of Manila from 1762 to 1764, and the Mexican Revolution in the early nineteenth century). The trans-Pacific galleon trade generated sizable profits for traders, called reales, and generated revenues for the colonial government through the situado, or sales tax. Both were in the form of Mexican and Peruvian silver,
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and, in fact, more than 90 percent of the incoming galleon cargo contained the metal coins.11 At the apogee of the galleon trade, especially during the first 50 years, merchants, colonists, and people in the capital, Manila, lived lavishly and recklessly (Schurz 1985). To properly manage the economy, laws and decrees were issued, and trade systems (e.g., pancadas) were established to regulate and promote fairness in dealing with trade goods. These mechanisms, however, were not always followed, and merchants always found ways to circumvent existing laws and structures through smuggling,12 and corruption was rampant among the government officials and traders (Fish 2011). On the other hand, the overall Philippine economy was always fragile, as it was dependent solely on the galleon trade (Desroches et al. 1996; Schurz 1985). When a ship was lost due to inclement weather or capture by foreign privateers,13 the financial losses from the trade earnings and the Mexican treasury subsidy14 (situado) caused severe economic crises. The Dutch, economic competitors with Spain and Portugal, also disrupted maritime trade through naval blockades in galleon routes and especially in Manila Bay to prevent the entry of Chinese and other Southeast Asian goods to Manila (Rodriguez 1998). Over time, the galleon trade gradually diminished in volume and significance, due to a combination of political and economic reasons. In 1804 the Rey Carlos, Montañés, and Casualidad, three Manila galleons, anchored in Acapulco for three years without having sold any of their cargo (Fish 2011; Schurz 1985). The Napoleonic Wars and the Mexican War of Independence finally terminated Spain’s sovereignty over Mexico and, consequently, the Manila Galleon trade route. In 1815 the galleon Magallanes departed Acapulco for the last time toward Manila (Fish 2011).
The Manila Galleon and Its Trade Route in the Philippines Manila galleons are huge and sturdy wooden ships made primarily of hardwood such as molave (Vitex parviflora) and teak (Tectona grandis) designed to stand the rigorous and dangerous voyage across the Pacific Ocean (Boncan 2015; Fish 2011; Schurz 1985). As merchant ships, the galleons had ample space for cargo and crew provisions. Vessel tonnage ranged from a few hundred to as high as 2,000, as in the case of the Santisima Trinidad.15 Vessel length also varied according to the specified tonnage: some vessels measured more than 174 ft (53 m) in deck length and 49 ft (15 m) beam, while the smaller vessels have 78 feet (24 m) in deck length and 22 ft (7 m) beam (Schurz 1985). The number of guns for each vessel ranged between 10 and 80. The number of vessel crew again depended on the size of the ship, with as low as 60 and as high
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as 384 people, in the case of the Santisima Trinidad, including officers, crew, military personnel, and passengers. The vessels were constructed in shipyards called astilleros. The area had to possess certain criteria before it could be established: safe port, plentiful supply of good timber, and availability of laborers of which the Philippines had plenty (Fish 2011; Schurz 1985:163). The principal shipyard was reportedly located in Cavite, a short distance south of Manila (Boncan 2015; Schurz 1985). Other shipyards were recorded in Cebu, Bicol, Camarines, Pangasinan, Marinduque, Mindoro, Masbate, and Sorsogon (Bolunia 2015; Fish 2011; Schurz 1985). The galleon Santiago that was reportedly built in Arevalo (part of present-day Iloilo) was nearly burned by the English privateer Thomas Cavendish (Arcilla 1998). Galleons were also constructed outside the Philippines, in Siam and Japan (Schurz 1985). Archaeological investigations in four reported astilleros in Sorsogon yielded evidence of shipbuilding-related artifacts, including iron nails, spikes, copper sheathing, copper nails, local and foreign ceramics, and metal tools, as well as a three-meter anchor (Bolunia 2015). The Manila–Acapulco galleons followed approximately the same routes (Figure 2.1). The standard pilot’s guide of the vessel Cabrera Bueno detailed the Cavite-to-Embocadero route as follows: from Cavite on Manila Bay out through one of the bocas, generally between Mariveles and Corregidor; thence SSW, keeping well clear of Fortun to the left and high Ambil to the right; past Cape Santiago on the Luzon coast, and E between Mindoro and Maricaban, by the Ounta de Escarceo, or “Tide Rip Point,” where currents run strong and under Isla Verde, outside Subaang Bay, within which there was a fair anchorage in case of need; SE past the islets of Baco, with a good channel off Calapan; SE by E down the Mindoro coast by Punta Gorda de Pola; E by SE between the Tres Reyes and the Dos Hermanas; thence by the wide bocana between Marinduque and Banton, out onto the tablazo, or open water, Sibuyan; SE by E between Burias and Masbate; turning ENE around the Punta de San Miguel and the Punta del Diablo; coasting around the east side of Ticao to the anchorage at San Jacinto; clearing from thence and working out seaward with the monsoon; E eight leagues, with the dangerous Naranjos to starboard and the shoal of Calantas to port; NE by N and then ENE seven leagues around Capul; NE with the Sorsogon coast to port and San Bernardino to starboard and NE by E seven leagues to the Embocadero, with San Bernardino now to port and the island of the Biri to starboard. (Schurz 1985:182–183)
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Figure 2.1. Map of the Philippines showing the Manila galleon shipwreck sites.
Maritime Trade in the Philippines during the Early Colonial Period
Jago-on et al. (2015:74–75) detail the incoming trade route when vessels approached the Philippines: The galleons from Acapulco normally enter the Embocadero from the Ladrones Islands (present-day Guam) along the 12th parallel, avoiding the Wright Shoal on left, clearing Fitzgerald Banks going west before turning south, just west of San Bernardino Island to enter the Philippines via the route used by outgoing galleons. An alternative route would be to clear the reefs east of San Bernardino Strait going N by NW from the 12th parallel and south via the route used for outgoing galleons. The dates of departure and return were established after a few years of trial voyages. Outgoing vessels usually departed Manila at the end of June and normally reached Acapulco at the end of November or in early December (Boncan 2015; Schurz 1985). The incoming voyage usually left Acapulco at the end of March and normally reached the Philippines in May or June. The rationale for the sailing dates was the prevailing climate condition. The outgoing vessels must leave prior to the onset of the southwest monsoon (habagat) from June to October that generally brings the rainy season and severe weather conditions. The period between December and March, when the northeast monsoon (amihan) blows, allowed for trading activities, crew rest, and vessel repairs and reconditioning in Acapulco. The months of March to May for the incoming voyage are generally calm, and vessels should have arrived before the onset of habagat. The Manila-to-Acapulco passage was more difficult, as the voyage took longer (five to seven months, with an average of six months) than the Acapulcoto-Manila passage, which normally took only three months. The habagat season for the outgoing galleons was fraught with storms and generally adverse weather. Schurz (1985:178) noted, “It was the variables in the western part of the Pacific, blowing uncertainly between the zones of these two primary winds that accounted for many of the difficulties and disasters incident to the operation of the galleon line.” Shortages of food and water almost always happened, leading to hunger, sickness, and death. During the entire galleon trade era, more than 30 galleons perished, causing thousands of deaths and millions of pesos in financial losses (Schurz 1985).
Manila Galleon Shipwrecks San Diego (December 14, 1600) The San Diego was a 300-ton, 40-m-long merchant ship reportedly built in the shipyards of Cebu and initially named San Antonio (Desroches et al. 1996;
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L’Hour 1994). The vessel was docked in Cavite for reconditioning and repairs while waiting for the right season to depart for Acapulco when news of a Dutch naval intrusion in the Philippines reached Manila. The Dutch expedition, led by Olivier Van Noort aboard his flagship Mauritius, along with a smaller ship, Eendracht, was under instructions from the Netherlands government to engage in the spice trade. The ships entered the Philippines in San Bernardino via the westward route (Dizon 1993; Goddio 1994). In the absence of warships, the Spanish government hastily assembled a small fleet of nonmilitary vessels, with the San Diego as the flagship, to pursue and engage its sworn enemy while making fortifications to defend Manila. Don Antonio de Morga, then vice governor general of the Philippines, assigned himself to command the expedition, due to higher political ambitions (Goddio 1994). While Morga was an astute politician and an able administrator, he was inexperienced in naval matters. Fort cannons, too heavy and not designed for ships, were loaded to compensate for the absence of naval artillery. Other cargo of substantial weight, including more than 300 big stoneware jars and other cargo16 not needed for a short voyage, were not offloaded. Morga also overloaded the San Diego with more than 450 people (combatants and noncombatants) on a moderately sized ship. Juan de Alcega, Morga’s second-in-command and captain of the San Bartolomé, wanted to correct the loading pattern and improve the ship’s balance by loading ballast stones, as the vessel was top-heavy and might not sail properly. This was seconded by the San Diego’s owners but was rejected by Morga. The vessel’s overall unwieldiness sacrificed maneuverability, an essential factor for sea engagements (Goddio 1994). The Mauritius and San Diego had a running battle that finally culminated in a fierce, close encounter near Fortune Island, Batangas. Morga’s bad tactical decisions caused his ship to sink, possibly due to the damage sustained when the San Diego rammed the Mauritius, or because of the open gun ports as the San Diego listed, or from a Dutch cannonball. More than 350 men perished during the sinking. San Bartolomé, San Diego’s escort vessel, captured Eendracht in Lubang Island near Mindoro while Mauritius escaped to Indonesia before returning to Rotterdam (Dizon 1993). In preparation for the search of the San Diego, archival research on the possible location of the site was conducted in the libraries and archive institutions in Spain, Holland, Italy, and France. Primary historical materials perused include Don Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, or Historical Events of the Philippine Islands, published in Mexico in 1609, and Olivier Van Noort’s My Arduous Journey around the World, and other sources that mentioned the battle between San Diego and Mauritius (Dizon 1993; Goddio
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1994; Orillaneda 2000). Morga’s official version, supported by Governor Tello, and Van Noort’s description of the encounter gave conflicting accounts of the battle. Further extensive examination of more archival documents, later validated by archaeological findings, proved that Morga’s account was erroneous. The San Diego shipwreck project was carried out through a collaboration of the National Museum, the agency mandated by law to undertake underwater archaeological activities in the Philippines, and World Wide First (WWF), a private research entity headed by Franck Goddio (Desroches et al. 1996; Dizon 1993; Goddio 1994). The search for the San Diego commenced on April 8, 1991, employed survey-positioning systems for accurate tracking and navigation, magnetometers to detect iron objects under the seabed, and sub-bottom profilers for mapping the seabed stratification. Due to the inaccurate historical accounts regarding the exact sinking location provided by Morga, the survey took longer and covered a lot of area before the San Diego was discovered. The actual shipwreck site was determined only after a series of verification dives on one of the numerous anomalies approximately a kilometer northeast of Fortune Island and lying 54 m below sea surface level. The ship, beneath a mound of stoneware jars and cannons, and the excavation area covered approximately 40 by 200 m (Cuevas 1992; Ronquillo 1993). Two years of excavation work yielded valuable information on the ship construction technique and the recovery of more than 34,000 archaeological specimens (Figure 2.2). The first season, in 1992, focused on the recording and recovery of the archaeological findings, while the 1993 season examined the naval construction. The San Diego archaeological assemblage included ceramics, metals, glass, wood, and organics, revealing an archaeological trove of information about a vessel that served a dual purpose as a merchant and military ship. Ship-related objects such as iron anchors and lead weights, ship fixtures such as padlocks, keys, and hinges, and ropes were also recovered. Of particular significance were the navigational instruments (astrolabe [Figure 2.3] and an astronomical circle) and related implements. The nautical bronze astrolabe from the San Diego is a singular find, as not many astrolabes have been found. It was used to determine the ship’s position in degrees of latitude. The astronomical circle was initially identified as a compass, but its real purpose has not been positively ascertained; the researchers speculated that this piece might have been used to tell time (Desroches et al. 1996). The ceramics comprised a wide array of porcelain, stoneware, and earthenware artifacts from China, Southeast Asia, and Spain. Of particular interest are the nearly 800 Southeast Asian ceramic jars, several of which hold more
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Figure 2.2. Excavation on the San Diego shipwreck. (Photo courtesy of Frederic Osada and Gilbert Fournier)
than 350 liters, many of them still bearing kiln marks. More than 1,200 pieces of different types of Chinese blue and white porcelains have also been recovered. Some were produced by the kilns of Zhangzhou, but the majority were manufactured in Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province (Desroches et al. 1996). The naval artifacts comprised armaments, such as fourteen bronze can-
Maritime Trade in the Philippines during the Early Colonial Period
Figure 2.3. The San Diego astrolabe. (Photo courtesy of Albert Giordan, Foundation Elf)
nons (culverins, demi-culverins, saker, demi-saker, falcon, and Portuguese pedrero), samurai swords, rapiers, small firearms, ammunitions, and daggers, as well as sword hangers and pommels, and helmets (morions) used by the combatants. The presence of samurai swords indicated that Japanese fighting men, possibly mercenaries, were part of the fighting contingent. Life-on-board items included personal objects such as jewelry (gold braid, ring chain, collar), a seal, coins (Spanish, Chinese, and Islamic), writing instruments (inkwell and dredger), and game pieces (chess). Religious items included two chaplets, a medal, and a book clasp. Utilitarian objects included kitchen and tablewares (ceramic plates, cups, bowls, bottles, spice jars, and stoves; silver and bronze wares including plates, bowls, goblets and ewers, forks and spoons, mortar and pestle), lighting devices (candleholders and oil
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lamps), bells, and betel-nut containers. Animal remains of pig, chicken, and cattle reveal the diet of the people aboard the San Diego.
Nuestra Señora de la Vida (1620) Nuestra Señora de la Vida was an outbound Manila galleon that reportedly sank in 1620 (World Wide First 1985). Pilot error was the attributed cause of the sinking, as the ship hit one of the reefs off Verde Island (Fish 2011; Schurz 1985). The vessel reportedly ran aground onto the shore, after which the ship structure broke and its contents spilled on the seafloor. The shipwreck lies on the southwest coast of Isla Verde and in very shallow waters. This island is in the middle of a strait of the same name, approximately four miles from the north coast of Mindoro and about three miles from the south coast of Luzon. From December 1 to 12, 1985, representatives of the National Museum and WWF carried out excavation activities at the reported site. Several hundred fragments of Chinese blue and white porcelains, scattered over a large area, were brought to the surface. Only 30 intact pieces were recovered. Although the wooden remains of the vessel have mostly disappeared, it is remarkable that a large part of the keel was found still in fairly good condition (World Wide First 1985). Nuestra Señora de la Vida is considered significant, as it is the first time that a keel and some fixtures belonging to a Spanish galleon have been found. The timber measured 21 m long and is located at a depth between 4 and 6 m (Figure 2.4). The keel is placed in its position by two huge blocks above it. The larger block is mainly composed of ballast stones, together with coral concretions. The smaller block consists of several cannonballs surrounded by a coat-
Figure 2.4. Photomosaic of the Nuestra Señora de la Vida keel. (Photo courtesy of the National Museum of the Philippines)
Maritime Trade in the Philippines during the Early Colonial Period
ing of iron and limestone aggregate and joined together with ballast stones. On the east side of the keel, parts of the floor-timber have survived. The keelson and two counter-keels have left traces under the two blocks (ballast stones and cannonballs). The keel and the other timbers were measured and photographed, and all other associated materials were recovered and recorded. A trench was also dug to determine the extent of the site, and the divers carried out investigations outside the immediate border of the site to determine the debris field. It is significant to note that traces of mercury were also found in the wood. Mercury is used to purify sand and silver, ridding them respectively of the sand grains and the ore. The Chinese blue and white fragments were analyzed and compared with similar items from the site Cour Napoléon stored at the Musée du Louvre in France (WWF 1985). Based on the comparative results, the tradewares from Nuestra Señora de la Vida seemed to be of inferior quality and may have been destined for a less selective clientele, quite possibly for the general population. The tradewares may well have been produced during the second decade of the seventeenth century. Considering the keel’s archaeological importance, the National Museum revisited the site in 1986 to assess the possibility of raising and conserving it (Nicolas 1986). This was followed by another National Museum visit to verify reports of site disturbance by sport divers (Conese 1987). The keel was apparently disturbed, as evidenced by broken planks and the presence of newly broken wood fragments. Finally, the keel of the galleon Nuestra Señora de la Vida was transferred from Boquete Island to Sabang, Puerto Galera, Mindoro Oriental in 1990 by Underwater Archaeology Section personnel led by section head Dr. Eusebio Dizon accompanied by a museum conservator who assessed the condition of the keel and took samples of fungi and bacteria for further laboratory testing. A plank that was taken out of its original location and exposed to the elements was treated chemically (Dizon 1990). The two larger pieces of the keel were tied alongside the motorboat, allowing them to “float” as the boat moved toward Sabang. Upon reaching the designated transfer site, the keel was lowered into the sandy seabed at around six meters deep and placed under a huge piece of coral to secure it.
Encarnación (1649) Underwater archaeological work done to locate the possible wreck of the galleon Encarnación, an Acapulco-bound galleon that wrecked off the coast of
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Sorsogon, was conducted only once, from December 1985 to January 1986. Three personnel from the Underwater Archaeology Unit (UAU) of the National Museum, together with a group of private individuals who provided logistics for the project, conducted decompression dives on the reported site. The site is approximately 4.5 km from the west coast of Bulan, Sorsogon. It is 49 m deep, with strong underwater current. Wooden planks were exposed after removing less than a meter of sand using an airlift. On top of the planks were ballast stones. The project was not completed because of bad weather, and no further underwater archaeological activities were carried out.
San José (1694) San José was the biggest Spanish galleon of its time, having a length of 60 m. It reportedly sank during a storm off the western shores of Lubang Island, Mindoro Occidental, on July 3, 1694 (Alba 1986; Fish 2011; Schurz 1985). The ship’s three masts and rudder supposedly broke as the ship hit the reef, causing severe damage to its structure. All 400 people on board allegedly perished, along with 12,000 pieces of cargo (Fish 2011; Schurz 1985). It was estimated that the wreckage was strewn over a large area, possibly a square kilometer, but the main area may be approximately 300 m2 (Oceaneering International 1987:4). The Underwater Archaeology Section (UAS) of the National Museum of the Philippines carried out the search for the San José in collaboration with WWF in a 127-km2 area covering the waters between Cabral Island and northwest of Lubang Island. A magnetometer survey was carried out around Tagbac Cove and detected two anomalies of non-natural origins (Alba 1986). The beach area where the suspected site is located yielded almost 1,000 broken pieces of high-quality Chinese blue and white porcelains. Offshore and at a maximum of 10 m deep, a number of shipwreck-related archaeological objects were discovered (Alba 1986; Conese 1989; Oceaneering International 1987). These include broken Chinese blue and white porcelains, stoneware and earthenware fragments, encrusted cannonballs, lead balls that are presumed to be musket ammunition, and other metal artifacts, including a sledge hammer, large nails, and copper bars. Remarkable objects that were recovered include gold chains and silver objects, glass buttons, copper rings, parts of a rosary, brooches, and gold and silver parts of a sword hilt among others (Conese 1989; Cuevas 1990). Although no evidence of an intact shipwreck was observed, a specific area contained wooden ship remains that may well be the San José. One timber measured about 8 m long, with a deck board of 30 × 25 cm, and with nails
Maritime Trade in the Philippines during the Early Colonial Period
protruding vertically along its axis. Numerous pieces of broken blue and white porcelains of the same type that were found onshore were also noted. After three weeks of investigation, the researchers concluded that the site was indeed the area where San José perished. Many artifacts were still in situ but are mostly embedded in the corals. In 1987 the Oceaneering International carried out magnetometer, bathymetric, and undersea visual survey using SCUBA at the site’s location to assess the best method to excavate the site, due to the area’s complicated topography and because some artifacts are buried beneath the corals (Oceaneering International 1987). However, the planned excavation was never carried out.
Other Shipwreck/Underwater Sites Española (Sixteenth Century) This underwater site was accidentally discovered by a group of fishermen off the shores of Sitio Carasanan, Barangay Iraray, Municipality of Española, southeast of Palawan Island on June 20, 1999 (Dizon et al. 2000; Orillaneda 2000).17 Stoneware jars and other ceramic items were retrieved and sold to antique dealers in Puerto Princesa City, the capital of Palawan. The site was later reported to the Far Eastern Foundation for Nautical Archaeology (FEFNA), a research entity that undertakes underwater archaeological activities in collaboration with the National Museum. From January 12 until March 4, 2000, representatives from the National Museum and FEFNA started excavation activities at the site (Dizon et al. 2000; Orillaneda 2000). It is located approximately 3.7 km from the shoreline of Barangay Carasanan. The underwater site area lies 28 m below the water surface and is about 20 m long and 18 m wide. More than 1,300 archaeological specimens were recovered, including highfired, glazed ceramics (porcelain and stoneware) and pottery as well as metal, wood, bone, ivory, and stone objects (Dizon et al. 2000; Orillaneda 2000). Stoneware jars from the Thai Sawankhalok kilns (Figure 2.5) were the most numerous, along with lesser amounts of earthenware and porcelain pieces. The blue and white porcelains specimens come from China, possibly the Jingdezhen area. Based on the morphological and stylistic designs of the blue and whites, the ceramics were dated to the sixteenth century CE. It is interesting to note that although wood fragments were recovered, no evidence of the ship structure was ever found (Dizon et al. 2000; Orillaneda 2000). Exploration activities beyond the site yielded negative results for any
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Figure 2.5. Large stoneware jars from the Sawankhalok kilns, Thailand. (Photo courtesy of the National Museum of the Philippines)
shipwreck evidence. It is speculated that the archaeological specimens may have been jettisoned as the ship was trying to lighten its weight, possibly due to a storm, and that the ship may have been able to survive the storm or sank somewhere else. The dearth of the materials seemed to confirm this, although there have been unsubstantiated reports that a considerable number of artifacts had been pilfered prior to the onset of excavations.
San Isidro (Sixteenth Century) The San Isidro wreck was found in 1996 during an underwater survey approximately nine kilometers off the shores of Barangay San Isidro, Cabangan
Maritime Trade in the Philippines during the Early Colonial Period
Figure 2.6. Excavation of the San Isidro shipwreck site. (Photo courtesy of Franck Goddio, FEFNA)
Municipality in Zambales Province at a depth of 44 m below sea level (Dizon and Orillaneda 2002; Goddio 1997). Subsequent excavation of the site in the same year revealed a shipwreck with ceramic cargo (Figure 2.6). Excavation activities in 1996 revealed a ship laden with predominantly Chinese blue and white ceramics of the Zhangzhou ware type, otherwise known as Swatow wares, that were dated to the early sixteenth century, during the reign of
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Chinese emperor Zhengde (1506–1521 CE) (Goddio 1997; Tan et al. 2007). Other ceramic wares included two stoneware jarlets from the Sisatchanalai kilns in Thailand and a blue and white box possibly from the Chu Dau kilns of Vietnam. Other artifacts included iron bars that may have been used as ballast, iron cooking cauldrons, a knife, betel nuts that were found in a small jar, and coconut sap of the Agathis philippinensis Warb, or almaciga tree, used for caulking. Initial measurements of the ship’s wooden remains estimated the length of the ship to be 15 m and of the “clinker” ship construction type, with the planks connected by ropes made from plant fibers (Goddio 1997). The planks were made from narra (Pterocarpus indicus, Willd), while the keel was made from molave (Vitex parviflora, Juss), which are common in the Philippines. Analysis of the hull structure and the wood composition indicated that the San Isidro ship may have been a local boat used to transport trading commodities from bigger trading ships to land-based merchants and was equipped with sails, with no outriggers, similar to the indigenous Garay, Parao, and Barangay Philippine boats (Santiago 1997; Tan et al. 2007).
The Royal Captain Junk (Sixteenth–Seventeenth Century) The Royal Captain junk was accidentally discovered in 1985 during the search for the Royal Captain, an English East Indiaman recorded to have sunk in December 17, 1773 (Alba 1988; Conese 1989; Goddio 1988). The surveyed area is a shoal named after the shipwreck located west of Palawan Island in the Philippines. A magnetic anomaly on the north side of the survey area led to the discovery of artifacts 200 years older than the eighteenth-century vessel at a depth of 2–3 m. A wide range of ceramic wares, predominantly blue and white porcelain wares of various shapes, sizes, and decoration, was recovered, along with stoneware jars, colored glass beads, bronze gongs, iron bars, copper bracelets, and other metal objects. Goddio (1988:115) concluded that, based on “the nature of the paste as well as the execution of the decorative patterns, which are mostly traced in dark blue and filled in with a dull pale blue wash . . . [the ceramic wares] very clearly point to the Wan Li Period (1573–1620).” The nature of the recovered material evidence indicated the Royal Captain junk to be an Asian vessel, despite the very meager wooden remains. The boat apparently grounded, possibly due to inclement weather, as the shoal is located in the middle of a vast stretch of sea, and the shoal may not have been recorded in navigation maps of that period. Its small size meant it traveled shorter distances, possibly from Borneo to Manila, carrying trade goods in exchange for other in-demand merchandise back to its home port (Goddio 1988).
Maritime Trade in the Philippines during the Early Colonial Period
The Marinduque Underwater Site (Sixteenth Century) An aquarium-fish collector accidentally discovered the site in December 1980 (Alba 1984; Conese et al. 1982). The site is approximately 900 m from Gaspar Island and about 2.4 km off the shores of Gasan Municipality in Marinduque Province (Conese 1983). The site lies at a depth of 38 m in a flat and sandy seabed. Initial investigation by members of the UAU of the National Museum revealed a heavily disturbed site from looting activities, but evidence of ceramic cargo was still noted. A combined team from the National Museum and the private group Marine Archaeology Unlimited Incorporated (MAUI) excavated the site during two seasons: the first season from February 9 to the middle of August 1982, while the second season was carried out from April until August 1983. More than 1,200 archaeological objects, of which 170 were intact, were catalogued during the course of the excavations (Alba 1984; Conese 1983; Conese et al. 1982). High-fired, glazed, and unglazed ceramics form the largest number of pieces and include blue and white porcelain dishes (Figure 2.7), saucers, bowls, and boxes, as well as stoneware jars with lids and jarlets. Some jars have brown glazes with relief-dragon designs with matching lids with an appliquéd Dog of Fu design. There are also a number of Chinese celadon dishes. Earthenware stoves and pots were also part of the archaeological findings. The Chinese blue and white pieces have been identified as Zhangzhou (or Swatow) wares and dated to the sixteenth century (Conese 1983). Non-ceramic items included cast-iron pans, a finger ring made of copper, and ballast stones. It is notable that although bits and pieces of wood were recorded, no shipwreck structure has been found, leading to the hypothesis that the wood remains have been eaten by shipworms. This also precludes the identification of the type of vessel as well as the narrative of the ship’s origin, route, and destination. The same site was revisited in 1989, this time by UAS representatives and the private group Scientific Survey and Location Ltd (SSL). The objective of this project was the continuation of the excavation of the 1982–1983 projects and the improvement of excavation methodology as well as the documentation of the site. The 1982–1983 project was the first underwater archaeology project of the National Museum; thus, the methodology at that time was experimental and rudimentary (Alba 1989). A metal cage made up of vehicle engine parts, believed to be a shark cage, as well as tangled fishing nets and airlift holes were noted at the site (Alba
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Figure 2.7. Chinese blue and white porcelain dishes from the Marinduque site. (Photo courtesy of the National Museum of the Philippines)
1989). The excavation area totaled 180 m2 and reached 2 m deep. The 1989 project finds included ceramics composed of porcelains, stonewares, and earthenwares, as well as iron objects and wood remains that were similar to the recovered materials from the 1982–1983 project (Alba 1989). The project was also successful in implementing improved site mapping, excavation methodology, and recording and illustration of finds.
Maritime Trade in the Philippines during the Early Colonial Period
Summary and Conclusion Maritime trade in the Philippines underwent profound transformations during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Whereas the country has had a long history of established economic networks within and outside its borders, the entry of the Europeans—Portuguese in Melaka and Spanish in the Philippines—opened up new markets that became global in scope. Manila took on a central role as a trade entrepôt, a recipient of a wide range and diverse foreign natural and cultural commodities, and a point of departure for the transshipment of these items to the American continent. In return, Mexican and Peruvian silver along with American and European foodstuffs as well as natural and manufactured exotics reached Asia through the Philippines. This material and cultural exchange between continents across a vast ocean was made possible through the discovery of the Manila–Acapulco and Acapulco–Manila trade route that became known as the Manila Galleon trade route. The impetus for the galleon trade was the high demand for Southeast Asian spices in Europe and the Spanish government’s desire to participate in, if not monopolize, spice trade despite Portugal’s authority over the Moluccas islands, the source of the spices. For 250 years the galleons were the primary carriers not only of material goods but also of peoples with their own religious systems, beliefs, practices, and norms that consequently had a profound effect on interacting societies. These commercial and cultural maritime contacts can be gleaned through the different shipwreck and underwater sites found in Philippine waters mentioned in this chapter. The archaeological assemblages of the Manila galleon shipwrecks Nuestra Señora de la Vida, Encarnación, and San José are examples of the trade items carried in the galleon trade. However, the vessels’ destruction in shallow waters meant scant ship structure and cargo remains, due to the violent nature of the wrecking process and the dispersal of objects over a wide area. Historical sources also mentioned that some shipwrecks were immediately salvaged. The keel of the Nuestra Señora de la Vida survived but is insufficient to extrapolate ship construction. The San José yielded only a single 8-m-long wooden plank. Timbers that may be planks were noted at the Encarnación site but were not recorded through systematic investigations, due to adverse working conditions, and the project was abandoned completely. Nevertheless, the recovery of mostly broken pieces of porcelain and stoneware ceramics proved useful for dating purposes. The San José contained a few pieces of gold, silver, and copper objects that may have been crew and passenger possessions.
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The San Diego shipwreck is unique, as it was discovered in pristine condition and thus served as a veritable time capsule of a specific period in colonial history. The shipwreck and its associated cargo revealed evidence of structure and loading modifications from a trade vessel (nao) to a warship. There are artifacts representing life on board, diet, weaponry, and other items that revealed the presence of different ethnicities that were on deck (e.g., Japanese samurai weapons and possessions, foreign jewelry, Venetian glass, silver objects of western origins). The archaeology of the San Diego also proved especially useful in refuting historical documents, in this case Morga’s erroneous official version of the naval engagement between the San Diego and the Dutch ship Mauritius and his role in it. The non-galleon shipwrecks Española, Marinduque, Royal Captain junk, and San Isidro carried trade items that may have been destined for Manila or other Philippine trading ports that may or may not have been directly connected to the galleon trade. Their wide geographical distribution shows that commerce was equally vibrant beyond the galleon navigation route. The Royal Captain junk and Española vessels were found southeast and west of Palawan Island, while the San Isidro wreck lies northwest of Zambales Province in Luzon. The Marinduque wreck lies within the galleon trade route but does not fit with any recorded galleon losses. The vessels all carried ceramic trade and utilitarian wares from China, Thailand, and Vietnam along with smaller quantities of metal, wood, bone, ivory, and stone pieces. The San Isidro ship contained cast-iron pans that were trade items. The Española and the Marinduque sites are remarkable due to the absence of wooden remains. While two plausible theories (cargo jettison during inclement weather or total destruction of the wood by shipworms) were advanced to explain the phenomenon, the first theory seems to be the more plausible explanation. While the Española, Marinduque, and San Isidro wrecks were found in deep waters, the Royal Captain junk sank in very shallow waters inside a shoal. The navigator may not have been aware of the presence of the shoal or, if he was, the vessel was forced into the shoal by big waves during a storm. Unsurprisingly, the most numerous archaeological artifacts are the ceramic assemblages, given their durability. The equally important spices, silk, and other perishables do not survive in the archaeological record and thus are not accurately represented. The ceramic assemblage reveals the vibrant commercial interaction between the Philippines and ceramic-producing countries China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Burma (Myanmar). A majority of the ceramics come from China, as these tradewares are important cargo of the Manila galleons due to their high demand in Mexico and Europe. The Southeast Asian
Maritime Trade in the Philippines during the Early Colonial Period
ceramics mostly comprised jars for storage purposes. The development of Southeast Asian stoneware jar production in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Burma seems linked closely with the economic shifts starting in the first half of the second millennium as Southeast Asian polities and ports of trade increased participation in the maritime ceramic trade (Grave and Maccheroni 2009). The different types of ceramic tradewares also indicated the types of population they were intended for. For example, the low-quality ceramics such as those found in the Nuestra Señora de la Vida led the researchers to speculate that the wares were for the general population and not for the elite class. Other objects made of metal, glass, and wood are also present in significant quantities that reflect navigation and ship-related activities, as well as life on board, whether religious, medicinal, or even gaming activities. The archaeological excavations revealed the limitations of data recovery for most of the sunken vessels in this chapter. Except for the San Diego, none of the shipwrecks yielded enough wooden remains to help reconstruct shipbuilding technology. The severe destruction in shallow waters of most ships also meant that only a small percentage of the entire archaeological assemblage is represented. However, despite the dearth of recovered archaeological data, the shipwrecks and surviving objects have contributed valuable information in reconstructing trade patterns and offered a glimpse of specific periods in history when people of different ethnicities and cultures have interacted and were woven together through maritime trade.
Notes 1. Lieberman (2009:838) identified two segments of Portugal’s system of Asian trade: “a) bilateral trade between Europe and India, which was a royal monopoly and which focused on the exchange of European and South American bullion for Asian spices, pepper, cotton and silk textiles; and b) intra-Asian trade, more or less under official supervision, which sought to amass profits sufficient to purchase Asian goods for Europe and thus minimize Portugal’s bullion exports.” 2. Reid (1980:236–237) described the character of Southeast Asian–centered trade during the Age of Commerce: “The trade both within and beyond Southeast Asia was broken into a number of sectors, hinging on commercial emporia where goods could be bartered or sold while traders waited for the appropriate monsoon wind to take them either on to the next sector or homeward to their port of origin. Traders from India and the Red Sea frequently made one of the ports on the eastern side of the Indian Ocean their eastern terminus—Pasai, Pidie, or later Aceh in Sumatra, Pegu in Burma (Myanmar), or Mergui, Tennasserim, Kedah, or Melaka on the Malay Peninsula. Fewer of them continued on to the ports of Java or overland to Ayudhya, mingling with the Malay, Mon, or Javanese traders on these routes. The Chinese similarly tended to sell their goods on the southern rim of the South China Sea,
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at Ayudhya, Patani, Brunei, Manila, Melaka, or the ports of Java–Tuban, Gresik, Surabaya, Japara, and later Banten.” 3. Morga (in Blair and Robertson 1903–1909:16:178–180) listed the following trade items: “raw silk in various forms such as raw silk in bundles, of the fineness of two strands, and other silk of coarser quality, fine untwisted silk, white and of all colors, wound in small skeins; quantities of velvets, some plain and some embroidered with gold; woven stuffs and brocades, of gold and silver upon silk of various colors and patterns; quantities of gold and silver thread in skeins; damasks, satins, taffetas and other cloths of all colors and white cotton cloth of different kinds and qualities; muck, benzoin and ivory; many bed ornaments, hangings coverlets and tapestries of embroidered velvet, damask and gorvaran of different shades; tablecloths, cushions and carpets; horse trappings of the same stuff and embroidered with glass beads and seed pearls; also some pearls and rubies, sapphires and crystal stones; metal basins, copper kettles and other copper and cast iron pots; quantities of all sorts of nails, sheet iron, tin and lead; salpetre and gunpowder.” 4. The growing Chinese population vis-à-vis the Spanish became a source of anxiety for the latter. Historical texts record that during the Spanish colonization period, at least six Chinese massacre episodes as well as multiple mass expulsions were carried out as a way of limiting the Chinese population to prevent uprisings against the colonists (Ang See 1998). 5. Morga (in Blair and Robertson 1903–1909:16:183) listed these items from Japan: “excellent wheat flour and highly prized salt meats; fine woven silk goods of mixed colors; beautiful and finely decorated screens done in oil and gilt; all kinds of cutlery; many suits of armor, spears, catans and other weapons, all finely wrought; writing cases, boxes and small cases of wood; excellent fresh pears; barrels and casks of good salt tunny; cages of sweet-voiced larks and other trifles.” 6. Schurz (1985:121) noted that “in the later years of the commerce ships proceeding from the Dutch Islands, usually from the central entrepôt of Batavia, carried, besides Ceylon cinnamon and Moluccan cloves, some cheap cottons of Javanese, or sometimes of BritishIndian manufacture.” 7. Schurz (1959:121) identified some items such as “trinkets of brass, palm, nuts, slaves, sago, and black-glazed water jars.” 8. Siamese King Naresuan reportedly sent a mission to Manila in 1595–1596 to explore trading and political connections, but Spain did not reciprocate the overtures (Breazeale 1999). 9. Schurz (1985:112) detailed the various tactics employed by the Portuguese to discourage a China–Spain trade relationship: “The Portuguese at Macao sometimes went to Canton and bought up the available silk output of the year, which they carried to Manila, or they offered to carry it thither and sell it for a commission from Chinese principals. They also tried to deter the Chinese from going to the Philippines by picturing to them the Spanish colony at Manila as on the verge of financial ruin, and so unable to pay for any goods. With a view of keeping the junks off the China Sea they magnified the danger from the Dutch pirates. And, finally, they profited by the fitful periods of Chinese exclusion in Manila” (Schurz 1985: 112). 10. Legarda (1955:345–372) listed Philippine exports to New Spain, including “gold dust, wax, cordage, blankets and sail cloth from Ilocos, lampotes or gauze from Cebu, cotton stockings from Lubang and Ilocos, petticoats and hammocks from Ilocos, linen sheets, tablecloths and bed canopies.” Schurz (1959:43) added cinnamon.
Maritime Trade in the Philippines during the Early Colonial Period
11. Schurz (1985:222) listed other items of trade from the Americas to Manila that included “cacao from Guayaquil, cochineal from Oaxaca in Mexico, oil from Spain, wines and other peculiarly national goods.” 12. Arcilla (1998:117) notes, “Often a galleon carried unlisted goods, which were loaded onto the outgoing galleon as it slowly wound its way between the islands, from Cavite to the Embocadero, before exiting to the open sea.” Overloading was also a problem, as was the case with the Santa María Magdalena that sank in Cavite in 1734 (Fish 2011). 13. The British captured four Spanish galleons: the Santa Ana in 1587, by Thomas Cavendish; the Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación in 1709, by Woodes Rogers; the Nuestra Señora de Covadonga in 1743, by George Anson; and the Santisima Trinidad in 1762, by Samuel Cornish (Arcilla 1998:201; Fish 2011; Schurz 1985:21). 14. The Mexican situado is financial support from Mexico; the galleon-generated revenues in Manila were insufficient for the needs of the entire Philippine colony. To augment the Philippine budget, the Spanish king decreed that Mexico should allocate funds for the Philippines (Arcilla 1998). 15. A 1593 Royal Decree stated that galleons must have a tonnage of only 300 tons but such rules were never followed, and numerous measures were employed to circumvent the decrees (Fish 2011). 16. Goddio (1994:57) identified other cargo, including chicken coops, crates, trunks and beds. 17. In the absence of recorded vessel names, the names of the non-galleon shipwrecks mentioned in this chapter are based on the location where the shipwreck/underwater site is located.
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Spanish Conquest, edited by Theresa Maria Custodio and Jose Y. Dalisay, pp. 139–147. Asia Publishing, Manila. Blair, Emma H., and James Alexander Robertson 1903–1909 The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898. 55 vols. Arthur H. Clark, Cleveland. Bolunia, Mary Jane Louise 2015 The Spanish Shipyards of Sorsogon. In Proceedings of the Manila–Acapulco Galleon Trade Route for World Heritage Philippines Experts’ Roundtable Meeting, pp. 57–68. Tomas Aquinas Research Complex, University of Santo Tomas, Manila. Boncan, Celestina P. 2015 The Tornaviaje: Setting the Course of the Manila–Acapulco Galleon Trade. In Proceedings of the Manila–Acapulco Galleon Trade Route for World Heritage Philippines Experts’ Roundtable Meeting, pp. 46–56. Tomas Aquinas Research Complex, University of Santo Tomas, Manila. Boxer, Charles R. 2002 [1953] The Portuguese in the East, 1500–1800. In Portugal and Brazil: An Introduction, edited by Charles R. Boxer with the assistance of W. J. Entwistle, pp. 185–247. Clarendon Press, Oxford. Breazeale, Kennon 1999 Thai Maritime Trade and the Ministry Responsible. In From Japan to Arabia: Ayutthaya’s Maritime Relations with Asia, edited by Kennon Breazeale, pp. 1–54. Toyota Thailand Foundation and the Foundation for the Promotion of Social Sciences and Humanities Textbooks Project, Bangkok. Conese, Eduardo T. 1983 Second Preliminary Report on Marinduque Underwater Archaeology Project. Unpublished manuscript. National Museum of the Philippines, Manila. 1987 Field Report on the Official Travel Conducted in Verde Island, Batangas City (March 21–27, 1987). Unpublished manuscript. National Museum of the Philippines, Manila. 1989 Underwater Archaeology in the Philippines. Unpublished manuscript. National Museum of the Philippines, Manila. Conese, Eduardo T., Antonio Malones, and Arthur Villanueva 1982 Marinduque Underwater Archaeological Project (1982). Unpublished manuscript. National Museum of the Philippines, Manila. Cuevas, Maharlika 1990 Report on the Sharing of Artifacts Retrieved from the San Jose Wreck Excavation. Unpublished manuscript. National Museum of the Philippines, Manila. 1992 Fortune Island Archaeological Excavations: A Preliminary Report. Unpublished manuscript. National Museum of the Philippines, Manila. Desroches, Jean-Paul, Gabriel Casal, and Frank Goddio (editors) 1996 Treasures of the San Diego. Association Française d’Action Artistique, New York. Dixon, Chris (editor) 1991 South East Asia in the World-Economy (No. 16). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Dizon, Eusebio Z. 1990 Accomplishment Report on the Transfer of the Keel of De La Vida Galleon from Bo-
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quete Island to Sabang, Puerto Galera. Unpublished manuscript. National Museum of the Philippines, Manila. 1993 War at Sea: Piecing Together the San Diego Puzzle. In Saga of the San Diego (A.D. 1600), edited by Jesus T. Peralta; Ramon N. Villegas, pp. 21–26. Concerned Citizens for the National Museum Inc. Philippines, Vera-Reyes Inc., Manila. Dizon, Eusebio, Eduardo Conese, Maharlika Cuevas, and Sheldon Clyde Jago-on 2000 The Carasanan Underwater Archaeological Excavation Project. Unpublished manuscript. National Museum of the Philippines, Manila. Dizon, Eusebio, and Bobby Orillaneda 2002 Ming Blue and Whites Found from Shipwrecks in the Philippines. In Yuan and Ming Blue and White Ware from Jiangxi, edited by Peng Mingan, pp. 70–80. Jiangxi Provincial Museum and the Art Museum and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Doeppers, Daniel F. 1972 The Development of Philippine Cities before 1900. Journal of Asian Studies 31(4): 769–92. Fabella, Augusto V. 1998 The Spanish Arrival. In Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People: 3. The Spanish Conquest, edited by Theresa Maria Custodio and Jose Y. Dalisay, pp. 719. Asia Publishing, Manila. Fish, Shirley 2011 The Manila–Acapulco Galleons: The Treasure Ships of the Pacific: With an Annotated List of the Transpacific Galleons 1565–1815. Author House, Central Milton Keynes, UK. Goddio, Frank 1988 Discovery and Archaeological Excavation of a 16th Century Trading Vessel in the Philippines. World Wide First, Manila. 1994 Historical Background. In Treasures of the San Diego, edited by Jean-Paul Desroches, Gabriel Casal, and Franck Goddio, pp. 28–71. AFAA, Elf, and National Museum of the Philippines, Manila. 1997 San Isidro Wreck ’96: Excavations’ Preliminary Report and Ceramic Cargo’s Study. Unpublished manuscript. National Museum of the Philippines, Manila. Grave, Peter, and Maccheroni, Michael 2009 Characterizing Asian Stoneware Jar Production at the Transition to the Early Modern Period, 1550–1650. In Scientific Research on Historic Asian Ceramics. Proceedings of the Fourth Forbes Symposium at the Freer Gallery of Art. Archetype, London. Hall, Kenneth R. 2004 Local and International Trade and Traders in the Straits of Melaka Region: 600–1500. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 47(2):213–260. Jago-on, Sheldon Clyde B., Bobby C. Orillaneda, and Ligaya S. P. Lacsina 2015 The Archaeology of the Manila–Acapulco Galleons. In Proceedings of the Manila– Acapulco Galleon Trade Route for World Heritage Philippines Experts’ Roundtable Meeting, edited by Eric Zerrudo, pp. 69–86. Tomas Aquinas Research Complex, University of Santo Tomas, Manila. Legarda, Benito J. 1955 Two and a Half Centuries of the Galleon Trade. Philippine Studies 3(4):345–372.
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L’Hour, Michel 1994 Naval Construction: A Makeshift Galleon. In Treasures of the San Diego, edited by Jean-Paul Desroches, Gabriel Casal, Frank Goddio, pp. 118–159. AFAA, Elf and National Museum of the Philippines, Manila. Lieberman, Victor 2009 Strange Parallels: Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800–1830:2. Mainland Mirrors: Europe, Japan, China. South Asia, and the Islands. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Lockard, Craig A. 2010 “The Sea Common to All”: Maritime Frontiers, Port Cities, and Chinese Traders in the Southeast Asian Age of Commerce, ca. 1400–1750. Journal of World History 21(2):219–247. Nicolas, Norman 1986 A Brief Report on the Sampling Done among the Timber Remains of a Shipwreck in Isla Verde (April 29 to May 9, 1986). Unpublished field report. National Museum of the Philippines, Manila. Oceaneering International, Inc. 1987 Survey Report. China Pacific Explorations LTD. Salvage Feasibility Study near Tagbac, Lubang Island, Philippines. Unpublished manuscript. National Museum of the Philippines, Manila. Orillaneda, Bobby 2000 The Carasanan Underwater Archaeology Project: A Field Report. Unpublished manuscript. National Museum of the Philippines, Manila. Phelan, John L. 1959 The Hispanization of the Philippines: Spanish Aims and Filipino Responses, 1565–1700. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison. Reed, R. R. 1979 The Foundation and Morphology of Hispanic Manila: Colonial Images and Philippine Realities. In The Rise and Growth of the Colonial Port Cities in Asia, edited by D. K. Basu, pp. 169–177. Center for South Pacific Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz. Reid, Anthony 1980 The Structure of Cities in Southeast Asia, Fifteenth to Seventeenth Centuries. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 11(2):235–250. 1988 Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce. Yale University Press, New Haven. 1989 The Organisation of Production in the Pre-colonial Southeast Asian Polity. In Brides of the Sea: Port Cities of Asia from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Centuries, Vol. 1, edited by F. Broeze, pp. 54–74. University of Hawai‘i Press, Honolulu. 1990 An “Age of Commerce” in Southeast Asian History. Modern Asian Studies 24(1):1–30. 1993 Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450–1680, Vol. 2, Expansion and Crisis. Yale University Press, New Haven. 1995 Documenting the Rise and Fall of Ayudhya as a Regional Trade Centre. In Charting the Shape of Early Modern Asia, edited by Anthony Reid, pp. 85–99. University of Washington Press, Seattle. 1999 Charting the Shape of Early Modern Southeast Asia. University of Washington Press, Seattle.
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Rodriguez, Fernando N. R. 1998 Building a Navy against the Dutch. In Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People: 3. The Spanish Conquest, edited by Theresa Maria Custodio and Jose Y. Dalisay, pp. 210–211. Asia Publishing, Manila. Ronquillo, Wilfredo P. 1993 The Archaeology of the San Diego. In Saga of the San Diego (A.D. 1600), edited by Jesus T. Peralta and Ramon N. Villegas, pp. 13–20. Concerned Citizens for the National Museum Inc. Vera-Reyes Inc, Manila. Santiago, Rey 1997 Preliminary Observation of the San Isidro Wreck ’96: Excavations Preliminary Report and Ceramic Cargo’s Study. Unpublished site report submitted by the Far Eastern Foundation for Nautical Archaeology (FEFNA). National Museum of the Philippines, Manila. Schurz, William L. 1985 The Manila Galleon. Historical Conservation Society, Manila. Tan, Rita C., Jian A. Li, Eusebio Z. Dizon, and Bobby C. Orillaneda 2007 Zhangzhou Ware Found in the Philippines: “Swatow” Export Ceramics from Fujian 16th–17th Century. Art Post Asia, Kuala Lumpur. Thomaz, Luis F.F.R. 1993 The Malay Sultanate of Melaka. In Southeast Asia in the Early Modern Era: Trade, Power, and Belief, edited by Anthony Reid, pp. 71–82. Cornell University Press, Ithaca. Wallerstein, Immanuel M. 2004 World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction. Duke University Press, Durham. World Wide First 1985 Preliminary Summary Report of the Nuestra Señora de la Vida Wreck. Unpublished manuscript. National Museum of the Philippines, Manila.
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3 The Impact of the First Conquest on the Indigenous Populations of the Philippines (Sixteenth through Eighteenth Centuries)
Miguel Luque-Talaván
Introduction Every process of discovery, conquest, and colonization, regardless of its magnitude and historical implications, entails a transformation in those societies in which it takes place. Such a transformation, though, must not make us assume that there was no resistance, varying in form and intensity, aimed at the outsiders by the receiving population.1 The Philippines, as in other parts of the world, were no exception. Their discovery by the Western world, made by Iberian sailors, happened during the Magallanes–Elcano first global voyage of circumnavigation (1519–1522). But the conquest was not initiated until many decades later, in 1565, as a result of the expedition led by Miguel López de Legazpi. From that moment on, the islands were attached, as governorate and captaincy general, to the Viceroyalty of New Spain. By that time, the Spanish overseas experience was finally developed; and the conquest and colonization of the archipelago, in the minds of the Spanish people of the age, benefited from the American experience initiated in 1492. Hence the many similarities that can be found, as we will see, between the two colonization models, in spite of the existing geographical distance between both of them. If the study of this process provides numerous opportunities for reflection— both from the conqueror’s point of view and that of the conquered—the detailed study of the impact of this first conquest on the indigenous populations does so no less, as they all possessed a rich history and a fascinating culture.
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Furthermore, the expression first conquest needs to be stressed, given that there were hotbeds of military tension that never came to a final end—wars with the Malayan–Muslim population at the south of the archipelago, and campaigns against some populations of the Cordillera of the island of Luzon—as examples of the aforementioned resistances. All of that transformed the islands, in many cases, into recipients of untimely systems of conquest and colonization that continued to be implemented until late into the nineteenth century. Historiography has indicated over many decades, with regard to the American case, the main questions in relation to this contact and its consequences. This work is framed, essentially, within the so-called discipline of ethnohistory. In the present investigation, I intend to apply its model of analysis to the Philippine domain. Thus, I address aspects such as the impact on settlement patterns and on social structure, the population shock, and the consequences of the conquest on the economic structure, in the culture, and in the spiritual world of the Philippine indigenous populations between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. This investigation does not focus exclusively on the native agency, but rather on the conquest from the perspective of the Spanish, submitting the necessary sources in order to understand it, and making a comparative study of the Philippines and of Spanish America. In short, the intention is to draw up an approach to the transformation movement resulting from the conquest by studying, arranging, and classifying the different aspects mentioned. To do so, and using the abovementioned ethnohistorical method, the cultural change that came from the contact is followed through the analysis of handwritten and print sources of the time developed by the Hispanic power—and obtained from Spanish, Mexican, and Philippine archives—but rich in data about the indigenous populations of the islands. I am aware of the enormous volume of existing material related to this topic. Accordingly, the facts and reflections presented below are the result of a first overview that I hope will serve us well as a road map for future investigations.
The Indigenous Populations of the Philippines upon the Arrival of the Iberian Sailors In 1993 Epeli Hau‘ofa coined the expression “a sea of islands” to refer to the island groups of Oceania.2 I believe that the expression applies equally to the Philippines, since it invites us to think about them in a comprehensive way, as a whole, and from every point of view.
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Several chroniclers and travelers shared the impression when they arrived at the Philippine archipelago during the first days of the sixteenth century, pointing out its great number of islands and ethnic-cultural diversity. Such diversity was further broadened by the migratory contributions of peninsular and Novohispanic Spanish people, Sangleyes, Chinese, and even indigenous Mesoamericans, among other population contributions from, for example, different parts of Asia. I offer two examples only, in order to avoid a long list of those who expressed such ideas in their writings. We owe the first to a great writer of the Spanish American historiography: Dr. Antonio de Morga, who was a highranking colonial official of the Hispanic administration in the islands. At the beginning of the eighth episode of his book Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, he stated that this great archipelago had countless islands, of minor and major importance (Morga 1997, chapter 8:251). In describing the indigenous population, he noted that, for example, in “various parts of this island of Luzon are found a number of natives” (Morga 1997, chapter 8:253). The second example emanates from Father Pedro Cubero Sebastián, a great traveler appointed as apostolic preacher in 1671 in the East Indies, who in his Peregrinación del Mundo stated that ancient cosmographers, when referring to that region, wrote that it featured islands that reached an exorbitant number (Cubero Sebastián 2007:278–279). He then went on to describe some particular impressions about the natives of the land: Pampangos, Negritos, Zambales, etc. (Cubero Sebastián 2007:279–285). To speak in global terms of all the indigenous populations of the Philippine Islands would be bold, as I would just enumerate a series of generalities not applicable to all the rich diversity of the archipelagos, formed nowadays by around 110 ethno-linguistic groups, according to figures from the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines.3 I believe that this has been one of the main problems of Spanish contemporary historiography working on Philippine ethnohistoric questions: to extend traditions, customs, beliefs from the specific time and place of their origin to a more general scheme that may be less appropriate to them. A glance at the outstanding and well-known Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt’s Ethnographic Map of the Philippines (1890a), printed at the end of the nineteenth century, allows us to confirm the location, at that time, of 63 indigenous groups in the Philippines, and it gives us some sense of the scientific perception of the insular diversity in that era. Accordingly, I will now move on to give some rough outlines on these population groups, which I will divide into four, depending on their geographical area of habitation: the island of Luzon,
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archipelago of the Visayas, island of Palawan, and island of Mindanao and adjacent islands, respectively (Saito 1974). There are many indigenous groups in Luzon. First of all, I will consider the Negritos, who have long been regarded as the first settlers of the area.4 This name was given by the Spanish, then adopted by foreign ethnographers. The Negritos were given different names by the indigenous people, namely: Aeta, Atta,5 Até—used in Palawan, where the Tagbanuas of the island so named them6—Eta, Ita, Mamánua—used in Mindanao—or Balugas. They lived, in addition to several sites of Luzon and Mindanao, in the islands of Paragua or Palawan, and in other points of the Visayan Islands.7 Along with them, we must not forget the rich cultural traditions of the peoples of the Cordillera of the island of Luzon, whose population was named by the Spanish Igorrotes, or mountain people, a generic term that includes, in fact, several ethno-linguistic groups that display some differences between them: Isneg (Apayao), Kalinga, Bontoc, Ifugao, Kankanay and Ibaloy. Thus, under the name of Igorrotes, the Spanish people associated all the indigenous groups, independent of each other and not Christianized, that lived in the Cordillera Central. However, there are also some other groups in the island of Luzon (Zambales, Pampangos, Pangasinanes, Tagalos or Tagalog8). In the case of the Visayan Islands, the Visayans occupied the coastal regions of Bantayan, Bohol, Cebu, Leyte, Marinduque, Mindanao, Negros, Panay, and Samar. The Spanish, upon their arrival, gave them the name of Pintados, for their custom of decorating their bodies with different pigments, using the technique of the embijado (a form of facial and body painting) and the sgraffito (Blumentritt 1890b:44). This custom caught the eye of the chroniclers— Antonio Pigafetta (1946) and Dr. Morga, for example. Their bond with the marine environment and their ability in shipbuilding are also much mentioned (Morga 1997, chapter 8:270–274).9 But in the area also existed and exist other ethno-linguistic groups just as interesting. The island of Palawan, the westernmost of the Philippine archipelago, which used to be referred to by the name of Island of Paragua during the Spanish period, forms an interesting mosaic of cultures, with a number of big groups like the Batak—who live in the northern part of the island—the Tagbanua, or Tagbanuwa; the Tandolanes, or Tandulanos; and the Palawanos in the southern part. In the case of the southwestern region—Mindanao, Jolo, and North Borneo—it should be noted that around 1500, Southeast Asia and China had started their process of Islamization. Muslim presence in the Southern Philippines would be heavily resisted by the Spanish people, and the fight went on
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for the entire period of Spanish sovereignty. It was a combat that, in a certain manner and in the minds of many Spanish people of the age, prolonged the fight against Islam that had been developed in the peninsula from 711 to 1492. The Spanish gave the generic name Moros to all the Islamized groups within the territory of the Philippines. However, under that name existed and exist several different groups. The Tausug, the Samai, the Yakan, the Bajau, the Maranao, the Magindanao, and the Illano are the most well known. Grouped under the generic name of Mindanao Iumad are also non-Islamized populations in Mindanao, comprising nowadays eighteen ethnic groups (Zamora et al. 1992:311). All these population groups did not remain isolated from their geographical surroundings nor static. The presence of Chinese merchants in different sites of the archipelago from very early on is well known (Crick 2013; Oliver 2003:113). The increase in the arrival of these merchants, as well as the migration flow from other regions, especially following the conquest launched by López de Legazpi, marked the start of an ongoing biological and cultural miscegenation, or mestizaje—sometimes mild, sometimes more intense—between the indigenous populations of the islands and the immigrants coming from the Iberian Peninsula, Mexico, and other places in Spanish America and Asia. Furthermore, these Muslim states had a strong maritime nature, with a very particular organizational system to engage with the international economy of the region—mainly in the Chinese and the Spanish areas—and with the rapid progress of colonialism and modernity. All of the aforementioned facts turned Mindanao and, in particular, Jolo, into an area with a vital economy where European and Chinese merchants went to buy swallows’ nests, pearls, and sponges, among other products; while the Muslims received in exchange goods they appreciated more—firearms, textiles (Ollé 2002; Warren 1999, 2000:7–8).
The Impact of the Conquest on the Indigenous Population of the Philippines between the Sixteenth and Eighteenth Centuries Below, I outline a first overall analysis of the impact of the Spanish conquest on the indigenous populations of the Philippines. For this purpose, I will study topics such as: the population shock through the demographic impact; the Spanish model of colonization, which was mediatized according to circumstances; the slavery in the Philippines, an issue that has so far received little discussion; the impact on the settlement patterns of the creation of the pueblos de indios; the congregaciones [gatherings] of the pueblos de indios; the
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cartography of the indigenous population; the mark on the social structure through the creation of the principalías; the consequences of the conquest on the economic structure—encomiendas, tributes, polos, and bandalas; the effect of the conquest on daily life; and the cultural consequences of the conquest on issues such as linguistics, or those in the spiritual sphere.
Population Shock through the Demographic Impact One of the most-discussed topics when it comes to the conquest and colonization of the American continent has been that of the demographic impact that both processes had on the indigenous population, not only because of the diseases transmitted to them,10 but also because of the forced movements of population; the imposition of hard labor; the famines; the European and African population movement; and the consequent miscegenation of both groups with the American indigenous population. In the case of the Philippine Islands, the issue of diseases has been less addressed, and therefore there are fewer historiographical references. Among them, and on account of their interest, I can cite the works of Francisco Guerra Pérez,11 and Linda A. Newson.12 Friar Gaspar de San Agustín, OSA, the chronicler, pointed to the population decline in the island of Panay during the first decades after the conquest, giving the following detail: “At the arrival of the Spanish at this island (Panay) it was said to have more than 50,000 families. But that decreased greatly . . . and at present it has about 14,000 tribute payers, 6,000 apportioned to the crown, and 8,000 to individual encomenderos” (Morga 1997, chapter 8:272, 378, José Rizal’s annotations, n. 439; San Agustín 1975, bk. 2:377). There are plenty of documentary references about population movements due, essentially, to the gathering into a concentrated habitat of the gradually subjugated indigenous population—an issue I will address in the section dedicated to the impact on settlement patterns. As for the influx of European migration, represented by the peninsular Spanish people13 and, especially, by the Novohispanic Spanish people, approximate figures have been given through the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Those figures show that, from the end of the sixteenth century to the end of the eighteenth, this influx was very slight and limited to the few urban areas kept by the Crown of Spain. After the Spanish-American War of 1898, the Philippines were placed under direct administration of the United States. Thereafter, due to the new economic resources that began to be exploited in the archipelago, as well as to the improvement of the living conditions of the
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hispanized population, and the advance in communication systems allowing journeys that used to take more than a year to be made in approximately a month, this dynamic changed. I still have to discuss miscegenation: both that of the Spanish people—peninsular or Novohispanic—with the indigenous population and that of the latter with the migrants from China, known as Sangleyes, a miscegenation that did not take place in the same way as in Hispanic America.14 Thus, some parts of the islands controlled by Spain formed an interesting cultural melting pot following the arrival of the Spanish. This was largely due to the huge diversity of population in cities like Manila, the insular capital, and in some other Hispanic urban points: Filipinos, Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Armenians, peninsular and American Spanish, American indigenes, and, to a lesser extent, Afro-descendant populations.
A Model of Colonization Mediatized by the Circumstances It can be said that the demographic impact, because of the particular historical evolution of the Hispanic colonization in the Philippines, was felt more intensely in the western and southeastern coastal areas of the island of Luzon; and, to a much lesser extent, in other inland points that still in the middle of the nineteenth century remained to be controlled effectively. Eastern Luzon, for its part, was sparsely populated because of the orographic configuration of the land. It was similar to what had happened in continental America, where only the nuclear areas of the Spanish power were really dominated and hispanized, while there were many other regions that had been only partially controlled by the authorities of the viceroyalty. The Visayan Islands were the object of a stronger hispanization, especially Marinduque, Bohol, and Cebu. In the latter, its capital, the city of Santo Niño de Cebú, was also an important urban center and a notable Episcopal see. In Mindanao, as already stated, the Muslim presence was heavily resisted by the Hispanic authorities, which reduced the Malayan Muslims to a few settlements in the southern-southeastern coast of Mindanao. On the other hand, the Jolo archipelago was under complete Muslim authority by the nineteenth century, apart from the three localities kept by Spain, namely, Isabela and a fortress within the island—both in the island of Basilan—and another settlement on the northern coast of the island of Jolo (Luque-Talaván 2014; Montero y Vidal 1888:I:20, 53). Until the second half of the nineteenth century, the whole southern coast of the Palagua (or Palawan), the island of Balabac, and Calayac of Jolo, as well as the northwestern coast of Borneo, were also Muslim areas. Muslim presence, mainly in Mindanao, was
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interrupted by the existence of small, usually military Spanish settlements, more abundant on the northern than on the southern coast of the island, and by large sectors occupied by the indigenous island groups.15
Indigenous Slavery in the Philippines The issue of slavery was raised by Admiral Cristóbal Colón on his return from his first voyage.16 There were several royal regulations concerning this matter, leading in the end to early prohibition by the Crown. However, the Leyes de Indias (Laws of the Indies) set the circumstances under which indigenes could be made slaves, the so-called justas causas: that they did not acknowledge the sovereignty of the Spanish monarchs and refused to be baptized, that they were slaves before the arrival of the Spanish (slaves of the indigenes or sold by them, who received then the name of esclavos de la usanza y de rescate17),—or that they openly fought the Spanish interests in the region. In the last category some “man-eating” people were also included, such as the Caribes and the Pijaos of Popayan, as well as populations like the Araucanos of Chile and, in the Philippines, the Malayan Muslims, or Mindanaos (Dougnac Rodríguez 1994:366– 371). Concerning the latter, the 1680 Recopilación de Leyes de los Reinos de las Indias [1680 Compilation of the Laws of the Indies] reads as follows: . . . if the Mindanaos are strictly gentile, do not take them as slaves, and if they are of Moro origin and come to the islands to dogmatise or to teach their Mahometan sect, or to wage war on the Spanish or the Indians subject to us or to our royal service, in this case, they can be taken as slaves; but those who are Indians and have not received the sect, they will not be taken as slaves and will be persuaded by lawful and good means to convert to our holy Catholic faith. (Recopilación 1973:II, VI, XII) However, and despite this restrictive legislation protecting the indigenes, many irregularities were committed. And that is why cases of indigenous slaves in northern New Spain or Asians working as slaves in the mainland of the Viceroyalty of New Spain between the end of the sixteenth century and the seventeenth century are documented (García-Abásolo 2012, chapter 9:233ff; González Claverán 1989). Friar Domingo de Salazar, OP, first bishop of Manila and great advocate of the indigenes, informed King Philip II in a long letter dated Manila June 18, 1584, about the Portuguese bringing Indian slaves for sale from Melaka and India to the Philippines. The prelate requested the monarch to settle whether this was possible or not, in order to know how to act in such cases. His view on the matter, as he expressed it to the sovereign, was opposed to this practice,
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since the Leyes de Indias established the freedom of the indigenous people (Morga 1997, chapter 3, Wenceslao Emilio Retana’s annotations, note 47: 66). Nonetheless, we have been able to document some other cases of indigenous slavery at the beginning of the eighteenth century. These examples strengthen the claim that by that time slavery in the Philippines was still, at the very least, not a rare practice (Luque-Talaván 2011a).
Impact on Settlement Patterns: The Pueblo de Indios One of the mechanisms used by the Crown to make the tax collection, evangelization, and oversight of the indigenous population of controlled regions more efficient was to concentrate them in new population centers: the socalled pueblos de indios, which existed both in continental Spanish America and in the Philippine Islands. To manage the indigenous population that was becoming Spanish, these pueblos de indios were created, in which the previously scattered indigenous population was gathered. These foundations limited free movement of the indigenous people (Morga 1997, chapter 8:304–305). In the Philippines, the pueblo de indios consisted of a cabecera (headship)—a parish of the church— and a number of small population centers—known as visitas—that were dependent on the cabecera. It was also common for each pueblo to have several rancherías inhabited by around 10 families. Each pueblo de indios usually consisted of various barangays, managed by an authority called cabeza de Barangay (head of the Barangay).18 In the case of the foundation of pueblos, the policy of building them may be related to the American civil congregaciones of pueblos de indios, which had already been applied to Spanish America from the first moments of the conquest and colonization of those territories. It is surprising nonetheless that, in the Philippines, they kept being used until the nineteenth century (though with an uneven result).19 From an ethnohistoric point of view, the documentation generated around these congregaciones is very rich in both the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries. Their goal was to facilitate the evangelization of the indigenous population, to subjugate it to an urban lifestyle, to civilize it in accordance with the parameters of that age, and, in short, to achieve its acculturation (Jiménez Abollado 2009:42–43, 50).20 These government initiatives always mixed religious and civil elements. The Recopilación of 1680 had already ordered the Indians to be “reduced to pueblos and not to live divided and separated by mountains and hills, depriv-
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ing themselves of all spiritual and temporal benefit” (Recopilación . . . 1973: VI, III, I). The control process of the gathered population, applied in the Reinos de las Indias in the sixteenth century, much resembles that used in the Philippines during all the period under review in the present investigation. First, a so-called juez demarcador (judge of boundaries) conducted a census of tribute payers before starting the process of gathering; secondly, the process began; thirdly and finally, a universal census (padrón universal) was conducted upon completing the reduction. The final step was carried out by another authority, called juez congregador (judge of congregations). The impact of this population policy within the indigenous groups of the Cordillera of Luzon, whose traditional ways of life (areas of residence, sociocultural and religious practices, etc.) were gradually altered by these congregaciones, is an interesting topic that I will not address now. Spanish archives keep many graphic testimonies about the location and organization of this network of small population centers, which were essentially distributed along the controlled regions of the islands of Luzon and the Visayas.
Figure 3.1. “Mapa de las ‘Tierras Altas’ with Biñan, surrounded by the town of Silan, the lands of Tabuco, Tunasan and the coast of Laguna de Bay” from the year 1745 (MP-Filipinas, 155).
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These testimonies show us the condition of these pueblos, how the land was distributed, and whether it remained in the hands of the indigenous population. They also allow us to approach closely the manner in which their creation changed the traditional ways of life of the natives, making it possible to specify more precisely the impact of the conquest regarding this issue (Figure 3.1).21 The authority of the cabeza de Barangay was of prehispanic origin and was kept by the Spanish. At the beginning of the Spanish domination, the position was hereditary, but later it became elective. These officials were entrusted with two main tasks: first, to collect tributes from the indigenous people; and second, they had to decide—after coming to an agreement with the representative of the Crown—distribution of Indians and to which owners. Plus, as part of their duties, they had to conduct the census of the cabeceras within their jurisdiction. Politically, the pueblo de indios was managed by elective magistrates, who were under the authority of the gobernadorcillo—also an elective office. These posts were elected on an annual basis among the principales of each pueblo de indios (see next section below). The election system changed over time in order to avoid the common disputes that it caused among the indigenous people. The organization chart of each local authority of the pueblos de indios also comprised series of indigenous authorities, whose jobs were annually renewed by election. However, the group of the principales always obtained the posts. At the head of the indigenous local administration was the gobernadorcillo, who was helped in his duties by the following officials: the teniente de gobernadorcillo (deputy gobernadorcillo), who acted as his second-in-command and filled his place when necessary; the juez de sementeras, in charge of inspecting the fields; the juez de palmas de coco, in charge of inspecting the palms, a position that highlights the importance of this resource; the alguacil mayor de los naturales (chief constable of the natives), who arrested criminals, took care of public security, and organized the guards, or bantay—composed of seven men who conducted surveillance tasks in prisons, on the coast, at access points to the area, at bridges, etc.; and finally, the mayordomo de los bienes de la comunidad (steward of the assets of the community), custodian of the lands and communal livestock, and administrator of the community funds of the pueblo de indios. This organizational model, applied exclusively to those places under the authority of the Spanish, and not to the whole archipelago, stood by its main lines from the end of the sixteenth century until the second half of the nineteenth, when it underwent reform on account of the amount of criticism it
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had gathered in connection with the fraudulent annual election system of the indigenous authorities. The governor and captain-general Narciso Clavería y Zaldúa, Earl of Manila, was the architect of these reforms, who by decree on October 5, 1847—approved by a Real Orden (Royal Order) on May 15, 1848—issued a new regulation, known as the Decreto de los Gobernadorcillos. But this decree and the subsequent changes introduced in the electoral system did not manage to put an end to the electoral fraud that the principales had committed for centuries and that had caused the hasty decree passed in 1847. By Real Decreto (Royal Decree) on May 19, 1893, a new legal regulation—known as Ley Maura—comprising more than 1,000 articles was published and applied to all the pueblos de indios of the island of Luzon and of the Visayan Islands. It was an attempt to improve the local indigenous administration and restore the credit lost by its representatives. However, the emancipatory events initiated in 1896 prevented this decree from having a profound effect. Once the Tagalog Revolt was temporarily crushed, a new Real Decreto on September 12, 1887, reformed the municipal regime of the pueblos (Dueñas Olmo 1986–1987; Huetz de Lemps 1997; Luque-Talaván 2000; Owen 1974; Sánchez Gómez 1991).
Impact on the Social Structure: Principalías and Indigenous Principales Having addressed the issue of the pueblos de indios in this section, I will go through the changes occurring within the indigenous elite at the time of contact. As the conquest of America advanced, the Spanish discovered that in some of the conquered territories there were a few natives who were, in the language of those times, caciques and señores de pueblos (chiefs). The Crown decided then, in its desire both to respect the former position of these caciques within their respective communities and to use them as a tool for control of the indigenous populations, to maintain some of their rights and let them exert some of the power that they and their predecessors had had, provided that they converted to Christianity and yielded to the sovereignty of the Spanish monarch, albeit always under the guardianship and supervision of the Spanish authorities. In Book VI, Title VII of the Recopilación of 1680, dedicated to the caciques, we can find three very interesting laws, which determined the roles they would play in the new Indian social order. With these laws, the Crown officially recognized the rights of prehispanic origin of the principales. Specifically, I refer to Laws I, II, and XVI, the first two dedicated to the American domain, and the third to the Philippine domain. Focusing on Law XVI, it
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was instituted by Philip II on June 11, 1594—in the same way as those for the American domain—with the aim of ensuring that the indigenous principales of the archipelago be treated well and have some government work assigned to them. The principales became, then, part of the Spanish American politicaladministrative system, serving as a liaison between the Spanish authorities and the insular indigenous population (Fernández Palacios 2014; Morga 1997, chapter 8:301). It might thus be stated that the indigenous elites of the hispanized areas that managed to get perpetuated did so at the expense of subjecting themselves to the Spanish. An interesting issue is that these elites adopted some elements of the Spanish material culture, but especially symbols of power of mixed Hispanic Oriental origin with which to showcase their status. I refer to the salacots, the staffs or canes of office, and the barong tagalogs (traditional shirts). Some of these items are signs of great wealth and of the position of their owners. A good collection of them is nowadays kept in the Museo Nacional de Antropología (Madrid).
Consequences of the Conquest on the Economic Structure The economic forms of the prehispanic age were also altered as a result of the changes in the tax system introduced by the Crown in the Indian territories. The new economic institutions created by the Crown were the encomiendas, tributes, polos, and bandalas.
Encomiendas One of the main objectives of all the conquerors and first settlers was to obtain encomiendas, with whose profits they expected to capitalize their participation in the Indian enterprise. From the first moment, the Crown had recommended that, when it came to encomendar the Indians, the first discoverers, pacifiers, settlers, and their descendants should be given preference in reward for their services. When, in 1565, López de Legazpi began the conquest of Philippine territory, the members of his army asked for encomiendas. However, he refused this, as he was without the royal authorization to award them. It was not until 1570 that the monarch empowered him to do so, granting the first in 1572 and arranging them to be distributed in accordance with the laws on the matter existing in New Spain and Peru. From that moment on, and until their abolition, the encomiendas were the major form of organizing agriculture, and the number of encomendados varied in each of the allocations. It was a form
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of resource extraction that coexisted with the haciendas belonging to religious orders, the mining22—where native labor was also used—and with the great asset of the islands, the Manila Galleon. In June 1576 the governor and captain-general Dr. Francisco de Sande made the first list of the encomiendas that existed in the islands, giving the figure of 139 encomiendas, with their respective owners (Morga 1997, chapter 2, Wenceslao Emilio Retana’s annotations, note 37: 55–56). For our part, the first data concerning the number of encomendados of indigenous Philippine origin come from the inventories made in 1588 by Simón Lóbez, member of the Cabildo secular de Manila (municipal government of Manila). In this list, the total number of indigenous tribute payers is shown by regions—Manila, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Ilocos, Cagayan, Laguna, Camarines, and Villa de Arevalo—the number directly depending on the Crown and on those distributed in encomiendas assigned to individuals. It is also of interest to point out that here, as in 1570, Philip II stipulated that the Mindanaos, “Moros, of nation and nature,” were to be considered as enemies because of their religion, and so could be held as slaves and were not encomendables. Thus, it can be observed that the encomienda affected only the indigenous people living in the hispanized areas, not the rest of the insular native population, which was not de facto under the sovereignty of the Spanish Crown. When the regime of encomiendas was introduced in the Philippines, the Crown had already promulgated the Leyes de Burgos (Laws of Burgos) (1512) and the Leyes Nuevas (New Laws) (1542) in order to check the abuses of the encomenderos in American territory. However, in the Philippines the Indian encomendados were also subject to injustices on the part of the encomenderos, as condemned by the friars. These complaints came into the hands of Philip II, who gave Governor Santiago de Vera the order to punish offenders. The Real Cédula (Royal Cedula) of March 25, 1583, that the monarch sent to the aforementioned bishop of Manila, Friar Domingo de Salazar, OP, is an example of the royal concern in the matter. In it, the king expressed to the prelate his regret at what had happened and urged him to address such a pitiful situation. In recognition of his efforts in favor of the indigenous people, Salazar was appointed as the first protector de indios (protector of the Indians) in the Philippines in 1580. But it was not only the friars who complained about the abuses committed against the insular indigenous people; the civil authorities also did so on many occasions, regarding the abusive practices carried out not only by encomenderos but by friars as well.23 Once the encomienda was granted, the encomendero became the guardian of the Indians living there, given that, in spite of the fact that legislation rec-
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ognized their freedom, they were included in the minors and mentally weak category, thus requiring guardianship. Many researchers erroneously maintain that the encomienda was based on a feudal-like relationship, but the fact is that the Crown never surrendered the jurisdictional or governmental rights on the territory of the encomienda, or on the Indians subjected to the encomienda. The encomendero was only granted the usufruct of the right to receive the tributes, fixed by the authorities, that the Indians owed the monarch as vassals of the Spanish Crown. In return, the encomendero had a number of obligations to the Crown. These included evangelizing the Indians, residing in a house located in the city in whose district his encomienda was, and maintaining peace and order in his province. For the latter purpose, encomenderos merited weapons and horses in perfect condition. Thus, having conquered and populated the territory, they and their descendants had to protect it and keep it in a state of peace. But if they had responsibilities to live up to, they were rewarded by the privileges they enjoyed, though these were reduced as time went by. Morga, in his already-cited Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, explained how the encomiendas were many and “very excellent throughout the islands, and they offer many profits, both by the amount of their tributes and by the nature and value of what is paid as tribute” (Morga 1997, chapter 8:251). At first the encomiendas were granted only to the first encomendero and his immediate heir; and, after their deaths, encomiendas reverted to the Crown. But gradually, the monarchs in fact seemed willing to grant a second, a third, and even a fourth succession in order to reward the services of their subjects. For a long time, not only the encomenderos, but also other areas of Indian society, tried to obtain the granting of encomiendas in perpetuity, so they could be hereditary. In the Philippines, it was the governor and captain-general Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa who requested the perpetuity of the encomiendas in the islands. Nevertheless, the sovereigns never agreed to these petitions, considering that such grants could endanger not only their interests in the Indies, but also their sovereignty over these remote regions. In America, around the second half of the sixteenth century, the progressive elimination of the encomiendas through the incorporation under the Crown of those that became vacant had begun. This system of exploitation of the Indian resources was maintained in some American areas until it was abolished by Real Cédula of July 12, 1720, when still existing encomiendas were incorporated under the Crown. The encomiendas also continued to exist in the Philippines during the eighteenth century (Hidalgo Nuchera 1990, 1995; Luque-Talaván 2000).
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Tributes, Polos, and Bandalas About the tributes, polos, and bandalas, the following can be said. Tributes could be paid in cash or kind (gold; cotton—natural or woven into blankets; rice—a staple food; bells; hens—much appreciated; etc.). From an archaeological point of view, it can be pointed out that metal bells, usually of bronze, which could be given as tribute in kind, may possibly appear in archaeological contexts of the era. The polos consisted of forced personal services, and may possibly be one of two types: esquipazones or services as oarsmen in ships; and woodcutting for ships’ construction. The bandalas consisted of the distribution of money and goods (Hidalgo Nuchera 2003; Morga 1997, chapter 8: 240, 276, 305–306). In Manila, it was the governor and captain-general Dr. Sande who enacted the first royal ordinances that regulated, through thirty articles, the collection of both the Real Hacienda and the newly established tributes, etc., on May 14 1576 (Morga 1997, chapter 2, Wenceslao Emilio Retana’s annotations, note 37: 51–55). Despite this, abuses continued. The Memorial de las cossas que combienen a los naturales de las yslas del Poniente, written by Benito de Mendiola and dated July 1583, in Manila, is very revealing (Morga 1997, chapter 3, Wenceslao Emilio Retana’s annotations, note 47: 66–67). In it, the abuses derived from the collection of tributes and requests for personal services to the indigenous population are listed, as well as reports of grievances and complaints of extortion committed by the merchants. He finished his Memorial with some revealing reflections: With every passing day, this land is much further from the pacification of the natives, because, as they gain experience, they realise they are being ill-treated by the Spanish, and those who can, stand against them. A great number of Indians have done so in the coast of Ilocos, and, at times, more than a dozen Spanish men and two principales have died, as it was in the cases of captain Juan Manuel Pimentel and Don Tristán de Arellano, which is a shame, indeed. (Morga 1997, chapter 3, Wenceslao Emilio Retana’s annotations, note 47: 67)
Consequences of the Conquest on Daily Life: Agriculture and Animal Husbandry I begin this topic with what we may call the ecological impact of the conquest, derived from the introduction in the islands of new crops from Spain or Spanish America, as well as new agricultural and animal husbandry techniques.
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It is logical to suppose that the most widespread American and Spanish crops—potato and maize, wheat, vine, and olives—were introduced into the islands in the 1570s. As a result, they began to be cultivated in the encomiendas and haciendas of the hispanized regions. The few data available indicate that the potato was introduced from America into the Philippines at the end of the sixteenth century, while it was introduced into the neighboring Dutch possession of Java in the seventeenth, the same century in which this crop arrived in Asia (Burkill 1935; Nunn and Qian 2009:8). Maize, for its part, came from the American continent, while the wheat crop was introduced for the consumption of the population of Spanish origin, accustomed to having it as part of their diet. Concerning vines and olives, as happened in Spanish America, these must have been brought by the religious in order to meet their needs: wine for the officiating of mass, and oil to make the holy oils needed for the administration of various sacraments. These crops were acclimatized in the orchards of convents or churches, real mini botanical gardens. In relation to plants, Morga said: Efforts have been made to plant olives, and quinces, and other Spanish fruit-trees, but as yet they have had no success, except with pomegranates and grapevines, which bear fruit the second year. These bear an abundance of exceedingly good grapes three times a year, and some fig-trees have succeeded. Vegetables of every kind grow well and very abundantly, but do not seed, and it is always necessary to bring the seeds from Castile, China, or Japan. (Morga 1997, chapter 8:229) Regarding tobacco, it is not known whether it was the Portuguese, from the Moluccas, or the Spanish, from Hispanic America, who introduced the cultivation and consumption of this plant into the islands. The fact is that its use spread to broad sections of the insular population; and by the nineteenth century its cultivation in the area of the Cordillera Central of the island of Luzon was a great source of wealth for the region. Its consumption among the indigenous people of the Cordillera became associated—as a result of its widespread use—with a rich material culture comprising pipes of different forms and materials—wood, clay, or metal—containers for both tobacco leaves and other elements employed in its consumption, etc. Contemporary with these cultivations and associated with them were the first reports of the occurrence of plagues. In a letter from Bishop Salazar to the king, dated Manila, June 18, 1583, the prelate stated—among other
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things—that the islands were in poverty because there had been a locust plague for a year that was difficult to combat and had destroyed many fields, and “we fear that this year can do countless harm, and the natives are very frightened because never, or not for a very long time, have they seen such pestilence” (Morga 1997, chapter 3, Wenceslao Emilio Retana’s annotations, note 47: 65). Regarding animal husbandry, Dr. Morga pointed out how sheep and rams had been brought from New Spain into the islands, although there had been little success in the attempts at acclimatization. It was also the Spanish who brought horses from China, New Spain, and even Japan; and they had a good acclimatization period (Cabrero Fernández 1993, 1998:167–183; Morga 1997, chapter 8:260; Scott 2004:35–53). Likewise, it has been possible to locate the existence of beef-cattle ranches in places located, for example, in the Manila hinterland;24 the colonizers brought beef cattle, both of Chinese and of Novohispanic origin, to the Philippines, and accordingly, breeding spread (Bañas Llanos 2000:38; Morga 1997, chapter 8:260).
Cultural Consequences of the Conquest As in other processes of conquest, when the military phase is over, a conquest phase begins: the cultural conquest phase, much more profound, given its importance and durability. I need not state the evident wealth of the insular cultures, all of them holders of rich, ancient, and different traditions. But in order to show some examples of the cultural consequences of the conquest, I focus on two of them: the first can be seen in the field of linguistics; and the second was evidenced by the emergence of the phenomenon of religious syncretism.
Linguistics From the first moment of their arrival in the islands, and once again by following the patterns of the conquest and American colonization, the religious orders—Augustinians, Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits, mainly—began to study the different indigenous languages of the islands and their respective alphabets; and they progressively reduced them to arts, grammars, and vocabularies, in order to be able to learn them and thus transmit the evangelical message. Historiography has successfully addressed this topic. Similarly, and as had already happened in Spanish America, there are sev-
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eral interesting documents in which it can be seen how some hispanized indigenous people began to write their respective vernacular languages in Latin characters.25 Father Jerónimo de Mendieta, OFM, in his Historia eclesiástica indiana, pointed out that the first 12 Franciscan religious to arrive in Mexico in 1524, the so-called Doce Apóstoles (Twelve Apostles), initiated their work of evangelization, “unable to talk and using signs, pointing at the sky and saying that only God was there” (Mendieta 1971). Dr. Morga also wrote down his impressions on the languages and the characters of the alphabets of the islands (Morga 1997, chapter 8: 273–274, José Rizal’s annotations, notes 441, 442, 443: 273 and note 444: 274, and Wenceslao Emilio Retana’s annotations, note 112: 341–343). Without any pretensions to being exhaustive, and merely by way of example, I can mention the activity that the Order of Saint Dominic developed in this field. Through the seventeenth century, the Dominicans in the Philippines put together arts or grammars, and Chinese, Tagalog, Pangasinan, Ibanag, and Ivatan vocabularies (González Pola 1992:37–40). These studies, in addition to the transmission of the evangelical message, served the Crown as a tool of control, as the religious performed a double function: on the one hand, they were representatives of the Church, and, on the other, they acted as representatives of the Crown in places sometimes far from the nuclear centers of Hispanic power. Another cultural consequence of the conquest was the loan of plenty of Spanish words to the different Philippine vernacular languages. The Nahuatl language also did this through the contacts established among the islands and the continental part of New Spain, thanks to the Manila Galleon (Albalá [Hernández] 1990; León Portilla 1960; Villa Panganiban 1964).
Consequences of the Conquest in the Spiritual Universe Along with the military conquest of the archipelago and its progressive colonization came the evangelization, which was mainly spread by the religious orders which settled in the islands. The new territory was then organized, from an administrative-spiritual point of view, in several dioceses and ecclesiastical provinces. The bishopric of Manila, whose jurisdiction initially covered all the islands, was created by Pope Gregory XIII in 1576. The large size of the diocese of Manila made it inconvenient to reform. Therefore, the diocese was raised to the status of an archdiocese, and three new dioceses were created as suffragan to
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it: one based in the city of Nueva Segovia (island of Cebu); another in the city of Nueva Caceres (island of Luzon); and a third in the city of Cebu (island of Cebu). By way of a papal brief dated August 14, 1595, in Rome, Clement VIII approved the establishment of these dioceses (Porras Camúñez 1988; Rodríguez 1992, chapter 44:703–720). However, Manila was not the first Catholic diocese in the Far East. In 1313 Juan de Monte Corvino was named archbishop of Khanbaliq, in the city of Beijing.26 Next to him the names of Juan Piano de Carpini and Odorico de Pordenone stand out, as they were among those first pioneers of Catholicism in Chinese territory. The missionary methods of these Franciscans would serve as precedent to those that, two centuries later, would be applied in Spanish America. George Baudot addressed this topic in some of his research projects (Baudot 1983, 2001). It is often considered “that the missionaries who initiated the work of evangelization in Asia in 1565 drew on the American experience; however, it is necessary to indicate that the initial steps toward the evangelization of a new world were taken by the Franciscans in China” (García-Abásolo 2012:78). Regarding the use of the American experience in the work of evangelization in the Philippines, it can be added that the “general pattern of missionary activity in the Philippines, as well as of the labor of the church, mirrors those in Hispanic America. Particularly, the prelates who occupied the headquarters in the Philippines . . . were of American origin and, therefore, their contribution would be direct and personal; or they were also peninsular Spanish, but they had had vast experience in America before, which they would use to extrapolate institutions and practices on the Philippine stage” (Molina Memije 1992:57). The evangelization had a profound impact on the traditional religiousness of several areas of the archipelago, as well as in some of their customs.27 The main reason is that there were practices that the missionaries found to be incompatible with the new moral order that had been established. In fact, human sacrifices, animism, same-sex sexual practices, etc. were persecuted in the Philippines (Armillas Vicente 2004: 18–21; Luque-Talaván 2011b).
The Survival of Ancient Religious Practices? The peoples of the Philippines were animists, with the exception of the Malayan Muslims. There was a move from their traditional beliefs to Catholicism in the areas where contact with the Spanish was more intense. Such beliefs did not disappear, though. At times they remained latent under the forms of the new religion brought by the conquerors.
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Signs of resistance of the indigenous beliefs to the Hispanic evangelization can be detected in the archaeological record, for example, in the amulets associated with the cult of the Black Nazarene, in the Manilan district of Quiapo. “Amulets and talismans bearing baybayin scripts and Latin words used by Millenarian movements, particularly in the Tagalog region near Banahaw, also manifest the continuity of the script and the enduring practise of including words symbolized in old writing—conveying belief core, indigenous powers” (Text on one of the display boards of Baybayin, an exhibition celebrated in the National Museum of the Philippines, Manila, in 2013). I therefore focus now on a particular case regarding the conquest of the spiritual world of the indigenous population of the island of Luzon. For this, I have used some unpublished documentation that I found in the Archives of the Archbishopric of Manila.28 In 1752, in the town of Santa Ana de Sapa, of Franciscan evangelization and nowadays part of the city of Manila, a case against an indigenous woman, whose name remains unknown but of whom we know that she had a scar on her face, approximately 50 years of age, and who appeared to be a native of Antipolo who resided in Manila, was opened. The reason for her presence in Santa Ana de Sapa—where she was brought to by Friar Rafael Gasco, manager of the Augustinian hacienda of Mandaloyon, nowadays known as Mandaluyong and also part of the city of Manila—was suspicions falling on her and the mystery that surrounded her, increased by the fact that she carried with her a skull and other human bones, all of it in an enigmatic bundle. Her presence caused upheaval among the people of the hacienda de Madaloyon and the adjacent town of San Juan del Monte, nowadays part of Quezon City, where her visit, begging for alms, caused great turmoil and gathered a crowd wanting to see her, as the rumour had it that she was the reincarnation of the Virgin of Antipolo, the name by which the statue of Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje brought from Mexico in 1626, was known. The aforementioned bundle of human bones was composed of a skull, some shinbones, a couple of stuffed hands—apparently, one of a human and one of animal—and some hair. There were also some small pieces of paper used in begging. In the proceedings, the question of whether the bones belonged to a catholic or to an infidel arose. The witnesses’ statements are very interesting, as it is that given by the protagonist of this story, who, when asked about the reasons for possessing various human remains, answered: “. . . that she carried them in order to open her mind to think about her sins and faults . . . .” She also added that she had dug them up from a cave in Cape Santiago to show them to her children so
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they did not offend God. About the hands, she said that two of them belonged to her deceased daughter, of whom she also had some hair, and that the others were ape’s or machin’s hands. In the end, the ecclesiastical authority of the island did not condemn her, although they did recommend keeping her in a place under vigilance. This thought-provoking topic leaves many questions to be answered. The main one is whether this case is related, as it seems, to some kind of prehispanic belief connected to ancient worship,29 and preserved into Spanish times.
Final Thoughts There is no doubt that the conquest constituted a novelty: “The arrival of the Spanish in these Filipinas Islands, since the year one thousand five hundred and sixty-four, the pacification and conversion that has been made therein, their mode of governing, and the provisions of his Majesty during these years for their welfare, have caused innovations in many things, such as are usual to kingdoms and provinces that change their religion and sovereign” (Morga 1997, chapter 8:290). Over the preceding pages I have outlined what I believe to be fundamentals in relation to the question of the Spanish conquest in the Philippine Islands. I am aware that I cannot apply the explanations given indiscriminately to all the eras and places of the islands. I consider that, in the future, these investigations can continue to provide us with a closer approach to this topic. The fact that the insular conquest never came to an end, although it began in 1565, is cause for great surprise. Except for the main Spanish settlement and territory penetration points—such as Manila, Villa Fernandina de Vigan, or Santo Niño de Cebú—large areas of the islands kept escaping from the political-administrative-economic control of the Spanish government. This is the case of the Cordillera of the island of Luzon area and the Malayan-Mahometan region located southwest of the archipelago. This is why thinking of the Philippines as a border territory, in a permanent state of conquest, is a new approach that will allow us to have a better understanding of the reality of these islands throughout the centuries in which they were under Spanish sovereignty. In this environment, the indigenous groups that came into contact with the Spanish did not remain static but experienced a progressive transformation as the Spanish colonization progressed, varying in intensity depending on which region of the islands we focus on. Furthermore, we cannot forget that the Philippines, for centuries, had been used to cultural contact with populations and extra-insular customs from China, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc.
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I have noted how some parts of the islands controlled by Spain became an interesting cultural melting pot following the arrival of the Hispanic migrants. This was largely due to the significant population plurality existing in cities like Manila, the insular capital. But not all was assimilation, as there were also resistances, exemplified by the several indigenous rebellions that took place between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries; the first being that which occurred under the government of Dr. Santiago de Vera and was promoted by some principales of Manila and Pampanga (Morga 1997, chapter 4:69, Wenceslao Emilio Retana’s annotations, note 49: 72–73).30 In this last area, and according to Friar Gaspar de San Agustín, OSA, the population suffered a decline, both because of the revolt that took place there under the government of Sabiniano Manrique de Lara and because of the employment of indigenes in wood cutting for the shipyard of Cavite (Morga 1997, chapter 8: 269, José Rizal’s annotations, note 427). This and other rebellions can be observed up until the end of the period of Spanish sovereignty in the islands, in 1898 (Togores Sánchez 1998: 128–129; Tormo Sanz 1975: 485). One can conclude then that the Spanish domination did not lead to the total pacification of the territory or to the uniform acceptance of the forms imported. The hispanization, cultural syncretism, and resistance coexisted, offering different answers depending on which region and historical moment we focus on.
Notes 1. This investigation was part of the Research Project Atlas etnohistórico y topogenético de las islas Filipinas, reference HAR2010–21063-HIST; and is part of the Research Project Convivencia y conflicto en la frontera oriental de la Monarquía Hispánica: Filipinas (siglos XVI–XVIII), reference HAR2016-75903-R, both funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain. I thank José Luis Sedano Rosa for the translation to English of this text. 2. “There is a world of difference between viewing the Pacific as ‘islands in a far sea’ and as ‘a sea of islands.’ The first emphasizes dry surfaces in a vast ocean far from the centers of power. Focusing in this way stresses the smallness and remoteness of the islands. The second is a more holistic perspective in which things are seen in the totality of their relationships. . . . our ancestors, who had lived in the Pacific for over two thousand years, viewed their world as ‘a sea of islands’ rather than as ‘islands in the sea’” (Hau‘ofa 1994; text originally published in: Hau‘ofa 1993). That same idea articulates the study led by Mondragón [Pérez-Grovas] (2010). See also D’Arcy (2004). 3. National Commission on Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines, electronic document, http://www.ncip.gov.ph/indigenous-peoples-of-the-philippines.html, accessed January 2014; Scott (1984:9–52), “A Philippine Language Tree,” presents, among other news, the con-
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tent of the well-known Philippine language tree created by Charles Walton in 1977. About the linguistic aspect, Antonio Quilis stated that there is no consensus on the exact number of languages of the Philippines and the dialectal varieties derived from them, pointing out that eight are considered to be the main ones, given that they belong to the larger ethnic groups of the Philippines: Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilokano, Hiligaynon, Bikol, Waray, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan (San José 1997: 12). An excellent bibliographical compilation about the studies of the languages spoken in the Philippines until 1898 is in San José, Los estudios de las lenguas filipinas hasta 1898 (1997), 63–78. 4. A hypothesis gaining ground following the latest studies carried out within the Research Project Atlas etnohistórico y topogenético de las islas Filipinas. See note 1. 5. Name of the language spoken by the Negritos of Cagayan, according to Mr. Mas (Blumentritt 1890b:41). 6. According to Alfred Marche (Blumentritt 1890b:41). 7. A simple list of old bibliographical references gives us an idea of the importance attached to the study of this group: Barreiro 1928; Barrows 1910; Bean 1910; Chamberlain 1900; Garvan 1963; Meyer 1872, 1896, 1899; Newton 1913; Paternó 1890. 8. The Tagalos, or Tagalogs, belong to the Malayan group and are located, in addition to Luzon, in several sites of the Visayan Islands. 9. Regarding navigation in the Visayan Islands area, further information is available in Ushijima and Zayas (1996). 10. The impact of diseases on the indigenous population is evidenced by several testimonies from that period. In the case of the Viceroyalty of New Spain I may point to the information provided by Friar Toribio de Benavente Motolinía, OFM, Friar Gerónimo de Mendieta, OFM, Friar Domingo de Betanzos, OP, Friar Bernardino de Sahagún, OFM, Grijalva, Diego Muñoz Camargo, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, Gonzalo Gómez de Cervantes, Torquemada, Escobar, Friar Diego Durán, OP, and Friar Agustín Dávila Padilla, OP (Pastor 1999:30–33). 11. A study of the reactions of the indigenous societies to the epidemics was conducted by Dr. Guerra Pérez, assessing their demographic effects too. This covers nearly 2,000 epidemics that took place in the Reinos de Indias between 1492 and 1898, identifying the etiologic agent and its effects on the population (Guerra [Pérez] 1999). 12. Newson (2006) gives an estimate of the indigenous population of Luzon and the Visayas between 1565 and 1570 based on contemporary sources (see also Newson 2009). 13. The first colonizing expedition per se to the archipelago was the one organized by the governor and captain-general Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa. The document that organized the migration is dated July 16, 1578. It was composed of 600 men from the kingdoms of Castile, single or married, who would receive a series of compensations as set out in the document in exchange for their migration (Morga 1997, chapter 3:57, Wenceslao Emilio Retana’s annotations, note 38:60). 14. Documents such as the local census [padrón] and the population census provide us with interesting data about the cases of miscegenation. 15. The Spanish gave the generic name of Moros to all the Islamized groups within the territory of the Philippines. However, under that name existed and exist several different groups. The Tausug, the Samai, the Yakan, the Bajau, the Maranao, the Magindanao, and the Illano are the most well known (Cabrero [Fernández] 1972:106; Wernstedt and Spencer 1967:589).
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16. I believe that this issue is yet to be studied in depth in regard to the case of the Philippine Islands, where we do not have many bibliographical references. I could mention, among them, the study carried out by William Henry Scott (1997), and the work of Patricio Hidalgo Nuchera (2001:89–99). 17. The customary law of the Tagalos contained the regulations of its organization with regard to slaves. We are so informed by Friar Juan de Plasencia, OFM, the first to write down this and other Tagalan rules, at the request of Governor Dr. Santiago de Vera (Morga 1997, chapter 8, Wenceslao Emilio Retana’s annotations, note 115:345–348). For his part, Miguel de Luarca, in his Tratado de las Yslas Philipinas—work written in the second half of the sixteenth century—reflected in the ninth chapter the question of slavery in the islands in the prehispanic era (Luarca 2010:78–82; Scott 2004:224–226). 18. Barangays were family groups. The barangay is a prehispanic entity, and the concept was close to that of a quarter in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Sánchez Gómez 1989:83–86). 19. This policy of congregaciones was followed from the beginning of the Spanish presence in the Philippine Islands, forming the basis of the urban development of the islands (Doeppers 1972). 20. In regard to the same issue and the Novohispanic continental area, the cases studied by Paez Flores (2002) and Jiménez Abollado (2010) may be consulted, and some parallelisms can be made. 21. In the Archivo General de Indias (Seville), I have been able to track down an interesting set of maps and plans that represent some of these pueblos. For instance, I can mention the “Mapa de las ‘Tierras Altas’ with Biñan, surrounded by the town of Silan, the lands of Tabuco, Tunasan and the coast of Laguna de Bay” from the year 1745 (MP-Filipinas, 155) (Figure 3.1). 22. There are many testimonies referring to the mining possibilities of the islands in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The eye of the Spanish was soon caught by the prehispanic insular custom of crafting sanctuary and daily life objects in gold, e.g., the golden samples of Butuan preserved in the Ayala Museum (Manila). In the nineteenth century, the Spanish authorities showed interest in the exploitation of the copper in the region of the Cordillera of the island of Luzon (Luque-Talaván and Fernández Palacios 2014). 23. In this regard, see “Relación hecha por el Dr. Antonio de Morga para S.M. de lo que se le ofrece sobre el estado de las Islas Filipinas, tanto en lo secular como en lo eclesiástico— Manila, 8 de junio de 1598,” reproduced in Morga (1997), appendix III, 6:517–528; see also Hidalgo Nuchera (2001). 24. “Mapa que localiza el pueblo de Tabuco con sus sementeras, en el Biga, Maribago y los terrenos pertenecientes a Daquilán Dalagán, donde Juan de Henao solicitó una estancia para ganado y tierras de labranza,” year 1745 (Archivo General de Indias, Seville, MP-Filipinas, 157). 25. In 2013, the National Museum of the Philippines–Museum of the Filipino People (Manila) organised an interesting exhibition under the title Baybayin in which it exhibited, among other pieces, several manuscripts of this kind. 26. By the sixteenth century, and before the setting up of the Diocese of Manila, the dioceses of Goa (1533) and Macao (1576) were built. 27. About the natives of the islands of Pintados, Morga said that from boyhood they
Impact of First Conquest on Indigenous Populations of the Philippines
“make a hole in their virile member near its head, and insert therein a serpent’s head, either of metal or ivory, and fasten it with a peg of the same material passed through the hole, so that it cannot become unfastened. With this device, they have communication with their wives, and are unable to withdraw until a long time after copulation. . . . These devices are called sagras, and there are very few of them, because since they have become Christians, strenuous efforts are being made to do away with these, and not consent to their use; and consequently the practice has been checked in great part” (Morga 1997, chapter 8:285). 28. Archives of the Archbishopric of Manila, 36.C.9* Milagros y Reliquias (1749–1903), Folder 3 “Supernatural Experiences” (1752). 29. A recent work makes clear the role of some indigenous women in the Philippine traditional religiousness under the Hispanic rule of law (see Camacho 2014). 30. It was also the case, for Spanish America, of the rebellion of Manco Inca (1536–1537), who besieged Cusco and then took refuge in Vilcabamba; the Araucanian rebellions of south Chile; the Mixton War, north of the Viceroyalty of New Spain (1541); etc. For the Philippines, it is also shown in Fernando Palanco Aguado’s research (2002). About rejections of the Hispanic model of colonization, see also García de los Arcos (1999:108–109).
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Molina Memije, Antonio 1992 América en Filipinas. Editorial Mapfre, Madrid. Mondrágón [Pérez-Grovas], Carlos (coordinator) 2010 Moana: Culturas de las islas del Pacífico. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México, D.F. Montero y Vidal, José 1888 Historia de la piratería malayo-mahometana en Mindanao, Joló y Borneo. Tomo I. Imprenta y Fundición de Manuel Tello, Madrid. Morga, Antonio de 1997 Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas. Prologue by Patricio Hidalgo Nuchera. Ediciones Polifemo, Madrid. [Incorporates the notes of editions by José Rizal—1890—and Wenceslao Emilio Retana—1909]. Newson, Linda A. 2006 Conquest, Pestilence and Demographic Collapse in the Early Spanish Philippines. Journal of Historical Geography 32:3–20. 2009 Conquest and Pestilence in the Early Spanish Philippines. University of Hawai‘i Press, Honolulu. Newton, Philip 1913 Negritos of the Philippines. American Anthropologist 15(2):351–352. Nunn, Nathan, and Nancy Qian 2009 The Impact of Potatoes on World Population and Urbanization during the 18th and 19th Centuries: Evidence from a Historic Natural Experiment. Chicago Booth. Applied Economics Workshop. Business 33610. Spring Quarter:1–45. www.faculty. chicagobooth.edu. Oliver, Douglas L. 2003 Las islas del Pacífico. 3rd ed. Editorial Melusina, Barcelona. Ollé, Manel 2002 La empresa de China: De la armada invencible al Galeón de Manila. El Acantilado 60. Quaderns Crema, Barcelona. Owen, Norman G. 1974 The Principalia in Philippine History: Kabilokan, 1790–1898. Philippine Studies. 22(3): 297–324. Paez Flores, Rosario Gabriela 2002 Pueblos de frontera en la Sierra Gorda queretana, siglos XVII y XVIII. Secretaría de Gobernación, Archivo General de la Nación, México, D.F. Palanco [Aguado], Fernando 2002 Diego Silang’s Revolt: A New Approach. Philippine Studies 50:512–537. Pastor, María Alba 1999 Crisis y recomposición social. Nueva España en el tránsito del siglo XVI al XVII. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Fondo de Cultura Económica, México, D.F. Paternó, Pedro Alejandro 1890 Los Itas. Imprenta Sucesores de Cuesta, Madrid. Pigafetta, Antonio 1946 Primer viaje en torno del Globo. 3rd ed. Espasa-Calpe (Colección Austral, 207), Madrid.
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4 European Ceramics in the Spanish Philippines Insights from the University of Michigan Philippine Expedition of 1922–1925
Russell K. Skowronek
Anniversaries have a way of focusing archaeological research within larger historical contexts. While individuals have conducted archaeological work on sites dating from the early modern era for a century, the field of “historical archaeology” came into its own only in the 1960s, first with Stanley South’s Conference on Historic Sites Archaeology and later, in 1966 and 1967, just 50 years ago, with the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology, and the Society for Historical Archaeology. The newly “coined” practitioners in this field were almost immediately put to the test in the United States in the years leading up to 1976, and the bicentennial observations of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution. In a country wearied by the debacle of Vietnam, the plethora of studies from that era led to a more nuanced view of life in that earlier tumultuous period. Those who study the Spanish colonial world were similarly stimulated with the 1992 quincentennial of the voyage of Columbus. Thirty years later the 2020s will build on this initial work with the quincentennial of Cortés’ capture of Mexico, the beginning of Spain’s New World empire, and the bicentennial of Latin American independence, the end of that empire. Eight thousand miles away, in 2021, the Philippines will mark the quincentennial of the first landing of Europeans in the archipelago. In the world of archaeology, 2022 will mark two important centennial events. First, Howard Carter’s opening of Tutankhamen’s tomb, and second, the start of the University of Michigan Philippine Expedition of 1922–1925.
European Ceramics in the Spanish Philippines
The Philippines By 1922 the Philippines had been under the control of the United States for less than a quarter of a century (Figure 4.1). Captured in 1898 after some 377 years of Spanish presence, they, along with Guam, Puerto Rico, and Cuba, were the last vestiges of what was, until 1821, the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Following the perceived (Miller 1998) sabotage of the USS Maine in La Habana in 1898, the United States waded into a war with Spain.
Figure 4.1. Map of the Philippines.
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In the 1890s Spain’s control of its far-flung empire was slipping away. Independence movements, led by the likes of José Martí in Cuba, and José Rizal and Emiliano Aguinaldo in the Philippines, were already leading to armed conflict with the motherland. With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, the United States became the ally of Aguinaldo and his compatriots. Together they defeated Spain. At the end of the hostilities, rather than supporting the independence of these islands, the United States decided to annex Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines and shortly thereafter gained a lease, which would later become “perpetual,” to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Cheated of their sovereignty, unreconciled Filipino revolutionaries continued their struggle into the second decade of the twentieth century. With this the United States “inherited” the legacy of three and three-quarter centuries of Spanish colonialism.
The Spanish Philippines In earlier publications (Skowronek 1998, 2002), I suggested that the economic history of the Spanish Philippines could be divided into three periods of varying lengths. The first is a “prelude” of some 50 years from first contact to the establishment of such municipalities as Cebu in 1565 and Manila in 1571. That was followed by a 250-year period of barter and plunder, when the Philippines served as a commercial outpost for the famed Manila Galleon trade. In this period the Philippines, or more exactly Manila, served as the commercial middleman for the Mexican–Chinese trade in luxury items (Casiño 1982:98). Great profits could be made in Manila brokering these exchanges of silks, spices, and porcelains. As a result the hinterlands of the colony remained relatively unchanged. Evidence of this benign neglect can be seen in places like Siquijor. Founded in 1783, it was the first municipality as well as the first parish to be established on the island. The Manila Galleon terminated in 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. This coincided with the return of Fernando VII to the throne of Spain. Within a decade mainland Latin America secured its independence from the rule of the Bourbons. By 1827 only Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and other scattered colonies in Africa and Micronesia were the remnants of once-mighty imperial Spain. In the last 50 years of this second period, Great Britain began to make its presence felt in the region. Britain’s interest in the riches of Asia dates to the age of Francis Drake. The 160 years between his capture (1579) of a Manila galleon and that of the Nuestra Señora de Cobadonga by Anson (1740) only served to whet their appetite for the riches of the region. Their two-year occupation
European Ceramics in the Spanish Philippines
of Manila from 1762 to 1764 provided them with even greater insights into the potential of the archipelago. While British military forces withdrew from the Philippines by the end of the eighteenth century, the British East India Company, operating from Borneo and Penang in Malaysia, established trading alliances with the Sulu sultanate southwest of Mindanao in the Philippines. Britain and Spain would continue to contest that region until 1885, when the Madrid Protocol recognized the primacy of Spain in that region. It was during this latter era of the British presence that the final economic period began. Lasting about three quarters of a century, it was an era of commercial capitalism based on the export of plantation produce (1821–1898) (Legarda y Fernandez 1967:11). Prior to this period, Spanish New World plantations produced sugar, tobacco, cotton, and indigo. Their independence meant that the economic focus of the Philippines was completely redirected from mercantilism and subsistence agriculture to a plantation export economy. In 1834 Manila was made a free port. Rapidly the Philippines began producing abaca, coffee, sugar, and tobacco for export. Carried in vessels propelled by wind and by coal mined on Cebu, these exports made their way through the newly opened Suez Canal (1869) to Europe (Constantino 1975:114–115; Corpuz 1989:458–460; Diaz-Trechuelo 1978:1345–1349; Legarda y Fernandez 1967:1–12; Tubangui et al. 1982:85–89). Descriptions of this trade underscore Spain’s shift from mercantilism to commercial capitalism. For example, in the Philippines as early as 1838, Rafael Diaz Arenas (1979 [1838]:36), an officer in the Royal Treasury, wrote of the presence of foreign vessels wherein “all European merchandize carried in non-Spanish ships were to pay a duty of 14%.” He went on to discuss their plantation produce and other raw material exports and the wide variety of foreign imports brought into the Philippines by these individuals (1838:45–73). His account specifies some items imported by “Anglo-Americans,” which included crystal ware and ceramics. Suffice it to say that Britain and the United States were the number one and number two non-Asian importers in the Philippines in the nineteenth century, while the Spanish were a poor third (Cushner 1971:197; Legarda y Fernandez 1967:11). These were the Philippines in the twilight of Spain’s dominion.
Dean Worcester, Carl Guthe, and the University of Michigan Fact-finding reconnaissance missions often are the prelude to later invasions. For example, long before the start of the Mexican-American War in 1846, Spanish and Mexican Alta California was visited by British, French, Russian, and U.S. warships and military expeditions led by Vancouver (1792), Kotzbue (1815, 1824),
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Beechey (1826), Duhaut-Cilly (1827), Wilkes (1841), and Fremont (1843) (Skowronek 2006:217, 244, 263, 309, 322–323). These and others mapped anchorages and recorded information on cultural and natural resources that would be useful for commercial, political, and military interests. Decades later, during World War I, archaeologists such as Sylvanus Morley would gather “information” regarding the activities of foreign nationals for the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence as part of their research trips to Mesoamerica (e.g., Harris and Sadler 2003). No one suggests that Dean C. Worcester was purposefully gathering information beyond his research; but it is known that he visited the Spanish Philippines in 1887 as a University of Michigan zoology undergraduate, and on a second trip in 1890. Later, while serving as a lecturer at his alma mater, Worcester compiled the observations he made during these trips into his book The Philippine Islands and Their People, whose publication in 1898 coincided with the sinking of USS Maine and the Spanish-American War. In addition to describing the islands, he notes manufactures and agricultural produce, including tobacco, coffee, cotton, coconut oil, and sugar, as well as raw materials, including copper, gold, and galena (1898:509, 517–519). The United States had already had a glimpse of Spain’s overseas possessions, at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition (McCabe 1876) and the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition (Morgan 1892). At the former it was said of the Spanish display, “One can hardly believe . . . that the Spanish people deserve their traditional reputation for indolence” (McCabe 1876:410). By the time of the Columbian Exposition and throughout the 1890s, the disdain for Spain and the desire for empire were increasingly palpable. Bancroft (1893:276, 375) described the wealth of Spain, the Philippine Islands, Puerto Rico, and Cuba: “Displays included wheats, different soups, arrowroot, tapioca, confections, honey and chocolate. Olive oil, wine and wood were from Spain. Porto Rico [sic] and the Philippines sent coffees, sugars, tobaccos, cigars, native woods and curios. Cuba had tobacco, sugar, and some minerals.” In the 1890s famed orator and lawyer Robert G. Ingersoll (1902:12:268) wrote the following passages: At one time Spain was the greatest of powers, owner of half the world, and now she has only a few islands. . . . Now Spain is bankrupt, bankrupt not only in purse, but in the higher faculties of the mind, a nation without progress, without thought; still devoted to bull fights and superstition, still trying to affright contagious diseases by religious processions. Spain is a part of the mediæval ages, belongs to an ancient generation. It really has no place in the nineteenth century.
European Ceramics in the Spanish Philippines
Conditions have changed. We own the Hawaiian Islands. We will own the Philippines. . . . As far as the Philippines are concerned, I think that we should endeavor to civilize them. At the conclusion of the Spanish-American War, Worcester left Michigan and moved to the Philippines. There he served in the government as the secretary of the interior, and later in commercial activities (Sinopoli 2014:2–3). Shortly before his death in 1924, Worcester, a longtime collector of archaeological and ethnographic materials from the archipelago, contacted the University of Michigan. Promising financial and logistical support, he suggested a large-scale archaeological expedition to the Philippines. Additionally, he would provide the expedition with laboratory space in Cebu and the use of his yacht (Sinopoli 2014:3). The expedition would be led by Carl E. Guthe (Figure 4.2). Figure 4.2. Carl Eugen Guthe after a morning of cave digging near Loay, Bohol, Philippines, circa 1922 (Item #BL003737). (Reproduced Courtesy Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)
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Guthe, a University of Michigan undergraduate, had earned a Ph.D. at Harvard specializing in the archaeology of the Americas. Though lacking training in Asian archaeology, Guthe agreed to direct the project, provided the university established an academic department of anthropology and a museum of anthropology (Sinopoli 2014:3). He would spend two and a half years in the Philippines conducting the survey.
The Expedition of 1922–1925 Sailing out of Worcester’s facilities in Cebu, Guthe surveyed the southern portion of the Philippines, including the Visayas—Negros, Cebu, Samar, Bohol, Siquijor; Mindanao; and the Sulu Archipelago (Guthe 1929:79–80) for ceramics. His goal was to gather “additional data upon the commercial relations between the Filipinos and Asiatic civilizations by means of a study of the furniture occurring with the various types of burials in the archipelago” (Guthe 1929:79). Of course the “furniture” he refers to is “grave furniture” or ceramics and other artifacts. During the course of his sojourn, Guthe and his Filipino and expatriate “agents” collected material from 542 sites, 384 of which were provided by the agents (Guthe 1929:80–82; Sinopoli 2014:4). These came from individual graves labeled “G,” and numbering 231 in his inventory; burial grounds labeled “B,” with 134 sites; caves, or “C,” with 99 recorded; “M,” or miscellaneous, non-mortuary, 35; and “Doubtful,” or “X,” with 43. The notes on each of these “site types” were compiled 80 years later by the Asian Division of the University of Michigan Ruthven Museum of Anthropology in 2002. Understanding the historical background of Guthe and the nature of the expedition sheds important light on how his collection was made. Guthe, trained in the prehistoric archaeology of the American Southwest, was admittedly largely ignorant of Asian archaeology and certainly uninterested in the archaeology of the early modern colonial era, of which the United States Philippines was a part. As Sinopoli points out, “the Guthe collection is remarkably well documented,” with “the sites that he visited or excavated himself [documented] in the greatest detail, with sketch plans and relatively detailed descriptions of setting, excavation techniques, and materials recovered” (2014:5). As a result they have been the basis of a number of research projects and dissertations over the decades (e.g., Aga-Oglu 1946, 1948, 1961; Dizon 1980). That said, as Guthe recognized (1929:81) and Sinopoli (2014:7) points out, the use of “agents” and a dearth of knowledge about European ceramics had their shortcomings. For example, on March 30, 1925, only six weeks prior to leaving the Philippines, Guthe’s agent Emiliano Marapao brought him ar-
European Ceramics in the Spanish Philippines
tifacts from Barrio Sanculan, Dauis, Bohol. Grave 217 was found while the residents of the barrio were digging a house pit. There are no human remains reported, but there were Whole, unglazed light yellow vase with long pointed base. Whole small dark brown jar, with four handles. Whole, small nick out of rim slender blue and white vase, apparently Kiang H’si. Major base sherd, black and white large bowl. Base sherd, large blue and white plate. (Asian Division 2002:483) The “Whole, unglazed light yellow vase with long pointed base,” was a late period Spanish-made olive jar dating from the nineteenth century (Goggin 1960; James 1988). Did Guthe recognize this and other European ceramics from his experience in the U.S. Southwest? It seems hard to believe that many did not look familiar. Were they ignored as “collateral” finds necessary to find the “good” sites more properly associated with the goals of the project? Probably. Although part of the larger collection, they were out of place in the “Asian Division” and were largely ignored for more than six decades. In 1990, while serving as a visiting professor and curator of the “North American Division” at the Ruthven Museum at the University of Michigan, I was taken by Jeff Parsons to see materials in the then curator-less Asian Division, which “bore an amazing resemblance” to materials he had seen in Mesoamerica. For this “visiting” Spanish colonial historical archaeologist, these artifacts were neither “Doubtful” nor “Miscellaneous” but were, to borrow a phrase from Howard Carter, “wonderful things” for what they could say about the Spanish Philippines. What follows is an admittedly incomplete overview of some of those ceramics (Table 4.1). Table 4.1. Guthe Collection Sites with European Ceramics Site Designation
Location
Type
Figure in Text
B-7
Barrio Cangiru, Cebu
Shell-edge whiteware
Figure 4.6 A
B-24
Barrio Banban, Siquijor
Penny ink
Figure 4.4 C
B-98
Barrio Mansasa, Tagbilaran, Bulk ink, stoneware Bohol
Figure 4.4 B
C-6
Barrio Caboy, Clarin, Bohol Ironstone
Not shown
C-22
Near Celadon Cave, Pinabanan, Samar Barrio Caipilan, Siquijor
Boerenbont pattern
Figure 4.8 A
White salt glaze
Figure 4.9
Barrio Guadalupe San Carlos, Negros
Olive Jar
Figure 4.3 A
C-63 C-77
continued
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Table 4.1—continued Site Designation
Location
Type
Figure in Text
C-84
Barrio Buyoc, Valencia, Bohol
Figure 4.8 C and D
C-93
Penny ink, Hand painted, Flow Blue, Blue transfer print, Boerenbont Flow Blue panel tea cup
Barrio Maycabac, Dauis, Bohol Barrio Catang, Argao, Cebu Blue and Mulberry transfer print, Flow Blue Near Bolos, southeast of Olive Jar Siquijor Dauis, Bohol Flow Blue “Shanghai” Barrio Sonculan, Dauis, Flow Blue Bohol Barrio Dao, Dauis, Bohol Blue transfer print Barrio Biquing, Bohol Ironstone “relish dish”
G-72 G-85 G-193 G-195 G-198 G-201 G-202
M-28
Sitio Ilihan, Barrio Buenavista, Loboc, Bohol Batuan, Bohol Barrio Sanculan, Dauis, Bohol Jolo, Sulu
X-5
Mandawe, Cebu
X-19 X-26 X-28 X-31
Kabinga-an, Sulu Togbil, Bohol Valencia, Bohol Sierra Bullones, Bohol
X-35
Barrio Sonculan, Dauis, Bohol
X-36
Bohol
G-207 G-217
Figure 4.7 A Figure 4.6 E Figure 4.3 B Figure 4.7 B Figure 4.7 C
Penny ink
Figure 4.9 A and B Not shown
Olive Jar Olive Jar
Figure 4.3 C Figure 4.3 D
Bartmann Jug, Ironstone bowl, Penny and bulk ink Davenport Blue Willow Pattern, Flow Blue Brown transfer print Blue transfer print teapot Ginger beer bottle Salt-glazed stoneware bottle Blue transfer print
Figure 4.5 A and B Figure 4.6 B
Not shown
Boerenbont pattern
Figure 4.8 B
Figure 4.6 C Figure 4.6 D Figure 4.4 A Figure 4.4 D
The Guthe Collection European Ceramics In the Guthe Collection Dutch-, English-, Scottish-, and Spanish-made ceramics were used for the storage of comestible and noncomestible liquids, and the presentation of food. There is no evidence of European-made ceramics
European Ceramics in the Spanish Philippines
used for the preparation of food. With one exception the majority date from the nineteenth century.
Storage Containers Olive Jar In the Guthe Collection are four (C-77, G-85, G-207, G-217) examples (Figure 4.3a–d) of olive jars, made in Spain and used through the nineteenth century. Known in Spanish as jarras de aceite, tinajas, botijas, and botijuelas, these amphora-shaped storage vessels served as shipping containers for a wide variety
a c
b d
Figure 4.3. Late Style “B” or Form II Olive Jars (photo by R. Skowronek): (a) Cave 77, Barrio Guadalupe, Negros. Collected July 11, 1924; (b) Grave 85, near Bolos, southeast of Siquijor, May 14, 1923. Late Style “D” or Form IV; (c) Grave 207, town of Batua, Bohol. Collected February 16, 1925; (d) Grave 217, Barrio Sancula, Bohol. Collected March 30, 1925 (Goggin 1960:28; James 1988:48).
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of pourable commodities, including wine, olive oil, olives, nuts, grains, and even coins (Deagan 1987:30–35; Goggin 1960; James 1988; Lister and Lister 1987:128–137). Ubiquitous on the Atlantic side of the Spanish colonial world, fragments of these reusable containers are found by the thousands on shipwreck and terrestrial sites. These containers, while not as common in the Spanish Pacific and its littoral, are reported in both the New and Old Worlds (e.g., Skowronek 1997:44, 1998:61–62; Skowronek et al. 2014:279–280). At site G-85 on Siquijor, where one Late Style “B” or Form II olive jar was found, Guthe was digging at a location provided by an informant. After some effort was expended on the excavation, he discovered that the burial was perhaps younger than expected: “I learned that the burying had been done in 1897! Yet the guide was very sure of his location and insisted the stuff was there. He was anxious to find it in order to remove the spell from the land, so he could work it” (Asian Division 2002:350). Another Late Style “D” or Form IV Olive Jar (G-207) brought to him by agent Emiliano Marapao was reportedly found by a farmer plowing his field on Bohol. It was described as “Broken, tall unglazed vase with pointed base” (Asian Division 2002:473). The last “was bought by agent from its owner” and was described as a “whole, large globular light colored vase, with white glaze around the rim only” (Asian Division 2002:240).
Ginger Beer/Ale Bottle On October 31, 1924, Diego Cajlog, Guthe’s agent on Bohol, brought him a “Whole, grey stoneware bottle, with crockery glaze” (X-28 #36400), which had been purchased from its owners in Barrio Lantang, Valencia (Asian Division 2002:566) (Figure 4.4a). Two-toned Bristol glazed stoneware bottles such as the one found on Bohol were developed in Bristol, England, in 1835 and were produced in other potteries in Denby, Glasgow, Lambeth, Liverpool, and Portobello in Great Britain and in the Northeast and Midwest of the United States well into the twentieth century, when they were replaced by ones made of glass fabricated in fully automated bottle-making machines (Baxter 2013:303–311; Society for Historical Archaeology;1 Historical Archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History;2 Orser and Fagan 1995:83). Similar ceramic vessels have been excavated in Manila at San Agustin site (NCR-92-J) and at Iglesia San Ignacio (NCR-81–63).
European Ceramics in the Spanish Philippines
a c
b d
Figure 4.4. Stoneware (photo by R. Skowronek): (a) Ginger beer/ale bottle, X-28, Barrio Lantang, Valencia, Bohol. Collected October 31, 1924; (b) Bulk ink, Burial 98, Bohol. Collected December 22, 1924; (c) Penny ink, Burial 24, Barrio Banban, Siquijor. Collected January 25, 1924; (d) Salt-glazed stoneware bottle, X-31, Barrio Paseng, Bohol. Collected January 8, 1925.
Stoneware Ink Bottles Guthe collected both “bulk” (B-98, M-28) and individual or “penny ink” (B24, B-43, G-202, M-28) stoneware bottles on Bohol, Cebu, Jolo, and Siquijor (Asian Division 2002:34, 54, 109, 468, 529). The bulk ink bottle from Bohol (B-98) is marked “28 Doulton Lambeth” for Doulton & Co in Lambeth, England (Figure 4.4 B). In the entry in the site inventory, Guthe noted, “Whole,
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crockery stoneware jar, with mouth for pouring” (Asian Division 2002:109). One has also been found in Manila at the Wallem site (NCR-81-P3). These were made throughout the Victorian era and contained ink or shoe blacking (Noël Hume 1969:78–79). Smaller salt-glazed stoneware ink pots were also known as “penny inks”3 (Figure 4.4c).
Salt-Glazed Stoneware Mineral Water Bottles with Single Applied Loop Handle at Neck Marked as “doubtful” by Guthe, these (X-31, #36409) unmarked cylindrical vessels are similar to other stamped examples from the latter half of the nineteenth century known to have been used to hold various fluids that were best stored in dark, cool environments: mineral water, sarsaparilla, wine, beer, vinegar cider, oil, molasses, and even ink (Figure 4.4d). While the origin of this jug is unknown, the bottle style is similar to stoneware jugs that have foreign pottery or company marks, most frequently from Denmark, England, Germany, and Sweden. Similar examples have been found on the Bertrand (a steamboat lost on the Missouri River in 1865), the Republic (a ship lost in the Atlantic in 1865), and in nineteenth-century California (Leavitt 2013:323–333; Schulz et al. 2013:319–321).
Bartmann Jug In July of 1924 Guthe’s team purchased an heirloom on the island of Jolo, in the Sulu Archipelago. Guthe reports that his agent Panglima Sabudin—spent 40 days in the interior of the island [of Jolo], making a house to house search and running down every story of old Chinese plates that he heard, with the result that he got together a collection which reflects considerable credit on his judgement. (Asian Division 2002:529) In this collection (M-28) were bulk and “penny” inks, a nineteenth-century ironstone bowl, ointment jars, and a distinctive 20-cm-tall stoneware jug with a mottled brown “Tiger” saltglaze (Figure 4.5). It sports a distinctive medallion on its belly, containing an eight-petaled flower. The neck has been polished down, but the remnants of a bearded face or mask may be discerned. Known as a Bartmann Jug, it dates from the middle of the seventeenth century and was made along the Rhine about 10 km southwest of Cologne in Frechen (Hurst et al. 1986:214–221; Mayer 2014:119–120; Noël Hume 1969:55–57).
European Ceramics in the Spanish Philippines
The rights holder did not grant permission for this Figure 4.5 to appear in the digital edition of this book.
Figure 4.5. Jugs (photo by R. Skowronek): (a) Bartmann Jug circa 1650, M-28, Jolo, Sulu, 1924; (b) Close-up of ground-smooth neck with evidence of the beard; (c) Bartmann Jug (CG 137) in the Walter C. Koerner Collection of European Ceramics, Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver; (d) Close-up of an intact example of a bearded mask on a Bartmann Jug (CG 137) in the Walter C. Koerner Collection of European Ceramics, Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver.
Presentation Ceramics: Plates, Bowls, Cups, Teapot English-Made Edge-Decorated and Transfer-Printed Tablewares Refined earthenwares made in England, Scotland, and the Netherlands, and dating from the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries dominate the European portion of the Guthe Collection.
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Ceramics made in Great Britain from 1842 to 1883 often carry Patent Office registry marks with the year of manufacture (Orser and Fagen 1995:79–81). The shell-edged and transfer printed pearl and white tablewares in the Guthe Collection do not bear such registry marks. This absence, along with other details associated with their decoration, suggests that they were made during the first four decades of the nineteenth century. The following indicates the range of these materials in the Guthe Collection. Shell-edged decorated plates are present in the Guthe (e.g., B-70, C-84) collections and have been identified at the Parian (NCR-79-R5B), San Agustin (NCR-92-J), and San Andres (NCR-79-F2) sites in Manila (e.g., Skowronek 1997:43, 45, and 1998:63, 66). Based on the molded edge design, these were manufactured in the mid-nineteenth century (circa 1840–1860) (Hunter and Miller 2009; Miller 2013:489) (Figure 4.6a). Transfer-printed ceramics are present. There are several examples of Blue Willow pattern whiteware plates. One from Mandawe, Cebu (X-5 #36323), is marked “Davenport” on the reverse in uppercase letters. This maker’s mark dates between 1805 and 18204 (Samford 1997:8). A “Whole, European cup” with handle and brown transfer-printed design was purchased in Kabingan, Siasi, Sulu (X-19, #36346). It dates to 1818–1854 (Figure 4.6c; Samford 1997:10). Diego Cajilog, agent on Bohol, brought in specimens “bought in the house of the aunt of Senator Clarin” on October 31, 1924. This included a complete blue on white transfer-print teapot (X-26) with a woman milking a cow (Figure 4.6d). Images of pastoral or rural scenes with a focus on animals or people working date from 1781–1859 (Samford 1997:7, 17, 20). Grave 72 from Barrio Catang, Argao, Cebu, contained a number of transfer-printed plates in mulberry and blue. One in blue (#35429) bears a British pastoral scene with a repeating floral decoration on the plate’s marley and dates circa 1810–1850 (Figure 4.6e; Samford 1997:6, 10, 18).
Flown Ware In the 1830s a new process for decorating earthenwares was developed that would be known as “Flown Ware.” Chemicals were added to the glaze, which, when volatized in the kiln, “caused the printed color to flow outside the original pattern lines and produce a soft, halo-like effect” (Samford 1997:24). Blue was the most popular color, and it was made into the twentieth century. Examples in the Guthe Collection from cave (C-93) and grave (G-193, G-195, G-198) sites in Bohol are decorated in a Chinoiserie floral pattern (Figure 4.7) and would date before 1860 (Samford 1997:24).
a
b
c
d
e
Figure 4.6. English-made ceramics (photo by R. Skowronek): (a) Blue Shell-edged (c. 1840–1860), Burial 70, Barrio Cangirung, Jinatilan, Cebu, collected April 2, 1924 (Hunter and Miller 2009:13); (b) Davenport Willow pattern plate (c. 1793–1820), X-5, Mandawe, Cebu. Collected March 15, 1923 (Samford 1997:8); (c) Brown transfer-printed cup (c. 1818–1854), X-19, Kabingan, Siasi, Sulu. Collected September 6, 1924 (Samford 1997:10); (d) Blue transfer-printed teapot in “Pastoral Style” (c. 1781–1859), X-26, Tagbilaran, Bohol. Collected October 31, 1924 (Samford 1997: 7, 17, 20); (e) Blue transfer-printed plate with a repeating floral marley and a “British” or “Pastoral” image (c. 1784–1856), Grave 72, Barrio Catang, Argao, Cebu. Collected February 2, 1923 (Samford 1997:6, 10, 18).
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a
Figure 4.7. English-made “Flow Blue” ceramics (c. 1830–1860) (Samford 1997:6–8, 24) (photo by R. Skowronek): (a) Teacup, Cave-93, Barrio Maycabac, Dauis, Bohol (#35221). Collected February 11, 1925; (b) “Shanghai” motif Flow Blue plate marked “Shanghai,” Grave-193, town of Dauis, Bohol (#35852). Collected February 11, 1925; (c) “Chinese” motif Flow Blue plate with molded edge, Grave-195, Barrio Sonculan, Dauis, Bohol (#35858). Collected February 11, 1925.
b
c Dutch- and Scottish-Made Painted and Transfer-Printed There are also other refined earthenware table ceramics made in the Netherlands and Scotland (Figure 4.8). There are several plates and bowls decorated in the Boerenbont pattern associated with the Royal Sphinx pottery located in Maastricht in the Netherlands. Founded by Petrus Regout in 1834, it be-
European Ceramics in the Spanish Philippines
a
b
c
d
Figure 4.8. Dutch- and Scottish-made ceramics (photo by R. Skowronek): (a) Bowl and maker’s mark of the “Petrus Regout & Co” in the Boerenbont pattern (c. 1891–1899) (C-22, Samar); (b) Plate in the Boerenbont pattern (X-36, Bohol); (c) Maker’s mark of the Glasgow Pottery of John and Matthew Perston Bell (reverse) plate fragment marked “Palestine J & MPB & Co” (c. 1860– 1870), Cave-84, Barrio Buyoc, Valencia, Bohol (Kelly 2006:24; Samford 1997:12); (d) “Palestine” pattern plate made by John and Matthew Preston Bell.
gan to use a sphinx as its logo in 1879. After 1899 the company was called De Sphinx (v/h Petrus Regout & Co.).5 Boerenbont pattern ceramics are part of the Guthe Collection (C-22 Samar, C-84, G-109, X-36 Bohol) and are also found in Spoehr’s work at Cotta Daan and Cotta Labuan on Jolo (1973:210–213). The Boerenbont-pattern painted bowl (Figure 4.8a) was manufactured be-
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tween 1891, when “Made in Holland” was first applied to the maker’s mark, and 1899, when Petrus Regout & Co. became “De Sphinx voorheen [formerly] Petrus Regout & Co” (Sphinx v/h Petrus Regout & Co, NV, De6). The plate (Figure 4.8b) is decorated in the same pattern and dates to the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Cave 84 on Bohol yielded fragments of a blue transfer-printed plate marked “Palestine J & MFB & Co” (Figure 4.8c and d). This was manufactured in Glasgow, Scotland, at the pottery of John and Matthew Perston Bell between 1840 and 1850 (Kelly 2006:24). There are other European-made ceramics present in the Guthe Collection, including salt-glazed stonewares (C-63) (Figure 4.9) and plain undecorated whitewares and ironstone vessels (e.g., C-60). At least one (G-201) from Bohol (Figure 4.10), an oblong relish dish, is stamped in red with an English coat of arms “Ironstone China, J & G Meakins, Hanley, England.” Meakins was founded in 1851 at Hanley near Stoke-on-Trent. The use of the “modern” form of the Royal Arms dates to 1890 (North Staffordshire Pottery Marks—J & G Meakin).7
Figure 4.9. White salt-glazed stoneware pitcher with molded floral motif (#35059), C-63, Barrio Caipilan, Siquijor, collected January 25, 1924. (Photo by R. Skowronek)
European Ceramics in the Spanish Philippines
a
b Figure 4.10. (a) “Relish dish” circa 1890, G-201, Barrio Biquing, Bohol (#35896); (b) reverse with maker’s mark “Ironstone China, J & G Meakins, Hanley, England.” (Photo by R. Skowronek)
Lessons from the Guthe Collection As it approaches a century since its creation, the 1922–1925 Guthe collection continues to provide insights into the “commercial relations between the Filipinos and Asiatic civilizations,” and the broader world in the four centuries following Magallanes’ visit. Nearly 20 years ago, I suggested, based on the documentary record and the archaeological record preserved in the Guthe collection, that there were few changes in the Spanish Philippines for the 300 years following Magallanes (Skowronek 1998). Certainly, Spanish enclaves in Cebu, Manila, and Vigan were transformed as a direct result of the Manila Galleon trade, but the rest of the archipelago continued traditional economic practices involving sub-
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sistence farming and resource procurement (Borrinaga and Kobak 2006:49; Smith 2014:29). This changed significantly in the late eighteenth and into the nineteenth century when Spain turned to exploiting the Philippine countryside for its agricultural export potential. Cecilia Smith’s research on Negros supports those preliminary observations. She found that, “On Negros this meant clearing land and consolidating it into plantations for the production of sugar, corn, and palm, leading the way for massive deforestation of the island” (Smith 2014:269). Prior to the nineteenth century, the exotic ceramics from Negros further underscore these changes. Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese ceramics are commonly found (Smith 2014:153). It is only in the nineteenth century that European- and Japanese-made ceramics appear in the archaeological record (Smith 2014:153, 163, 168–169). Farther south, the Sulu Sunni sultanate operated largely out of the Spanish colonial sphere, even after the signing of the 1885 Madrid Protocol. There the ceramic evidence from Jolo shows that Dutch- and English-made ceramics are present (Spoehr 1973:210–213). These no doubt arrived by way of the Netherlands East Indies and British Malaysia. As the Guthe Collection demonstrates, these ceramics were also present in the central Philippines during the nineteenth century. One of the most thought-provoking artifacts is the Bartmann Jug (Figure 4.5) purchased on the island of Jolo, in the Sulu Archipelago in 1924 (X-28). Made in the seventeenth century (1650–1670) in Frechen, on the Rhine River, it bore a stamped face or mask of a bearded man, possibly a satyr (Noël Hume 1969:55–57). In this instance, the face has been ground off. This may be an example of aniconism. Among the Sunni this is a proscription against the creation of images of living beings. Not just the depiction of Muhammad or God, but the depiction of all humans and nonhuman animals is discouraged. As Sinopoli stated (2013:5, 7), the “Guthe collection is remarkably well documented for an early twentieth-century Southeast Asian collection. . . . Guthe was not privileging complete or beautiful objects.” Both Spoehr (1973:88–102) and Junker (1999:160–164) identified evidence of the continued use of Chinese porcelain and other imported wares as status symbols from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century in an era when commerce with China was discouraged. Perhaps a careful study of the European and Japanese ceramics from Guthe’s “caves” and “graves” will provide insights into how these new exotic imports were used in lieu of certain Chinese-made ceramics in the twilight of the Spanish Empire. Clearly, the Guthe Collection will continue to yield information regarding “commercial relations between the Filipinos and Asiatic civilizations,” its only limitation being the questions asked by future scholars.
European Ceramics in the Spanish Philippines
Acknowledgments I am indebted to Dr. Carla M. Sinopoli, Curator of Asian Archaeology and Ethnology, Museum of Anthropological Archaeology at the University of Michigan, who kindly provided me with documentation relating to the Guthe materials. Thank you to my friends George Miller and Rob Hunter from Ceramics in America for their help identifying some of the materials in the collection. Further thanks are extended to Dr. Sarah (Ginn) Peelo and her 2008 historical archaeology students at Santa Clara University for their work dating some of the European materials in the Guthe Collection. They included Randahl Capurro, Erin Ching, Heather Clayton, Troy Gruwell, Liz Hayman, Noah Levine, Jeanettte Moritz, and Hailey Trefethen. Thanks also to the National Endowment for the Humanities (Summer Stipend Program FT-41096–95, 1995); Santa Clara University (Thomas Terry Research Grant 1995, Philippines), and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley for their support of this research. Thanks to Chief Wilfredo P. Ronquillo, Dr. Eusebio Dizon, Amalia de la Torre, Angel Bautista, and the other members of the Archaeology Division, National Museum of the Philippines, for their cooperation and friendship during my research visit to the Philippines. I originally photographed the Guthe Collection European ceramics in 1990–1991 when I served as Visiting Assistant Professor and Curator at the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology at the University of Michigan. I want to extend my thanks to Kent Flannery, Dick Ford, Joyce Marcus, Jeff Parsons, and Henry Wright for welcoming me during that year. Last, I wish to thank Elizabeth Olga Skowronek for her help preparing the figures for this manuscript.
Notes 1. Society for Historical Archaeology, Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information, Society for Historical Archaeology, accessed March 27, 2016, https://sha.org/bottle/beer.htm. 2. Historical Archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, Digital Type Collections, Florida Museum of Natural History, accessed March 27, 2016, https://www.flmnh .ufl.edu/histarch/gallery_types/type_index_display.asp?type_name=STONEWARE,%20 BRISTOL%20GLAZE%20GINGER%20BEER%20BOTTLE. 3. Tom Licence, What the Victorians Threw Away, accessed 11 April 2017 www.whatthevictoriansthrewaway.com/project/small-stoneware-ink-bottle. 4. North Staffordshire Pottery Marks, Davenport, The Potteries, accessed April 11, 2017, http://www.thepotteries.org/mark/d/davenport.html. 5. Sphinx, InfoFaience, accessed March 26, 2016, http://www.infofaience.com/en /sphinx-hist. 6. The Sphinx v/h Petrus Regout & Co, NV, De, accessed April 4, 2016, http://plateel.nl /en-gb/p_122.html.
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7. Steve Birks, North Staffordshire Pottery Marks, J & G Meakin (Ltd), The Potteries, accessed April 23, 2016, http://www.thepotteries.org/mark/m/meakin_jg.html.
References Aga-Oglu, Kamer 1946 Ying Ch’ing Porcelain Found in the Philippines. Art Quarterly 9:315–327. 1948 Ming Export Blue and White Jars in the University of Michigan Collection. Art Quarterly 11:201–217. 1961 Ming Porcelains from Sites in the Philippines. Asian Perspectives 5(2):243–257. Asian Division 2002 UM Philippine Expedition Site Descriptions from Carl Guthe’s Field Notes. University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, Ann Arbor. Bancroft, Hubert Howe 1893 The Book of the Fair: An Historical and Descriptive Presentation of the World’s Science, Art, and Industry as Viewed through the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. Bancroft, Chicago and San Francisco. Baxter, R. Scott 2013 Stoneware Ale Bottles. In Ceramic Identification in Historical Archaeology: The View from California, 1822–1940, edited by Rebecca Allen, Julia E. Huddleson, Kimberly J. Wooten, and Glenn J. Farris, pp. 303–313. Special Publication No. 11. Society for Historical Archaeology, Germantown, Maryland. Birks, Steve n.d. North Staffordshire Pottery Marks—J & G Meakin. The Potteries. http://www .thepotteries.org/mark/m/meakin_jg.html, accessed April 23, 2016. Borrinaga, Rolando O., and Cantius J. Kobak 2006 The Colonial Odyssey of Leyte 1521–1914. New Day, Quezon City. Casiño, Eric S. 1982 The Filipino Nation, the Philippines: Lands and Peoples, a Cultural Geography. Grolier, Manila. Constantino, Renato 1975 The Philippines: A Past Revisited. Taia, Quezon City. Corpuz, Onofre D. 1989 The Roots of the Filipino Nation. AKLAHI Foundation, Quezon City. Cushner, Nicholas P. 1971 Spain in the Philippines from Conquest to Revolution. Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City. Deagan, Kathleen A. 1987 Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean 1500–1800: 1. Ceramics, Glassware, and Beads. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Diaz-Arenas, Rafael 1979 [1838] Report on the Commerce and Shipping of the Philippine Islands. 1979 facsimile ed. Translated by Encarnacion Alzona. National Historical Institute, Manila. Diaz-Trechuelo Spinola, María Lourdes 1978 A Blitz of Economic Plans. In Filipino Heritage: The Making of a Nation, pp. 1345– 1349. Lahing Pilipino, Manila.
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Dizon, Eusebio M. 1980 The Archaeological Excavation at the Parian Site, Intramuros, Metro Manila (NCR79-R58). Field report no. 14. Manuscript on file, National Museum, Manila. Florida Museum of Natural History n.d. Stoneware, Bristol Glaze Ginger Beer Bottle. Historical Archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Digital Type Collection. https://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/histarch /gallery_types/type_index_display.asp?type_name=STONEWARE,%20BRISTOL%20 GLAZE%20GINGER%20BEER%20BOTTLE, accessed March 27, 2016. Goggin, John M. 1960 The Spanish Olive Jar, an Introductory Study. Yale University Publications in Anthropology No. 62. Yale University Press, New Haven. Guthe, Carl E. 1927 The University of Michigan Philippine Expedition. American Anthropologist 29:69–76. 1929 Distribution of Sites Visited by the University of Michigan Philippine Expedition 1922–1925. Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science Arts and Letters 10:79–89. Harris, Charles H., III, and Louis R. Sadler 2003 The Archaeologist Was a Spy. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. Hunter, Robert, and George L. Miller 2009 Suitable for Framing: Decorated Shell-Edge Earthenware. Early American Life 40(4):8–19. Hurst, John G., David S. Neal, and H.J.E. Van Beuningen 1986 Pottery Produced and Traded in North-West Europe 1350–1650. Stichting ‘Het Nederlandse Gebruiksvoorwerp,’ Rotterdam. InfoFaience n.d. Royal Sphinx Pottery, Petrus Regout Co. Maastrict. Infofaience. Electronic document, http://www.infofaience.com/en/sphinx-hist, accessed March 26, 2016. Ingersoll, Robert G. 1902 The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll. Vol. 12. Dresden, C. P. Farrell, New York. James, Stephen R. 1988 A Reassessment of the Chronological and Typological Framework of the Spanish Olive Jar. Historical Archaeology 22(1):43–66. Junker, Laura L. 1999 Raiding, Trading, and Feasting: The Political Economy of Philippine Chiefdoms. University of Hawai‘i Press, Honolulu. Kelly, Henry E. 2006 The Glasgow Pottery of John and Matthew Perston Bell. China and Earthenware Manufacturers in Glasgow. Electronic document, http://www.bellsglasgowpottery.com/, accessed March 26, 2016. Leavitt, Robert C. 2013 The Westerwald Jugs. In Ceramic Identification in Historical Archaeology: The View from California, 1822–1940, edited by Rebecca Allen, Julia E. Huddleson, Kimberly J. Wooten, and Glenn J. Farris, pp. 323–333. Special Publication No. 11. Society for Historical Archaeology, Germantown, Maryland. Legarda y Fernandez, Benito 1967 The Philippine Economy under Spanish Rule. Solidarity 2(10):1–21.
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Licence, Tom 2015 What the Victorians Threw Away. www.whatthevictoriansthrewaway.com/project /small-stoneware-ink-bottle, accessed April 11, 2017. Lister, Florence C., and Robert H. Lister 1987 Andalusian Ceramics in Spain and New Spain: A Cultural Register from the Third Century B.C. to 1700. University of Arizona, Tucson. Mayer, Carol E. 2014 A Discerning Eye, the Walter C. Koerner Collection of European Ceramics. Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. McCabe, James D. 1876 The Illustrated History of the Centennial Exhibition, Held in Commemoration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of American Independence. National Publishing, Philadelphia, Chicago, and St. Louis. Miller, George L. 2013 Identifying and Dating Shell-Edged Earthenwares. In Ceramic Identification in Historical Archaeology: The View from California, 1822–1940, edited by Rebecca Allen, Julia E. Huddleson, Kimberly J. Wooten, and Glenn J. Farris, pp. 487–491. Special Publication No. 11. Society for Historical Archaeology, Germantown, Maryland. Miller, Tom 1998 Remember the Maine. Smithsonian 28(11):46–57. Morgan, Horace H. 1892 The Historical World’s Columbia Exposition and Chicago Guide. James H. Mason, St. Louis. Noël Hume, Ivor 1969 A Guide to the Artifacts of Colonial America. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Orser, Charles E., Jr., and Brian M. Fagan 1995 Historical Archaeology. HarperCollins, New York. Rafael, Vicente L. 1988 Contracting Colonialism: Translation and Christian Conversion in Tagalog Society under Early Spanish Rule. Ateneo de Manila University Press, Manila. Samford, Patricia 1997 Response to a Market: Dating English Underglaze Transfer-Printed Wares. Historical Archaeology 31(2):1–30. Schulz, Peter D., Betty J. Rivers, Mark M. Hales, Charles A. Litzinger, and Elizabeth McKee 2013 The Bottles of Old Sacramento: A Study of Nineteenth-Century Glass and Ceramic Retail Containers, Part 1. In Ceramic Identification in Historical Archaeology: The View from California, 1822–1940, edited by Rebecca Allen, Julia E. Huddleson, Kimberly J. Wooten, and Glenn J. Farris, pp. 315–321. Special Publication No. 11. Society for Historical Archaeology, Germantown, Maryland. Sinopoli, Carla M. 2014 New Research on an Old Collection: Studies of the Philippine Expedition (“Guthe”) Collection of the Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan. Asian Perspectives 52(1):1–11. Skowronek, Russell K. 1997 End of the Empire: The Spanish Philippines and Puerto Rico in the Nineteenth Century. Itinerario 21(2):33–50.
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1998 The Spanish Philippines: Archaeological Perspectives on Colonial Economics and Society. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 2(1):45–71. 2002 Global Economics in the Creation and Maintenance of the Spanish Colonial Empire. In Social Dimensions in the Economic Process, edited by Norbert Dannhaeuser and Cynthia Werner, pp. 295–310. Research in Economic Anthropology Vol. 21. Elsevier Science, Oxford. 2006 Situating Mission Santa Clara de Asís, 1776–1851: Documentary and Material Evidence of Life on the Alta California Frontier: A Timeline. Academy of American Franciscan History, Berkeley. 2009 On the Fringes of Empire: The Spanish U.S. Southwest and the Pacific. In International Handbook of Historical Archaeology, edited by Teresita Majewski and David Gaimster, pp. 471–506. Kluwer Academic/Plenum, Dordrecht. Skowronek, Russell K., M. James Blackman, and Ronald L. Bishop 2014 Ceramic Production in Early Hispanic California, Craft, Economy and Trade on the Frontier of New Spain. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. Smith, Cecilia Alaina 2014 Haven Geographies and the Indigenous Prestige Economies of the Spanish Colonial Philippines. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Chicago. Society for Historical Archaeology n.d. Bottle Typing/Diagnostic Shapes. Society for Historical Archaeology. Electronic document, https://sha.org/bottle/beer.htm, accessed March 27, 2016. Spoehr, Alexander 1973 Zamboanga and Sulu, An Archaeological Approach to Ethnic Diversity. Ethnology Monographs 1, Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh. Tubangui, Helen R., Leslie E. Bauzon, Marcelino A. Foronda Jr., and Luz U. Ausejo 1982 The Filipino Nation: A Concise History of the Philippines. Grolier, Manila. Worcester, Dean Conant 1898 The Philippine Islands and Their People. Macmillan, London.
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5 The Power of Images in the Boxer Codex and Cultural Convergence in Early Spanish Manila
Ellen Hsieh
Introduction The Boxer Codex is a late-sixteenth-century manuscript that combines Spanish text and illustrations that are not influenced, primarily at least, by contemporary European artistic styles. The existence of the codex was unknown to scholars until Charles R. Boxer discovered it in 1947.1 Boxer studied the manuscript and introduced it to the public in an article titled, “A Late Sixteenth-Century Manila MS,” which still represents the most solid research on the codex. It was purportedly made in Manila, the capital city of the Spanish colony in Asia. In his original article of 1950, Boxer offered information about the origins of the manuscript: [The codex] was written throughout in Spanish, in a late sixteenth century hand, of a type familiar to anyone who has studied the documents in the Archivo de Indias at Seville. The paper is not European, but of the brittle so-called “rice-paper” variety, manufactured from some species of the Chinese paper mulberry. The calf binding, on the other hand, is of a familiar late sixteenth/early seventeenth century Iberian type, and it is difficult to tell whether it is the original binding. The colours used in the illustrations are Chinese paints of the Ming period. The latest date mentioned in the text, whether directly or by inference, is 1590. (Boxer 1950: 37) Except for some missing pages, the codex is considered quite complete. In addition to the Spanish text, Chinese characters appear as captions or are contained in some images, sometimes almost concealed within them. In
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most cases the illustrations are placed on separate pages, without accompanying text. By examining the physical condition, binding material, and content of the manuscript, Crossley (2014) suggested that the pages of the codex were carried from Manila to Spain in 1605 by pilot Hernando de los Ríos and were bound by the Royal Company of Printers and Booksellers no earlier than 1614. The handwriting of the Spanish text shows considerable consistency, which is not the case for the illustrations (discussed below). As regards the writer or the person who commissioned the manuscript, Boxer (1950) believed that it must have been a secular official, most likely the seventh governor-general of the Philippines, Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas, or his son Luis Pérez Dasmariñas,2 who sailed from Spain to Manila in 1590. However, Quirino and Garcia (1958) believed that the loose writing style of the text suggests that the writer of the codex might have been a soldier, a conquistador, or an encomendero.3 Quirino and Garcia thus propose that Antonio de Padua, who sailed with the Dasmariñases to Manila, is another potential author of the manuscript. The latest hypothesis was made by Souza and Turley (2016:55); they suggested that Antonio de Morga Sánchez Garay, the author of the famous Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, was the best candidate for authorship. Scholars have considered the codex one of the oldest European manuscripts about the Philippine archipelago and some of its Asian neighbors. Part of the codex has been transcribed or translated into English in order to make it more accessible to a greater number of readers. Boxer translated the sections on China and Champa alone (Boxer 1953, 1970) and transcribed the section on New Guinea with Manguin (Boxer and Manguin 1979); Quirino and Garcia (1958) transcribed and translated the section related to the Philippines;4 Carroll (1982) translated the section on Brunei; Driver (1991) translated the section on the Ladrones (the Mariana Islands); and Gelpke (1994) translated the section on New Guinea.5 Lately, Souza and Turley (2016) transcribed and translated the whole codex. But few scholars have used or cited the content of the original codex (Scott 1980; Souza and Turley 2016). Although the written text has not been analyzed in detail, its illustrations, composed of brightly colored depictions of people, deities, fauna, and fantastic creatures, have attracted the attention of both academic audiences and Filipinos in general, who have been drawn to its representations of the various ethnic groups of the islands (Jurilla 2013). Quirino and Garcia (1958:327–328) have posited that while Philippine ethnic groups are “depicted in vivid colors with remarkable fidelity,” with the exception of “those depicting the Chinese, the drawings of the inhabitants of the neighboring countries are odd-looking.”
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In addition, the gold ornaments on the illustrations of the Tagalog, Visayan, and Cagayan people were used as references to gold artifacts found in the Philippines, which were dated between the tenth and thirteenth centuries (Capistrano-Baker 2011, 2015). Boxer (1950) speculated that the illustrations were made by Chinese artists, since the craftsmanship of the Chinese in Manila has been highlighted in Spanish texts. Moreover, the Chinese characters in the images and captions were likely to have been written by an expert hand. However, other than a few comments on the identity and accuracy of some of the figures made by Boxer, a general interest in the illustrations has not led to more research until very recently. Two Taiwanese historians, Tsung-jen Chen and Yu-chung Lee, have examined the images of the codex in greater depth. Lee (2012) stated that the Boxer Codex is the most comprehensive visual source for Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia in the sixteenth century. He pointed out that the combination of text and illustrations makes the Boxer Codex unique. He suggested that the person(s) who designed the format of the work did not simply intend the illustrations to complement the text. Rather, the text complements the illustrations (Lee 2012:74). Furthermore, comparing the Spanish headings with the Chinese captions, he concluded that the Spanish text, the Chinese characters, and the pictorial images were of different authorship (Lee 2012:81). Chen (2013) focused on the images and text that correspond to two ethnic groups of northern Taiwan, an area that did not become part of the Spanish empire until the period between 1626 and 1642. In addition to translating the short descriptions of the two ethnic groups into Chinese, his study examined the encoded meaning of the peoples described on the images, and he considered how the Spanish collected information about these peoples. Both Lee (2009, 2012) and Chen (2013) concluded that the knowledge contained in the text came from both Chinese and Western sources, which makes sense, considering the work’s sixteenth-century historical context and its ultimate function. In this chapter, I build upon the existing scholarship on the codex through new observations that expand the visual interpretation of some of its images. I agree with Lee’s basic argument that the illustrations serve to structure the main narrative in a visual form. In order to understand the meaning of these images, however, we need to apply Chen’s methodology to other images. Moreover, most previous discussions of the images usually isolate them from the original context of the codex. Here I treat the codex as a whole, analyzing the sequence and relationship of the text and images and how these would
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have been received by the intended audience. I also focus on the production and editing processes. Seen through this lens, the codex becomes a key source to understanding Spanish colonial motives in the western Pacific world in the late sixteenth century. The Boxer Codex also reflects distinct ethnic relationships of power in the Philippines. In the study of early Spanish Manila, there is a dearth of written sources produced by non-Europeans. Although the Tagalog people possessed a writing system called Baybayin, no documents have survived from the preconquest period. And even though Baybayin was recorded by the Spanish, it was used only occasionally (Scott 1984). Likewise, there are very few extant Chinese writings from Manila in this period (Chia 2011; Wang 1990). This might be due to the transient nature of traders and sojourners, or because the Chinese intentionally avoided leaving record about their activities, which were usually partially illegal. This chapter shows that the manuscript presents the Chinese and the Tagalogs in different ways.
The Structure, the Text, and the Illustrations The manuscript can be divided into five sections: 1. The voyage to the Ladrones; 2. Spanish enterprise in the Philippines; 3. Information about people living in areas surrounding the Philippines; 4. Information about Ming China; and 5. Information about Champa. There are illustrations in all sections except the last, on Champa. The images in the first three sections are human figures, with the exception of the gatefold page at the beginning of the codex, which depicts a full and rich scene. In the Chinese section, the images can be divided into three subgroups representing human figures, deities, and fantastic/realistic animals. I argue that these illustrations convey the impression of the Spanish imperial project in Asia.
Section 1. The Voyage to the Ladrones (the Mariana Islands) The voyage to the “Ladrones” can be seen as a preface to the manuscript. Although the Spanish did not formally claim the islands until 1667, the painting shows that they were already an important topos for the Manila Galleon by the late sixteenth century. This section includes three images: one concerning the trading process (Figure 5.1), and two concerning the physical characteristics of the Chamorros6 and their weapons (Figure 5.2). The first image (folio 1,7 Figure 5.1), the only gatefold in the codex, shows a peaceful scene of a cultural encounter: a galleon containing 12 Spanish, which ap-
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Figure 5.1. The Spanish and the Ladrones. (Boxer Codex, courtesy of Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana)
Figure 5.2. The Ladrones. (Boxer Codex, courtesy of Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana)
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pears to be the flagship Santiago (Boxer 1950; Driver 1991; Fish 2011), is surrounded by seven indigenous double-outrigger canoes, containing 14 naked Chamorros from the islands. Most of the Chamorros (if not all) seem to be female. This image presents a favorable impression of the friendly islanders, with their red-dyed mouths, their boats, and their principal trading goods (water, coconuts, and fish). Although the galleon and the canoes are not to scale, the former is clearly larger and more sophisticated. The sails of the galleon are full in the wind, but the ship appears to be anchored. The pattern of the shadow on the sails betrays that the ship must have been drawn based on a model from a Western printed book. The elaborate dress of the Spanish seems to represent an internal hierarchy; in fact, they are overdressed. This is the only image in the entire codex that represents the Spanish. The dressed Spanish males on the ship and the naked Chamorro females on the boats create a stark visual contrast. Also noticeable is the fact that all the Spanish are smiling, looking outward from the galleon. As the first image of the manuscript, it appears as if the Spanish are looking not only at the surrounding people of the “Ladrones,” but at all the other groups who are described in the subsequent sections of the manuscript, suggesting that this gatefold could be interpreted as an introduction to the entire codex.
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Section 2. People of the Philippines The second section describes the people who were living in the territories under early Spanish control, including the Cagayanes, Negrillos, Zambales, Bissayas (Visayans), and Naturales (meaning “natives” and here actually referring to Tagalogs, discussed below). Boxer (1950:39) pointed out that the description of people in the Philippines is similar to the ethnographic accounts written by Captain Miguel de Loacra and Fray Juan de Plasencia in the late sixteenth century (Colín and Pastells 1900). The text has much more information about Visayans and Tagalogs than about other groups. Unlike the castas paintings in the Americas that demonstrate a hierarchy of mixed-race people in colonial society, the Boxer Codex depicts ethnic groups in the Philippines separately, as discrete communities. These images give the reader visual information about the dress and aspects of the material culture associated with each group; in general, the images coincide with the written text, but not all images conform entirely to it. For example, studying differences between aboriginal terminology and the Spanish text, Scott (1997 [1994]:29) argued that the tunics worn by the Visayans in the illustrations of the Boxer Codex (Figure 5.3) do not correspond with their ordinary costume. He admitted that
Figure 5.3. The Bisayans (Visayans). (Boxer Codex, courtesy of Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana)
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the images might depict dress from the period after the Spanish arrived, but he also pointed out that Visayan men used to expose their chests as a sign of masculinity even a century after contact with Europeans. I argue for an alternative approach to interpreting these images, namely, that they are meant to be viewed as groups or pairs. Rather than focusing on each page separately, a better approach is to reconstruct the “context” of the codex as it is read. When viewed together as a spread, the two images of the Zambales (ff. 19v–20) and images of the Visayans, four in all (ff. 23v–24; 25v–26) demonstrate a common characteristic: people on the left side of the spread resemble those on the right, but the costumes of those on the left are more “primitive.” This is no coincidence. For example, the males in each of the couples depicted in folios 23v and 24r do not carry swords, while on 25r–26v the males have what appear to be matching swords. If we examine the image more closely, we can see that the sword on the right side of the spread (f. 24) was removed by the painter, which made the image conform to the illustration on the left (f. 23) (Figure 5.3). It seems as if the illustrator(s) wanted to use these pictures to demonstrate that the colonizers had “civilized” the “barbarians,” a major justification for the Spanish colonization of Asia. Images of Tagalog people, the indigenous group that lived close to Spanish Manila, appear at the end of this second section. They are depicted differently from other groups and should likewise be interpreted in a different way. Spanish Manila was established during the last boom of “the age of commerce” (1400–1650) in Southeast Asia (Reid 1988, 1993). The economic and political expansion of the Islamic states reached Manila just before the Spanish arrival. In the 1520s, Pigafetta noted that the sultan of Brunei sought to control trade between Manila and Malacca (Brown 1970; Reid 2010). In the 1570s, Manila was on the verge of becoming a Muslim port and the most important trading center in the archipelago (Reed 1979:5; Reid 1993:206; Villiers 1987; also see Peterson, this volume). The Spanish had the good fortune of reaching the islands at a juncture where they could still prevent Manila from becoming a Muslim-controlled territory. They described the organization of Tagalog society in terms of chiefdoms; the name of the sociopolitical unit was the barangay (Scott 1997 [1994]), a term that has survived as a designation for the smallest administrative unit in the Philippines. However, Anderson (2006 [1983]) pointed out that the Spanish vision of Philippine society was an imagined hierarchy based on the quasi-lordly estates of the Iberian tradition. In other words, it is debated whether the indigenous people of the Philippines possessed a homogeneous social organization of barangays. More recently, Woods (2011) has argued that
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Figure 5.4. The Naturales (Tagalogs). (Boxer Codex, courtesy of Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana)
the Spanish described Philippine indigenous society as a rigid, hierarchically ordered group because they were not able to understand the social construction of local cultures. Instead of barangay, he proposed the term bayon, a location-based and more fluid concept of social relations, as better to represent traditional social organization in the Philippine archipelago. Such concepts certainly did not trouble the artist(s) of the Boxer Codex. The order of the illustrations ranges from lower to higher social class. The Tagalog elites are decorated with impressive golden accessories (Figure 5.4). Compared to the other groups in the Philippines, I argue, the images of the “Tagalog elites” (ff. 54, 56, and 58) were designed to show that Tagalog society was advanced and wealthy, and that they were better trading partners than any other aboriginal groups in the Philippines. After all, this was one of the reasons why the Spanish moved their capital city from Cebu to Manila. In short, I believe that the order of this section is not based on geographical location but on the perceived level of civilization, from the noncivilized (the Cagayanes and the Negrillos) to those who showed some signs of being civilized (the Zambales and the Visayans), and finally to the nearly civilized (the Tagalogs). Specific characteristics were ascribed to each group according to this basic scheme, designed to help readers make sense of the complicated ethnic composition of the Philippines.
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Section 3. People of East and Southeast Asia The third section presents information about people living in the areas surrounding the Philippines, and the illustrations include people from Burney (Brunei), Malucos (Moluccas), Java, Siam (Thailand), Japan, Caupchy (Cochin, northern Vietnam), Canglan (Annamite, central Vietnam), Xaque’ (an indigenous group in southern China), Cheylam (Keelung, northern Taiwan), Chamcia (Champa, central Vietnam), Tamchuy (Tamsui, northwestern Taiwan), Taipue (Lingayen Gulf), Tampochia (Cambodia), Temquiqui (Sumatra8), Tohany (Patani), and Tartaro (Manchu). It seems that there is no specific geographical order for the presentation of these groups in the codex. Most of the illustrations in this section have Roman alphabetic or Chinese captions, which helped Boxer to identify the locations/ethnicities to which they refer.9 Boxer (1950:39–40) pointed out that the text about Brunei was based on the report written by Dr. Francisco de Sande in 1578; and the information about Siam was from the Portuguese, who established solid trading networks in Mainland Southeast Asia. Except for the transcribed reports, most of the areas have only very short descriptions. The richness of the images seems to enhance information presented in the written text. As in most cases in the previous section, the artist(s) represented most of the groups as pairs of couples. On examining the illustrations, it is likely that the artist(s) did not have the opportunity to see all these ethnic groups in person. Therefore, some, if not most, of the images might be unreliable. At the same time, the artist(s) attempted to associate different costumes or accoutrements with each group, seeking to focus on their unique qualities. Studying the Illustrations of Official Tribute (Zhi Gong Tu) in Qing China, Lai (2012) argued that the depictions of males might be more accurate than that of females in the paintings of “barbarians,” because the painters might have been more familiar with male foreigners, who were more likely to travel afar than females. Such a rule might be applicable to the Boxer Codex. However, the degree of veracity of the depiction of the males is still not known. For example, Boxer (1950:41) argues that the man in the first frame for Caupchy (f. 156) resembles a Japanese Wakō pirate in his battle-dress. Overall, it seems that the presence of the images is more important than their accuracy. These images not only show the costumes of each ethnic group but also contain messages directed toward the Spanish. Chen (2013:16–22) argued that the fish held by the Cheylam woman implies that this was an area with rich fishing resources. This observation might also apply to the women from Siam, Caupchy, Canglan, Chamcia, Tampochia, and Temquigui (ff. 100, 156, 158, 162, 174, 186, and 190): each woman holds a box or a basket in her
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Figure 5.5. The Siamese. (Boxer Codex, courtesy of Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana)
hands, which might suggest the commercial promise of the region, as well as the traditional powerful role of women in that part of Asia (Figure 5.5).
Section 4. Ming China The text associated with the first set of the images is a copy of the work of Fray Martín de Rada, OSA, written in the 1580s (Boxer 1950:43). This first group of Chinese figures follows the pattern that I have described for the Tagalog people and might also be intended to demonstrate the commercial potential of the region. Not surprisingly, the manuscript depicts Chinese society as complex and stratified, against the backdrop of a civilized empire. The classes represented include the couples of common people, the general, the officer, the prince, and the king and queen. It is interesting to note that the common people were represented by two groups of traders, the Cantonese and the Sangleyes (a term used to refer to the Chinese who came to trade and work with the Spanish; most were from the southern part of the Fujian Province [Figure 5.6]). Comparing the images of these two groups, the Sangley woman appears to have better accessories. Yang (1987), as well as Lee and Ji (2005), noted that the dress of the Sangley woman in the Boxer Codex shows that Chinese people who lived overseas did not follow the same class-based, official
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Figure 5.6. The Sangleyes. (Boxer Codex, courtesy of Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana)
strictures of dress as in China. Placing the image of the Sangleyes after the image of the Cantonese might imply that the Sangleyes were more important for the Spanish. In addition, if the illustrator(s) was/were Sangley, they might have wanted to show that the Sangleyes possessed a higher social status than the Cantonese. Moreover, in contrast with an engraving of Sangleyes made by Nicolás de la Cruz Bagay and Francisco Suárez in the 1730s, only the rich Sangleyes, a minority of the large Chinese population in Manila, were shown in the illustrations. Therefore, as in the case of the images of the Tagalogs, the Boxer Codex might have sought to highlight Spain’s primary business partners and to demonstrate Manila’s commercial potential to its intended audience. The manuscript thus highlights only Chinese elites, as if they represented the Chinese presence in the area. The second and third groups of images in this section (i.e., the deities and imagined/realistic creatures in Figures 5.7, 5.8, and 5.9) are visual documents of belief systems in China. Although Boxer (1950) and Quirino and Garcia (1958) noted that the codex is a secular work, religion in Asia was clearly one of the focuses of the author. These images are copies from Chinese mass prints or paintings, such as illustrations of the Leishu encyclopedias10 or novels like Fengshen Yanyi [Investiture of the Gods], published in book form in
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Figure 5.7. Chinese deities. (Boxer Codex, courtesy of Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana)
Figure 5.8. Fantastic creatures. (Boxer Codex, courtesy of Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana)
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Figure 5.9. Realistic animals. (Boxer Codex, courtesy of Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana)
the 1550s), popular block prints [Nian Hua], and water-and-land paintings [Shui Lu Hua].11 The images of paired deities were drawn facing each other, which is how they are presented in Chinese household or temple decorations. This part of the codex is thus a valuable compilation of anonymous Chinese popular art, which was not highly valued and therefore not well preserved in China at the time, a potentially important clue in determining the identity of the illustrator(s).
Section 5. Champa The last section on Champa is usually considered an afterthought with no accompanying images. Champa was a collection of Cham polities in the coastal area of central and southern Vietnam. By the end of the sixteenth century, Champa was heavily influenced by Islamic religion, although the rulers remained Hindu until the early seventeenth century. They allied with the sultan of Johor in order to resist the Iberians (Reid 1993). However, the six-page documentation of Champa at the end of the Boxer Codex did not mention any conflicts between the Cham and the Europeans but only recorded some customs of these people.
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Mapping the Codex Although Boxer (1950:48) argued that the codex is a collection of ethnographic records in which the author(s) managed to avoid political considerations and moral judgments, as Pagden (1993) pointed out, the narratives and illustrations related to indigenous peoples probably represent European impressions of the “others” in the early modern period more than actual facts about the indigenous cultures presented in the text. Naturally, the Boxer Codex presents a very positive view of the Spanish. By 1590 the Spanish had developed a stable presence in Asia, and their main competitor, the Dutch VOC, had not yet established a base in the Far East.12 If we plot all of the locations represented by illustrations in the codex (Figure 5.10), the entire manuscript seems to depict a Spanish vision of Asia, centered on the Philippines. It shows the territories that had been controlled or “pacified” by that time, those with special economic potential, and those that might be dangerous and remained to be conquered. This mapping of the region also supports Subrahmanyam’s argument that it is not possible to distinguish between the Spanish and the Portuguese enterprises based on the Treaty of Tordesillas, especially during the Iberian Union between the years 1580 and 1640 (Subrahmanyam 2007). On the one hand, the Spanish should have stayed out of the area west of the longitudinal line established by the treaty, but Spain did have imperial ambitions in this region, which included the Philippines. For example, after establishing the colony of the Philippines, the Spanish financed an expedition to Brunei in 1578 and organized another expedition to Cambodia in 1594. On the other hand, the Portuguese actively invested in the galleon trade and the development of Manila (Boyajian 1993; Miyata 2017; Ollé 2014; see also Orillaneda, this volume). In other words, the Boxer Codex accurately reflects the scope of Iberian aspirations in the Asia-Pacific world.
The Making of the Illustrations Although the content and structure of the Boxer Codex illustrate the colonists’ intentions, the cultural mestizaje (Gruzinski 1995) of the images is difficult to ignore. As in other European-controlled port cities in Southeast Asia, the Chinese in Manila played a significant role in the development of the city. After more than three centuries of colonial rule, the Spanish made up a very small percentage of the local population, as very few Spanish resided permanently in the Philippines. The Chinese were not only trade partners; they also
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Figure 5.10. Locations of the illustrations of the Boxer Codex. KEY: circle—the first section of the Ladrones; diamond—the second section of the Philippines; square—the third section of the surrounding areas; triangle—the fourth section of China. (Map by author)
provided multiple services to the Spanish, as small vendors, grocery sellers, cooks, tailors, cobblers, smiths, stonemasons, painters, doctors, fishermen, gardeners, hunters, and so on (Zhao 2011). The “Chinese element” thus became a characteristic of Filipino colonial art. Ivory sculptures called, in Spanish, “marfiles hispano-filipinos” are the best-known example of the presence of Chinese artists in Manila (Museo Oriental 2004:142–154). In the Boxer Codex, the hybrid character of the paintings is evident in the Chinese brush technique and the European layout and use of shadow. I argue that regardless of the
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ethnicity of the artist(s), it is more important to note that the illustrations are the result of cooperation between different cultures, and that the mestizaje in this case is a complex blend of Eastern and Western styles and forms of representation. In addition, if we consider the visual art forms alongside the captions and the information sources that contributed to the illustrations, we might be able to detect the influence of indigenous authors and artists in the making of the Boxer Codex. The Boxer Codex has many characteristics suggesting that the collaborative project was not consistent or unified. If we examine how the frames and images were painted, we can see that some of the frames were painted after the main images were drawn, and that the painter(s) was/were careful to avoid overlapping the image with the frame (such as the first gatefold, Figure 5.1) or had to make bigger frames (such as ff. 1v-2). In some other cases, however, the artist(s) had to work within a limited space, because the images were painted after their corresponding frames were made. The depictions of the skirts of the Visayan and Tagalog women suggest such a limitation (Figure 5.3 and 5.4). We have no idea if this was due to a change in plan during the production process or if it implies that there were two groups of painters: one assigned to make the images and another the frames. However, the similar style of the leaf covering the male Chamorro (f. 2, Figure 5.2) and the leaves at the frame of the same page shows that the artist(s) who was/were responsible for the frames and the creator(s) of the main images worked closely together. The illustration of a Javanese soldier with a lance complicates the situation further (Figure 5.11, right). In this case, the end of the soldier’s lance is cut off by the frame, whereas the point of the lance is outside it. It is therefore impossible to identify the order of the image and the frame. In any case, the result is striking: it appears as if the man is walking through the frame and coming toward the reader, making him appear even more menacing. In addition to inconsistencies in the production of the frames and images, neither the style of the frames nor that of the images is unified. It seems that the design of the codex intended to use frames to connect images, whether the images were the painters’ original creations (from the first gatefold to the images of Chinese social classes) or copies from other sources (such as the deities and animals). It is interesting to note that captions of Chinese deities were originally written within the framed area, but in order to create space for the frame, the painter drew over the captions and rewrote them into the frames (Figure 5.7). This observation might indicate that using a specific style of framing to unify the whole codex was an afterthought, or that copies of the images of deities and animals had belonged to other projects.
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Figure 5.11. The Javanese. (Boxer Codex, courtesy of Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana)
The illustrator(s) clearly defined the motifs of most frames. Although these motifs are consistent, for the most part, their composition was not unified until the depiction of deities and animal groups. Moreover, a closer look at these two groups shows that different artists must have made the frames, as the styles of painting are clearly distinguishable (Figures 5.7 and 5.8). Boxer (1950:46) noted that these frames are European and can be traced back to Geoffrey Tory’s Books of Hours. However, they might have a closer root: the motifs of the frames share similarity with some Spanish tiles in this time period. Nevertheless, it seems that the painters were not very familiar with the motifs. Finlay (2010) discussed how artists from different cultures copied motifs on ceramics without sufficient knowledge of those motifs and thus unintentionally created new styles. The frames of the Boxer Codex might represent an example of this cross-cultural phenomenon. The unifying function of the frame falls apart in the last two images of the deities and the last 10 pages of animals. The last two deities are depicted with backgrounds reminiscent of how shrines are portrayed in some Chinese popular prints (such as Bo 2008:131; Menshikov 1988:21; Wang 2002:170). Another type of frame was adopted for the last 10 pages of the section on animals. Boxer (1950:46) noted the difference of this frame and considered it to be Persian or
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Indian in style; however, Chinese artists for centuries had applied this kind of motif to multiple art forms, such as textiles and blue and white porcelain. In addition to the change in frames, the images betray a different technique. The birds here are depicted in the traditional Chinese “flower and bird” painting technique. The fine brushwork and close attention to detail make them appear more delicate than previous birds drawn in frames (Figure 5.9). Captions for the illustrations also shed light on the mixed nature of the images. Many of the illustrations contain captions written in gold paint. Since the same kind of paint was used both in the middle of the manuscript and in the paintings section, it is reasonable to believe that the captions were written during the production of the manuscript, and not at some later date. In the captions above the human figures in the third and fourth sections, both the Chinese and Spanish captions are displayed evenly at the top of the frames. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the illustrator(s) planned to juxtapose the two languages. If we agree, however, that the motive of the codex was to promote colonization, the intended audience of the codex must have been of Europeans, most of whom did not understand Chinese characters. Why, then, did the author(s) present Chinese characters in the captions and also hide them in certain images? In contrast, there are no Chinese characters in the sections on Chinese deities and animals. Why did the writer(s) not include Chinese characters here, since the information would have been available? Whatever the intentions of the author(s), the presence of Chinese words in non-Chinese topic paintings, and the existence of European words in the Chinese topic paintings, make these images look even more exotic. Thus, although the codex seems to exhibit a unifying style throughout, there is quite a bit of variation in the application of different cultural elements. The Boxer Codex is not only a mixture of art traditions; it is also a mixture of worldviews among people who lived in Manila. As a Spanish-sponsored manuscript, all of the illustrations in the codex, including human figures, deities and animals, are about “others.” As Burke (2001) observed, if authors can conceal their attitudes with words, artists are forced to take a stronger position of what they thought about these “others.” Using dress to represent cultures is not a novel form of representation. For example, Confucius (551–479 BCE) used the way in which people tied their robes to identify whether a person was civilized or barbaric.13 In early modern Europe, Cesare Vecellio’s popular work De gli habiti antichi et moderni di diuerse parti del mondo [Of the ancient and modern dress of diverse parts of the world], first published in 1590, presents woodcut engravings of dress in Europe and other parts of the world.
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Vecellio, however, depicted only a male or a female on each page. Images of male and female pairs as representatives of different ethnic groups became more fashionable around the same time in many different places. One of the earliest examples might be the Casanatense Code (1540s or 1550s), in which male and female figures were depicted in separate parts of the leaves, facing each other. Later we find the same type of layout in the decorative parts of some Dutch seventeenth-century world maps, as well as the illustration in Gabriel Dellon’s Relation de l’Inquisition de Goa (1687), Japanese Nanban style of Images of People from Ten Thousand Countries, the folding screens of world maps in the seventeenth century, and the Chinese Illustrations of Official Tribute in the Qing dynasty (1750). Lai (2012) argued that such fashion might have originated with artists in the Low Countries. The illustrations of the Boxer Codex are one of the earliest examples of this tradition. Except for the couples from the “Ladrones,” Cagayan, and Malucos, all the images of couples were depicted on the same pages.14 If the depiction of male and female “others” on the manuscript betrays a western influence, it is clear that the Chinese also participated in this “making-of-others” project. Boxer (1950) and Lee (2009, 2012) highlighted the relationship between the codex and Chinese books circulating in Manila at the time. In addition to Chinese publications, Chen (2013) noted that the alphabetic spelling of the names of ethnic groups in the codex was based on the southern Fujian dialect, which implies that regional information circulated by the Sangleyes contributed to the information presented in the Boxer Codex. I argue that the appearance of the people of Xaque’ and Manchu in the manuscript is another good example of the Chinese contribution. The Xaque’ people who lived in the mountain areas of southern China, and the Manchurians who lived beyond the Great Wall, were not of interest to the Spanish in terms of potential trading partners. However, they were important “others” for the Sangleyes. For a manuscript of the many “others” of Asia, the presentation of the Chinese deities and fantastic/realistic animals might not be surprising, since both of these groups could be considered as imagined. The images of fantastic animals in the Chinese section can be traced back to Shan Hai Jing [Classic of mountains and seas; written during the fourth century BCE (?)], and such images were still popular during the Ming China era. These monsters, however, might not have been so exotic to Europeans in this period, since there was also a “monster tradition” in the West that persisted beyond the age of European global expansion. Examples can be found in some Chinese world maps made by the Jesuits during the early seventeenth century. These maps were made
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with the latest cartographic techniques and knowledge, but their makers continued to represent imaginary creatures from either the East or the West. I suggest that, in addition to European and Chinese involvement, the local Tagalog people might also have been involved in the production of the manuscript. The Tagalogs were not isolated in the prehispanic period. Ceramics from China and Mainland Southeast Asia have been found in Tagalog burial sites, such as Santa Ana in Manila and Calatagan in Batangas. These ceramics are clear evidence that people in the Tagalog region participated in a regional exchange network from around the twelfth to the fifteenth century CE (Barretto-Tesoro 2008; Locsin and Locsin 1967). In Tomé Pires’ Suma Oriental, written between 1512 and 1515 in Malacca, the Tagalogs (called Luções in the text) actively participated in regional trade through a connection with the Borneans. It is therefore reasonable to suspect that the Tagalogs also provided information for the Boxer Codex. Although it is hard to pinpoint particular Tagalog elements in the manuscript with any certainty, the captions for the illustrations of the Tagalogs might offer a clue. The Tagalog people were already recorded as “Tagalog” in accounts before the 1590s. Written in 1589, Juan de Plasencia’s Customs of the Tagalogs is one example (Blair and Robertson 1903–1909, 7:173–196). But they were not called “Tagalog” in the Boxer Codex. In the text they are referred to as Moros (although in the beginning of the text, the author explains that they were not really Moors); in the captions, however, they were named Naturales, or “natives” in Spanish.15 Why were the Tagalogs the only “native” people in the Boxer Codex? Why were other groups from the archipelago not described in the same way? I would like to suggest that these captions might represent a local identity of the Tagalogs. In the end, it is difficult to believe that local people from Manila were not involved in the making of the codex. In fact, it is likely that all of the main ethnic groups in the Manila area, namely, the Spanish, the Chinese, and the Tagalogs, contributed to the manuscript illustrations. Subrahmanyam (2010) noted that it was the commensurability of specific cultures that made this mixture possible. The images of the codex reflect the circulation of people, knowledge, ideas, objects, and techniques that occurred with the intersection of regional and global networks.
Concluding Remarks In ancient Greek and many other languages, the word for “painting” and “writing” is the same (Papadopoulos 1994, 2003). We tend to focus on written words, because we live in a text-based society. Images, however, are also full
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of thought and language (Gruzinski 1995:53). In the Boxer Codex, it seems that the images are primary, and the text secondary, following the illustrations. I suggest that the images in the different sections should be understood in different ways, and that if we do not consider the roles of the illustrations in their original contexts, the way we use them could be problematic. The codex was not printed, so it might never have had as wide an audience as other publications about the East in the same period. Nevertheless, although we lack knowledge regarding the circulation of the manuscript, we can speculate about its intended function, considering its historical context and the way it presents information on various groups in the region. In this chapter, my primary conclusion is that the Boxer Codex might be best understood as an instrument to confirm and justify the Spanish presence in the Philippines, and to promote future investment in a global enterprise that stretched across oceans, strategic islands, and all the way to China. My second conclusion concerns the complex mixture of art styles and worldviews from different cultures in the codex. The illustrations betray a mélange of European, Chinese, and possibly Tagalog traditions, which represent the colonial experience in Spanish Manila. The Boxer Codex is not simply a Spanish manuscript, despite the fact that it is written mainly in Castilian. Although this chapter identifies many characteristics that can be attributed to different cultural traditions, the purpose here is not to separate and isolate these elements. Rather, I want to emphasize how the mixture of these elements reflects the cultural convergence and commensurability of many distinct ethnic groups in Manila in the late sixteenth century.
Acknowledgments This chapter was developed during my participation in the Graduate Certificate in Early Modern & Eighteenth-Century Studies at UCLA, and my research was funded by the same program. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Kevin Terraciano for working with me on this project and for reading and commenting on several drafts. I would also like to thank Dr. Lothar Von Falkenhausen, Dr. Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Dr. Victor Paz, Dr. María Cruz Berrocal, Dr. Christian Fischer, Dr. John Papadopoulos, Dr. Kayi Ho, Ms. Hye-shim Yi, Ms. Alexandra Verini, and Mr. Guillermo Ruiz Stovel for their very helpful suggestions and insights. Finally, I would like to thank Mr. Michael Armand Paredes Canilao, who introduced me to the Boxer Codex during my first field trip to the Philippines for my dissertation project.
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Notes 1. Boxer sold his personal library to the Lilly Library at Indiana University in 1965 (Alden 2001). Because the original title of the codex is missing, it is named after Boxer, its former owner. The PDF version of the manuscript can be found at The Lilly Library Digital Collections, http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/digital/collections/items/show/93. 2. Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas (1519–1593) was born in Galicia, Spain. King Philip II named him as the governor-general of the Philippines and a knight of the Order of Santiago in 1589. During his term of office, he came into conflict with the Audiencia (Spanish high court) in Manila, and sought to suppress the Zambales people. He oversaw the construction of several buildings and structures in Manila, including the defensive wall around Manila and Fort Santiago. He organized an expedition to the Moluccas in 1593 and was killed by a mutiny of the Chinese who rowed his ship. His son, Luis Pérez Dasmariñas, conducted several military expeditions during Gómez’s time, including one in the Cagayang area. He was the governorgeneral of the Philippines from 1593 to 1596. During his term of office, he organized unsuccessful expeditions to conquer Cambodia and Mindanao (Núñez-Varela y Lendoiro 2001). After his tenure he remained in the Philippines, where he died on the battlefield during the Chinese insurrection of 1603. 3. In reward for services to the Crown, an encomendero was entrusted with a population of indigenous people as well as the land they inhabited. The term encomienda (meaning “assignment” or “duty”) applies to both this colonial institution and the landed estates it created. An encomendero had the right to collect tribute and labor. For the classic treatment on the particular evolution of the encomienda in the Philippines, see Hidalgo Nuchera (1995). Further discussion can also be found in Luque-Talaván (this volume). 4. Part of the translations were selected and published again in Quirino (1977). 5. For the evaluations of these previous works, see Souza and Turley (2016:17–22). 6. The author of the Codex did not use the term Chamorro to refer to the people in the Mariana Islands. 7. In the following, I will use the abbreviation of folio to cite each page in the Boxer Codex. 8. Boxer (1950) suggested that Temquiqui referred to PulauTinggi, while Souza and Turley (2016) suggested it referred to Terengganu. Both of these locations were at the eastern coast of Malay Peninsula. However, on the Selden Map of China, a map made during the same period as the Boxer Codex, Temquiqui (based on the Chinese caption) was located in Sumatra, close to Johor. 9. Some of the images also contain Chinese abbreviations of the names of the countries (such as Figure 5.5: a Chinese word representing Siam was written on the hilt of the sword). I would like to point out that although the images of folios 96r and 100r are usually both considered to be people of Siam, the Chinese abbreviations on the two images are different. Therefore, the difference of the Roman alphabetic captions between the two images (“Siaus” and “Sian,” respectively) might not be a case of spelling variety. Instead, the two images might represent different ethnic groups. 10. The Leishu encyclopaedias are reference books that were produced in China since the early third century. This kind of publication synthesized earlier works and was designed for multiple purposes. During the Late Ming period, it was very common to have a chapter about legendary creatures and “barbarians” in Leishu.
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11. The water-and-land paintings are pictures for the water-and-land ritual, a Chineseinvented Buddhist ceremony for the salvation of the dead. These paintings usually include both Buddhist and Taoist figures. Examples can be found in Clunas (1997:19), Tien (2007:384), and Beijingshi Wenwuju (2004). 12. The Dutch VOC settled in Batavia in 1619. 13. From The Analects of Confucius, Book XIV. The original text is about a conversation between Confucius and his student Zigong, about the merit of Guan Zhong. Zigong said, “Surely, Guan Zhong was not a ren man [i.e., a man with Ren, a special quaility]. Duke Huan killed Prince Jiu and Guan Zhong was unable to die for his lord, and even served as prime minister to Duke Huan.” The Master said, “Guan Zhong served as prime minister to Duke Huan and Duke Huan became hegemon over the feudal lords. For a time, he set the world in order. To this day the people receive blessings from it. Were it not for Guan Zhong, we would wear our hair loose and button our jackets on the left. How would it have been proper for him to be faithful like a common man or woman, and slit his throat in a ditch where none would ever know?” (Eno 2015). 14. In the case of “Ladrones,” Cagayan, and Malucos, each gender was depicted in different pages and shown together as a spread. In all three cases, females were placed at the left side, and males were at the right side (such as Figure 5.2). The only problematic case is the image of the Javanese, where the heavily armed person with moustaches on the left side does not look like a female at all (Figure 5.11). The explanations of this image could be (1) it was misplaced; (2) the editor of the codex planned to highlight the competitive and dangerous nature of commercial enterprise in this area; (3) it is actually a female image, although it is difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the text about Java in the codex does not provide more clues about this image. 15. Interestingly, someone added the word Tagalog next to the original gold captions. I do not believe that the word was added by the original author(s).
References Alden, Dauril 2001 Charles R. Boxer: An Uncommon Life. Fundação Oriente, Lisbon. Anderson, Benedict 2006 [1983] Imagined Communities. Verso, London and New York. Barretto-Tesoro, Grace 2008 Identity and Reciprocity in 15th Century Philippines. British Archaeological Reports S1813, Oxford. Beijingshi wenwuju (editor) 2004 Ming Qing shuiluhua [Paintings for Water-and-Land Service of the Ming and Qing dynasties]. Beijing Meishu Sheying, Beijing. Blair, Emma H., and James Robertson (editors) 1903–1909 The Philippine Islands, 1493–1803. Arthur H. Clark, Cleveland. Bo, Songnian 2008 Zhongguo nianhua yishushi [The art history of Chinese Nianhua]. Hunan Meishu, Changsha. Boxer, Charles R. 1950 A Late Sixteenth Century Manila MS. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1/2:37–49.
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Finlay, Robert 2010 The Pilgrim Art: Cultures of Porcelain in World History. University of California Press, Berkeley. Fish, Shirley 2011 The Manila–Acapulco Galleons: The Treasure Ships of the Pacific, with an Annotated List of the Transpacific Galleons 1565–1815. Author House, Keynes, UK. Gelpke, J.H.F. Sollewijn 1994 The Report of Miguel Roxo de Brito of His Voyage in 1581–1582 to the Raja Ampat, the MacCluer Gulf and Seram. Bijdragen tot de Taal- , Land- en Volkenkunde 150(1):123–145. Gruzinski, Serge 1995 Images and Cultural Mestizaje in Colonial Mexico. Poetics Today 16(1):53–77. Hidalgo Nuchera, Patricio 1995 Encomienda, tributo y trabajo en Filipinas. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid. Jurilla, Patricia May B. 2013 Story Book: Essays on the History of the Book in the Philippines. Anvil, Mandaluyong City, Philippines. Lai, Yu-chih 2012 Tuxiang diguo: Qianlong chao “Zhigongtu” de zhizuo yu didu chengxian [Picturing Empire: Illustrations of “Official Tribute” at the Qianlong Court and the Making of the Imperial Capital]. Bulletin of the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica 75:1–76. Lee, Fabio Yu-chung 2009 Lijie yu xiangxiang: Huaren, putaoyaren yu xibanyaren jiangou de shiliu shiji dongya shijie chutan [Understanding and imagination: An initial study of the sixteenth-century East Asian world constructed by the Chinese, the Portuguese, and the Spanish]. In Ming Qing shiqi de Zhongguo yu Xibanya guoji xueshu yantaohui lunwenji [Proceedings of the international conference of Chinese and Spain in Ming and Qing periods), pp. 16–32. City Press, Macao. 2012 Zhong xi he bi de shougao: Moqucha chaoben (Boxer Codex) chutan [A Sino-West blended manuscript: A preliminary study of the Boxer Codex]. In Xiwen wenxian zhong de Zhongguo [China in Spanish accounts], edited by the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Fudan University, pp. 67–82. National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies. Zhonghua Book Company, Peking. Lee, Fabio Yu-chung, and Tie-sheng Ji 2005 Tuxiang yu lishi: Xibanya gu ditu yu gu hua chengxian de feilübin huaren shenghuo (1571–1800) [Images and history: The life of Chinese in the Philippines represented in Spanish old maps and old paintings]. In Zhongguo haiyang fazhanshi lunwenji 9 [Proceedings of the development of Chinese maritime history 9], edited by Shiuh-feng Liu, pp. 437–477. Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei. Locsin, Leandro, and Cecilia Locsin 1967 Oriental Ceramics Discovered in the Philippines. Charles E. Tuttle, Tokyo. Menshikov, Lev (editor) 1988 Chinese Popular Prints. Aurora Art, Leningrad.
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Miyata, Etsuko 2017 Portuguese Intervention in the Manila Galleon Trade. Archaeopress, Oxford. Museo Oriental (editor) 2004 Filipinas: Obras selectas del Museo Oriental. Museo Oriental, Valladolid. Núñez-Varela y Lendoiro, José Raimundo 2001 Gómez Pérez das Mariñas, capitán general de Murcia en el último tercio del siglo XVI. In Murcia y los pueblos de España: Actas del XXVII Congreso Nacional de la Asociación Española de Cronistas Oficiales, edited by Asociación Española de Cronistas Oficiales de la Región de Murcia, pp. 215–232. Murcia. Ollé, Manel 2014 Entre china y la especiería: Castellanos y portugueses en Asia oriental. In España y Portugal en el mundo (1581–1668), edited by C. Martínez Shaw and J.A.M. Torres, pp. 369–390. Ediciones Polifemo, Madrid. Pagden, Anthony 1993 European Encounters with the New World: From Renaissance to Romanticism. Yale University Press, New Haven. Papadopoulos, John K. 1994 Early Iron Age Potters’ Marks in the Aegean. Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 63:437–507. 2003 Engaging Mediterranean Archaeology: Old World and New World Perspectives. In Theory and Practice in Mediterranean Archaeology: Old World and New World Perspectives, edited by John K. Papadopoulos and Richard M. Leventhal, pp. 3–32. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Los Angeles. Quirino, Carlos 1977 A Folio of Rare Filipiniana: Boxer Codex. In Filipino Heritage: The Making of a Nation. The Spanish Colonial Period (16th Century): The Day of the Conquistador, edited by Alfredo R. Roces, pp. 1003–1008. Lahing Pilipino, Manila. Quirino, Carlos, and Mauro Garcia 1958 The Manners, Customs, and Beliefs of the Philippine Inhabitants of Long Ago; Being Chapters of “A Late 16th Century Manila Manuscript,” Transcribed, Translated and Annotated. Philippine Journal of Science 87(4):1–453. Reed, Robert R. 1979 Colonial Manila: The Context of Hispanic Urbanism and Process of Morphogenesis. University of California Press, Berkeley. Reid, Anthony 1988 Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce 1450–1680: 1. The Lands below the Winds. Yale University Press, New Haven. 1993 Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce 1450–1680: 2. Expansion and Crisis. Yale University Press, New Haven. 2010 Islam in South-East Asia and the Indian Ocean Littoral, 1500–1800: Expansion, Polarization, Synthesis. In The New Cambridge History of Islam, edited by David O. Morgan and Anthony Reid, pp. 427–469. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Scott, William H. 1980 Filipino Class Structure in the Sixteenth Century. Philippine Studies 28(2):142–175. 1984 Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History. New Day, Manila.
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1997 [1994] Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society. Ateneo de Manila University Press, Quezon City. Souza, George Bryan, and Jeffrey Scott Turley 2016 The “Boxer Codex”: Transcription and Translation of an Illustrated Late SixteenthCentury Spanish Manuscript concerning the Geography, History and Ethnography of the Pacific, South-East and East Asia. Brill, Leiden. Subrahmanyam, Sanjay 2007 Holding the World in Balance: The Connected Histories of the Iberian Overseas Empires, 1500–1640. The American Historical Review 112(5):1359–1385. 2010 A Roomful of Mirrors: The Artful Embrace of Mughals and Franks, 1550–1700. Ars Orientalis 39:39–83. Tien, Xiaohang (editor) 2007 Minjian shougongyi [Folk artcraft]. Daxiang, Zhengzhou. Villiers, John 1987 Portuguese Malacca and Spanish Manila: Two Concepts of Empire. In Portuguese Asia: Aspects in History and Economic History (Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries), edited by Roderich Ptak, pp. 37–58. Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden Gmbh, Stuttgart. Wang, Gungwu 1990 Merchants without Empire: The Hokkien Sojourning. In The Rise of Merchant Empires: Long-Distance Trade in the Early Modern World 1350–1750, edited by James D. Tracy, pp. 400–422. Cambridge University Press, New York. Wang, Shucun 2002 Zhongguo Nianhua Shi [History of Chinese Nianhua]. Beijing Gongyi Meishu, Beijing. Woods, Damon L. 2011 The Evolution of Bayan. In Wilderness to Nation: Interrogating Bayan, edited by Damon L. Woods, pp. 3–31. University of the Philippines Press, Quezon City. Yang, Lien-sheng 1987 Yuan shanggu—Yu zhu “Zhongguo jinshi zongjiao lunli yu shangren jingshen xu” [The original trader: The preface of religion, ethic and trader spirit in early modern China]. In Zhongguo jinshi zongjiao lunli yu shangren jingshen, edited by Yingshi Yu, pp. 1–21. Lianjing, Taipei. Zhao, Chi-feng 2011 Zuqun, zongjiao yu rentong—Xibanya zhimin shidai feilübin huaren shehui yanjiu [Ethnic, religious and identity—the Philippine Chinese community during the Spanish Colonial period]. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of History, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan.
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6 The Discovery of Spanish Colonial Coins from the Sixteenth through the Eighteenth Centuries in the Southeast Coast of China
Miao Liu and Chunming Wu
Introduction Spanish colonial coins from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries were discovered successively since the 1970s in Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, although most of them were from Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, and Xiamen, in Fujian Province. They had always been stored in ceramic pots, which were found buried under old houses. The Spanish colonial coins excavated from China mainly include three types: cob coins, milled pillar coins, and milled bust coins. The first Spanish colonial New World mint, located in Mexico City, began striking coins in 1536. The next significant mint was established in Lima in 1568. Ultimately, the most famous mint of all was established in 1574 at Potosi (Chen 1994). Cob coins were the earliest coins, made by hand. Coin blanks were cut from a planchet and struck with handheld dies, which often caused part (sometimes a large part) of the original design of the cut surfaces of the dies to be missing on the coin. In addition, if the coin was overweight, portions were trimmed to bring the piece to standard weight, causing an even more irregular edge. The mint master, or assayer, responsible for the purity and weight of the coins, purchased his office from the Spanish Crown and was required to show his initial (usually the initial of his Christian name) on each coin he manufactured, so that short weights and irregularities could be traced. Cob coins were minted at the Mexico City mint (with the mintmark “oM”) from 1536 through 1733, when they were replaced by the machine-struck
Discovery of Spanish Colonial Coins in the Southeast Coast of China
milled pillar dollar in 1732. The Mexico mint produced hand-struck cobs starting with the pillars-type cob (1536–1572) and ending with the shield-type cob (1572–1733). Cob coins were minted at Potosi (with the mintmark P) from 1574 through 1773, when they were permanently replaced by the machine-struck milled bust dollar in 1773. The mint began operations striking the shield-type cob variety and then switched from the shield-type to the pillars-and-wavestype in 1652. On the obverse side of the shield-type cob is the Great Shield of the House of Habsburg, as well as the mintmark and the assayer’s initial. On the reverse side is the cross, with plain double orle surrounding quartered lions and castles. Denominations of the coins include 8, 4, 2, 1, and 1/2 reales (Figure 6.1). On the reverse side of the pillars-and-waves-type cob is a cross with deep-struck lions and castles. On the other side of the coin is a pattern with excellent pillars, de-
Figure 6.1. Shield-type cob coin. (Collection of Fujian Museum)
Figure 6.2. Pillars-and-waves-type cob coin. (Collection of Fujian Museum)
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tails with two bold mintmarks, two bold assayer marks, denomination mark, complete central PLVS VLTRA, and date mark (Figure 6.2). Milled pillar coins and milled bust coins were all struck by machine. They were all enormously popular and circulated throughout the world. On one side of the milled pillar type is a pattern of crowned arms with the assayer mark to the left, and denomination mark to the right. On the other side appear the famous crowned hemispheres between pillars with banners inscribed PLUS and VLTRA. The mintmark and the date mark are also struck on this side. Milled pillar coins were minted in denominations of 8, 4, 2, 1, and 1/2 reales. At the Mexico City mint, the first to produce this coinage, they were minted from 1732 until 1771, when they were replaced by the milled bust variety. These coins are identified by their mintmark, an “M” with a small “o” above (Figure 6.3). At Potosi they were minted from 1767 until 1770, when the mint reverted back to striking cob coinage. These coins are identified by their mintmark, a monogrammed POTOSI that resembles a dollar sign ($). At the Lima mint, the milled pillar coins were minted from 1752 until 1772 and are identified by their mintmark, a monogrammed LIMA that shows “LM,” often with a dot above the “L” representing “I” in the monogram (Figure 6.3). The Spanish colonial milled bust coins were also minted at different New World mints, such as Mexico, Santiago, Potosi, Guatemala, and Lima, beginning in most cases in 1772. Their production lasted throughout the remaining years of Spanish colonial rule in the New World, ending as the various
Figure 6.3. Milled pillar coin. (Collection of Chinese private collector)
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regions won their independence from Spain. One side of the coin has the profile of the Spanish king, and the other side bears the crowned Spanish arms between the Pillars of Hercules adorned with PLVS. Different mints have special mintmarks. Those minted at the Mexico City mint are easily identified by their mintmark, an “M” with a small “o” above, the Potosi mint by a monogrammed POTOSI that resembles a dollar sign ($), and the Lima mint by a monogrammed LIMAE resembling the conjoined letters “ME.” The input of large numbers of Spanish colonial coins into the southeast coast of China influenced people’s lives deeply. They were brought into China and were the normal currency for private economic activities, such as private transactions and business accounting (Wang and Lu 2005). The cob coins were cut into pieces to fit the needs of everyday life, something that can also be observed in the traces of use, and the surfaces of the coins often present stamp marks, usually Chinese characters that represent ancient Chinese banks. In the following sections we present this evidence.
The Discovery of Spanish Colonial Coins in the Southeast Coast of China 1) Hand-Manufactured Cobs Shield-type cobs minted at the Mexico mint and Potosi mint, and pillars-andwaves-type cobs minted at the Potosi mint, were excavated in abundance from places in southern Fujian and eastern Guangdong. In the next sections we enumerate and give a short description of these findings. Since the 1970s, five batches of foreign silver coins have been excavated successively from Nan’an, Jinjiang, Hui’an, and other places in the Quanzhou region (Quanzhou Heritage Management Committee and Quanzhou Maritime Museum 1975a). They are now gathered at Fujian Museum and Quanzhou Maritime Museum. Most of them are irregularly shaped hand-manufactured cob coins. a) More than 10 silver coins were discovered at Anhai Town, Jinjiang, Fujian Province. All of them were shield-type cob coins of a cross with both castles and lions visible in the quadrants. The weight was between 24.9 and 27.45 grams. In some silver cob coins, the shield with the left edge of the mint (oM) and assayer (P) marks are visible, as well as the denomination mark (8) at right. Even the date (164?) is visible at the edge of one of them. All of these suggest that they were minted at Mexico City (the mintmark “oM”) and by assayer P (circa 1634–1665).
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b) Similar shield-type coins were found at Guanqiao Commune in Nan’an County, Jinjiang, 11 silver coins that can be divided into four grades according to different sizes and weights: the largest six coins, with a weight varying between 25.8 and 27.4 grams; the two medium-sized coins, with a weight of 13.6 grams; one coin, with a weight of 7 grams; and the smallest two coins, with a weight of 3.2 and 3.3 grams, respectively. From the bold mint “oM,” it is clear that most of them were from the Mexico mint. The coins also bear assayer marks “P” and “D.” The coins with assayer mark P were similar to those discovered in Anhai Town, circa 1634–1665. Joe Cribb, the coin expert of the British Museum, believed these cob coins with bold mint oM and assayer mark D to be from the years 1618–1633 (Chen 1989). As observed, on two of these 11 coins discovered at Guanqiao Commune are slightly different kinds of design. The ends of the cross are a little different from those of the Mexico mint. To the left of the shield are the mintmark “P” and assayer mark “FR” or “T.” Joe Cribb thought coins minted from the Potosi mint by assayer T were struck circa 1646–1649, and those by assayer FR circa 1640–1647 (Chen 1989). However, many coins from the Potosi mint made by assayer T were recovered from the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha, with dates 1619, 1620, and 1621. c) Cob coins stored in four porcelain pots were found at Shishan Commune of Nan’an County, Jinjiang. The four pots are almost identical and were probably buried at the same time. The coins are very similar to those found in Guanqiao. Most of them are full of large cob coins, while there are
Figure 6.4. Cob coin excavated from Shishan. (Collection of Fujian Museum)
Discovery of Spanish Colonial Coins in the Southeast Coast of China
Figure 6.5. Cob coin excavated from Shishan. (Collection of Fujian Museum)
also medium-sized coins and pieces cut down from cob coins. All of these coins bear the mintmark “oM,” the denomination mark “8” (Figure 6.4), and assayer mark “P,” “L” (Figure 6.5), or “G.” On one of the coins made by assayer P, the date “164?” is visible. The coins of assayer L were struck circa 1678–1703 (Chen 1989). It is worthwhile to note that on some of the coins Chinese characters appear stamped, such as 元 (Yuan), 王 (Wang), 士 (Shi), and 正 (Zheng), which should represent ancient Chinese banks. We will discuss this question later. d) Thirty-seven similar Spanish colonial coins were recovered from a clay pot buried under an old house located at Bridge Street in Quanzhou. They were also shield-type coins of cross with castles and lions. The silver coins have irregular edges and different weights and dimensions, and constitute 22 of 8-reales, seven of 4-reales, six of 2-reales, and two of 1-real (Quanzhou Heritage Management Committee and Quanzhou Maritime Museum 1975b). They were apparently from the Mexico mint, and most of them bear the mintmark “oM” and assayer mark “P.” Even the date mark “1654” is visible on two of them. Other more irregularly shaped hand-manufactured cob coins have been found in southern Fujian and eastern Guangdong. e) Except for the Quanzhou area, New World Spanish coins were often discovered in Zhangzhou, also south of Fujian. Many of them were gathered at Zhangzhou Museum. For example, the villagers of Ruitang Village, Yunxiao, discovered a ceramic pot full of pieces cut down from silver cob coins. Judging from their characteristics, most of them were probably minted in Mexico (Fang 2011). f) The exploration team of Highway Planning and Design Institute of Fu-
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jian Province excavated four silver coins during their work on the coastal sea mud of Dongshan County Town (Zhang 1988). Three of them were shieldtype cobs from the Mexico mint, and the other, with mintmark “P” and assayer mark “T,” was from the Potosi mint. As mentioned above, coins of assayer T of the Potosi mint were also recovered from the Guanqiao site. Together with the four cob coins, one Chinese copper coin Wan Li Tong Bao (万历通宝), and some pieces of sherds belonging to one porcelain jar were excavated from the same site. g) Between 1974 and 1979, three batches of New World Spanish silver coins were excavated in Fashi, Quanzhou. All of them had been stored in ceramic pots. Two of these batches were hand-manufactured cob coins, and most of the planchets are irregularly shaped and have different sizes and weights (Chen and Shi 1981). Of a total of 99 cob coins, 68 are the common shield-type, and 30 are the pillars-and-waves-type of the Potosi mint. The pillars-and-wavestype coins were mainly struck at the Potosi mint with the mintmark “P,” assayer mark “V” or “VR,” and date mark from (16)80 to (16)99. Also, one coin could stem from the Peru mint, as it has the mintmark “L,” assayer mark “P,” and date mark “99” (or “98”). h) New World Spanish cobs were also found in eastern Guangdong. In 1988 the villagers of Chenghai, Guangdong Province, discovered a ceramic jar with more than 600 foreign silver coins and Chinese sycees, as well as other pieces of silver from the Qing dynasty, during the reconstruction of the ancestral house (Chen 2001). The foreign silver coins discovered were mainly shield type of the Mexico mint with the mintmark “oM,” assayer mark “P,” denomination mark “8,” and date marks between 1691 and 1699. From this enumeration of findings, it is possible to observe that the irregularly shaped hand-manufactured cob coins have been mainly discovered in southern Fujian and eastern Guangdong of China, near the ports and the active areas of maritime culture. Moreover, the dates of the batches of silver cobs were rather concentrated and can mainly be divided into two different chronological periods. A first group of cobs (mainly including those from Anhai Town of Jinjiang, Guanqiao Commune of Nan’an, Bridge Street in Quanzhou, and Dongshan County Town) belongs to the time before the 1660s and mainly includes the shield-type cobs from the Mexico mint, on which the mintmark “oM” and the assayer mark “P” were very common. The second group mainly includes those excavated from Shishan of Nan’an and Fashi of Quanzhou. They date from the end of the seventeenth to the early eighteenth century. Except for the shield-type cobs, a large number of pillars-and-waves-type coins were discovered in the second group.
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Figure 6.6. Milled pillar coin excavated from Chikan, Guangdong Province. (Collection of Fujian Museum)
2) Milled Pillar Coins a) In 1973 a milled pillar coin was excavated from Qing dynasty strata at the construction site of the old Hui’an city, Quanzhou (Quanzhou Heritage Management Committee and Quanzhou Maritime Museum 1975a). As its mintmark was an “M” with a small “o” above, the assayer mark “MF,” and the date mark “1763,” it was classified as a milled pillar coin from the Mexico City mint. b) In 1987 some 134 Spanish colonial coins were excavated from Chikan in Zhanjiang city, Guangdong Province (Ruan 1988). The inscriptions show all of them are milled-pillar-type coins of Charles III and Ferdinand VI, and the mintmarks indicate that they were minted at Mexico City and Lima. The surfaces of the coins were covered by stamped names of old Chinese firms (Figure 6.6). The stamp marks are so numerous that it is likely that the coins were used frequently and would have been buried much later than the struck date. We will discuss this question later.
3) Milled Bust Coins This kind of milled bust coin has been discovered abundantly in Fujian and Guangdong, but other provinces have also provided some findings. a) One of the three batches of coins found at Fashi, Quanzhou, contained 16 milled bust coins (Chen and Shi 1981) from the reigns of Charles III and Ferdinand VII. All were densely stamped with Chinese characters such as 力 (li), 士 (shi), 日 (ri), 大 (da), 山 (shan), 晋 (jin), 米 (mi), and 乍 (zha), and
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very deeply engraved. The coins must have been used in the late Qing dynasty. This kind of milled bust coin was often reported to be found in caches buried under old houses in Shishi and Longhai, south of Fujian. b) In 2012 the residents of Hao Village, Pucheng County of northern Fujian, excavated a cache of silver coins under a house. It included 100 round silver coins, each weighing about 26 grams. The dates, visible on 56 of the coins, varied from 1777 to 1811 (Pucheng Museum 2013). Although the date marks were still visible, the coins were poorly preserved, with important corrosion processes and fuzzy marks, and had been stamped with a variety of marks, and even drilled. All of them were milled bust type of King Charles IV. From the published photo information, we conclude that this batch includes the coins of assayer “FM” of the Mexico mint ( an “M” with a small “o” above), dated 1788, the coins of assayer IJ of the Lima mint (ME), dated 1791 and 1794, and the coins of assayer PR of unknown mint, dated 1785 and 1789. c) Two milled bust coins, presenting the profiles of Charles III and Charles IV, dated to 1788 and 1790, were discovered at Dongtou County, Zhejiang Province (The Editorial Department of The Bibliography of Chinese History in China History Association 1990). From the inscription “ME•8R•IJ” we know they were minted at the Lima mint of Peru by assayer IJ. d) In 1978 during construction works on a building in Dagu Road, Huangpu District of Shanghai, 1,001 Spanish colonial milled bust coins were excavated. Two sycees, each with a weight of 50 taels (almost 2,500 grams), and 1,300 Mexican silver coins with an eagle on one side were also discovered at the same site. Again, in 1999 some 461 milled bust coins with the date mark 1773 and 10 silver sycees of the Qing dynasty with a weight of 50 taels were discovered (Dai et al. 2003:208). e) In 1978 a villager of the Kunshan County of Jiangsu Province found two ceramic jars while doing agricultural work. One of the jars stored five silver sycees and 310 foreign silver coins. According to the survey, the site had been the house of a landowner. The foreign silver coins were milled bust coins, presenting the profiles of Charles III, Charles IV, and Ferdinand VII, and the date mark varied between 1773 and 1801 (Chen 1980). The silver sycees had the date mark of Qianlong forty-ninth year (乾隆四十九年) (1784) and Jiaqing seventh year (嘉庆七年) (1802). f) In 2010, two batches of silver coins were recovered at one building site in Zhangzhou (Ruan 2010). These coins had different sizes and weights, and their surfaces were completely covered by stamp marks of Chinese characters. The earliest coins belong to the Spanish colonial period, while the lat-
Discovery of Spanish Colonial Coins in the Southeast Coast of China
est are Japanese, minted in Meiji twenty-ninth year (明治二十九年) (1896). The Spanish colonial coins included only one milled bust coin, with the mark HISPAN•ETIND•REX• •2R•F•M, minted at the Mexico mint in 1800. The vast majority of them had been minted in Mexico after independence, as shown by their eagle pattern. g) In 1996 a batch of Spanish colonial coins was discovered at Mount Putuo, the famous Buddhist mountain of Zhejiang Province (Sheng 1996). The find of more than 700 silver coins had been stored in a ceramic pot buried under one temple. Most of them were the milled bust type, with dates from 1779 to 1895. They had been in circulation, their surfaces being stamped with all kinds of concave imprints, including foreign-language letters and Chinese characters. h) One milled bust coin was excavated from the shipwreck of Small White Reef I in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province (The Center for Underwater Archaeology of the National Museum of China and the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Ningbo 2011). It had been minted at Mexico City, and the assayer was IJ. Twenty-eight Chinese copper coins dating from the Emperor Kangxi period to Daoguang period, one Japanese copper coin Kuan Yong Tong Bao (宽永通宝), and one Vietnamese copper coin Jing Xing Tong Bao (景兴通 宝), were excavated from the same site. i) The milled-bust-type coin is often found at Anhui, an interior province of China. A batch of silver coins wrapped in silk was discovered under one temple site of Jiuhua Mountain, Anhui Province (Lin 1993). Forty percent of them were milled bust coins, and most were minted after 1800, whereas 60 percent of the coins had been minted in Mexico after 1823 (after independence from Spain), including also one minted in 1890. Milled bust coins were also found at Wangjiang. And even a cast model of the milled bust coin was discovered in Wuwei (Lu 1987). This means that the wide circulation of Spanish silver coins in China provoked the appearance of imitations. In conclusion, this type of coin, minted from the late eighteenth till the early nineteenth century, was very widely spread in China, although the time of their burial was probably much later than that of their production, as can be observed from the fact that they are always discovered together with Mexican silver coins minted after 1823, and Chinese sycees from the Qing dynasty. The area in which these coins were in use extends from southern Fujian and eastern Guangdong to the interior parts of Fujian, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, and even interior provinces of China, such as Anhui (Figure 6.7). The fact that they are most of the time densely covered by stamps of Chinese characters on their surface reflects their history of wide use in China.
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Figure 6.7. Distribution map of the Spanish colonial coins found in the southeast coast of China. (Map by authors)
Concluding Remarks: Spanish Silver Coinage in China— The Contribution from Archaeology The Spanish colonial New World was known to teem with silver. The most famous mint of all was established in 1574 at Potosi, located high above sea level at the base of an incredible mountain of high-quality silver. At the end of the sixteenth century, 83 percent of the world’s mining of this precious metal belonged to Spain (Dai 2001:157). The export of silver had gradually become the main financial resource for Spain, and Spanish Colonial coins also became the common currency of global trade. At the same time, East Asia was one important center of this early global trade.
Discovery of Spanish Colonial Coins in the Southeast Coast of China
In 1567, the first year of Long Qing, the opening of Yuegang (now Haicheng Town, Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province) gave businessmen in south Fujian a legal entry into the trade, especially the profitable trade with Manila of the Philippines, soon almost monopolized by maritime merchants from south Fujian. Each year there were at least 30 to 40 merchant ships full of raw silk, silk fabrics, and many other commodities from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou bound for Manila (Fu 2007). On the return route, Chinese junks from Manila carried nothing but silver coins. During the reign of the Wan-li emperor (1573–1619), the records of the censors supervising the port stated that “those foreigners living beyond Cambodia have sapan-wood, spices, rhinoceros horn, and ivory tusks, all of which are needed in China. Also, in the states of Lu-sung (Luzon) and Po-yin there are mountains of silver, which the foreigners have produced only as cast silver coins, and in return these foreigners are satisfied with Chinese fabrics, porcelains from Chiang-hsi (Jiangxi) as well as lacquer wares, fruit and porcelains from Pu-chien (Fujian)” (Jiangxi Light Industry Ceramics Institute 1959). Therefore, the Chinese government taxed trading ships bound for Luzon with more than 150 taels of silver as they returned to port. After the decline of Yuegang, the port of Xiamen rose and became the port of entry of Spanish colonial coins from Manila into China. But other ports, such as Zhangzhou, Ningbo, and Guangzhou were also important, since the Manila trade was not the only route by which Spanish colonial coins entered China. Due to the military campaigns of Spanish kings, much of the silver and gold plundered from the New World flowed directly to European banks to pay for the loans borrowed by the kings to sustain war in Europe. The silver and gold coins transferred to European banks in countries such as Portugal, Holland, and England, were in turn used in Asia to trade for silk, spices, and other goods. Shipwrecks spread along the maritime route from Europe to Asia are the most powerful evidence of the trade, together with the coins found in China itself. A total of 428 silver coins together with Chinese porcelains and other goods were recovered from the San Diego, a Spanish galleon sunk in the Philippine sea in 1600 (see also Orillaneda, this volume). Of those, 200 when cleaned were found to belong to Philip II (1556–1598), and were minted in Lima, and to Philip III (1598–1621), minted in Mexico City (Ongpin and Diem 1993). They are similar to some types found on the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha, which sank in 1622 (Richards 2007). Furthermore, many coins from the Potosi mint made by assayer T were recovered from the Atocha, with dates 1619, 1620, and 1621. Similar coins were discovered at Guanqiao Commune. Another example would be the 1715 fleet, a Spanish convoy of 12 ships bound for Spain
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from La Habana laden with a cargo of New World gold and silver. A devastating hurricane sank 11 of the fleet’s ships off the east coast of Florida. Their discovery in the 1960s by Kip Wagner and the Real Eight Company, along with their associate Mel Fisher, provided coins of the shield-type cobs of assayer J from Mexico mint circa 1713, pillars-and-waves-type cob of assayer F from the Potosi mint dated 1699, and other gold cobs (Richards 2006). These cob coins from the 1715 fleet are similar to those excavated in Fashi, Quanzhou. Milled pillar coins similar to those excavated from the old Hui’an city, Quanzhou, were discovered from many shipwrecks of Dutch East Indiaman, such as the Rooswijk. Rooswijk was lost on December 19, 1739, after departing from the Dutch port of Texel on her second voyage to the Spice Islands of Indonesia, carrying a large quantity of Spanish silver intended for trade and for the payroll in the Dutch East Indies. Vast numbers of Spanish pillar dollars, cob coins, and silver bars were salvaged, among them milled-pillar-type 8-reales of the Mexico City mint, Philip V, assayer MF, dating from 1734 to 1738 (Richards 2008). As has been described above, these findings often show that the silver coins were cut to fit the needs of everyday life and that traces of use can often be observed. The surfaces of the coins often present stamp marks, usually Chinese characters that represent ancient Chinese banks; the stamps were credit marks to ensure fixed exchange. On the early cob coins and the early milled pillar coins, such as those discovered at Shishan in Nan’an, these stamp marks are always very small and shallow, while on the later milled bust coins, the stamp marks were so dense and deep that sometimes it is difficult to identify even the pattern of the coin. And the later milled bust coins always appear together with other late silver coins, such as Mexican silver coins from the independence period. Due to the purity and high quality of silver used in their production, the milled bust coins were very popular in China until the Jiaqing and Daoguang periods, after the nineteenth century (Zeng 2000). That they were in circulation until late in the history of China explains the recurrent finds of milled bust coins buried long after they were struck, together with later silver coins manufactured after the nineteenth century. On the other hand, the dense stamp marking revealed the fact that these coins were more widely used in later times. Taiwan scholar Zelu Zeng has proposed that this especially thick marking was made during the late Qing dynasty, showing the social unrest that characterizes that period (Zeng 2000). Just before the Opium War, the Spanish colonial coins were still in wide circulation along the southeast coast of China and were the main currency in the region of the Yangtze River Basin, especially at the main areas of production of export goods such as silk, tea, and porcelain.
Discovery of Spanish Colonial Coins in the Southeast Coast of China
The input of large numbers of Spanish colonial coins into the southeast coast of China influenced people’s lives deeply. From the late Ming period through the entire duration of the Qing dynasty, the Chinese monetary system used parallel standard systems of silver and copper. Only the sycee silver and bronze copper was the legal tender. From the Kangxi period in the early Qing dynasty and until the setting of the early Republic of China, folk private economic activities, such as private transaction and business accounting, in the areas of southern Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong, and Zhejiang were mostly carried out using Spanish silver coins as the settlement currency. Thus, massive records relating to bank drafts, land titles, and folk instruments mention the foreign silver coins with characters such as 番银, 佛银, 佛头银, during the Qing dynasty (e.g., Wang and Lu 2005). In the caches at Chenghai (Guangdong Province), Huangpu (Shanghai City), and Kunshan (Jiangsu Province), the discovery of foreign coins together with Chinese sycees silver of the Qing dynasty showed that the two monetary systems were used. The milled bust coins have standard weight and fineness, were manufactured carefully, and were easy to carry and convenient to use. Therefore, they were quickly accepted and gradually became the main currency. Under this influence, after Guangxu fifteenth year (光绪十五年, 1895), the government of the Qing dynasty started to manufacture round silver coins, the dragon coin. Thus, archaeological evidence of coins confirms the historical records: innumerable Spanish colonial silver coins were brought into China and were the normal currency, in wide circulation in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries.
References Center for Underwater Archaeology of the National Museum of China and the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Ningbo 2011 Zhejiang Ningbo Yushan Xiaobaijiao1haochenchuanyizhi diaochayushijue [The underwater archaeological investigations and excavation of Xiao Baijiao I shipwreck at Yushan of Ningbo, Zhejiang]. Zhongguoguojiabowuguan guankan [Journal of National Museum of China] 11:54–68. Chen, Guolin 1994 Zhongshiji haishangsichouzhilu huobi: Benyangyinyuan yanjiu [The study of Spanish colonial coins coming through the maritime Silk Road]. Fujian qianbi [Fujian numismatics] 34:67–75. Chen, Lihua (translator) 1989 Zai Zhongguo fujiansheng faxian ruogan 17 shiji Xibanyabicang [Some Spanish colonial coins of the 17th century found in Fujian]. Fujian qianbi [Fujian numismatics] 2:46–49.
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Chen, Yuezi 2001 Haicheng chutu Xibanyayinbi he Qingdai wenyin [The Spanish colonial coins and sycees of the Qing dynasty found at Haicheng]. In Haishangsilu Xunzong [Tracking along the maritime Silk Road], edited by Yinghao Mai, p. 217. Chinese Press, Beijing. Chen, Zhaohong 1980 Kunshan Huaqiao chutu Qiangdaiyinding he Xibanyayinbi [The sycee silver of the Qing dynasty and the Spanish colonial coins found at Huaqiao, Kunshan]. In Suzhou wenwuziliao xuanbian [Suzhou cultural relics collection], edited by the Cultural Bureau of Suzhou City and the Administrative Committee of Cultural Relics of Suzhou City, pp. 152–158. Suzhou Museum, Suzhou. Chen, Peng, and Xi Shi 1981 Luelun Quanzhou Fashi chutu de Xibanyayinbi [Discussion on the Spanish silver coins excavated in Fashi, Quanzhou]. Haijiaoshi yanjiu [Maritime history studies] 3:113–118. Dai, Jianbing, Xiaolan Wang, and Xiaorong Chen 2003 Zhongwai huobiwenhua jiaoliu yanjiu [Research on the cultural exchange of Chinese and foreign currency]. China Agriculture Press, Beijing. Dai, Zhiqiang 2001 Fujian huobishilue [A brief history of Fujian currency]. Publishing House of China, Beijing. Editorial Department of The Bibliography of Chinese History 1990 Zhongguo lishixue nianjian 1989 [The bibliography of Chinese history in 1989]. People’s Publishing House, Beijing. Fang, Zhangxiong 2011 Fujian Yunxiao chutu Mingdai liuru de fanyin [Foreign coins of the Ming dynasty excavated from Yunxiao, Fujian]. Shoucang [Collections] 7:107. Fu, Yiling 2007 Mingqing shangren ji shangyeziben: Mingdai Jiangnan shiminjingji shitan [Merchant and commercial capital of the Ming and Qing dynasties: The economic test of Jiangnan citizen in the Ming dynasty]. Publishing House of China, Beijing. Jiangxi Light Industry Ceramics Institute 1959 T’ien-hsiachun-kuo li-ping shu, vol. 96. Cited in Jingdezhen taocishigao [A draft history of ceramics at Ching-te Chen]. SDX, Beijing. Lin, Jiemei 1993 Anhui Jiuhuashan chutu waiguoyinbi [Foreign coins unearthed from Jiuhua Mountain, Anhui Province]. Zhongguo qianbi [China numismatics] 3:51. Lu, Maocun 1987 Anhui Wuweixian faxian Xibanyayinbizhufan [The cast model of a Spanish colonial coin found at Wuwei, Anhui Province]. Kaogu [Archaeology] 3:282. Ongpin Valdes, C., and A. I. Diem 1993 Saga of the San Diego (AD 1600). National Museum of the Philippines, Manila. Pucheng Museum 2013 Puchengxian Haocunxiang jiaocang Xibanyayinbi qinglijianbao [Brief excavation report of the Spanish colonial coin cellar at Haocun County, Pucheng]. Fujian wenbo [Fujian relics and museology] 2:43–45.
Discovery of Spanish Colonial Coins in the Southeast Coast of China
Quanzhou Heritage Management Committee and Quanzhou Maritime Museum 1975a Fujian Quanzhoudiqu chutu de wupi waiguoyinbi [Five batches of foreign coins unearthed from Quanzhou, Fujian]. Kaogu [Archaeology] 6:352–379. 1975b Quanzhou chutu guwaibi [Foreign coins unearthed from Quanzhou]. Wenwu [Cultural relics] 8:90–91. Richards, E. 2006 Shipwrecks and Their Coins: 3. 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet. En Rada, Palm Beach. 2007 Shipwrecks and Their Coins: 1. 1622 Spanish Treasure Fleet. En Rada, Palm Beach. 2008 Shipwrecks and Their Coins: 4. 1740 Dutch East Indiaman Rooswijk. En Rada, Palm Beach. Ruan, Yingqi 1988 Zhanjiang Chiqian chutu Xibanyayinbi [The Spanish colonial coins excavated from Chikan]. Guangdongshengbowuguan guankan [Journal of Guangdong Province Museum] 1:28. Ruan, Yonghao 2010 Xinrongyuan’erqigongdi yinyuanjiaocang qinglijianbao [Brief excavation report of the silver coin cellar at the construction site of Xinrong garden]. Fujian wenbo [Fujian relics and museology] 3:23–31. Sheng, Guanxi 1996 Zhejiang Putuoshan chutu Xibanyayinbi [Spanish colonial coins excavated from Putuo Mountain, Zhejiang]. Zhongguo qianbi [China numismatics] 4:39. Wang, Rigen, and Zengfu Lu 2005 Qingdai Jinjiang dianpu maimaiqiyuewenshu de fenxi [Analysis of store contracts in Jinjiang County in the Qing dynasty). Fujianshifandaxue xuebao [Journal of Fujian Normal University, Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition] 1:125–131. Zeng, Zelu 2000 Cong waiguoyinyuan zhi chuoyin lai tuilun Zhangzhoujunxiang zhi duandaiwenti [From the stamp mark on the surface of foreign silver coins to deduce the date of the silver coin of Zhangzhou Pay]. Xuanhe bichao [Hsuanhuo coins magazine] 1:119–126. Zhang, Zhongchun 1988 Fujian Dongshan chutu de waiguoyinbi [Foreign silver coins unearthed from Dongshan, Fujian]. Zhongguo qianbi [China numismatics] 3:74.
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7 A Geographic Analysis of Traders and Trade Goods in Japan’s Late Medieval Seto Inland Sea
Michelle M. Damian
Introduction Japan has traditionally been considered a “closed country,” seen as almost entirely removed from any interactions with the rest of the world until contact with the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. Until recently, scholars have tended to omit discussion of Japan’s role in Asian trade and ignore the established trade networks within the archipelago itself. Janet Abu-Lughod’s Before European Hegemony, though generally an excellent introduction to medieval trade routes beyond Europe, completely excludes Japan even in her chapter on Asia. Official documents clearly show trade connections with the Ryūkyū Islands, mainland Asia, and Southeast Asia throughout the premodern era, and mainland pottery and other goods are regularly excavated throughout archaeological sites in Japan.1 Much of the medieval documentation of the domestic trade, though, shows goods coming from the periphery to the central court in the Kyoto region. While these connections are important to note, focusing overmuch on them ignores the significance of trade hubs in the provinces on the cusp of contact with the West. Understanding those domestic trade routes will eventually help clarify the role that smaller ports en route to the capital region would have played in transporting foreign goods. Through a geography-based analysis of the domestic trade routes in late medieval Japan, it becomes apparent that the connections and collaborations between different local ports and ship captains facilitated a thriving local trade. This chapter focuses primarily on the century prior to Japanese contact with the West, exploring trade networks to demonstrate the high rate of lateral trade within the Seto Inland Sea region. It will also show how using geospatial
Analysis of Traders & Trade Goods in Late Medieval Seto Inland Sea
analysis that combines evidence from the written and archaeological record can help pinpoint the locations of previously unknown sites. Bringing all of this information together shows a much clearer picture of the interconnections between different medieval port sites and highlights the flow of trade goods between locales. While much of the evidence focuses on products created and traded domestically, archaeological remains suggest that goods from the Asian mainland also were in demand in the countryside and were likely transported there via those extant shipping routes and networks.
Historical Background The Muromachi era (1333–1573) was a period of gradual decentralization. In 1136 the warrior Takauji Ashikaga challenged the reign of Emperor Go-Daigo, resulting in the latter’s banishment to Yoshino (south of the capital at Kyoto). Due to a succession dispute in the imperial lineage, another emperor was appointed in Kyoto, resulting in a coexisting Northern and Southern Court that were constantly vying for power over the next half century. In the meantime, Takauji established his warrior government (bakufu) at Kyoto and named himself as shogun. His eventual successor, Yoshimitsu Ashikaga, consolidated his control over the central provinces as the dispute between the two courts eroded imperial and courtier power. Yoshimitsu and his successors were less successful at maintaining a hold over the outer provinces, and throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries local warriors’ power gradually grew. Early medieval period provinces were usually divided into lands administered by provincial officials or estates (shōen) that paid rents and dues (nengu) to the central court or an overseeing institution such as a temple or shrine. Most clues to the size of medieval ships come from cargo manifests that record the types and volumes of items submitted by the estates. Rents and dues were valued in rice, though in practice many localities submitted other products worth the same amount as the rice assessment. Seaside communities would often substitute salt or other marine goods for their payments.2 These items were shipped from the estates to the central powers, usually based in and around Kyoto. Although barter, tribute, and gifts may have been the basis for much of the initial flow of goods from the periphery to the center, medieval developments in regional politics and farming techniques ushered in a change in commercial dealings. The weakening of the estate system accompanied the increase in local warrior power, which in turn strengthened local commercial dealings and market development (Tonomura 1992:8). Individuals
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who had until then needed to pay rents and dues to the overseer could, as the overseeing institutions’ grasp weakened, project their own power as they tried to take land for themselves. In the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, the ability of individuals to make their own profits increased with the growing productivity of the land, the development of a cash economy, and the availability of a growing surplus (Tonomura 1992:86). New developments in agriculture included double- and triple-cropping of paddies, better fertilizing and irrigation techniques, and a wider use of livestock, all resulting in greater growth (Farris 2009:129–136). As local economies enjoyed the resulting surpluses, production of specialized goods also expanded. Inventories of peasant tools from the fourteenth through fifteenth centuries show an increase in the numbers of tools used by small cultivators, indicating a greater availability and use of these items at the individual level (Farris 2009:130). Records of tributes to the capital in the fourteenth century show increased production of luxury goods in the provinces, such as swords from Bizen (modern-day Okayama) or small boxes from Iyo (modern-day Ehime) (Sakurai and Nakanishi 2002:202). As more and more goods were produced outside of the capital, there was greater potential for trade with neighboring areas for luxury items, reflected in the increase of markets and merchant networks. The cash economy also helped market growth. During the early medieval period, the practice of importing coins from China became widespread, and cash transactions gained popularity. No longer was the shipping of rents and dues the primary source of revenue for the overseeing institutions of the estates; instead, cash could be and was paid for a variety of items. Land sale deeds during the late Kamakura period (1185–1333) increasingly recorded cash transactions, and the numbers of individuals donating cash offerings to temples or paying smaller levies in coins also grew (Segal 2009:348). As coin usage became more widely adopted, it became easier to purchase goods directly even outside of the capital region. Pricing became less fluid as toimaru (warehouse managers or people who handled the intake and output of products) could calculate the cost of items in a uniform manner, accounting for variables such as the cost of shipping from far-flung regions (Sakurai and Nakanishi 2002:210). The growing ease of exchanging goods resulted in even more marketplaces springing up outside the capital hub. One way that local overseers controlled the flow of goods to and from the marketplaces was through the use of checkpoints (sekisho). The checkpoint system had been established for overland travel as early as the Nara period (710–794), generally for a threefold purpose: economic, to collect fees from
Analysis of Traders & Trade Goods in Late Medieval Seto Inland Sea
travelers; military, to prevent enemies from approaching; and monitoring, policing human traffic through the checkpoint (Aida 1976:3–7). By the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, coastal and riparian checkpoints had become an important source of revenue for the overseeing authority, as they could levy fees on the cargo-laden ships passing through the checkpoint. During this time those fees generally were approximately 1 percent of the value of the items (Shinjō 1994:569). Particularly for specialized cargoes, this could become a considerable sum, and checkpoints sometimes became important disputed sites. One notable early-fourteenth-century dispute discusses a checkpoint on the Yoshino River in Awa Province (modern Tokushima Prefecture). Affiliates of Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine, located in Kyoto, had been granted a monopoly by the military government for the production of lamp oil, and the egoma berry critical for that oil production came in great quantities from the Awa area. A series of documents record upset shrine attendants’ complaints to the Awa provincial governor and to the military government demanding that an unauthorized checkpoint along the Yoshino River be shut down, as it was a violation of the tax exemption granted for egoma destined for Iwashimizu Hachiman (Takeuchi 1971:items 24343, 29942, 30). The military government upheld the shrine’s claim, demonstrating the shrine’s right to maintain control over the use of the egoma, and refuting the rights of the local authorities to profit from egoma shipments. For the purposes of this chapter, however, the most important checkpoint to consider was the northern checkpoint at Hyōgo (modern-day Kobe). Hyōgo was a gateway port between the Inland Sea and the central court (and marketplaces) in the Kyoto area. There was also a southern checkpoint there, administered by Kōfukuji Temple, but unfortunately extant records related to that checkpoint are scant. More information is available about the northern checkpoint, which came under the administration of Tōdaiji Temple in 1308 (Kamiki 1996:108). The military government had given Tōdaiji the right to oversee the checkpoint, suggesting an amicable relationship between the government and the powerful temple (Hatakeyama 2003:51). Tōdaiji used revenue from the checkpoint to repair its walls, as well as to rebuild a pagoda in its precincts, and assigned administrators to be onsite at the checkpoint, maintaining a visible presence there over the next several centuries. The relationship between the northern and southern checkpoints is unclear, but it is possible that incoming ships paid fees to the northern checkpoint (Tōdaiji), and outgoing ships passed through the southern checkpoint (Kōfukuji). As shown below, the Hyōgo checkpoint was a major domestic shipping hub, welcoming and assessing fees on nearly 2,000 ships over the course of a
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year’s time in the fifteenth century. The continuing trend of surplus production and trade was visible in the volume of trade ships passing through that single checkpoint. Yet the Hyōgo checkpoint records reflected only domestic trade, overshadowing any foreign connections existing in the late medieval period. While contact had not yet been established with the West, Japan did conduct official exchanges with the rest of Asia during the medieval period. Charlotte von Verscheur estimates that in the early medieval period an average of one group a year came from China to Japan during the tenth through twelfth centuries, dropping sharply after that to less than 10 or so groups coming to Japan throughout each of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Conversely, Japanese voyages to the mainland were far fewer in the early medieval period but rose dramatically to approximately 300 groups to China and Korea in the thirteenth century, dipping again in the fourteenth century to half that number, but then skyrocketing to over 1,000 groups voyaging to Korea alone in the fifteenth century (Verschuer 2006:192–193).3 These numbers suggest that there was indeed a steady demand for goods from the mainland, either being brought in by the Chinese and Koreans or brought back by traveling Japanese. These voyages were official trade missions, though especially in the later centuries it was not always the Japanese central court who conducted the trade efforts. Toward the end of the fourteenth century, Japanese families from Kyushu in particular began spearheading trade delegations to Korea. This corresponded to the weakening of central court and military power and the rise of local warrior lords, and was certainly an attempt by those local powers to strengthen individual ties with overseas suppliers of goods. Overtures to China were largely rebuffed, likely due to the fact that the Japanese delegates did not have official letters from the court, and China did not recognize private foreign trade at that time (Verschuer 2006:119–120). While there is less documentation available for trade in the peripheries, particularly beyond the confines of Kyushu, we will see that archaeological evidence indicates that there was a network that facilitated the transfer of foreign goods to different areas within the Inland Sea. The late medieval era was characterized by the declining power of the central military government and the subsequent growth of local warrior power. The weakening of central oversight of the estates allowed local residents to develop more of a surplus economy and local lords to look overseas for additional trade opportunities. The following sections explore domestic maritime shipping networks in the late medieval period, suggesting the extent of the thriving exchange of people and goods in the Inland Sea region.
Analysis of Traders & Trade Goods in Late Medieval Seto Inland Sea
Sources and Methodology Though few trade-related documents from the medieval period have survived the centuries, one set of port records from Hyōgo provides much information about Inland Sea shipping. The Register of Incoming Ships at the Hyōgo North Gate (Hyōgo Kitaseki Irifune Nōchō; below, Register) records data for over 1,900 vessels that passed through the checkpoint at Hyōgo in 1445 and the first two months of 1446 (Hayashiya 1981). Each dated entry notes the port of registry of the ship, the type and volume of cargoes carried, the fees levied on the items and date those fees were collected, the name of the ship’s captain, and the name of the warehouse manager that handled the incoming items.4 As the records show the flow of goods from the provinces to Hyōgo, gateway to the central court region of Kyoto, this collection has been very useful in learning about center–periphery trade relations. By analyzing the imports through a geographical lens, though, the focus becomes the roles of the provincial ports. From there it is possible to learn more about the connections between those provincial ports and understand more about regional trade networks. Sets of maritime regulations (Kaisen shikimoku or kaisen taihō) also reveal additional information about seafaring practices in the medieval period.5 The dates of these regulations are disputed, as the language used and the age of the extant copies suggest a late-sixteenth-century author, but the dates on the documents themselves are from 1223. They were likely written in the later era and predated to suggest an established precedent. The fact that they were copied widely, however, implies that the practices described were likely already widely followed even in earlier eras. Other information about medieval trade comes from the archaeological record. Unfortunately, in many cases there is little archaeological signature for the items noted in the Register, particularly for consumables such as rice, salt, and marine life. Site reports from locations along the Inland Sea help paint a richer picture of the flow of other items such as pottery or iron. Incorporating both documentary information from the Register with archaeological evidence into a GIS (geographic information system) database helps highlight the patterns of trade throughout the Inland Sea, suggesting new relationships between the locales and revealing some previously lesser-known trade hubs.
Trade Routes: Commodities and Disputed Port Sites The Register notes nearly 90 different cargoes being shipped throughout the Inland Sea in 1445. As it is impossible to discuss all of them in depth, this
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section focuses on trade patterns for pottery and iron, best representative of items in the Register that had a significant archaeological signature. Combining information from the Register and the archaeological evidence provides deeper insight into the extent of trade routes within the Inland Sea. The Register showed only two ports shipping iron to Hyōgo: Onomichi in Bingo Province (100 horseloads), and Setoda in Aki Province (120 horseloads) (Figure 7.1). The Chūgoku mountain area, on the Honshū mainland inland from Bingo, Bitchū, and Bizen provinces, were rich in iron ore, and iron mined there was likely brought to Onomichi, gateway port to Hyōgo. Setoda’s iron shipping is particularly notable, as it was an island without a significant local iron mine, yet it shipped even more iron than mainland Onomichi, with its more direct access to the iron supply. The travel diary Inryōken nichiroku (fifteenth century) contains an entry regarding the procurement of iron to forge a sword, describing how 100 were required to carry 20 horseloads of iron. It would have been far more economical and efficient to ship the iron by boat (Imaya 1988:50). Setoda’s role as a major iron shipper, then, likely reflects that practicality and demonstrates a tendency for estates to look outside their own borders for trade and shipment of locally produced resources. Examining the locations of iron forges further supports that idea. Kamakura and Muromachi era remains of iron forges have been found in several sites in Aki, Bingo, Bitchū, and Bizen provinces, nearby a local supply of iron. These sites are most often identified by the presence of fuigo, an item indicative of the bellows used in iron smelting. A lone site in Hokudan-cho possibly suggests the import of iron to Murotsu in Awaji Province. That cannot be assumed, however, as forging iron through the use of iron sand was also a common practice, and this site may have made use of that technique. Also notable is the lack of any records of Bizen Province ports shipping iron to Hyōgo. Areas along the Asahikawa River were known for their iron production since the Heian period and would ship their products in riverboats to the Kojima peninsula. From there the products would be transshipped to the Kinai (Matsushita 1994:218). Yet, according to the Register, iron was not an export item from that area.6 In the case of iron, neither the information from the Register nor the additional information from the archaeological sites fully explains the complexity of iron trade routes. Incorporating archaeological evidence of pottery reveals more about the wider medieval Inland Sea trade routes. The Register notes that small jugs (tsubo), were shipped to Hyōgo from Sakai, Katakami, and Inbe (Figure 7.2). Suribachi, a shallow bowl used in cooking, were shipped only from Jige
Analysis of Traders & Trade Goods in Late Medieval Seto Inland Sea
Figure 7.1. Iron shipments in the Register and archaeological iron sites. (Map by author)
(boats registered locally to Hyōgo), and only once throughout the entire year of records. There is a notation in one shipment from Ushimado that recorded six suribachi as part of the taxes levied on a shipment of sesame seeds. As this was not recorded as part of the official taxable cargo, it is an unusual case and cannot necessarily be factored into an analysis of the typical cargo shipments. While the pottery type is unspecified in the Register, the total volume shipping from the Bizen area combined with the presence of kiln ruins from the Inbe area strongly suggests that the majority, if not all, of the pottery was Bizen ware (San’yō Shinbunsha 1978:60).7 The pottery that came from Sakai is more questionable, but in that case the pottery was brought in on the same boat that contained Kojima salt, also a Bizen peninsula product. This implies that that vessel also visited or was shipping items from Bizen and could therefore have been transporting Bizen ware to Hyōgo as well. While the Register provides information about the flow of Bizen pottery from its production point to Hyōgo, it is only a small part of the entire picture.
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Figure 7.2. Pottery in the Register and archaeological sites. Size of circle indicates relative quantity of tsubo noted in the Register. (Map by author)
Analysis of Traders & Trade Goods in Late Medieval Seto Inland Sea
In looking at archaeological site reports along the Inland Sea, the presence of Bizen ware is ubiquitous. Excavations in terrestrial settlements in Bingo Province (Onomichi, Kusado Sengen), Sanuki (Nohara, Michi-shita site), Harima (Aboshi, Murotsu-Hyōgo),8 and even far inland in Aki (Yoshikawa Genshun site) reveal significant amounts of Bizen ware, ranging from suribachi cooking dishes, to tsubo jars, to larger vats and other implements. Underwater recoveries, which were not systematic excavations but serendipitous discoveries often brought up in fishing nets, also dot the Inland Sea. These were mostly located in the central inland sea area at sites near Naoshima, Aji, and Kugui-no-oki, and likely are the remnants of either shipwrecks or jettisoned cargo. The final type of site is represented only by Mizunoko-iwa, which was a shipwreck site that yielded nearly 200 pieces of Bizen pottery (San’yō Shinbunsha 1978:80–81). Looking at the sites alone certainly suggests a wider variety of usage for Bizen ware throughout the Inland Sea. Not only flowing from the production point east to Hyōgo and the central court, Bizen ware was also shipped out to destinations far west of the kilns at Inbe. More Kamakura and Muromachi era Bizen ware has been discovered on Honshu than on the western areas of Shikoku, possibly suggesting less direct interaction with the estates in Sanuki and Iyo. Two sites are of particular interest. The first is Aboshi in Harima, a destination between the Inbe kilns and the Hyōgo checkpoint. A number of pieces of Bizen pottery from the fifteenth century were found here, especially larger vats (kame) (Nakagawa 2008:119). They show evidence of use and therefore were likely imported to Aboshi as a final destination (Nakagawa 2008:120). Large numbers of pottery found in one area with no signs of usage would have been more likely to indicate a transshipment location. Information from the Register shows Aboshi as a small-to-medium-sized port, sending 62o ships to Hyōgo over the course of the year, most of which carried less than 100 koku of goods.9 It does not appear to have been a major source of transshipping, based on traceable goods, but the evidence of Bizen ware used in Aboshi still suggests that there was direct trade happening with other estates along the Inland Sea. Instead of being a commercial center for incoming and outgoing goods, Aboshi was mainly an import estate. The second significant archaeological site is the shipwreck at Mizunokoiwa. Located approximately 6 km offshore of modern-day Shōdoshima, it is a rare example of a Muromachi era shipwreck site. Although the ship itself has been lost to the elements, the pottery cache recovered yielded 35 large jars (kame), 71 large jugs (tsubo), 14 small jugs (tsubo), and 66 cooking bowls (suribachi), totaling 189 objects. This provides a clear picture of the minimum number and types of items that were shipped longer distances. It is uncertain
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where the ship’s final destination should have been, though it may have been the Kumano area on the Kii peninsula. Bizen ware has often been discovered along the coast of Wakayama Prefecture, and the wreck site places a ship leaving the kilns at Katakami and Inbe squarely along that route (San’yō Shinbunsha 1978:65). The first archaeological evidence of ballast stones used on ships also comes from the Mizunoko site. Although the origin of the ballast stones has not yet been identified, studies have shown that they were not from the region near the kilns, which suggests that the vessel had loaded them at yet another port possibly from the Kishū or Shikoku area (San’yō Shinbunsha 1978:81–88). Again, this is clear evidence of the direct interactions between different locales. The pottery from the Mizunoko site combined with evidence from other archaeological sites suggests a possible reinterpretation of the notation styles in the Register. For pottery shipments, the entries show the number of tsubo and the notation “large/small” (大小). The meaning for this is unclear: it may refer to 60 large and small tsubo in a shipment, or 60 large and 60 small. The number of pottery items being shipped through Hyōgo ranged from 15 to 100 tsubo per shipment—vastly smaller numbers than the amounts recovered from the Mizunoko site. At another site near Kugui-no-oki in modern Okayama Prefecture, a large Bizen-yaki vat was recovered in a fishing net. Within that large vat were two smaller jars (NPO hōjin suichū kōkogaku kenkyūjo 2010:74). This packing method would have not only saved space onboard ship but would have provided space to use packing materials around the smaller jars for safer transport.10 The Register also notes several shipments of “Chinese grasses” (karamushi). Grasses were shipped from Ushimado, Inbe, Sakai, and Jige, but of the 30 shipments of grasses, 13 were from Jige and therefore likely were transshipped at some point. All eight shipments from Inbe and one of two from Sakai were sent along with pottery items. It is highly likely that the grasses were used as packing materials for the fragile pottery. Pottery was large and heavy and could be used as ballast, but space onboard a merchant vessel is always at a premium. Grasses could have easily served double duty as a packaging medium that fit within those empty spaces and protected the pottery but also commanded a profit in its own right at the final destination. It is possible that the “large/small” notations for pottery in the Register may have been referring to this packing process, with smaller jars packed within larger ones and protected by the grasses, in double the numbers recorded (Makabe 2009:102). If this were indeed the case, then the numbers of most of the shipments to Hyōgo would be closer to the numbers found at the Mizunoko shipwreck site.
Analysis of Traders & Trade Goods in Late Medieval Seto Inland Sea
Although this study has not extensively explored the trade patterns of pottery produced outside Japan, a preliminary look suggests that such goods, including Chinese porcelains and Korean celadons, were in high demand even in the countryside. In Kagawa Prefecture (medieval Sanuki Province) alone, pottery from China has been found at numerous locations, particularly at coastal sites. Most often dating to between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, the range implies that medieval trade goods from China were made available through the maritime networks at a relatively regular rate. Many of the highest concentrations of foreign porcelain and celadon were found at sites associated with temple or castle ruins, suggesting that the elite classes had a particular interest in imported goods.11 While it is possible that the temple officials posted to those locations brought their own luxury items, including foreign porcelains, to those outposts, the presence of such artifacts at castle sites suggests demand from local lords as well. Furthermore, Chinese celadons have been found even at smaller sites, such as the Sakokawa and Kubota ruins, part of modern Marugame City. Being located relatively close to the Ōtaba River, these sites were convenient to a route likely used as a passage over a nearby mountain, so would have been suitable loci for shipping. In the medieval period these sites were likely part of Kurikuma Estate, but unlike the sites close to local temples or castles, they had no immediately apparent affiliation with the elite classes. Chinese celadons from the late medieval period were found here, albeit in limited quantities, indicating at least a tenuous connection with trade routes used to transport those items (Kagawa-ken kyōikuiinkai, Zaidan hōjin Kagawaken maizō bunkazai chōsa sentaa, and Kensetsushō Shikoku chihō kensetsu kyoku 1998:32). Even this brief look at the spread of foreign pottery to the peripheries, then, suggests that the trade networks within the Inland Sea were not limited to domestically produced goods but could also access imported wares. Looking at the archaeological data in conjunction with the documentary evidence reveals a wide range of lateral trade, particularly in the case of pottery. In the case of the underwater recoveries of the Bizen pottery with jars packed inside jars, it even suggests alternate ways to interpret the notations of the Register. The tangible evidence remaining of both iron and pottery provides incontrovertible direct evidence of the flow of goods between locales, far from simply the shipping of goods from the points of production in the periphery to the central markets, and even accessing imported trade goods. Local demand shaped trade routes and strengthened connections between even far-flung areas.
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Trade Routes: People The maritime regulations suggest that voyaging together was a common occurrence. Several articles refer to the responsibility of one boat to lend aid to another in trouble, or to rescue individuals in the case of a shipwreck. As the regulations also suggest disputes in the case of allocating profits when cargo was lost or ships were damaged, it is possible that sailors traveling together also acted as witnesses to provide evidence to settle those disputes (Shinjō 1994:777). The Register notes 171 vessels as edabune (“branch ships”), a term used in the maritime regulations as referring to an accompanying ship on a voyage.12 Understanding that this was a common practice further suggests stronger ties between individual captains. With common Japanese names such as Tarō Jirō or Shirō Gorō—roughly equivalent to trying to research the backgrounds of captains named “Bob” or “Joe” in the English-speaking world—and no other corroborating records, scholars have assumed that the captains in the Register were generally untraceable. Captaining a ship is a particular skill, however, especially in the sometimes treacherous waters of the Inland Sea. In a finite geographical area, it is highly unlikely that there were multiple men with the same names plying the waters simultaneously. Examining the captains’ names through a geographic lens reveals that these individuals were indeed traceable, and it furthermore highlights collaboration between captains in their voyages. The voyages of Hyōe Tarō are an excellent example of one such ship captain’s network in play. His name appeared associated with nine ships registered in Matsue, eight in Mihara, and three in Ushimado (once as primary and twice as secondary captain) (Figure 7.3). The ships often arrived within one or two days of each other, and in one case a Hyōe Tarō–captained vessel from Matsue and Mihara arrived on the same day. Since the same individual could not be physically captaining both vessels, at first glance it seems impossible that this was the same individual in every case. When considering the names of the captains of other ships that arrived in Hyōgo on the same days, though, the question becomes more complex. The same names appeared regularly, hailing from nearby ports—Yura, Murotsu, Hibi, and the same for Matsue, Mihara, and Ushimado, though the majority of ships were registered to Mihara. The table below details the names of the accompanying captains and the ports they were registered to, along with the type (Matsue, Mihara, or Ushimado) of Hyōe Tarō–captained vessel that they arrived in Hyōgo alongside (Table 7.1). Regardless of whether Hyōe Tarō’s ships were from Matsue or Mihara, the names of the accompanying captains
Analysis of Traders & Trade Goods in Late Medieval Seto Inland Sea
Figure 7.3. Ports affiliated with Hyōe Tarō and his extended network. (Map by author)
were often the same: Emon Gorō, Mata Gorō, Gorō Tarō and others, mostly from Mihara, accompanied Hyōe Tarō’s boats regularly. In looking at cargo carried, all of the cargo from Hyōe Tarō’s Mihara and Matsue vessels as well as their accompanying ships consisted of salt labeled “Mihara,” a geographic affiliation indicating the salt’s production location, with Hyōe Tarō’s ships often carrying the largest cargo. The Ushimado vessels were exceptions; when Hyōe Tarō was primary captain it carried rice, and in both secondary captaincies the cargo was Shima salt. With the common cargoes combined with the connections between the individual captains, it seems likely that this was indeed the same Hyōe Tarō affiliated with all of the ships. The maritime regulations suggest that the shipowner and ship’s captain could be the same or could be two different individuals. Hyōe Tarō may have based himself in Mihara, where he was accepted into that network of other ships’ captains, and also owned boats (or in the Ushimado cases where he is listed as secondary captain, perhaps shares in vessels) registered in other ports. If Hyōe Tarō were the ship owner but had someone else piloting his vessel, his name may have been written in the Register as the person primarily responsible for
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Table 7.1. Hyōe Tarō Boats and Networks Hyōe Tarō Vessels Port Registry
Number of Boats*
Matsue
9
Mihara
Ushimado
8
3
Accompanying Vessels Accompanying Captain
Port Affiliation (s)
Number of Boats*
Emon Tarō
Mihara
1
Hibi
1
Gorō Tarō
Mihara
3
Mata Gorō
Mihara
2
Kanimori Tarō
Mihara
3
Taifu Jirō
Mihara
1
Emon Tarō
Mihara
6
Gorō Tarō
Mihara
3
Mata Gorō
Mihara
2
Kanimori Tarō
Mihara
1
Yura
1
Taifu Jirō
Mihara
1
Emon Jirō
Murotsu
3
Hyōe Jirō
Matsue
2
Gorō Tarō
Mihara
1
Emon Jirō
Murotsu
1
Hyōe Jirō
Matsue
2
Note: * “Number of Boats” denotes the total number of vessels captained by the same person from the same port of registry. For example, Hyōe Tarō captained nine total boats from Matsue in 1445. The captains of the accompanying vessels listed to the right may have sailed with Hyōe Tarō’s Matsue boats from one to three times, and sometimes the same individual captained boats registered in different locations (e.g., Emon Tarō who accompanied Hyōe Tarō’s Matsue boats once on a Mihara and once on a Hibi boat).
the ship and its cargo. The fact that he was an established member of the extant Mihara-based network allowed his boats from Matsue to join the voyages to Hyōgo, all carrying salt from Mihara. There are many such examples of captains’ networks that are revealed through a geographic analysis of individual names in the Register. The impli-
Analysis of Traders & Trade Goods in Late Medieval Seto Inland Sea
cations of this for the study of medieval Japanese labor practices are worth noting. Skilled workers, such as the ships’ captains, could be affiliated with ships registered to different ports in entirely different provinces. Most studies of medieval laborers, who were by their nature tied to the land they cultivated, focus on the agrarian sector. Examining maritime practices shows that labor mobility may have been more possible than had been previously thought. In cases such as Hyōe Tarō’s, if he was indeed the ship owner for the Matsue vessels, it also implies the ability of individuals to own property in diverse regions—a privilege generally thought to have been reserved for members of the upper classes. Examining the geographic ties between the ship’s captains simultaneously suggests the potential for their mobility and their property owning.
Disputed Port Sites: Combining Cargoes and Captains Most of the locations of the more than 100 ports named in the 1445 Register can be identified relatively easily even half a millennium later. Several sites, however, are still in question. Conducting this type of geospatial analysis helps provide insight into the probable locations of those disputed port sites. The four locations in contention are the abovementioned Mihara, as well as Minamiura, Hirayama, and Inunoshima (Figure 7.4). Considering the connections shown by both trade goods and captains’ activities can help clarify the likelier locations. Several entries in the Register for Mihara are denoted specifically as “Mihara-Bingo.” Initial analyses of the Register assumed that all ships from Mihara were therefore registered in Bingo Province. It is far more likely, however, that the Mihara that lacked the Bingo notation was a second port located on Awaji Island. The first clue to this comes from an analysis of salt trade patterns (see Figure 7.5 for a map indicating the medieval names of provinces). Nearly all ports shipping salts labeled with the “Mihara” production point were located on Awaji or points east towards Hyōgo. Had the Mihara salt come from Bingo, then there would have been no reason for it to bypass all of the Bitchū, Bizen, and Sanuki ports in favor of Awaji; it is far more likely that the production point was Mihara in Awaji. Tracing rice shipments provides further evidence that Awaji was the correct location, as the port of Mihara shipped only bales of rice with a notation of “Awaji.” The above analysis of Hyōe Tarō and his networks also suggests that Mihara was in Awaji, as his Mihara boats are often accompanied by other captains hailing from Awaji ports. The likelihood of a Bingo-based captain having such strong ties with so many Awaji-based captains is much slimmer.
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Figure 7.4. Map showing disputed port sites and potential locations. (Map by author)
Analysis of Traders & Trade Goods in Late Medieval Seto Inland Sea
Figure 7.5. Map of medieval Japanese provinces. Modified and used with permission from Dr. Joan Piggot.
Hirayama’s location is less clear but with regard to salt shipments still seems to be more associated with Sanuki than Bitchū. Salts from ports on the Sanuki coast and the Kojima peninsula in Bizen, the latter of which were often transshipped through other Sanuki ports, comprised most of Hirayama's salt shipments. Shipping salt from both locales to Hirayama-B would have been backtracking en route to Hyōgo, while Hirayama-S was more central to the production of Sanuki coastal salts and was closer to other transshipment points for Kojima salt. Based on salt analysis, then, it is likely that Hirayama was located in Sanuki, not Bitchū, Province. Exploring connections between ships’ captains strengthens the case for placing Hirayama in Sanuki. Of the 19 Hirayama-registered vessels, all but one arrived in Hyōgo with other ships from Sanuki Province. Only three arrived on the same day as other ships from Bitchū. The individual captains’ networks are less defined, but of the captains who were affiliated with multiple ports including Hirayama, none also piloted vessels from Bitchū ports. In contrast, captains such as Shin Saemon, who helmed three Hirayama boats, also sailed on ships from the adjacent Aki province. Tarō Saemon captained six vessels registered to Hirayama, as well as boats from Bingo, Sanuki, and Iyo Provinces. All of these locations were closer to the Hirayama-Sanuki site than the Hirayama-Bitchū site, suggesting that Sanuki would indeed have been the correct placement.
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Minamiura has been commonly accepted as part of modern-day Kurashiki city (medieval Bitchū Province) but also might have been located at the southern tip of Ikuchi Island (medieval Aki Province) (Takebayashi 1994:3). Inunoshima has been thought to have been located in Bizen Province but could also have been an alternative reading for Innoshima in Aki Province. In determining the accurate locations, it is first important to note that boats from Minamiura brought 1,240 koku of Bingo salt to Hyōgo, a significant amount. Sites east of Minamiura in Bitchū that also shipped Bingo salt included the disputed site of Inunoshima with 2,340 koku, Utazu (Sanuki Province) with 580 koku, and Ushimado (Bizen Province) with 2,912 koku. Utazu and Ushimado were transshipment hubs, as both ports also sent a combination of different types of salts to Hyōgo. As such, it is unsurprising that they would also include Bingo shipments on their vessels. The Bingo-only shipments from Minamiura and Inunoshima, though, are farther east than the alternate choices of Minamiura-aki and Innoshima, both of which were surrounded by other ports shipping Bingo salt. The quantities and proximity to other ports handling Bingo salt suggest that the accurate locations of both these ports were in Bingo or Aki provinces. Ships from both ports sent only Bingo salt to Hyōgo, implying more of a connection to Bingo and Aki than to Bizen or Bitchū; but other ports east of Bingo also shipped Bingo salt, so salt trade alone does not definitively answer the question. Factoring in the network of ships’ captains, however, strongly suggests that both ports were located in the western provinces. Twelve boats registered to Inunoshima arrived in Hyōgo over the course of the year. Ten arrived with ships from Aki or Bingo provinces, while only eight arrived with ships from Bizen Province, suggesting stronger ties with the Aki and Bingo areas. Saburō Kurō, a captain who often accompanied other boats registered to Setoda, piloted six of the Inunoshima ships, and his name was not associated with any other ports besides Inunoshima. Kurō Gorō piloted four of the Inunoshima boats, and his name was also recorded once on a boat from the adjacent Yuge (Iyo Province) and once from the far-removed Hirajima in Awa Province. Mori captained only one Inunoshima boat, but he was also recorded on five boats registered in Mitsunoshō, a port located on the same island of Innoshima. The twelfth boat was captained by Sōa, the only time that name is seen in the Register. Except for the lone instance of Kurō Gorō in Hirajima, the geographic proximity of all of these men combined with the accompanying ships and Bingo salt cargo strongly suggests that Inunoshima was in fact located in Bingo Province, not in Bizen. The nine Minamiura boats showed a similar trend. Eight of the nine boats
Analysis of Traders & Trade Goods in Late Medieval Seto Inland Sea
arrived with vessels from Aki, Bingo, or Iyo provinces, usually from ports on one of the adjacent islands. Only six arrived with boats from Bitchū province, and three of those six arrived in Hyōgo on the same day. Shichirō Hyōe, another captain with connections to other boats registered to Setoda, was only affiliated in the Register with five Minamiura vessels. Shirō Jirō was also part of that same network and was associated with three Minamiura boats, twice with the notation “Sunoe” next to his name. Sunoe is a placename on the southern tip of Ikuchi Island, strengthening Minamiura’s connection to that location. Shirō Jirō’s name was associated with single vessels from the nearby Onomichi and Mihara (Bingo Province) ports, as well as the farther Utazu, Sakihama, and Sakoshi ports. While it is unclear if these were all the same Shirō Jirō or if there were multiple individuals by that name, the Bingo-based ships were all likely to have been associated with the same man. Kurō Hyōe piloted the ninth ship, and his name was found in the Register only on that single boat. His ship arrived in Hyōgo on the twelfth day of the twelfth month, accompanied by both Shichirō Hyōe and Shirō Jirō. Again, the geographic relationship between the men and the cargoes strengthens the likelihood that Minamiura was in Aki Province. Through tracing the trade goods and connections between the ships’ captains, then, it becomes possible to further pinpoint the original locations of these disputed sites. This becomes important in considering the wider span of the Inland Sea trade networks, as it helps track the likeliest shipping routes for a variety of cargoes. Though none of the disputed sites would be considered major shipping hubs, due to their relatively small total volumes shipped and limited product types, each of them becomes one link in the greater network of the Inland Sea. Currently, none of the disputed sites have undergone extensive archaeological excavation that could further define their role in that network, but this type of geospatial analysis will help clarify the path of trade goods to and from these locations.
Conclusion Though this chapter focuses on domestic trade routes in medieval Japan before direct interactions with the Western world began, the principles outlined here are still relevant to later maritime connections. Tracking the movements of people and goods suggests a high degree of autonomy and the involvement of local individuals in unofficial trade. This trend likely continued in later centuries, as demonstrated by scholars of early modern Japan, such as Robert Hellyer, who have focused on the role of regional agency in coastal Shikoku
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communities for foreign trade (Hellyer 2005:1–24). His findings support the idea that local regions removed from the central court enjoyed direct, unofficial dealings with trade ships from abroad. The captains’ networks may have been useful in facilitating Western trade as well. Peter Shapinsky’s analysis of portolans (nautical charts) from early modern Japan shows their hybrid nature, using a mixture of Western and Asian scripts and iconographies (Shapinsky 2006:5). He suggests that the ships’ crews in the sixteenth century were largely a mixture of nationalities and that the captains were the arbiters of knowledge on board, responsible for the safety of the ship and its crew and for keeping accurate charts and records (Shapinsky 2006:15). The maritime networks of the Inland Sea show that collaboration between captains was already common practice, which could have easily extended their reach in cooperating with foreign captains in later years. Privileging the geography and incorporating both documentary and archaeological evidence helps identify routes for particular trade goods, locations for disputed port sites, and the networks of ships’ captains that plied those seas. The connections shown through this geographic analysis, while focused on domestic trade, represent the importance of the Inland Sea region as a shipping center. The volume of trade goods and the connections among the people suggest the growth of local economic development, emphasizing the complex networks and common maritime practices within medieval Japan.
Acknowledgments I am grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of the panel that Dr. Mark Staniforth and Dr. María Cruz Berrocal coordinated for the Second Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, in 2014, which among others has led to this publication. I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Joan Piggott, for her support at the University of Southern California. Financial support from the USC Provost’s Fellowship and the Fulbright Doctoral Fellowship for research both in the United States and Japan was critical. Chiaki Tatsumi of the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology was a wonderful resource for GIS mapping in Japan. The Tokyo University Historiographical Institution and Meiji University both generously opened their archives to me. I am indebted to many people for their feedback during this process, but most especially to Dr. Kurt Knoerl and Dr. Sachiko Kawai.
Analysis of Traders & Trade Goods in Late Medieval Seto Inland Sea
Notes 1. For the purposes of this chapter, the premodern era is defined as the pre-Tokugawa era (i.e., prior to 1603), and the medieval period refers to the Kamakura through Muromachi/ Sengoku periods (1185–1603). The focus of this chapter is largely the late medieval as represented by the Muromachi era (1337–1573). 2. Peter Shapinsky (2014:71–81) has outlined the process of substituting salt for rice in the case of Yugeshima Estate. 3. This number does not reflect the number of ships that made each voyage, simply the number of voyages between Japan and the mainland. It also does not include pirate voyages or the seaborne Mongol invasions of Japan. 4. The port of registry was not necessarily the beginning point of each boat’s voyage to Hyōgo, though in many cases it is likely that they were indeed the same. 5. The word kaisen literally translates to “ship going from place to place” and usually refers specifically to a coastal trade ship. Since some of the articles in the regulations refer to riverboats, port regulations, and personnel issues, I have chosen to translate this as “maritime” rules or regulations. 6. The possible exception here may be the port of Kōri. One ship brought 1,000 coins to Hyōgo. Since it is not clear where those coins were manufactured, though, it is impossible to say whether they were minted using iron from local forges or whether the coins were perhaps imported directly from China. 7. One kiln in the Furōzan area of Inbe was nearly 40 m long, which suggests that it was producing pottery from at least the early Muromachi era. 8. Murotsu-Hyōgo is different from the port of Murotsu in the Register. The latter is in Awaji Province. 9. In this context, a koku was a unit of weight measurement. The exact weight of a medieval koku is unclear. 10. An article in the maritime laws also suggests that rice was a packing material around fragile items. 11. Information about the various sites in Kagawa Prefecture can be found on the Archaeological Reports of Kagawa website: http://iseki.lib.kagawa-u.ac.jp/Repository/. 12. Flagships are referred to as honsen/motobune in the maritime regulations. The Register does not denote any boats as honsen but do have several notations of nagabune (longboat), which may have been another term for flagship.
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Hayashiya, Tatsusaburo (editor) 1981 Hyōgo Kitaseki Irifune Nōchō [Register of incoming ships at the Hyōgo North Gate]. Chuo Kōron Bijutsu Shuppan, Tokyo. Hellyer, Robert I. 2005 The Missing Pirate and the Pervasive Smuggler: Regional Agency in Coastal Defence, Trade, and Foreign Relations in Nineteenth-Century Japan. International History Review 27(1):1–24. Imaya, Akira 1988 Tetsu wo hakonda fune [The ships that carried iron]. In Zoku tetsu no bunkashi: Nihon no kiseki to tōzai no kaikō [Continued cultural history of iron: Japan’s trajectories and East–West encounters]. Shin Nihon seitetsu kōhōshitsu, ed. pp. 45–57. Toyo Keizai Shinposha, Tokyo. Kagawa-ken kyōikuiinkai, Zaidan hōjin Kagawa-ken maizō bunkazai chōsa sentaa, and Kensetsushō Shikoku chihōkensetsukyoku 1998 Kokudō baipasu kensetsu ni tomonau maizō bunkazai hakkutsu chōsa gaihō Heisei nendo [Fiscal year report on the excavation for buried cultural resources in response to the construction of the highway bypass]. Kagawa-ken maizō bunka sentaa, Kagawa Prefecture. Kamiki, Tetsuō 1996 Chūsei no Setonaikai to Hyōgo-Tsu: “Hyōgo Kitaseki Irifune Nōchō” ga kataru mono [The medieval Seto Inland Sea and Hyōgo Harbor: What the “Register of Incoming Ships at the Hyōgo North Gate” Tells Us]. In Rekishi kaidō no taaminaru: Hyōgo no tsu no monogatari [Terminus of the Historic Sea Route: The story of Hyōgo Harbor], edited by Tetsuō Kamiki and Masahiro Sakiyama, pp. 103–150. Kobe Shinbun Sōgo Shuppatsu Sentaa, Kobe, Japan. Makabe, Yoshiko 2009 Bizen-Yaki memo: “Hyōgo Kitaseki Irifune Nōchō” no tsubo to suribachi [Bizen pottery memo: Tsubo and Suribachi in the “Register of Incoming Ships at the Hyōgo North Gate”]. In Kōkogaku no shiten: Seikatsu ishiki no kōkogaku [Archaeological perspectives: Archaeology focusing on lifestyles], pp. 224–236. Unizuka Insatsu Kabushiki Gaisha, Okayama-shi. Matsushita, Masashi 1994 Umoreta minatomachi Kusadosengen, Tomo, Onomichi [Buried port towns of Kusado Sengen, Tomo, and Onomichi]. Heibonsha, Tokyo. Nakagawa, Takeshi 2008 Ceramics Unearthed at the Furuaboshi Site in Hyogo Prefecture. Trade Ceramics Studies 28:118–125. NPO hōjin suichū kōkogaku kenkyūjo 2010 2009 Nendo Kagawa-Ken, Okayama-Ken no shiryō chōsa ni tsuite [About the studies of Okayama and Kagawa Prefecture materials, fiscal year 2009]. Suichū kōkogaku kenkyū [Studies in underwater archaeology] 3:72–76. Sakurai, Eiji, and Satoru Nakanishi 2002 Ryūtsū keizaishi [Economic history of circulation], vol. 12. Shin taikei nihonshi. Yamakawa Shuppansha, Tokyo.
Analysis of Traders & Trade Goods in Late Medieval Seto Inland Sea
San’yō Shinbunsha (editor) 1978 Kaitei no kobizen: Mizunoko iwa gakushutsu chōsa kiroku [Ancient Bizen on the ocean floor: Records of the academic survey of Mizunoko-iwa]. Sanyo Shinbunsha, Okayama-shi. Segal, Ethan 2009 Awash with Coins: The Spread of Money in Early Medieval Japan. In Currents in Medieval Japanese History: Essays in Honor of Jeffrey P. Mass, edited by Gordon Mark Berger, pp. 330–361. Figueroa Press, Los Angeles. Shapinsky, Peter D. 2006 Polyvocal Portolans: Nautical Charts and Hybrid Maritime Cultures In Early Modern East Asia. Early Modern Japan 14:4–26. 2014 Lords of the Sea: Pirates, Violence, and Commerce in Late Medieval Japan. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. Shinjō, Tsunezō 1994 Chūsei suiunshi no kenkyū [Studies of medieval maritime shipping]. Hanawa Shobo, Tokyo. Takebayashi, Eiichi 1994 Chūsei Setouchi no shōhin ryūtsū [Circulation of trade goods in the Medieval Seto Inland Sea]. Kenkyū Hōkoku, Okayama Kenritsu Hakubutsukan 15:2–30. Takeuchi, Rizō 1971 Kamakura ibun [Documents of Kamakura]. Komonjo Hen. Shohan. Tōkyōdō Shuppan, Tōkyō. Tonomura, Hitomi 1992 Community and Commerce in Late Medieval Japan: The Corporate Villages of Tokuchin-Ho. Stanford University Press, Palo Alto. Verschuer, Charlotte von 2006 Across the Perilous Sea: Japanese Trade with China and Korea from the Seventh to the Sixteenth Centuries. Cornell East Asia Series. East Asia Program, Cornell University, Ithaca.
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8 The Trade Networks of Japanese Porcelain in the Asia-Pacific Region
Takenori Nogami
Introduction Since the Middle Ages, East Asian porcelains had been exported to West Asia via the Indian Ocean. Especially from the late sixteenth century to the early seventeenth, Chinese porcelains were directly exported from Asia to Europe by Portuguese and Dutch ships. The Indian Ocean route was the main maritime route for trading ceramics. On the other hand, Spanish ships started to transport Chinese porcelains from Asia to the American continent also in the late sixteenth century. In 1571 Spain founded Manila City for the rule of the Philippines and the Asian trade. Fernando de Magallanes had crossed the Pacific Ocean half a century before. After the city of Manila had been built, the Manila–Acapulco galleon trade route was soon established (Figure 8.1). It functioned as a long-distance and large-scale sea trade route connecting the Asian world with the American continent until the early nineteenth century. Many Asian goods, such as silks and spices, were exported to the American continent by the Spanish galleons. Moreover, some of them were shipped to Europe. On the other hand, many of the New World’s goods, including Mexican silver, crossed the Pacific Ocean and were brought to the Asian world. The cargoes sent from Manila to Acapulco included Chinese porcelain as well. Therefore, many pieces of Chinese porcelain were salvaged from the San Diego, one of the galleon ships that sank off Manila in 1600 (see Orillaneda, this volume). Moreover, we have found many pieces of Chinese porcelain at archaeological sites in the American continent, which testify to an active ceramics trade in those days.
Trade Networks of Japanese Porcelain in the Asia-Pacific Region
Figure 8.1. Map of the galleon trade route and places mentioned in the text.
However, in the middle of the seventeenth century, the Chinese dynasty changed from Ming to Qing. The civil war caused by this dynastic change had as a consequence the decrease in export of Chinese porcelain. Moreover, the Qing promulgated an embargo law to try to stop Ming loyalists from fighting the newly installed dynasty. As a result, Japanese porcelains instead of Chinese porcelains were exported abroad during the late part of the seventeenth century. Japanese porcelains were transported following the same trade routes as the Chinese. I give in this chapter an account of the finds of Japanese porcelain unearthed in Asia and Latin America, and I discuss the relationship between the galleon trade and Japanese porcelain, as well as the trade routes used for export of this Japanese production under the embargo law promulgated by the Qing dynasty.
The Beginnings of Export of Japanese Porcelain At the end of the sixteenth century, Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent his troops to the Korean Peninsula. His subordinates brought many Korean potters from
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Figure 8.2. Map of Japan and Hizen area, with Saga and Nagasaki prefectures at present.
the Korean Peninsula to Japan, where ceramics were desired for the art of the tea ceremony. The Korean potters started first to produce stoneware with a glaze, called Karatsu ware. They discovered promising raw materials near the border between Saga and Nagasaki prefectures in the first half of the seventeenth century: Izumiyama kaolin in Arita, and Mitsunomata kaolin in Hasami. As a result, during the early seventeenth century, the first production of porcelain in Japan started in the Hizen area (Figure 8.2) in the northwestern part of Kyushu Island. The center of the porcelain production was Arita. In those days, many Chinese porcelains were still being exported to overseas markets, including the market in Japan; therefore, the market share of Japanese porcelain was very small. But after Hizen potters found abundant resources of good quality in the 1630s, the production of porcelain escalated and was established as a steady industry. Hizen porcelain extended the domestic market in the 1630s and 1640s. As mentioned above, in the middle of the seventeenth century, there was a dynastic change in China from Ming to Qing, and the civil war that took place caused a decrease in the export of Chinese porcelain. As a result, the production of Japanese porcelain increased; it began to dominate the domestic market in Japan as a replacement for the Chinese porcelain, which
Trade Networks of Japanese Porcelain in the Asia-Pacific Region
was also in short supply in the markets of Southeast Asia and other areas in Asia. Therefore, Japanese porcelain started to be exported to overseas markets in the 1640s. There is documentary evidence of this trade; for example, Yamawaki Teijiro published a document that showed a Chinese ship carrying “174 straw bags of inferior porcelain” from Nagasaki to Cambodia via Thailand in 1647 (Yamawaki 1988:265). He points out the possibility that “inferior porcelain,” or porcelain of poor quality, was Japanese, and he believes this document to be the first record about the export of Japanese porcelain. The document shows us that Japanese porcelain of those days was still “inferior” to Chinese porcelain, especially Jingdezhen ware. Ohashi Koji has also found some evidence that Japanese porcelain was exported abroad in the 1640s (Ohashi 1990). He has also made some observations on several pieces of Japanese porcelain found in Vietnam and Indonesia, pointing out that some of them were produced in the 1640s. Between 1656 and 1684 the Qing dynasty administration restricted maritime access to China to reduce the power of Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong), who continually resisted the Qing dynasty supported by sea trade. After losing access to Chinese porcelain, the Zheng family began to deal in Japanese porcelain instead of Chinese and exported it mainly to Southeast Asia. Thus, Koxinga became one of the most important merchants in Japanese porcelain. As a result of this increase in export, the number of kilns in Hizen suddenly increased, most of them aiming at the Asian market. Japanese porcelain rapidly spread in the Asian market. Many pieces of Japanese porcelain have been found at archaeological sites in Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia (Nogami 2008). Also, Dutch ships exported Japanese porcelains from Nagasaki, to both Asia and Europe. Therefore, many pieces of Japanese porcelain are currently stored in palaces and castles around Europe. In 1683 the Zheng family finally ceased resistance and surrendered to the Qing. The following year the Qing dynasty lifted the embargo, and Chinese porcelain regained the Asian market, ousting Japanese porcelain. Although the Dutch continued exporting Japanese porcelain from Nagasaki, Chinese merchants stopped the trade of Japanese porcelain and resumed that of Chinese porcelain.
The Main Types and Techniques of Japanese Porcelain The market of Japanese porcelains was mainly divided into domestic and overseas. Additionally, the overseas market was divided into Southeast
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Asian and European. When Japanese potters began to produce porcelain for the overseas market, they imitated Chinese porcelain. For example, they produced the blue and white bowl with ariso design for the Southeast Asian market (Figures 8.3.3, 8.3.4), imitating Chinese porcelain with the design of wave and fish (Figures 8.3.1, 8.3.2). Ariso means “wave-beaten shore” in
Figure 8.3. The main types and techniques of Japanese porcelain.
Figure 8.4. Porcelain excavated in Nagasaki, Tainan area, and Macao.
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Japanese. Blue and white bowls with ariso design were produced all around the Hizen area in the second half of the seventeenth century, being one of the most popular Japanese porcelains found in Southeast Asia. They also produced blue and white dishes (Figures 8.3.6) with flower designs for European people, imitating Kraak ware (Figures 8.3.5) produced in Jingdezhen, China. Japanese porcelains with Kraak design were divided into two qualities. Porcelains of high quality were generally produced at the kilns in the Uchiyama area (e.g., Hiekoba kiln and Nakashirakawa kiln) in Arita, while those of low quality were produced at the kilns in the Sotoyama area in Arita, the kilns in Hasami (e.g., Nakao-uwanobori kiln), and the kilns in Ureshino (e.g., Yoshida kiln). As mentioned above, many Korean potters were brought into Japan, where they introduced new production techniques. Therefore, the basic technique of Japanese porcelain production was not Chinese but Korean, although the design and shape of Japanese and Chinese porcelain were very similar. However, the technique of overglaze enamel was not introduced from Korea, because it did not exist there in those days. Therefore, the potters in Japan had to introduce the technique from China in the 1640s. Moreover, there were several characteristic techniques in the production of Japanese porcelain. For example, Japanese potters used cone-shaped supports called hari to avoid deformation of the piece (Figure 8.3.7). Hari means “pin” in Japanese. They put some pins under the bottom of dishes when fired in the kiln. Although they removed all pins after they finished firing, the marks remained in the bottom. Since Chinese potters used hari rarely, we can distinguish between Chinese and Japanese porcelain dishes by checking for the marks of hari. The patterns were generally drawn with a brush. However, some patterns were applied with a kind of cowhide stamp. Although the stamp technique was common among Japanese, Vietnamese and Chinese potters between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, its origins are not clear. In Japan, the stamp technique is called Konnyaku-imban (Figure 8.3.8). Japanese potters began to use it at the end of the seventeenth century.
Archaeological Findings of Japanese Porcelain in Seaport Cities in Asia In this section, I provide a thorough description of the findings of Japanese porcelain in different archaeological sites in Asia.
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Nagasaki The history of Nagasaki port started when Ohmura Sumitada built a port in 1570. The following year, Portuguese ships came to Nagasaki for trade. In those days Nagasaki was a cosmopolitan city where Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, African, and Southeast Asian people, Chinese and Korean, lived together. But the administration of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the later Tokugawa shogunate often promulgated edicts banning Christianity, because they feared both the Christian increase and aggression from European countries. The Tokugawa shogunate enforced the policy of seclusion more strongly. In 1635 the Tokugawa shogunate prohibited Japanese people from going abroad and returning to Japan. Again in 1639 Portuguese ships were prohibited from visiting Nagasaki, and the sakoku system was completed. This policy was continued during the entire Edo period, when Nagasaki was the only international commercial trade port in Japan. Only Dutch and Chinese ships were allowed entry to Nagasaki port until the middle of the nineteenth century. A conflagration spread over the city of Nagasaki in 1663. This fire has been documented in an archaeological layer at Kozen-machi site, one of the archaeological sites of the old city in Nagasaki. Figure 8.4.1 shows Japanese porcelains unearthed below the layer of the conflagration, which I suggest were produced just prior to it in 1663. Therefore, they show us the condition of export productions immediately after the ban on maritime activities by the Qing dynasty. On the other hand, Figures 8.4.2 and 8.4.3 show the condition of the final stage of the ban on maritime activities. These porcelains were unearthed under the foundation of Tojin-yashiki. Tojin means “Chinese people,” and yashiki means “residence.” The Tokugawa shogunate built Tojin-yashiki to accommodate Chinese people in 1688–1689, when many Chinese traders came to Nagasaki immediately after the Qing lifted the embargo in 1684. We can see many pieces of Chinese porcelain, too.
Table 8.1. Catalog of Porcelain Found in Nagasaki Figure
Site
Description
Dates
Decorative Place of Motif Production
8.4.1
Kozen-machi site
Blue and white
1650–1660s
—
Hizen area
8.4.2
Tojin-yashiki site
Blue and white, etc.
1670–1680s
—
Hizen area
8.4.3
Tojin-yashiki site
Blue and white, etc.
1670–1680s
—
China
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Taiwan In Taiwan the most prominent figures in the trade of Japanese export porcelain were Koxinga and the Zheng family. They exported Japanese porcelain during the ban on maritime activities imposed by the Qing. Koxinga had, in fact, been born in Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture, in 1624. His father, Zheng Zhilong, was Chinese, and his mother, Tagawa Matsu, was Japanese. Although Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing, Koxinga continued to resist. First he was based in Amoy (Xiamen) and Kinmen, in the Fujian Province. From there he sent troops to Taiwan in 1661 and defeated the Dutch in 1662. As a result he moved his headquarters to Tainan, in Taiwan, which became his main base until the Zheng family surrendered to the Qing in 1683. Consequently, Tainan became one of the most important relay-ports of the porcelain trade. Concerning the archaeological evidence of the Japanese porcelain trade in Tainan, several Japanese porcelains and stoneware sherds have been discussed by Ming-liang Hsieh and Takashi Sakai (Figures 8.4.4 and 8.4.5; Hsieh 1996). Although such specimens show the connections between Japanese porcelain and Taiwan, they cannot be taken as direct evidence that Tainan was a relay-
Table 8.2. Catalog of Japanese Porcelain Found in Taiwan Place of Production
Figure Site
Description
Dates
Decorative Motif
8.4.4
Old City of Zuoying
Blue and white bowl
1650–1670s
8.4.5
Old City of Zuoying
Blue and white dish
1650–1670s
Flower design. Arita kiln Sen-ming characters inside its foot. Flower design Arita kiln
8.4.6
Shenei site
Blue and white dish
1660–1680s
Flower design. Kraak style.
8.4.7
Shenei site
Blue and white bowl
1660–1670s
8.4.8
Shenei site
Blue and white bowl
1660–1680s
Arita kiln Sen-ming (Xuanming in Chinese) characters inside its foot Ariso design (wave Hizen area and fish design)
8.4.9
Shenei site
Blue and white bottle
1660–1680s
Bamboo and leaf design
Hizen area
8.4.10
Tainan City
Blue and white bowl
1660–1680s
Sen-ming (Xuanming in Chinese) nen-sei characters inside its foot
Arita kiln
Arita kiln
Trade Networks of Japanese Porcelain in the Asia-Pacific Region
Figure 8.5. Japanese porcelain excavated in Manila. (Courtesy of National Museum of the Philippines)
port within the trade network of Japanese porcelain, since they are commonly seen in Japanese markets of those days and do not belong to the typical export style found in Southeast Asia and the European world. In 2003–2004, Kuang-ti Li carried out excavations at Shenei site near Tainan City (Li 2004). After examination by Tai-kang Lu, it was found that four pieces
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of Japanese porcelain were included among the findings (Figures 8.4.6 and 8.4.9). Also a sherd of Japanese porcelain was found during the construction of an underground shopping area in Tainan City (Figure 8.4.10) (Li, personal communication 2005). Since these specimens included typical export-style porcelain for Southeast Asia (Figure 8.4.8) and the European world (Figure 8.4.6), it is possible to assume that Tainan indeed worked as one of the relayports in the regional trade network (Nogami, Kuang-ti, et al. 2005).
Macao In the mid-sixteenth century, Portugal obtained residence rights in Macao and established for the first time a European settlement in China. Portugal made Macao the base for its trade in Asia. At the beginnings of the Age of Geographical Discovery, Portugal reached East Asia and came into contact also with Japan. Some Portuguese arrived at Tanegashima Island in Kagoshima prefecture on Chinese ships and introduced matchlock guns in 1543. They promoted trade between Portugal and Japan through the spread of Christianity. Macao was prosperous thanks to the trade of raw silk and silver, in particular with Nagasaki. The collection of porcelain in the Macao Museum shows this prosperity. However, as mentioned above, the Tokugawa shogunate prohibited Portuguese ships visiting Nagasaki in 1639. With this measure, the exchange between Portuguese Macao and Japan was virtually over. Although Portuguese ships visited Nagasaki and demanded that commerce reopen in 1640 and 1647, the Tokugawa shogunate refused, and Portuguese ships never returned to Japan under the sakoku policy. In Macao, Japanese porcelain has been found at Monte Fortress site and St. Augustine site. Monte Fortress site, a fort, is located on a hill, 52 m above sea level. The construction of the battery started in 1617, was completed in 1626, and is now the location of the Macao Museum. Several excavations have been carried out and have produced numerous findings of porcelain. The St. Augustine site is located around St. Augustine’s Square. Many historical buildings, such as the St. Augustine Church, built in 1591, still remain standing in the area. In 2005 and 2010, I investigated specimens excavated from the Monte Fortress and St. Augustine sites in collaboration with the Macao Museum (Nogami 2005). As a result, 11 pieces of Japanese porcelain were identified (Figures 8.4.11 and 8.4.16). All pieces were produced around Arita in the late seventeenth century and are blue and white porcelains, including small cups, bowls, dishes, and a shaving bowl. Several shapes and sizes of cups were produced in
Trade Networks of Japanese Porcelain in the Asia-Pacific Region
Table 8.3. Catalog of Japanese Porcelain Found in Macao Decorative Motif
Place of Production
1660–1680s
Pine and plum design. Tai-ming characters inside its foot.
Hizen area
Monte Fortress Blue and site white bowl
1650–1670s
Flower design inside. Tai-ming characters inside its foot.
Hizen area
8.4.13
Monte Fortress Blue and site white bowl
1650–1670s
Peony flower design
Arita kiln
8.4.14
Monte Fortress Blue and site white cup
1650–1670s
Bamboo and leaf Hizen area design
8.4.15
Monte Fortress Blue and site white dish.
1660–1670s
Flower design. Arita kiln Kraak style. It has some small holes for repair in its backside.
8.4.16
Monte Fortress Blue and white 1670–1700s site shaving bowl
Figure
Site
Description
8.4.11
Monte Fortress Blue and site white bowl
8.4.12
Dates
Pine pattern design.
Arita kiln
Arita (e.g., coffee, tea, and chocolate cups). The one found in Macao is a coffee cup. And the shaving bowl has similarities to another unearthed from Arita kiln. There are also shaving bowls of similar design in collections in Europe, for example, in the Hermitage Museum in Russia, and in a private collection in the Netherlands.
Philippines Up to the present, I have discovered about 200 pieces of sherds of Japanese porcelain in several archaeological sites in the Philippines. In 2004 I investigated the artifacts excavated in Intramuros, Manila, with the cooperation of the National Museum of the Philippines (Nogami, Orogo, et al. 2005). We found some pieces of Japanese porcelain, the first archaeological evidence ever found that Japanese porcelains were imported to the Philippines. In 2005 we started a joint research program, which rendered more findings. Recently, numerous sherds of Japanese porcelain were discovered in Cebu Is-
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land. José Eleazar Bersales and his team excavated at Boljoon village, located in the southern part of Cebu Island, where they uncovered more Japanese porcelain (De Leon et al. 2009; Bersales and De Leon 2011). I took part in the excavation of Boljoon in 2011 and also analyzed specimens from the Plaza Independencia site. I was able to identify further Japanese porcelain at both sites. Also Jaime L. Sy and Anthony Abelgas found many pieces of porcelain, including Japanese, while they carried out repair work on some wood columns of the Jesuit House in Cebu City, built in 1730, and located in the Parian (Chinese settlement) area in Cebu City.
Manila City (Table 8.4) Plaza San Luis site The site is located near the San Agustin Church in the central area of Intramuros. At present there are several colonial buildings there (e.g., Casa Manila Museum). At this site some pieces of Japanese porcelain were found in 2004 for the first time in the Philippines (Figures 8.5.1 and 8.5.5), and many others found later (Figures 8.5.6 and 8.5.9). Most of them were dishes with Kraak design. Ayuntamiento site The Ayuntamiento site is located inside Intramuros. At one time the Council (Ayuntamiento, or Casas Consistoriales), stood here. It was first built between 1599 and 1607 but was severely damaged in the earthquakes of 1645 and 1658. It was demolished to make way for a new building constructed in 1735 but was destroyed in another earthquake in 1863. I found some sherds of Japanese porcelain (Figures 8.5.10 and 8.5.15). Most of them were dishes produced between the 1650s and 1680s. Figures 8.5.13 and 8.5.14 were produced between the end of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Beaterio de la Compañía de Jesús site The Beaterio de la Compañía de Jesús site is located inside Intramuros. At one time the motherhouse of the Beaterio de la Compañía de Jesus, the first Filipino congregation of religious women, stood here. I found some sherds of Japanese porcelain at this site (Figures 8.5.16 and 8.5.17). Figure 8.5.16 is similar to sherds found at the Nakao-Uwanobori kiln site in Hasami. Parian site The Parian site is located outside Intramuros, close to its moat. Figure 8.5.20 is a sherd of a bowl with ariso design. As mentioned above, this type of bowl
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is one of the most popular Japanese porcelains found in archaeological sites in Southeast Asia.
Cebu City (Table 8.5) In 1521 Fernando de Magallanes arrived in Cebu Island. Although he was killed in the Battle of Mactan, his subordinates continued their voyage and completed the first voyage around the world. Later, Spanish conquistadors, led by Miguel López de Legazpi, arrived in Cebu in 1565 and founded the city, which was the Spanish capital in the Philippines until Manila was built in 1571.
Table 8.4. Catalog of Japanese Porcelain Found in Manila Figure Site 8.5.1 8.5.2 8.5.3 8.5.4 8.5.5 8.5.6 8.5.7 8.5.8 8.5.9 8.5.10 8.5.11 8.5.12 8.5.13
Description
Dates
Decorative Motif
Plaza San Luis site Blue and white dish 1650–1670s Bird and flowers design Plaza San Luis site Blue and white dish 1660–1680s Flower design. Kraak style. Plaza San Luis site Blue and white dish 1660–1680s Flower design. Kraak style. Plaza San Luis site Blue and white dish 1660–1680s Bamboo and leaves design Plaza San Luis site Blue and white dish 1660–1680s Peony flower design Plaza San Luis site Blue and white dish 1650–1670s Bird and flowers design Plaza San Luis site Blue and white dish 1650–1660s Kraak style Plaza San Luis site Blue and white dish 1660–1680s Flower design. Kraak style. Plaza San Luis site Blue and white dish 1660–1690s Flower design. Kraak style. Ayuntamiento site Blue and white dish 1650–1670s Bird and flower design Ayuntamiento site Blue and white dish 1660–1680s Flower design. Kraak style. Ayuntamiento site Blue and white dish 1660–1680s Flower design. Kraak style. Ayuntamiento site Blue and white dish 1680–1700s Rocks and leaves design by konyaku-imban
Place of Production Hizen area Arita kiln Arita kiln Arita kiln Arita kiln Hizen area Hizen area Arita kiln Arita kiln Hizen area Arita kiln Arita kiln Arita kiln
continued
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Table 8.4.—continued Figure Site
Description
Dates
Decorative Motif
Place of Production
8.5.14 Ayuntamiento site Blue and white dish 1680–1700s Unclear
Arita kiln
8.5.15 Ayuntamiento site Blue and white 1660–1680s Flower design chocolate cup 8.5.16 Beaterio de la Blue and white dish 1660–1680s Chinese ri Compañía de (hi in Japanese), Jesús site character for “sun” 8.5.17 Beaterio de la Blue and white 1680–1700s Arabesque Compañía de chamber pot design Jesús site
Arita kiln
8.5.18 Parian site 8.5.19 Parian site 8.5.20 Parian site 8.5.21 Parian site
Hasami kiln (ex. Nakaouwanobori kiln) Arita kiln
Blue and white dish 1660–1680s Flower and insect Arita kiln design. Kraak style. Blue and white dish 1650–1680s Unclear Hizen area Blue and white bowl 1660–1680s Wave and fish design (ariso design) Blue and white bowl 1660–1680s Dragon design
Hizen area Hizen area
Plaza Independencia site Plaza Independencia site is located in front of the San Pedro Fort. When an underground road was constructed, many fragments of artifacts were unearthed, including some sherds of Japanese porcelain (Figures 8.6.1 and 8.6.5). Jesuit House site The Jesuit House site is located in the Parian area in Cebu City. The building of the Jesuit House was erected in 1730. When Jaime L. Sy, owner of the building, repaired some of its wood columns, he and Anthony Abelgas collected many artifacts from under the foundations. Therefore, those had been already abandoned before the Jesuit House was built. And they included many pieces of Japanese porcelain (Figures 8.6.6 and 8.6.17). There are some sherds of dishes, a chocolate cup, a cover, and box. And we can see tiny hari marks of supports at the bottom of some dishes.
Figure 8.6. Japanese porcelain excavated in Cebu Island.
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Boljoon Boljoon is a small village located in the southern part of Cebu Island, around 100 km south of Cebu City. It faces the Bohol Strait. Japanese porcelain has been found in the Boljoon Parish Church site, located at the town of Boljoon. The church was built by the Augustinians in 1783 and is the oldest extant original stone church in Cebu Island. The University of San Carlos and the National Museum of the Philippines Archaeological Division excavated at the site in front of the church from 2007 to 2011. Because the Filipinos had used the ground as a cemetery before the Spanish built the church, the excavation team found many burial goods, which included some pieces of Japanese porcelain (Figures 8.6.18 and 8.6.21). Figure 8.6.18 is a complete large dish that was found covering a skull at the burial site. Figure 8.6.19 is a bottle that had been placed by the waist of the deceased. Figure 8.6.20 is a bottle that had been placed on top of a Chinese dish made at around the same time.
Archaeological Findings of Japanese Porcelain from Latin America In this section, I provide a thorough description of the findings of Japanese porcelain in different archaeological sites in Latin America.
Mexico City, Mexico (Table 8.6) Takatoshi Misugi first published several pieces of Japanese porcelain found in Mexico City (Misugi 1986:96) (Figures 8.7.1 and 8.7.4) during construction works of the subway in 1968–1970. They are all sherds of blue and white dishes with the same design, produced in Arita during the 1660s to 1680s. This author also published several pieces of porcelain with overglaze enamel. Although he identified all of them as Chinese porcelains, I believe that at least one of them is a sherd of a Japanese porcelain jar or bottle (Figure 8.7.5). It was produced in the first half of the eighteenth century in the Uchiyama area and painted at the Akae-machi area. Before the research that I carried out in 2006, only these sherds were known as Japanese porcelain unearthed in Mexico City. After I found several sherds of Japanese porcelain in Manila in 2004–2005, a new research project was launched in Mexico City in 2006 with the cooperation of Eladio Terreros and George Kuwayama. We studied the ceramics excavated around the Templo Mayor site, classifying them through the date and place of production. We found 10 pieces of Japanese porcelain. Further research in other areas of Mexico City, with the cooperation of Eladio Terreros
Table 8.5. Catalog of Japanese Porcelain Found in Cebu Figure Site
Description
Dates
Decorative Motif
Place of Production Hizen area
8.6.1
Plaza Independencia Blue and white dish site
1650–1670s
Bird and flowers design
8.6.2
Plaza Independencia Blue and white dish site
1650–1660s
Takara (Treasures) Arita kiln design. Kraak style.
8.6.3
Plaza Independencia Blue and white dish site
1660–1680s
Flower design. Kraak style.
Arita kiln
8.6.4
Plaza Independencia Blue and white dish site
1660–1680s
Flower design. Kraak style.
Arita kiln
8.6.5
Plaza Independencia Blue and white bowl site
1650–1680s
Unclear
Hizen area
8.6.6
Jesuit house site
Blue and white dish
1650–1670s
Hizen area
8.6.7
Jesuit house site
Blue and white dish
1660–1680s
8.6.8
Jesuit house site
Blue and white dish
1660–1680s
8.6.9
Jesuit house site
Blue and white chocolate cup
1660–1680s
Bird and flowers design Flower design. Kraak style. Landscape design Flower design
8.6.10 Jesuit house site
Blue and white bowl
1660–1680s
Dragon design
Hizen area
8.6.11 Jesuit house site
Blue and white bowl
1650–1680s
Unclear
Hizen area
8.6.12 Jesuit house site
Blue and white dish
1650–1680s
Arita kiln
8.6.13 Jesuit house site
Blue and white dish
1660–1680s
Landscape design Flower design
8.6.14 Jesuit house site
Overglaze enamel box 1650–1680s
Flower design
Arita kiln
8.6.15 Jesuit house site
Blue and white box
1650–1680s
Hizen area
8.6.16 Jesuit house site
Blue and white bottle
1650–1680s
Arabesque design Unclear
8.6.17 Jesuit house site
Cobalt blue glaze chocolate cup
1660–1680s
Unclear
Arita kiln
8.6.18 Boljoon parish church site
Overglaze enamel dish
1650–1670s
Enchanted land design
Yoshida kiln
8.6.19 Boljoon parish church site
Overglaze enamel bottle
1650–1670s
Unclear
Arita kiln
8.6.20 Boljoon parish church site
Blue and white bottle
1660–1680s
Unclear
Arita kiln
8.6.21 Boljoon parish church site
Blue and white chocolate cup
1660–1680s
Unclear
Arita kiln
Arita kiln Arita kiln Arita kiln
Arita kiln
Arita kiln
Figure 8.7. Japanese porcelain excavated in Mexico City. (Courtesy of INAH)
Trade Networks of Japanese Porcelain in the Asia-Pacific Region
205
and Jorge Quiroz in 2009 and 2010, resulted in the finding of about 62 pieces of Japanese porcelain (Nogami 2013). These same porcelains appear in the collection of the Museo Nacional del Virreinato and Museo Casa del Risco (Mexico City). The relevant characteristics of Japanese porcelains brought to Mexico City (Figure 8.7) seem to be, first, that most of them are dishes, especially of the Kraak style, and chocolate cups. Second, they were almost in all cases produced in Arita, especially the Uchiyama area. Third, most of them were produced between the 1660s and 1680s, although some cups and saucers were produced in the early eighteenth century.
Table 8.6. Catalog of Japanese Porcelain Found in Mexico City Figure Site 8.7.1 8.7.2 8.7.3 8.7.4 8.7.5 8.7.6 8.7.7 8.7.8 8.7.9
8.7.10
8.7.11
Mexico City
Description
Blue and white dish Mexico City Blue and white dish Mexico City Blue and white dish Mexico City Blue and white dish Mexico City Overglaze enamel bottle Mexico City Overglaze enamel saucer Mexico City Overglaze enamel saucer Mexico City Overglaze enamel cup Around Blue and white Templo Mayor dish site Around Blue and white Templo Mayor dish site Around Blue and white Templo Mayor dish site
Decorative Motif
Place of Production Arita kiln
1700–1740s
Flower design. Kraak style. Flower design. Kraak style. Flower design. Kraak style. Flower design. Kraak style. Flowers and horse design Flower design
1700–1740s
Flower design
Arita kiln
1700–1740s
Flower design
Arita kiln
1660–1680s
Flower design. Kraak style.
Arita kiln
1660–1680s
Flower and insect Arita kiln design. Kraak style.
1660–1680s
Flower design. Kraak style.
Dates 1660–1680s 1660–1680s 1660–1680s 1660–1680s 1690–1740s
Arita kiln Arita kiln Arita kiln Arita kiln Arita kiln
Arita kiln continued
Table 8.6.—continued
Decorative Motif
Place of Production
Blue and white 1650–1690s dish
Landscape design
Arita kiln
Overglaze enamel dish
Unclear
Arita kiln
Blue and white 1670–1700s shaving bowl
Landscape design
Arita kiln
Blue and white 1660–1680s chocolate cup
Pine and poppy design
Arita kiln
Blue and white 1660–1680s chocolate cup
Flower design. Arita kiln Sen-toku-nen-sei characters inside its foot.
Around Templo Mayor site Around Templo Mayor site Around Templo Mayor site Around Templo Mayor site
Blue and white 1660–1680s chocolate cup
Peony flower design
Arita kiln
Blue and white 1660–1680s chocolate cup
Flower design
Arita kiln
Blue and white 1660–1680s chocolate cup
Peony flower design
Arita kiln
Cobalt glaze chocolate cup with overglaze enamel
Unclear
Arita kiln
Around Templo Mayor site Around Templo Mayor site
Overglaze 1660–1680s enamel chocolate cup Blue and white 1670–1700s bowl
Peony flower design
Arita kiln
Around Templo Mayor site Around Templo Mayor site
Blue and white 1650–1680s bottle
Peony flower design
Arita kiln
Blue and white 1660–1680s bottle
Willow design
Arita kiln
Figure Site
Description
8.7.12
Around Templo Mayor site Around Templo Mayor site Around Templo Mayor site Around Templo Mayor site Around Templo Mayor site
8.7.13
8.7.14
8.7.15
8.7.16
8.7.17
8.7.18
8.7.19
8.7.20
8.7.21
8.7.22
8.7.23
8.7.24
Dates
1650–1690s
1660–1680s
Pine pattern design. Arita kiln Tai-ming-nen-sei characters inside its foot.
Trade Networks of Japanese Porcelain in the Asia-Pacific Region
Oaxaca, Mexico (Table 8.7) Enrique Dávila Fernández and Susana Serafín Gómez reported Japanese porcelains unearthed from the convent of Santo Domingo in Oaxaca (Serafín and Dávila 2007). In 2008 Nakajima Hisako informed Koji Ohashi and me of an exhibition of part of them in the Oaxaca Cultural Museum, while Ohashi stated their provenance to be in Arita. In 2009 and 2010, I studied the ceramics unearthed at the convent of Santo Domingo and found further pieces of Japanese porcelain among them (Nogami 2013).
Table 8.7. Catalog of Japanese Porcelain Found in Oaxaca Dates
Decorative Motif
Place of Production
Figure
Site
Description
8.8.1
Ex Convento de Santo Domingo site
Blue and white 1660–1680s Flower design. dish Kraak style.
Arita kiln
8.8.2
Ex Convento de Santo Domingo site
Blue and white 1660–1680s Flower design. dish Kraak style.
Arita kiln
8.8.3
Ex Convento de Santo Domingo site
Blue and white 1660–1680s Flower and dish insect design. Kraak style.
Arita kiln
8.8.4
Ex Convento de Santo Domingo site
Blue and white 1660–1680s Flower design chocolate cup
Arita kiln
8.8.5
Ex Convento de Santo Domingo site
Blue and white 1660–1680s Flower design. Arita kiln chocolate cup Tai-ming–nen-sei characters in its foot.
8.8.6
Ex Convento de Santo Domingo site
Overglaze enamel chocolate cup
1660–1680s Flower design
Arita kiln
8.8.7
Ex Convento de Santo Domingo site
Cobalt blue chocolate cup with overglaze enamel
1660–1680s Unclear
Arita kiln
8.8.8
Ex Convento de Santo Domingo site
Blue and white 1660–1680s Arabesque and Kendi landscape
Arita kiln
8.8.9
Ex Convento de Santo Domingo site
Overglaze enamel saucer
Arita kiln
1680–1740s Flower?
207
Figure 8.8. Japanese porcelain excavated in Oaxaca, Veracruz, La Antigua, and La Habana.
Trade Networks of Japanese Porcelain in the Asia-Pacific Region
Most of the Japanese porcelains found from the convent of Santo Domingo are dishes with the Kraak design and chocolate cups. Moreover, a fragment of kendi was also found (Figure 8.8.1–8). The kendi is a kind of water bottle used mainly in Southeast Asia. Although I cannot explain the reason that a kendi was imported to Oaxaca, we can see another in the collection of the Museo Nacional del Virreinato.
Veracruz, Mexico (Table 8.8) In 2010 I carried out research on ceramics unearthed in Veracruz with the cooperation of Judith Hernández Aranda. We found several pieces of Japanese porcelain (Figures 8.8.10, 8.8.14; Nogami and Hernandez 2011).
La Antigua, Guatemala (Table 8.9) La Antigua, Guatemala, is the ancient city that prospered as the capital of Guatemala for more than 200 years. In the past this city has suffered several great disasters, such as the Santa Marta earthquake, which reduced it to ruins in 1773. The capital was then moved to Guatemala City. Many ruined churches and monasteries still remind us of the prosperity of La Antigua in former times, as this is one of the cities where the colonial buildings remain in best condition among the Central America countries, protected by the Cultural Properties Protection Act enforced in 1969. Moreover, La Antigua was registered as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1979.
Table 8.8. Catalog of Japanese Porcelains Found in Veracruz Place of Production
Description
8.8.10
Blue and white dish Blue and white dish
1660–1680s Flower design. Kraak style. 1655–1680s Flower design
Arita kiln
Blue and white dish
1650–1680s Unclear
Arita kiln
Blue and white chocolate cup Overglaze enamel saucer
1660–1680s Flower design
Arita kiln
1690–1740s Flower design
Arita kiln
8.8.11
8.8.12
8.8.13 8.8.14
Hotel Imperial Parque Ciriaco Vázquez Parque Ciriaco Vázquez Hotel Imperial Around Av. 10 de mayo
Dates
Decorative Motif
Figure Site
Arita kiln
209
210
Nogami
The Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado (1485–1541) marched from Mexico City in 1523 and engaged in the conquest of the highlands of Guatemala from 1523 to 1527. He was appointed as the governor of Guatemala in 1527 but continued his expeditions to Peru, Honduras, the Spice Islands, and Mexico. In 1524 Alvarado arrived at Tecpán near Iximché, the capital of the Kaqchikel Maya, and declared it as the first capital of Guatemala, Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala. In 1527 the Spanish abandoned Tecpán and moved to the Almolonga Valley and built a new capital, which was destroyed in 1541 by a mud flood produced by the eruption of the Agua volcano. Then the capital was moved to the current La Antigua and, after the damage in 1773, was finally moved to the current Guatemala City in 1776. La Antigua was the capital city during the time when Oriental ceramics were being imported to Latin America by the galleon trade, and this includes the period when Japanese porcelains were being exported all over the world. Therefore, the ruins of many old churches and monasteries destroyed by the earthquake of 1773, such as Santo Domingo monastery, San Francisco monastery, the Cathedral, the convent of Capuchinas, the church of Saint Augustine, the Jesus Company, and the church of Santa Rosa, might still hold Oriental porcelains hidden below their remains. In 2012 I studied ceramics excavated from the Santo Domingo monastery site and the Beaterio de Indias site. Santo Domingo monastery site is located in the eastern part of the city area of La Antigua. The Dominican Order first established a monastery in Ciudad Vieja that was later moved to La Antigua. The church was completed in 1666. It became one of the biggest monasteries in the New World, but this magnificent site was destroyed by an earthquake. Currently the premises hold the Hotel Casa Santo Domingo, an archaeological park and a museum. The excavation was carried out from 1989 to 1990, and from 1994 to 1998, while the investigation on archaeological materials was done in 2002. The Beaterio de Indias site is located in the north of Santo Domingo monastery and faces the Calle de las Beatas Indias (Calle de Santo Domingo, or Pila de Rubio). On the northern part of the site stands Santa Rosa Church. The excavation of the site was carried out from 2004 to 2005. Although the excavation is not completed, there are no plans to restart it. During my research I found about 30 pieces of sherds of Japanese porcelain (Nogami 2014), all of them produced in Arita from the 1650s to the 1680s. There are blue and white porcelains, overglazed enamel porcelains, and cobalt blue glazed porcelains. And there are cups, dishes, and bowls (vase or bottle). Most of the cups are again chocolate cups, and the dishes are of several sizes.
Trade Networks of Japanese Porcelain in the Asia-Pacific Region
Figure 8.8.16 is similar to dishes found in Mexico City, Oaxaca, and Veracruz, as it was the most popular Japanese porcelain transported by the galleon ships. Figure 8.8.15 is similar to a dish found in the collection of the Museo Nacional del Virreinato, Mexico City (Kuwayama 1997:51). It has three marks of hari at the bottom. Some chocolate cups have the mark of Chinese characters at the bottom, imitating Chinese porcelain. Figures 8.8.20 and 8.8.22 are similar to other examples in Mexico City and Oaxaca, as well as Figure 8.8.23. Table 8.9. Catalog of Japanese Porcelain Found in La Antigua, Guatemala Figure Site
Description
Dates
Decorative Motif
Place of Production
8.8.15
Santo Domingo Blue and white 1655–1680s Monastery site dish
Peony flower design
Arita kiln
8.8.16
Santo Domingo Blue and white 1660–1680s Monastery site dish
Flower design. Kraak style.
Arita kiln
8.8.17
Santo Domingo Blue and white 1660–1680s Monastery site chocolate cup
Poppy flower design
Arita kiln
8.8.18
Santo Domingo Blue and white 1660–1680s Monastery site chocolate cup
Flower design
Arita kiln
8.8.19
Santo Domingo Blue and white 1660–1680s Monastery site chocolate cup
8.8.20
Santo Domingo Overglaze Monastery site enamel chocolate cup
1660–1680s
Flower design. Arita kiln Tai-ming-nen-sei characters inside its foot. Unclear Arita kiln
8.8.21
Santo Domingo Overglaze Monastery site enamel chocolate cup
1660–1680s
Bamboo design Arita kiln
8.8.22
Santo Domingo Overglaze Monastery site enamel chocolate cup
1660–1680s
Unclear
Arita kiln
8.8.23
Santo Domingo Cobalt blue Monastery site chocolate cup
1660–1680s
Unclear
Arita kiln
8.8.24
Santo Domingo Blue and white 1650–1680s Monastery site bowl
Thunder pattern Arita kiln design
8.8.25
Santo Domingo Overglaze 1650–1680s Monastery site enamel bowl or box or vase
Unclear
Arita kiln
211
212
Nogami
La Habana, Cuba (Table 8.10) Cristóbal Colón sailed from Spain and arrived in the Bahamas, landing in Cuba in October 1492. This landing was the first meeting between America and Europe. Sebastián de Ocampo explored Cuba and proved it not to be a part of the continent, but an island. Diego Colón, the eldest son of Cristóbal Colón, decided to conquer Cuba and carried out the conquest in 1511. After the trade route between Spain and America was established, many fleets gathered in La Habana in the north coast in Cuba, and the city became a premier important port. In 2006 Shigeko Tanaka visited Cuba and took pictures of some sherds of porcelains unearthed in La Habana. They included a piece of Japanese porcelain that had been identified by a Chinese researcher. Koji Ohashi also identified it as Japanese porcelain. In 2014 I researched the sherds of porcelains unearthed in La Habana. They are in the collection of the Museo de Arqueología de la Oficina del Historiador de la Ciudad de La Habana and La CasaMuseo de Asia. Although they were mainly Chinese porcelains, there were some sherds of Japanese porcelains (Figures 8.8.26, 8.8.27).
Discussion I enumerate below the main points for historical and archaeological discussion that can be extracted from the above descriptions of findings.
Diversity of Demand for Porcelain in Seaport Cities in Asia In the seventeenth century, people of foreign origin, such as Chinese and Dutch, lived in Nagasaki even under the sakoku policy. Thus, porcelains unearthed in Nagasaki reflect their different demands in those days. For ex-
Table 8.10. Catalog of Japanese Porcelain Found in La Habana Description
Dates
Decorative Motif
Place of Production
Figure
Site
8.8.26
Zona Oeste Blue and white 1660–1680s Flower design. Arita kiln de la Plaza de chocolate cup Tai-ming-nen-sei Armas characters inside its foot.
8.8.27
Convento de Santa Clara
Blue and white 1660–1680s Flower design chocolate cup
Arita kiln
Trade Networks of Japanese Porcelain in the Asia-Pacific Region
ample, we can see the difference among Tojin-yashiki (Chinese residence), Deshima site (Dutch residence), and other sites in Nagasaki. The same is true in Manila, whose archaeological findings of porcelain reflect various demands of a multinational community made up of Spanish, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, and others. However, seaport cities were not the only destinations for consumption, but also relay-ports of the porcelain trade network. Porcelain in seaport cities reflects not only consumption in place but also merchandise to be exported. Thus, the material reality of porcelain in seaport cities was varied and complex. For example, various kinds of porcelain have been unearthed in Tainan, Taiwan; however, they were not necessarily consumption items for Taiwanese people, but merchandise for Southeast Asians (Figure 8.4.8) and Europeans (Figure 8.4.6). Also, Manila was a port of shipment to America. As a result, porcelains in Manila include both porcelain for internal consumption and porcelain to meet commercial demands in Latin America. We can see many pieces of chocolate cups in Latin America. The chocolate cup accounts for about 50 percent of the total Japanese porcelain there (e.g., Figure 8.7.15, 8.7.21, Figure 8.8.4, 7, 17, 23, 26, 27). However, the chocolate cups are not so numerous in Manila (Figure 8.5.15). I believe these chocolate cups were imported more for export into Latin America than for use in Manila.
The Characteristics of Japanese Porcelain Found in the Philippines During the Spanish colonial period, there were different cultures and societies in the Philippines that can broadly be classified as Spanish and non-Spanish. These include the Filipino, Chinese, and Japanese communities. In the next paragraphs I discuss the archaeological sites described above, according to these criteria.
Spanish Society Intramuros was the Spanish residence area in Manila. The Plaza San Luis site, Ayuntamiento site, Beaterio de la Compañía de Jesús site, were all located inside Intramuros. And the Plaza Independencia site, near the San Pedro Fort in Cebu, is also within the Spanish society’s area. These archaeological sites represent the political and religious powers of Spanish society in the Philippines at that time. Interestingly, the Japanese porcelain in these sites present very definite characteristics, as most of the shards belong to dishes, especially of the Kraak style. Other Japanese porcelains which are characteristic of these sites are the chamber pot and the chocolate cup, which, especially the latter, reflect Spanish culture to this day.
213
214
Nogami
Chinese Society As mentioned above, many pieces of porcelain were found under the foundation of the Jesuit House located at the old parian in Cebu, and had been already abandoned before the Spanish erected the building. Therefore, these artifacts nicely represent Chinese society in the Philippines. And the Parian site located near the moat of Intramuros in Manila may reflect a non-Spanish society such as the Chinese. Characteristic of the Japanese porcelain found in these sites is an abundance of bowls, as well as dishes and other kinds of ware. Especially telling is the fact that blue and white bowls with ariso design can be found in this context, while this pattern was one of the most popular in Southeast Asia. Chinese merchants were those who carried on the porcelain trade actively. They used porcelain and sold it to other communities, including the Spanish, who bought dishes and chocolate cups. As a result, there are various kinds and qualities of porcelains that reflect various cultures and societies.
Filipino Society Boljoon Parish Church site represents a Filipino site, as can be deduced from the finding of bottles and jars as well as dishes. However, this is a burial site; it has a different nature from all others known in the Philippines. It is important, therefore, to observe the different contexts of the archaeological findings of Japanese porcelain. We have to take into account the possibility of a difference in the kinds of ware between life goods and grave goods.
Japanese Porcelain Inflow Routes to Manila Who exported Japanese porcelain from Japan? And who imported Japanese porcelain into Manila? Under the sakoku policy of the Tokugawa shogunate, foreign trade in Japan was severely limited. Only Dutch and Chinese ships could enter Nagasaki port, the only port where it was possible to carry out foreign trade in those days. Since it is unlikely that Dutch ships sailed to Manila, due to hostilities between the two countries, it is highly possible to assume that Chinese ships imported Japanese porcelain to Manila (Nogami 2006). However, it is not certain that Chinese ships went directly from Nagasaki to Manila. I propose, rather, that some cities in Taiwan and southern China, around the South China Sea, were relay-ports for the trade network of Japanese porcelain by Chinese ships. The inflow routes to Manila can be described as follows.
Trade Networks of Japanese Porcelain in the Asia-Pacific Region
1650s–1660s As mentioned above, Koxinga and the Zheng family still resisted the Qing during this period, which caused the ban on maritime activities to be implemented in 1656. The Zheng family began to export Japanese porcelain instead of Chinese porcelain, and Koxinga’s ships went from their home ports to Nagasaki. They shipped Japanese porcelain from Nagasaki and used their home ports, first seashore cities in southern China and from 1661 to 1662 in Taiwan, as relay-ports to further bring the merchandise to other areas. Interestingly, sherds of Japanese porcelain dating from the 1650s and 1660s are found in southern China, for example, in Kinmen Island.
1660s–1680s Koxinga sent his troops to Taiwan in 1661 and defeated the Dutch in 1662. Although Koxinga died in 1662, his son Zheng Jing continued the fight against the Qing. Taiwan became the main headquarters of the Zheng family until they surrendered to the Qing in 1683. They engaged in a triangular trade of sorts between China, Taiwan, and Manila, and Japan, Taiwan, and Manila, between 1662 and 1683. Thus, Taiwan was one of the most important relayports for the trade in Japanese porcelain. As shown above, abundant findings of Japanese porcelain unearthed in Taiwan, especially near Tainan in the southern part of Taiwan, attest to this. Also the historical records demonstrate that Japanese porcelain was imported from Taiwan to Manila, as research by Chen-chen Fang (2003) on the records of customs in Manila shows. She has discussed the relationship between Manila and Taiwan in the second half of the seventeenth century and noted that at least 51 ships sailed from Taiwan to Manila between 1664 and 1684. The cargoes of these ships included “Japanese dishes” (Fang 2003:82).
Japanese Porcelain Inflow Route to Cebu Who imported Japanese porcelain to Cebu? I hypothesize several possibilities for these inflow routes. One is the route from Manila to Cebu. Another is the route from Taiwan and China directly to Cebu as well as Manila. In either case, Chinese ships might have played an important role in local trade and the transportation of Japanese porcelain. A future comparative study of the Parian sites in Manila and Cebu (see above) will shed light on this question.
215
216
Nogami
The Demand for Porcelain in Latin America As described in this chapter, my research has uncovered an abundance of sherds of Japanese porcelain in Latin America. They are all Arita porcelains, and most of them were produced in the Uchiyama area. In other words, they are all high-quality porcelains, whereas in the Philippines, the Japanese porcelains imported show different degrees of quality. Thus, it can be stated that the Spanish in Manila selected only high-quality porcelains to be exported to Acapulco. Furthermore, most of the Japanese porcelains found in Latin America are blue and white dishes with Kraak designs, as well as chocolate cups. Kraak ware is the common merchandise that met European demands, and therefore it is not an unusual finding in the Spanish colonies in America. However, the percentage of chocolate cups is a really distinctive feature of the Latin American archaeological record. On other continents coffee cups were more popular, whereas I was not able to identify remains from Japanese coffee cups in Latin America. One possible explanation for this lack is that, as cacao originates in America, the Spanish had monopolized the cacao trade at an early stage, not allowing much room for other commodities such as coffee.
Trade Routes of Japanese Porcelains in the Atlantic Ocean Shigeko Tanaka published a fragment of Japanese porcelain excavated in Spain: a blue and white chocolate cup unearthed in Cádiz (Tanaka 2010). The same type of porcelain has also been found in the Philippines and Latin America, which makes it probable that this chocolate cup was transported from Manila to Spain via Mexico. However, there still remains the possibility that the Spanish acquired them on the European market, since Dutch ships imported Japanese porcelains to Europe at that time. At present there are no sure proofs that Japanese porcelains crossed the Atlantic Ocean. The study of the trade routes of Japanese porcelains in the Atlantic Ocean is a problem that will be tackled in the future.
Conclusions During most of the Edo period, Japan had been under the seclusion policy or, in other words, the sakoku policy. It was impossible, especially for the Spanish, even to come to Japan. Nevertheless, many sherds of Japanese porcelain have been excavated all over the world, including in Latin America. Although only Dutch and Chinese ships could come to Nagasaki to trade with Japan
Trade Networks of Japanese Porcelain in the Asia-Pacific Region
under the sakoku policy, the Spanish were also able to deal in Japanese porcelain, because they could buy Japanese porcelain imported into Manila by the Chinese. We can confirm this through the presence of many sherds of Japanese porcelain in Taiwan and the Philippines. This means that other countries’ merchants, not only Dutch and Chinese, could obtain Japanese porcelains in the same way as the Spanish did, for example, in Batavia. Therefore, Japanese porcelains were exported all over the world. We conclude, therefore, that Nagasaki was definitely one of the nodal points of the Asian worldwide trade network. Moreover, these archeological artifacts are invaluable for the study of the cultural exchange between the East and the West. Since the Middle Ages, the Indian Ocean route had been the main maritime route for trading ceramics. However, many Oriental porcelains were exported to Latin America from the late sixteenth century. Latin America became another meeting point between East and West. At first ceramic techniques were introduced from Europe to Latin America, to be followed by the influence of oriental porcelain. In other words, the potters in Latin America imitated Japanese porcelain and Chinese porcelain in the seventeenth century (Terreros and Morales 2011). We can say these wares are productions of the fusion of Eastern and Western culture.
References Bersales, Jose E., and Alexandra de Leon 2011 The Archaeology of an Augustinian Frontier Mission: A Report on the Fifth Phase of Excavations at the Boljoon Parish Church, Cebu. Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society 39(3/4):185–213. De Leon, Alexandra, Jose Eleazar Bersales, Jose Santiago, and Dante Posadas 2009 The Archaeological Excavation of the Boljoon Parish Church, Cebu (Phase 5). Manuscript. National Museum, Manila. Fang, Chen-chen 2003 Ming-zheng-shidai Taiwan yu Feiliping de maoyi guanxi-yi ma ni la haiguan jiluwei zhongxin [Trade relations between Taiwan and the Philippines in the Ming dynasty (Zheng Chenggong period)—mainly on the customhouse record of Manila]. Taiwan wen xian [Taiwan historical] 54(3):59–105. Hsieh, Ming-liang 1996 Zuoying Qing dai Fengshanxianjiuchengju le chututao cibuji. Taiwan shiyanjiu [The study of Taiwanese history] 3:229–244. Li, Kuang-ti 2004 Sansheji Shenei yizhishouxi angshuiligong chengying xiangfanwei qiangju kaogu fajue gongzuojihua. [The report of rescue excavation of Sansheji Shenei site] Tainan County Government and Institute of History & Philology, Academia Sinica, Taipei.
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Misugi, Takatoshi 1986 Sekai no sometsuke [Blue and white in the world]. Dohosha, Tokyo. Nogami, Takenori 2005 Macao shutsudo no Hizenjiki. Kindaikouko 50:7–11. 2006 On Hizen Porcelain and the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade. Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Bulletin 26:124–130. 2008 Hizen Porcelain Exported to Asia, Africa, and America. In The East Asian “Mediterranean”: Maritime Crossroads of Culture, Commerce and Human Migration, East Asia Maritime History, edited by Angela Schottenhammer, vol. 6, pp. 203–218. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, Germany. 2013 Galleon boueki to Hizen jiki-Futatsu no taiyou wo oudanshita Nihon no yakimono [The Spanish galleon trade and Hizen ceramics: Japanese ceramics that traversed two oceans). ToyoToji [Oriental ceramics] 42:141–176. 2014 Antigua Guatemala shutsudo no Toyojiki [Oriental porcelains found in Antigua Guatemala]. Kanazawa daigaku koukogaku kiyou [Archaeological bulletin Kanazawa University] 35:73–85. Nogami, Takenori, Alfredo B. Orogo, Kazuhiko Tanaka, and Hsiao-chun Hung 2005 Hizen porcelain found in Manila, Philippines. Kindai koko 48:1–5. Nogami, Takenori, Kuang-ti Li, Tai-kang Lu, and Hsiao-chun Hung 2005 Tainan shutsudo no Hizenjiki. Kindai koko 48:6–10. Nogami, Takenori, and Judith Hernández 2011 Veracruz shutsudo no Hizenjiki [Hizen porcelain found in Veracruz]. Kanazawa daigaku koukogaku kiyou [Archaeological Bulletin Kanazawa University] 32:47–50. Ohashi, Koji 1990 Hizen porcelain exported toward Southeast Asia. In Umi o wattata Hizen no yakimono Ten [Hizen ceramics abroad], edited by the Kyushu Ceramic Museum, pp. 88–176. Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Arita. Serafín Gómez, Susana, and Enrique Dávila Fernández 2007 Las cerámicas coloniales del ex convento de Santo Domingo de Oaxaca: Pasado y presente de una tradición. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City. Tanaka, Shigeko 2010 Four Arita chocolate cups and evidence of a previously unknown trade route in the 17th century. In Sekai ni yushutsu sareta hizentoji [Hizen ceramic exported all over the world], edited by Nogami Takenori, pp. 307–312. Society of Kyushu Early Modern Ceramic Study, Arita. Terreros, Eladio, and Rocío Morales 2011 Mayólica poblana azul sobre blanco, con diseños de porcelana tipo Kraak. Kanazawa daigaku koukogaku kiyou [Archaeological Bulletin Kanazawa University] 32:51–56. Yamawaki, Teijiro 1988 To, Ran sen no Imariyushutsu [The export of Imari by Chinese and Dutch ships]. In Arita Choshi shogyo hen [The History of Arita-cho Volume on Business], edited by Institute for the Compilation of Historical Material of Arita, pp. 265–410. Aritamachi, Arita, Saga.
9 Colonialism in Vietnam and Southeast Asia in the Late Pre-European Period
Mark Staniforth and Jun Kimura
Introduction Colonialism, colonization, and the expansion of European powers into the New World, Africa, and the Indo-Pacific region after 1500 CE has been identified as one of the central areas of interest for historical archaeology. To date, far less emphasis has been placed on the historical and archaeological processes associated with colonialism in Southeast Asia before the arrival of the Europeans around 1500 CE. Clearly, there was widespread seaborne trade throughout the region, and underwater archaeology is beginning to reveal the extent and nature of some of that seaborne trade. Archaeological evidence in the form of material culture in this context assumes a far greater importance in light of the relative paucity of available written sources. Colonialism can take two overlapping forms: settler colonialism, where large- or small-scale migration of people creates colonies in places with a preexisting population; and exploitation colonialism, where small groups of people establish trading posts and settlements that control economic, cultural, and political power. Furthermore, colonialism could be established by aggressive means—by warfare, invasion, and conquest—or by passive means, through gaining control of the economic, ideological, or political power structures (Gilman and Klimkeit 1999). Both forms of colonialism clearly existed in Southeast Asia in the pre-European period, where warfare, invasion, and conquest were common occurrences, as was the establishment of colonies of both sojourners and permanent residents, including Gujaratis and Tamils in Indonesia, Arabs in China, and Chinese throughout the entire Southeast Asian region (Gordon 2007:184–5; Hall 2004:231–235).
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This chapter focuses primarily on the last few hundred years of the millennium of the pre-European period in Southeast Asia (500 to 1500 CE) but also ranges back briefly into prehistory. The pre-European period can be characterized by the flourishing of great empires and kingdoms in China (see Notes for Readers for chronologies) and in Southeast Asia (Champa, Khmer, Davaravati, Srivijaya, Majapahit, and the kings of Java) (Hall 2010). In addition there were the movements of the world’s great religions (primarily Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and, to a much lesser extent, Judaism and Christianity) throughout the Southeast Asian region and its surrounds. Southeast Asia can be seen as being at the center of long-distance maritime activities that extended from the east coast of Africa and Arabia to China via the Indian subcontinent (Beaujard 2005). In many respects this “long-distance” trade was often actually based on a series of overlapping networks of regional, and local, trade linked by a few key entrepôt ports, or “emporia,” where goods were sold, transshipped, and transported on to new ports and markets (Hall 2004:213–216; Pearson 2003:27–61). Historians have studied maritime trade and seafaring in Asia and the Indian Ocean for decades, in particular what has variously been called the Maritime Silk Road, Maritime Spice Route, or Maritime Ceramics Route (Hall 2010:17; Shaffer 1995:18–36; Sidebottom 2011:3). It has been acknowledged that “due to the scarcity of written sources,” significant reliance has to be made on archaeological evidence, specifically, we would argue, from the field of maritime or underwater archaeology (Lape 2002; Manguin 1993:254; Tagliacozzo 2002:132). Of necessity, however, this chapter will also range beyond whatever “strict” geographical boundaries Southeast Asia might be said to possess, in order to consider three broad historical processes associated with colonialism: trade, warfare, and migration. A broad range of evidence such as DNA, comparative linguistics, and material culture, including trade goods, all suggest that both long-distance and, probably more importantly, regional seaborne trade and exchange throughout the Southeast Asian region has a history going back thousands of years BCE (Pearson 2003:39). Archaeological material such as bronze objects, specifically bronze drums in the Dong Son style, spread throughout the islands of Southeast Asia in the late prehistoric period (BCE) suggesting prehistoric seaborne trading networks from South China through Southeast Asia at least as far as New Guinea (Miksic 1995:52–53; Shaffer 1995:11). John Miksic has also suggested that it could be argued that “the Austronesian introduction of advanced shipbuilding and navigation methods was a revolutionary innovation” (Miksic 1995:47). Certainly it was shipbuilding that provided the technologi-
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cal basis for seaborne trade and therefore also for some of the earliest human colonization in the region, including the migrations of Austronesian peoples from mainland Asia via Taiwan to the island archipelagoes of the Philippines and then into the Pacific (Shaffer 1995:5–6). The movements of people and ideas, including religion, also spread from place to place throughout the Southeast Asian region with seaborne activity and trade. Trade resulted in the establishment of trading posts and settler colonies that allowed migration with temporary residence and permanent settlement—both sojourners and settlers. While trading vessels provided the technological capacity for the migration of people, it is difficult to archaeologically identify individual vessels involved in the transportation of colonists from place to place, unlike the situation in the later, and much better documented, post-European historical periods (Staniforth 1991).
Colonialism in Southeast Asia before the Europeans Arrived In the millennium before 500 CE, Southeast Asians, and others, were already involved in complex long-distance, oceangoing seaborne trade that carried plants, such as bananas and coconuts, and spices, such as cinnamon, and medicines from Asia to Africa and Arabia and hence to the Mediterranean and Europe (Boivin and Fuller 2009; Shaffer 1995:14–16). In the other direction maritime traders carried things like glassware, Roman coins, and medallions that made it at least as far as Oc-Eo (Funan) in Vietnam (Shaffer 1995:22). In addition to trade, this maritime activity allowed the movement of ideas, in particular religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam, as well as people (migration) over very long distances; but it is through a lens of colonialism that we want to focus in this chapter. In terms of exploitation colonialism, on the one hand, Hall has suggested that foreign merchants resident in Srivijaya “regularly claimed to represent Srivijaya when they traded in the Chinese marketplace,” thus laying claim to the economic and political power associated with the Srivijaya name (Hall 2004:237). On the other hand, trade could create competition that sometimes flowed on to the point of becoming aggression in the form of piracy, raiding, and even outright warfare (Hall 2004:243–244). Lape’s multidisciplinary investigations of the relationships among foreign trade, settlement, and the spread of Islam in the Banda Islands (Indonesia) between the tenth and fifteenth centuries CE can be seen as a case study of how exploitative colonialism, using passive means in the form of trading posts established by Muslim traders, was actually firmly based on long-distance seaborne trade (Lape 2002:478–491).
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Annales School Approaches and the Mediterranean Comparison In some respects the antiquity of seaborne trade in the Southeast Asian region has been compared to the seaborne trade that occurred in the Mediterranean Sea. Manguin, for example, has called the South China Sea “another ‘Mediterranean’ in its own right,” which he went on to suggest “comprises of the Southeast Asian maritime expanses to its South and East” (Manguin 1993:253–254). Pearson identifies what he calls the “Malay world,” comprising Southeast Asian waters, as a “Mediterranean area” (Pearson 2003:16). One result of the Mediterranean comparison, or analogy, has been a focus on Annales approaches, most specifically those exemplified by the work of Fernand Braudel in positing sea or ocean basins as suitable frameworks for historical analysis (Bentley 1999:216; Braudel 1972, 1977, 1998; Chaudhuri 1990:24–41; McPherson 1998:2; Sutherland 2003:1–2). Archaeology, particularly of prehistoric periods, has also made extensive use of Annales approaches but not, to date, as much in the Southeast Asian context (Bintliff 1991; Knapp 1992). Braudel, when writing about the Mediterranean, suggested, “It isn’t water that links its shores but seafaring peoples,” and this statement was equally true of the Southeast Asian region, where seafaring peoples carried with them both goods and ideas (Braudel quoted in Beaujard 2005:411). Braudel’s conceptualization of the three scales of history comprising the longue durée (or geological time, including the role the environment played in human affairs), conjunctures (mentalities or worldviews), and évenéments (or events) has been applied by historians with great success to both Asia and the Indian Ocean (Chaudhuri 1990; McPherson 1998; Pearson 2003). Topography and the prevailing monsoon weather patterns clearly form a fundamental basis for our understandings of maritime activity in Southeast Asia over the longue durée, but it is conjunctures, or mentalities, that create and sustain colonialism, and these can be viewed through individual évenéments, or through the “archaeology of the event” (Pearson 2003:39; Staniforth 2003). This chapter uses Fernand Braudel’s concept of the longue durée to consider the large scale and long term as a counterpoint to one of the authors’ previous research, which used Annales School approaches and évenéments to consider the “archaeology of the event” (Staniforth 2003). Nevertheless, the Mediterranean analogy has been the subject of considerable debate among Southeast Asian scholars. Sutherland, for example, has concluded that anyone using “the Mediterranean analogy should be aware of the pitfalls inherent in both the poetic and analytic dimensions of Braudel’s work” (Sutherland 2003:18). The first point of difference is, of
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course, that this is a much larger area than the Mediterranean Basin, with the longest sea voyages involving travel over thousands of miles in some cases between the coast of East Africa, the Arabian and Red Seas, the Indian subcontinent, through the seas of Southeast Asia, to the eastern seas of China, Korea, and Japan. Another point of difference is the archaeological evidence from underwater, where in the Mediterranean context a large number of shipwrecks have been found and archaeologically investigated, some of which date back to at least 1300 BCE. Unfortunately, this is simply not the case in the Southeast Asian region, or indeed the entire Asian and Indian Ocean region, as there has yet to be a positively dated wreck from any date BCE, with the possible exception of the Godavaya site in Sri Lanka. In addition, the number of underwater sites in the Mediterranean increases rapidly over time during the centuries after 1300 BCE, with first dozens, and then hundreds, of shipwreck sites known. Sidebottom provides a figure of more than 2,000 ancient shipwrecks (dating to BCE) found in the Mediterranean by the year 2000 CE, and rising by at least 50 new sites found each year (Sidebottom 2011:196). Again, apart from the one notable exception of the Godavaya site and a few fragmentary sites with limited remains or doubtful dating, the earliest sites in the Southeast Asian region date mostly from the eighth century CE onward. Finally, there is the problem of limited knowledge about those shipwrecks that do exist in the Southeast Asian region, whether that results from the difficulties of the language of publication, the lack of underwater cultural heritage inventory in many countries, or the problems that stem from looting and treasure hunting. One of the principal difficulties has been the lack of a single common language in the Southeast Asian region, which means some of the detailed archaeological reports are available only in the original language of publication, and as a result there has been a real lack of comparative analysis and research. In addition there is, of course, a fundamental conflict of priorities between commercial exploitation and the archaeological study of sunken shipwrecks, which led Miksic to suggest in 1995 that “practically nothing” was known about the structure of Southeast Asian shipwrecks (Miksic 1995:59). Fortunately, today we know somewhat more about Southeast Asian shipbuilding than we did 20 years ago, but the fundamental problem of treasure hunting in Southeast Asia continues even today (Figure 9.1). As a result, few archaeological reports are available on the details of ship construction, the disposition of cargo, or even the material culture onboard apart, from certain selected components of the cargo, usually the complete (and therefore valuable) ceramics.
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Figure 9.1. Disarticulated ship timbers, dated to the eighth century, found in the waters off the coast of Binh Song, Central Vietnam. A ship construction method observed on the timbers—lashed lag technique—is endemic to Southeast Asian shipbuilding. These timbers were recovered by a non-archaeological method. (Photo by Jun Kimura)
The Technological Basis for Colonization—Shipbuilding in the South China Sea Technological evolution (or “development”) is possible in a range of ways and may take place through processes such as diffusion, adaptation, innovation, and hybridization. Developments in shipbuilding over time, in particular increases in the size of individual vessels and the spread of shipbuilding technology allowing more vessels to be built, allowed for the transport of larger and more cargoes of goods, and the carriage of heavy, “bulk” commodities, including raw materials and agricultural products. As, at least, some of these goods are “archaeologically invisible,” being perishables such as textiles and food, it is important to find evidence about the ships themselves to know what the capacity to transport materials actually was in times past. In some respects this chapter picks up where Pierre Yves Manguin’s seminal paper of two decades ago (1993) left off, and it brings up to date
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some of the evidence about maritime trade and shipbuilding that has come from underwater sites. The existence of different shipbuilding traditions within the region has been noted, but how and why these shipbuilding traditions changed over time continues to be debated (Kimura 2011a). What we do know about shipbuilding in the region is often drawn from historical sources of debatable accuracy (Greenhill 1995), and much of the archaeological research conducted to date either has been limited or is difficult to access (McGrail et al. 2003). By way of comparison, the last two decades have seen an increase in maritime archaeological research in East Asia, which has improved our understandings of shipbuilding in that region, including the archaeological excavation of nine post-eleventh-century sites in Korea (Kimura 2010; Moon 2011; Sasaki and Lee 2010) and sites like the twelfth-century Nanhai 1 in China (Jun 2011). Kimura has pointed out the importance of bulkhead construction from at least the tenth century CE onward in vessels built in China, and the significance of transregional development in shipbuilding between Korea and Japan. This has brought forth an argument that three distinct shipbuilding traditions evolved by the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, which are identified by their geographical area of origin: Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea (Kimura 2011b). The identification of the geographically classified shipbuilding traditions is a key to understanding how naval power emerged in East Asia and how it impacted Southeast Asia. The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea with relatively shallow water, protected by the north Chinese coasts and the Korean Peninsula. The earliest types of ships built in this area were for fluvial traffic and for coastal voyages (Figure 9.2). In North China there was substantial development of canal water transportation systems during the second half of the first millennium. The shallow seas and canals made flat-bottomed design most appropriate in northern Chinese waters. The sphere of the construction of flat-bottom ships stretched to the Korean Peninsula and Japan, though they showed technology distinct from what developed on Chinese coasts. The archaeological excavation of ships of the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392 CE) in the waters and intertidal zones of the western coast of the Korean Peninsula represent different long-term development of ship construction methods. The Yellow Sea shipbuilding came to be influenced by another tradition that emerged in the middle coasts of China and the East China Sea region. Shipbuilding industries along the coasts of the East China Sea, bounded by southern Japan, the Ryukyu archipelago, and Taiwan, became prominent around the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
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Figure 9.2. Earliest known Goryeo dynasty’s coastal trader, Wando ship (eleventh century), was excavated underwater by a South Korean research team. (Photo by Randall Sasaki)
The growth of the shipbuilding traditions in the East China Sea followed the socioeconomic maturity of industries during the period of the Song dynasty (960–1279 CE) in China (Shiba 1968). The Song were considered to have been the first maritime nation that emerged in Chinese dynastical history, and its regime pursued an economy based on maritime trades. The Nanhai 1, found in the waters of Guangzhou Province and acknowledged as the most important discovery of a medieval Chinese trader, provides evidence of the flourishing of the South China Sea maritime trade in the early Song period. Apart from Guangzhou, which has long been a gateway to the South China Sea, the prominence of some other port cities, such as Mingzhou (Ningbo) and Wenzhou in middle coast of China, was notable during this period. The emergence of the large ports imparted new power into the society and commercial sectors, especially the shipbuilding industries. The development of shipbuilding industries was sustained by timber supply systems and iron manufacturing industries in these cities (Shiba 1968). Chinese merchants came to
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the point where they started to voyage actively outside China using ships supplied by the local industries developed along the coasts of the East China Sea. A few ships have been excavated on land in the Ningbo area, and one, known as the Ningbo ship, was a relatively large vessel measuring over 20 m long; it was probably used for coastal sailing (Kimura 2010). The overall shape of the hull is narrower than that of the other excavated traders that were being used for long-distance voyaging in the same period. It has a round bottom with a keel, and the cross sections of the hull show a transition from U-bottom to flat bottom between the bow and stern; they are sharp V-section in the bow and U-section through the mid-body and stern. The strakes of the ships show a single layer with baulks. The transverse structure consists of bulkheads. All these structural features can be observed on other excavated ships in the Ningbo area. Chinese merchant ships started to reach overseas markets to control shipping mercantile activities in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, though they could sail out in earlier periods. The long distances demanded wellconstructed vessels with a larger cargo space and required high-performance sailing rigs. They were equipped with large wooden compound anchors using a stone stock. While the wooden shank and arms are unlikely to survive, a number of stone anchors have been found in East and Southeast Asia (Figure 9.3). They are the testimony to the advent of Chinese merchant ships in these regions. One type of a stone anchor stock from Chinese vessels is a chamfered rectangular form 2–3 m in length. It is typically tapered near the ends, with the thickest dimensions in the middle having a notch to affix a wooden shank. One example of the rectangular stone stock can be seen in Quanzhou (Qin 1990). A few similar stocks have been found in Kyushu regions in Japan (Ishihara 2000; Matsuoka 1981). These stocks appear to have been found by chance in the past, and after their recovery many of them have been dedicated in local shrines and private houses. Identical stone stocks have been found at several wreck sites in the South China Sea region: the Investigator Shoal off the Philippines coast, the Huaguang Reef No. 1 in the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands), and at the Jepara shipwreck in Indonesia. These wreck sites are Chinese traders carried trading ceramics from China, such as Longquan celadon ware, which was exported widely to Southeast Asia from the Northern Song (960–1127 CE) period to the Southern Song (1127–1279 CE) period. In 2014 the authors found a stone stock in situ during underwater investigations off the Cham Islands in Central Vietnam. No artifacts were associated with the stock, yet it presumably originated from a Chinese merchant ship that visited Cham Island that have served as a trading hub over the millennia. The stocks found
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Figure 9.3. A stone anchor stock used for the wooden anchor of a medieval Chinese merchant ship. This stock was recovered from the twelfth- to thirteenth-century Kurakizaki wreck site in Amami Island in Kagoshima prefecture. (Photo by Jun Kimura)
in the waters of Mainland and Island Southeast Asia tell us of the appearance of a new form of maritime commerce in the South China Sea in which the Chinese merchants no longer needed to hire Southeast Asian traders and instead organized their own domestic vessels. This increased the complexity of international shipping and seaborne trading systems and helped the Chinese to take control of commercial networks. The Southern Song (1127–1279 CE) became a successful maritime empire through the agglomeration of shipping and shipbuilding industries, as well as
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the organization of a naval force. The naval squadron was composed of merchant ships and fishing vessels taken by requisition in rotation, and the naval force allowed the Song rulers to stand for a time against the expansion of a new power—the Mongols. Nevertheless, the Yuan (1271–1368 CE) colonized middle and southern China by conquest of the Song with an ambition of establishing a maritime hegemony. The transition of the polities substantially impacted neighboring countries, and there was disorder in the trading systems and a decrease in diplomacy. The Yuan rulers appreciated the importance of shipping and the benefits that came from maritime trades. The archaeological excavation of the Quanzhou ship, a late-thirteenth-century trader with a cargo consisting of South China Sea commodities, was an interesting case study to address the state of seaborne trading in the transitional period. The overall length of the hull remains was over 24 m and about 9 m in breadth (Merwin 1977). The hull consisted of 13 holds, and while the cargo-carrying capacity of the Quanzhou ship might be less than 200 tons, it carried a variety of items, such as fragrant woods, spices, and pepper, which were widely distributed in a maritime trade network by this Song-Yuan period trader (Schottenhammer 2010). Construction methods used for the Quanzhou ship represent the East China Sea tradition, showing slight distinctiveness from the structural features explained above: wider beam with a shallow freeboard, V-shape cross sections of the hull, and multiple-layered planks (sacrificial sheathing planks). The fourteenth-century Shinan ship is another archaeologically excavated example of an East China Sea trader (Figure 9.4). It is a Chinese ship that was discovered in the waters off the southern Korean Peninsula (Green 1983). Its cargo indicates that the ship probably departed from the area near Ningbo but was lost in Korean waters on the way to Japan in the first quarter of the fourteenth century. The Shinan ship was a private trader carrying goods ordered by Japanese temples. The time period of the ship is significant in considering how private trades were managed and maintained under Yuan maritime policy. To date at least 20 shipwrecks have been found in the Southeast Asian region that date to the pre-European period (500 to 1500 CE), but nearly all of them have been either looted or systematically stripped of their valuable cargo by treasure hunters with very little attention being paid to the construction of the vessels. Or, as in the case of the Tanjung Simpang wreck (960–1127 CE) in Malaysia, a commercial salvage company insisted that none of the hull remained, but there is a concern that it was simply not a priority to record hull structure when the valuable cargo was the prime target (Guan 2011:33). The exceptions, or those that have been archaeologically excavated, mean that we
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Figure 9.4. The early-fourteenth-century (Yuan dynasty) trading vessel known as the Shinan ship. The length of the hull is approximately 30 m. The hull interior has holds divided by bulkheads, innovative structure of the seaworthy Chinese merchant ships. (Photo by Jun Kimura)
know far more about the vessels and cargoes from the later periods (mostly from the twelfth century onward), including some fourteenth-century and later sites in Thailand. Recently, the finding of the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century shipwrecks in Central Vietnam has been reported. The discovery of a number of wreck sites occurred in the waters off a long, curved sandy beach alongside Chau Tan village in Binh Son District of Quang Ngai Province. A small offshore island, Ly Son, was possibly used as a landmark for sailors. It was a hazardous zone for sailing vessels in relatively shallow waters that have been described locally as Lang van bung tau—rocky seabed where ships are locked in. In the last few years, many objects from several shipwrecks have been looted in this area by the local fishermen. In particular, salvaged Chinese ceramics range in time periods from the Tang and the Five Dynasties to the Song, Yuan, Ming, the end of the Ming, and early to mid-Qing. Following the discovery of a
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well-preserved shipwreck (so-called Binh Chau No. 2 shipwreck) in the waters about 200 m off the coast at a depth of 4 m, in 2012, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Quang Ngai Provincial People’s Committee appointed a Vietnamese company to conduct a salvage operation at the site using a dry cofferdam. The exposed shipwreck was approximately 20 m long and 5.6 m wide. The hull has 13 holds divided by bulkheads, while some bulkhead timbers were missing. The hull structure indicates that the ship was built in the manner of the East China Sea or South China Sea shipbuilding tradition. The site had been heavily pillaged before the government operations, and in addition very little archaeological recording has been produced during the salvage. Hence, the exact number of recovered artifacts is hard to identify. According to limited information presented in a first underwater archaeological symposium in Quang Ngai in 2014, the recovered artifacts include over 4,000 intact ceramics consisting of blue and white porcelains, glazed pots, jars and vases, and celadon. Metal objects such as copper coins, bronze mirrors, and weights were also recovered. The operations were conducted without the development of a site protection and management plan, partially due to the circumstance that no certificated heritage officer or archaeologists work for the company. The provincial authorities are facing difficulties in preserving the excavated hull. The Binh Chau shipwreck is the only thirteenth-throughfourteenth century shipwreck resource from the South China Sea, and its appropriate archaeological investigation could provide clues to better understanding maritime trade around the time.
Evidence of Attempted Yuan Colonization in Thirteenth-Century Vietnam In addition to peaceful maritime activities, competition between states could, and did, lead to warfare, invasion, and sometimes conquest, at least some of which was played out on the seas, lakes, and rivers of the region. The Yuan dynasty became an ambitious state that attempted to control overseas seaborne trades. The rise of the Yuan dynasty under Kublai Khan, the fifth emperor of the Mongol Empire, in late-thirteenth-century China, was critical to the South China Sea region, as exemplified by its pursuit of the two overlapping forms of colonialism. The Yuan court was in complete control of the port cities in the middle and southern coasts of the Chinese mainland after the conquest of the Southern Song (1127–1279 CE). The Chinese bureaucrats and regional authorities in these ports had actively engaged in investing capital in overseas trade being conducted by private traders. These trading systems and policies
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facilitated the expansion of transregional networks into Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean world in the form of exploitation colonialism. The Chinese system collapsed when the Yuan military power arose, while the trading network revived shortly and reached again East Asian neighboring states and the Indian Ocean world. Compared to this, the Yuan dynasty’s early policy during Kublai’s reign shows the adoption of strong naval power, which has been interpreted as part of territorial expansion, the same as the great attempts at aggressive colonialism led by the early Mongol Empire rulers. The archaeological vestiges of the naval campaigns, another form of the Yuan colonialism, remain and are reviewed below. Kublai Khan was a military campaigner who led the Yuan dynasty through its greatest expansion. During his early reign Kublai developed a strong and centralized governmental system similar to those developed by Han Chinese bureaucrats under the Song. Kublai understood the importance of the relationships with tributaries and associated tribute trades. Illegal maritime trade and piracy were strictly controlled, but private and tribute maritime trades that could certainly bring some benefits to the Yuan court were patronized. The tribute maritime trade with some Southeast Asian countries in the Indochina Peninsula was maintained. Perhaps, the lately discovered Binh Chau shipwreck illustrated that it also affected marine traffic and trades on Vietnamese waters. The foreign diplomacy approach was actively adopted for the enhancement of the tribute system, but in many cases, after meeting with failure, this turned to power diplomacy or invasion. On several occasions during his reign, Kublai Khan dispatched armies aboard fleets of ships in attempts to expand the empire’s hegemony and extend his rule into East Asia and Southeast Asia. The authors have been involved in the assessment of the physical evidence of Kublai’s attempts to invade Japan and Vietnam, in order to understand the nature of naval colonialism. Kublai’s fleets attacked Japan twice, respectively in 1274 and 1281 CE. Failure of diplomatic approaches to the ruler of the Kamakura shogunate (1192–1333 CE) made him decide to use military power. Kublai’s attacking forces consisted of different ethnic groups, resulting from the successful colonization of the northern part of China and Korea (then under the Goryeo dynasty). The use of multi-ethnic forces has suggested an argument that Kublai’s intention was to colonize Japan by non-Mongolian peoples, rather than to subjugate the polity, yet the issue is still disputed. In the first attack in 1274, the forces landed in northern Kyushu but were forced to withdraw immediately. After the first invasion, the defense strategy against future landings was developed, and long walls were built along the beaches of northern Kyushu. The extensive construction work on the defensive walls represented a perception of the threat
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that Japan could come under colonial rule by the Yuan and be occupied by the Mongolians, Han Chinese, and Koreans. Today we can still see the remnants of bulwarks on beaches near Hakata (Figure 9.5). The height of the walls was 2 m, with a thickness of 2 m on average. They originally stretched over 20 km along the coastline of the Hakata area, but a large portion of the walls has already been lost, since the stones for the wall were reused for the construction of the Fukuoka Castle in later periods. The extensive stone walls were serious preparation efforts against the second invasion. The incomplete first attack convinced Kublai of the necessity of organizing a greater force. Seven years after the first invasion, the second invasion was implemented with the dispatch of reinforced fleets in 1281 CE. During the second invasion, the fleets that were dispatched from Mokpo in the tip of the Korean Peninsula and Ningbo in China assembled and anchored off the southern coasts of Takashima, one of the islands in the Bay of Imari Nagasaki Prefecture. Many stories related to massacres on Takashima Island have been passed down, and monuments
Figure 9.5. Remains of the stone walls constructed for defensive purposes along the coast of the Hakata Bay and throughout the northern Kyushu coastal area. (Photo by Randall Sasaki)
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memorializing the fight between local clans and invasion troopers exist on the island. Resistance attacks were conducted against the invasion fleets, and a large typhoon hit the Yuan fleets, subsequently sinking a large number of ships. The existence of the naval battlefield area has been known for over three decades by underwater archaeological exploration (Kimura 2006). In 2010 a team of Japanese universities first identified the remnants of the hull of one of Kublai Khan’s fleet. In 2014 there was an announcement of the discovery of a second ship, which appeared to be structurally similar to the ones constructed in Ningbo. Investigations at these shipwrecks are ongoing, but objects from the shipwrecks will possibly contribute to understanding the intentions behind Kublai’s naval invasions of Japan. In 1285 CE the Mongol Empire first attempted to subjugate the Tran dynasty (1225–1400 CE) of Dai Viet, who reigned in northern Vietnam. Kublai Khan cautiously increased political pressure in order to force tribute. First, Kublai dispatched his fleet and troops to the kingdom of Champa, which occupied the southern part of Vietnam at the time, and requested the Dai Viet to join in the campaign. The uncooperative attitude of the Dai Viet, however, led to a deterioration of the relationship between the two countries. In 1287–1288 Kublai directed his forces against the Dai Viet, and Thang Long (now Hanoi), the capital of the Dai Viet, was attacked and occupied by the Yuan army led by Kublai’s son Togha (Delgado 2009). A Chinese dynastic chronicle, Yuan Shi, records one of the important battles around Van Don in 1288. Van Don, located in eastern islets in the Ha Long Bay in the northern Gulf of Tonkin, functioned as an international trading port and naval base from at least the twelfth to sixteenth centuries. Dai Viet forces based at Van Don had a battle with the Yuan dynasty’s supply ships around the area concerned. The supply ships attempted to provide logistics support to the Yuan army in Thang Long by way of Ha Long Bay. Dai Viet Annals indicate that the Yuan resupply fleet of 70 vessels was destroyed by Dai Viet naval forces offshore near the port of Van Don. It is not entirely clear how the naval battle progressed or exactly where the naval battle took place. The following naval battle along the shore of the Bach Dang River in 1288, however, has been archaeologically verified. Since 2008 the authors have led an international collaborative research team, in association with the Institute of Archaeology in Hanoi, to assess the naval battlefields at both Van Don and the Bach Dang River (Kimura et al. 2014; Lê et al. 2011; Staniforth et al. 2014) (Figure 9.6). In the field seasons between 2012 and 2014, the team conducted extensive underwater archaeological survey in the waters of the Mang Channel off Quan Lan Island and Cai Lan Island in Van Don District, as well as shore survey on these islands, in which the his-
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Figure 9.6. Excavated wooden stakes forming walls to trap Kublai’s fleets during the naval battle of the Bach Dang River. (Photo by Nguyen Thi Mai Huong)
torical port of Van Don is believed to have been located. While the underwater survey clarified that no cultural remains could survive on the seabed of the Mang Channel, due to the environmental conditions in this waterway, it left the possibility of exploring small bays on the islands by developing a hypothesis that the Kublai Khan supply fleets might have taken the known secured sailing routes between the islands and probably encountered Dai Viet counterattack forces somewhere on the waters of the waterway. Diving and shore searches focused along the waterway in two bays of Quan Lan Island and Cai Lan Island respectively and revealed extensive remains of Tran dynasty jar and pottery sherds in these areas. The identified ceramics are the most extensive remains of Tran period utility wares, rather than trading ceramics. So the possible linkage of the ceramics with residential areas or perhaps military bases nearby is worth considering and examining in the future.
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A local annual festival on Quan Lan Island that is directly related to the 1288 CE victory is a unique and important context to be considered in terms of the impact of pre-European colonialism on modern Asian societies. The naval battle of Van Don is the central theme of the festival, but it extends to the commemoration of war dead from all wars, and the succor of souls of those who died at sea. The Tran dynasty general Tran Khanh Du is recognized and worshipped as a deity and protector of the island, while some other officers are recognized for their sacrifice and contribution to the victory. The Quan Lan Festival can be seen as serving to promote patriotism toward the nation of Vietnam and continued resistance to invasion by China. One highly significant recent event, partly based on our archaeological work, in particular the 2010 excavation at Dong Ma Ngua, was that in September 2012 the Vietnamese prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung issued Decision No. 1491/QD-TT, which designated remnants from the 1288 CE naval battle along the Bach Dang River near Quang Yen town in Quang Ninh Province as a Special National Relic. Special National Relic designation, and therefore legislative protection for the sites, required support from the communities as well as all levels of government in order to be implemented as quickly as it was. This national recognition is clearly a source of great pride to the local people, and a large, framed color copy of the national designation certificate is displayed in each of the local temples where Tran Hung Dao is venerated for worship or some festivals are seasonally taken place dedicated to the victory of the historical Bach Dang river battle.
Conclusion In conclusion, these examples illustrate how the Yuan colonization policy and attempts to invade Vietnam in the late thirteenth century reverberate down the centuries and continue to culturally and socially affect Vietnam. It is clear that there was widespread seaborne trade throughout the Southeast Asian region in the pre-European era. Maritime and underwater archaeology with a focus on ship remains is beginning to reveal some of the extent and nature of that seaborne trade as well as naval campaigns along with the development of shipbuilding in the region. The assessment of the archaeological evidence has considerable potential to explore the processes associated with colonialism. While shipwreck archaeology can be largely seen as “the archaeology of the event,” these individual events can be used to build a picture of longer-term, and larger-scale, historical processes and systems at work in the region.
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Acknowledgments Thank you to all of our colleagues and friends who have worked with and supported us over recent years. Thanks also to all of the organizations that have provided funding and support for this research: Institute of Archaeology (Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences), Institute of Geology (Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology), and the Major Cultural Sites Management Board of Quang Ninh Province, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University, the Field Museum in Chicago, and the University of Colorado Denver in the United States; Flinders University, Monash University, and the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University in Australia. This research would not have been possible without the support of a substantial bequest from the late Mr. Claude Dutuit and his family, administered through the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University. We would like to thank the community members as well as local, district, and provincial government officials in Quang Ninh, Nghe An and Quang Nam provinces for their kind support. During the fieldwork many local people as well as local, district, and provincial government officials in Quang Ninh Province provided support for our work, in particular the Quang Ninh Major Cultural Sites Management Board. We would also like to thank the people of Yen Hung District, Nam Hoa commune, and Hai Yen commune, and those around Quang Yen township as well as on Quan Lan Island and surrounding islands in Quang Ninh Province for their kind support.
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Contributors
María Cruz Berrocal, Ph.D., is currently a ZIF Marie Curie Research Fellow at the Zukunftskolleg and the Department of History and Sociology, Universität Konstanz, Germany. She has led projects focusing on prehistorical archaeology in the Iberian Peninsula, and in the Pacific since 2007. Since 2011 she has engaged in historical archaeology projects mainly focusing on the study of early colonialism in Asia-Pacific, and works in Taiwan in collaboration with Cheng-hwa Tsang, where they are uncovering the remains of the former Spanish colony of San Salvador de Kelang. Michelle M. Damian, Ph.D., is assistant professor of history at Monmouth College, Illinois (USA). After completing an M.A. in maritime archaeology from East Carolina University and a Ph.D. in Japanese history from the University of Southern California, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University. She has worked and studied in Japan for over nine years, including 18 months as a Fulbright fellow. She is also on the board of directors for the nonprofit Museum of Underwater Archaeology (http://www.themua.org). Ellen Hsieh, Ph.D., is a research affiliate at National Chengchi University. Her research interests include maritime archaeology, historical archaeology, global history, archaeometry, and cultural heritage. Jun Kimura, Ph.D., is junior associate professor at the Department of Maritime Civilizations, Tokai University. He specializes in the maritime archaeological study of wreck sites in East Asia and Southeast Asia. His research interests include the history of shipbuilding technologies in these regions. He is the author of Archaeology of East Asian Shipbuilding. Miao Liu, Ph.D., is archaeologist for the Department of History, College of Humanities, Xiamen University, China. With more than ten years of archaeo-
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logical experience in South China historic sites, she mainly engages in the research of Chinese historical archaeology, maritime archaeology, and Chinese export porcelain. Miguel Luque-Talaván, Ph.D., is lecturer and director of the Department of American History I in the Complutense University of Madrid. He has carried out research in Mexico, Peru, Great Britain, the United States, Portugal, and the Philippines and has directed and taken part in national and international research projects. His area of specialization is the history of Iberoasia. Takenori Nogami, Ph.D., is associate professor of Nagasaki University in Japan. He has excavated old kiln sites in Arita and other areas since 1989 and has researched ceramics in shipwreck sites. Recently, his work focuses on Oriental porcelains traded by the Manila galleons. Bobby C. Orillaneda is currently completing his doctoral studies at the Oxford Center for Maritime Archaeology (OCMA), University of Oxford. He is also Museum Researcher at the Underwater Archaeology Section, Archaeology Division, at the National Museum of the Philippines. He has been involved with underwater archaeology since 1998 and has participated in archaeological projects in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Egypt. His academic interests include maritime and underwater archaeology, shipwrecks, Southeast Asian maritime trade, and Asian ceramics. John A. Peterson, Ph.D., is assistant vice president for graduate studies, research, and sponsored programs at the University of Guam. He is an anthropological archaeologist specializing in the historical ecology of the Philippines and the western Pacific region. He is currently working on projects in Ifugao, Butuan, Palanan Bay, and Puerto Princess in Palawan as well as studies of historical impacts from climate change in the region. Russell K. Skowronek, Ph.D., is professor of anthropology and history at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, where he also directs the Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools (CHAPS) program while serving as associate dean overseeing the School of Interdisciplinary Studies and Community Engagement in the College of Liberal Arts. A research associate of the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, his research interests lie in archaeology and ethnohistory of the Spanish Empire. He has conducted research on prehistoric and historic,
Contributors
terrestrial and underwater sites in the United States, Mexico, and the Philippines. Skowronek has coauthored or edited 10 books and monographs, along with dozens of articles and reports on a number of topics in archaeology. Mark Staniforth, Ph.D., is currently adjunct associate professor in the Department of Archaeology at Flinders University. He developed and directed the Maritime Archaeology Program (MAP) in the Department of Archaeology for 14 years (1997–2010), where he taught topics in undergraduate and postgraduate maritime archaeology, underwater cultural heritage management, and more broadly in archaeology, cultural tourism and museum studies. He has broad experience in historical archaeology, maritime archaeology, museums, and heritage studies in a career that spanned more than 30 years. In 2012 he was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA). Now retired, he lives in Willunga, South Australia. Cheng-hwa Tsang, Ph.D., is Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute of History and Philology in the Academia Sinica, Taiwan, with a joint appointment of professorship at the Institute of Anthropology in National Tsing-hua University. His research interests focus on prehistoric archaeology in Taiwan, South China, and Southeast Asia; and he is also well known for his work on the management of cultural resources and historical heritage in Taiwan. Chunming Wu, Ph.D., is senior archaeologist for the South China Sea Institute, Xiamen University. His archaeological experience in Southern China spans nearly 30 years. His interests within Chinese archaeology range from prehistoric times to historic times, mainly including archaeology in Southeast China and maritime archaeology.
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Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations. Abaca, 95 Abelgas, Anthony, 198, 200 Abu-Lughod, Janet, 162 Aeta people, 63 Age of Commerce, 30, 53n2, 125 Agriculture, 75–77, 164 Albuquerque, Alfonso de, 29 Alcega, Juan de, 38 Alvarado, Pedro de, 210 Amber, 33 America: conquest of, 71; Manila and, 213; meeting in, 2. See also Latin America; Mexico; South America Anderson, Benedict, 125 Animal husbandry, 75–77 Annales school approaches, 222–24 Anson, George, 55n13 Archaeology: on Asia Pacific regional power, 6; of Butuan, 20–26; Japanese porcelain findings, 192–200, 202; role of, 3; of shipwrecks, 236; Spanish colonial coins and, 156–59. See also Maritime archaeology Ariso design porcelain, 190, 190, 192, 198 Asia Pacific, 132; agents in, 4; archaeology on regional power of, 6; colonialism in, 7; as key player, 1–2; trade networks of, 3–4. See also Japanese porcelain, in Asia Pacific Augustinians, 80 Austronesian navigation, 220 Awaji, 168, 177 Ayuntamiento site (Manila), 198, 199, 200, 213 Aztecs, 16
Bajau people, 13, 25, 64, 83n15 Balangays, 20, 24 Balangingi people, 13, 15, 26 Ballast stones, 172 Baluartes (tower forts), 17 Bandalas, 65, 72, 75 Barangays, 68, 84n18, 125–26 Barter, 94, 163 Bartmann Jug, 100, 104, 105, 112 Batak people, 63 Batavia, 5, 30, 32, 217 Baudot, George, 79 Beaterio de Indias site (Guatemala), 210 Beaterio de la Compañía de Jesús site (Manila), 198, 200, 213 Beechey, Frederick, 96 Before European Hegemony (Abu-Lughod), 162 Bermejo, Julián, 17 Bersales, José Eleazar, 198 Bertrand, 104 Betel nuts, 17 Bikol people, 83n3 Biñan, 69 Binh Chau underwater site, 231, 232 Bizen ware, 169–73 Black Nazarene, 80 Blumentritt, Ferdinand, 62 Boljoon, 202, 214 Bontoc people, 63 Books of Hours (Tory), 135 Borneo, 32 Boxer, Charles R., 118, 120, 124, 127, 129, 135, 137
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Index Boxer Codex: binding, translation of, 119; colonization promoted by, 136, 139; discovery of, 118; illustrations of, 121–31; Indigenous peoples in, 125, 132; making of illustrations in, 132–39; mapping of, 132; religion in, 129, 130, 131; role of, 121; section 1: voyage to the Ladrones (Mariana Islands), 121, 122, 123, 123; section 2: people of the Philippines, 124, 124–26, 126; section 3: people of East and Southeast Asia, 127–28, 128; section 4: Ming China, 128–31, 129, 130, 131; section 5: Champa, 131; speculation over, 120; structure of, 121–31; Tagalog people in, 138; text of, 119–31 Braudel, Fernand, 222–23 British: in India, 4; opium trade by, 17; in Philippines, 94–95; seeking trade routes, 13 British Museum, 150 Bronze drums. See Dong Son style Brunei, 127, 132 Buddhism, 10, 221 Bugis people, 13, 25 Butuan: ages of samples from boats, 20, 22–24, 23; archaeology of, 20–26; as archipelago gateway, 18–20; boats buried in, 20–24, 20, 21, 22; Christian settlements in, 13; entrepôts in, 19, 24; Jesuit mission to, 25; Magallanes in, 24; tenth century exchange in, 21–24; trade center of, 10, 12 Cabrera Bueno, 35 Cacao, 216 Cagayanes people, 124, 126 Cajilog, Diego, 102, 106 Cambodia, 132, 157 Camphor, 10, 32 Cannibalism, 67 Cantonese people, 128–29 Capitalism, 1, 95 Caribes people, 67 Caroline Islands, 4, 6 Carter, Howard, 92 Casanatense Codex, 137 Castanopsis/Lithocarpus trees, 21–22 Casualidad, 34 Catholicism: in China, 79; in Philippines, 16, 78–79 Cattle, 77 Cavendish, Thomas, 35, 55n13 Cebu: Japanese porcelain in, 199–200, 201, 202, 203, 215; Legazpi in, 199
Cebuano people, 83n3 Celadon, 12, 20, 49, 173, 227 Ceramics: of China, 112; on Española, 45; from Marinduque underwater site, 49; on San Diego, 39–41; of Thailand, 112; trade in, 11; of Vietnam, 112; Zhangzhou type, 47–49. See also Porcelain; Stoneware Ceramics, in Spanish Philippines, 92; economic history and, 94–95; expedition collection of, 98–100; Guthe Collection of European, 100–111; lessons from, 111–12; U.S. control of Philippines and, 93–94; Worcester, Guthe, University of Michigan and, 95–98 Chamorros people, 121, 123, 134 Champa, 18, 121, 131, 234 Charles III, 153, 154 Charles IV, 154 Checkpoint system, 164–67, 171 Chen, Tsung-jen, 120, 127, 137 China, xiii; blue and white porcelain and, 12; in Boxer Codex, 128–31, 129, 130, 131; Catholicism in, 79; ceramics of, 112; coastal, xvii; coins hoarded by, 3; colonialism of, 5; contacts with, 30; economy of, 1; Japanese porcelain and, 214; Japan late medieval Seto Sea trade and, 172; in Manila, 31–32, 132–33; manufactured goods of, 33; navy of, 12; pirates controlled by, 26; porcelain from, 173; pottery in, 15; Qing dynasty of, 5, 137, 152–55, 157–59, 187–89, 193–94, 215; as sink of silver, 3; Song dynasty of, 18–19, 226–32; Spanish coins in Southeast coast of, 146–59; Spanish in, 4; trade of, 10–11, 26. See also Yuan dynasty Chinese junks, 31, 45, 46, 48, 49, 157 Christianity, 10, 220; in Butuan, 13; conversion to, 15; war with Moros, 25 Clavería y Zaldúa, Narciso, 71 Clement VIII, 79 Cloves, 10, 12, 18, 26 Cob coins, 146–47, 147, 149–53, 150, 151, 158 Coffee, 95, 216 Coins: China hoarding, 3; gold, 157–58; Japan usage of, 164; Kuan Yong Tong Bao, 155; metal, 34; on San Diego, 3, 157; silver, 157; Wan Li Tong Bao, 152. See also Spanish colonial coins, in Southeast coast of China Colón, Cristóbal, 67, 212 Colón, Diego, 212
Index Colonialism: in Asia Pacific, 7; of China, 5; European, 1; exploitation, 219, 221; of Germany, 4; indigenous people reacting to, 5; of Japan, 4; settler, 219. See also Southeast Asia, colonialism in Colonization, 219; Boxer Codex promoting, 136, 139; Islamic, 15; model of, 66–67; of Vietnam by Yuan dynasty, 231–36 Columbian Expedition, 96 Commercial capitalism, 95 Congregaciones, 64, 68–69, 84n19 Connectedness, 3 Conquista: brutal practice of, 16; Islam and, 13–18 Consequences of Philippines first conquest: on agriculture and animal husbandry, 75–77; cultural, 77–81; on economic structure, 72–75; religious practices and, 79–81; in spiritual universe, 78–81 Cornish, Samuel, 55n13 Cotton, 95 Cribb, Joe, 150 Crossley, John N., 119 Cuba, 208, 212, 212 Cubero Sebastián, Pedro, 62 Cultural mestizaje, 64, 132, 134 Cultural Properties Protection Act, Guatemala, 209 Customs of the Tagalog (Plasencia), 139 Dai Viet people, 234, 235 Dávila Fernández, Enrique, 207 De gli habiti antichi et moderni di diuerse parti del mondo (Vecellio), 136 De la Cruz Bagay, Nicolás, 129 De las Casas, Bartoloemé, 16 Dellon, Gabriel, 137 De Sphinx voorheen, 110 Díaz Arenas, Rafael, 95 Diseases, 65, 83n10 Dizon, Eusebio, 43 Dominicans, 78 Dong Ma Ngua, 236 Dong Son style, 220 Drake, Francis, 94 Duhaut-Cilly, Auguste, 96 Dutch, 2, 214; defeat of, 215; in Philippines, 38; seeking trade routes, 13; Spice Islands and, 32 Dutch East India Company, 4
East Asia: global trade of, 156; Kublai Khan in, 231–32; Portuguese in, 196; research in, 225 East China Sea, 225–27, 229, 231 East India Company, 4, 95 Economies: for ceramics in Spanish Philippines, 94–95; of China, 1; maritime, 30; of Philippines, 34; Philippines first conquest and, 72–75 Ecumenical scholarship, 1 Edabune, 174 Egoma berry, 165 Eighteenth century. See Philippines, first conquest of indigenous people Encarnación, 43–44, 51 Encomenderos, 65, 73–74, 119, 140n3 Encomienda, 13–18, 72–74 Entrepôts, 14; in Butuan, 12, 19, 24; emporia, 220 Española, 45–46, 52 Ethnic customs, 14 Ethnographic Map of the Philippines (Blumentritt), 62 Europe: colonialism of, 1; trade networks and, 17–18 European ceramics (Guthe Collection): Bartmann Jug, 100, 104, 105, 112; Dutch-{#}and Scottish-made painted and transfer printed, 108–10, 109; English-made edge-decorated and transfer-printed tablewares, 105–6, 107; Flown Ware, 106, 108; ginger beer/ale bottle, 102, 103; ironstone relish dish, 110, 111; olive jars, 101, 101–2; salt-glazed stoneware mineral water bottles with single applied loop handle at neck, 103, 104; salt-glazed stoneware pitcher, 110, 110; stoneware ink bottles, 103, 103–4 Evangelization, 78–80 Exchange: ceramic, silk, stoneware, 12–13; with local peoples, 5; in Melaka, 26; of rice, 11; in tenth-century Butuan, 20–26 Exploitation colonialism, 219, 221 Fang, Chen-chen, 215 Far Eastern Foundation for Nautical Archaeology (FEFNA), 45 Fengshen Yanyi, 129 Ferdinand VI, 153 Ferdinand VII, 154 Fernando VII, 94 Finlay, Robert, 135 Five Pillars of Islam, 14 Flown Ware, 106, 108
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Index Franciscans, 78, 79 Frank, Andrew G., 1 Fremont, John C., 96 French, 4 Fujian Museum, 149 Galleon. See Manila-Acapulco galleon trade; Manila Galleon Garcia, Mauro, 119, 129 Gasco, Rafael, 80 Gelpke, J.H.F. Sollewijn, 119 Geographic Information System (GIS), 167 Germany, 4 GIS. See Geographic Information System Glass beads, 11, 48, 54n3 Globalization, 18 Global-regional-local articulation, 4 Global trade, 3, 6, 16, 20, 26, 51; of East Asia, 156; maritime economy and, 30; Spanish colonial coins and, 156 Glocalization, 6 Go-Daigo, 163 Godavaya underwater site, 223 Goddio, Frank, 39, 48 Gold, 11, 15, 19, 24, 54n3; coins, 157–58; dust, 54n10; in Philippines, 120; plunder of, 157; Spanish and, 84n22 Gregory XIII, 78 Guanqiao Commune, 150, 152, 157 Guatemala, 208, 209–11, 211 Guerra Pérez, Francisco, 65 Guthe, Carl, 97; collection sites of, 99–100; European ceramics collection of, 100–111; lessons from collection of, 111–12; University of Michigan expedition and, 95–98 Haciendas, 73, 76, 80 Hall, Kenneth R., 19, 221 Hari supports, 192, 200, 211 Hau’ofa, Epeli, 61 Hellyer, Robert, 181 Hernández Aranda, Judith, 209 Hiligaynon people, 83n3 Hinduism, 10, 12, 221 Hirayama, 177, 178, 179 Hispanic-American War of 1898, 65 Hispanization, 66, 73, 82 Historia eclesiástica indiana (Mendieta), 78
Historiography, 61, 62, 77 Hizen area porcelain, 188, 188–89, 192, 193, 194, 197 Horrocks, Mark, 21–22 Hsieh, Ming-liang, 194 Hurricanes, 158 Hutterer, K., 19 Hyōe Tarō, 174–77, 175, 176 Hyōgo, 165–72, 169, 170, 174–81, 175, 178 Ibaloy people, 63 Iberians, 2; Iberian Union and, 132; indigenous people in Philippines and, 61–64 Ifugao people, 63 Igorot people, 25 Igorrotes, 63 Illano people, 64, 83n15 Illuminations of Official Tribute, 137 Illustrations of Boxer Codex, 121–31; captions of, 136; Chinese brush technique in, 133; Chinese influence in, 137; as collaboration, 134; cultural mestizaje of, 132, 134; dress and, 136–37; framing of, 134–36; locations of, 133; making of, 132–38; as primary over text, 139; worldviews in, 136 Illustrations of Official Tribute, 127 Ilokano people, 83n3 Images of People from Ten Thousand Countries, 137 Impact of Philippines first conquest, 64; model of colonization in, 66–67; Muslim presence and, 66–67; population shock and, 65–68; on settlement patterns and pueblos de indios, 68–71; slavery and, 67–68; on social structure, 71–72 India, 4, 11 Indigenous peoples: in Boxer Codex, 125, 132; colonialism reacted to, 5; resiliency of, 10. See also Philippines, first conquest of indigenous people; specific indigenous people Indigo, 95 Ingersoll, Robert G., 96–97 Innoshima, 178, 180 Inryōken nichiroku, 168 Interethnic marriage, 14 Inunoshima, 177, 178, 180 Iranun people, 13, 15, 17, 26 Iron, 168, 169 Islam, 10, 131, 221; colonization by, 15; Conquista, reducción, encomienda and, 13–18; conversion to, 14, 26; evidence of rank in, 14–15;
Index Islamization, 63; in Southeast Asia, 12; titles in, 15. See also Christianity; Muslims Isneg people, 63 Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine, 165 Jago-on, S. C. B., 37 Japan: agriculture in, 164; colonialism of, 4; contacts with, 30; in Manila, 32; provinces, xix; Spanish in, 4; swords in, 164 Japan, late medieval Seto Sea trade: ballast stones in, 172; Bizen ware in, 169–72, 173; checkpoint system and, 164–66, 171; China and, 173; coin usage and, 164; historical background for, 163–66; hubs for, 162; Hyōe Tarō in, 174–77, 175, 176; iron trade and, 168, 169; labor in, 177; maritime commerce and, 167; port sites, cargoes, captains in, 177–81, 178; pottery in, 168–73, 170; study sources and methodology for, 167; trade routes, commodities, disputed port sites in, 167–73; trade routes and people in, 174–77; warrior power and, 166 Japanese porcelain, in Asia Pacific: archaeological findings in Asia, 192–200, 202; ariso design, 190, 190, 192, 198; background for, 186–87; in Cebu, 199–200, 201, 202, 203, 215; Chinese society and, 214; diversity of demand for, 212–13; export beginnings of, 187–89; hari supports in, 192, 200, 211; Hizen area, 188, 188–89, 192, 193, 194, 197; Konnyaku-imban technique, 192; Kraak design in, 192, 205, 213, 216; from Latin America, 202–12, 204, 205–6, 207, 208, 209, 211, 212, 216, 217; in Macao, 196–97, 197; in Manila, 195, 198–99, 199–200, 214–15; from Nagasaki, 191, 193, 193; in Philippines, 195, 197–200, 202, 213–14; Spanish society and, 213–14, 217; in Taiwan, 194, 194–96, 213, 215; types and techniques of, 189–90, 190, 192; wave and fish design, 190, 190 Java: commercial influence of, 18; fleet of, 12; people of, in Boxer Codex, 135; rice in, 24; swords and metallurgy from, 19 Jepara underwater site, 227 Jesuit House site, 198, 200, 203, 214 Jesuits, 16, 25 Ji, Tie-sheng, 128 Judaism, 220 Junk. See Chinese junks Junker, Laura L., 112
Kalinga people, 63 Kangxi, 155, 159 Kankanay people, 63 Kapampangan people, 83n3 Kōfukuji Temple, 165 Koji Ohashi, 207, 212 Konnyaku-imban technique, 192 Kotzbue, Otto von, 95–96 Koxinga, 5, 189, 194, 215 Kraak design porcelain, 192, 205, 213, 216 Kuan Yong Tong Bao, 155 Kublai Khan: in East Asia, 231–32; as Emperor, 231; fleet of, 234–35; forces of, 233; tributes forced by, 232, 234 Kurakizaki underwater site, 228 Kurō Gorō, 180 Kurō Hyōe, 181 Kuwayama, George, 202 Lacsina, Ligaya, 23, 24 Ladrones, 121, 122, 123, 123, 141n14 Lai, Yu-chih, 127, 137 Languages, 78, 83n3 Late medieval period. See Japan, late medieval Seto Sea trade Latin America, 94; Japanese porcelain from, 202–12, 204, 205–6, 207, 208, 209, 211, 212, 216, 217 Lee, Fabio Yu-chung, 120, 128 Legarda, Benito J., 33 Legazpi, Miguel López de, 13, 16, 24, 30, 60, 64; in Cebu, 199; conquest by, 72 Leishu encyclopedias, 129, 140n10 Leyes de Indias, 67–68 Ley Maura, 71 Li, Kuang-ti, 195 Linguistics, 77–78, 220 Loacra, Miguel de, 124 Lóbez, Simón, 73 Longue durée, 222 Lu, Tai-kang, 195 Lumad people, 13, 25–26 Macao, 5; Japanese porcelain in, 196–97, 197; Portuguese in, 54n9; trade in, 32–33 Macao factory, 4 Madrid Protocol, 95 Magallanes, 34
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Index Magallanes, Fernando de, 13, 15, 34, 60, 186; in Butuan, 24; death of, 199; in Philippines, 111; spurred voyage of, 29–30 Magindanao people, 64, 83n15 Maize, 76 Majapahit kingdom, 11–12, 19, 26, 220 Mak, Lau-Fong, 13–14 Malacca, 4 Malay world, 222 Manguin, Pierre-Yves, 119, 222, 224–25 Manila: America and, 213; archdiocese of, 78–79; building of, 187; as capital, 24, 82; China in, 31–32, 132–33; as commercial center, 30; Japanese porcelain in, 195, 198–99, 199–200, 214–15; Japan in, 32; as multinational community, 213; as repository and transshipment center, 31–32; trade in, 32–33 Manila-Acapulco galleon trade, 30–34, 51, 186; route for, 187 Manila Galleon, 2; ceramic, silk, stoneware exchange, 13; foundation for, 31; goods of, 32–33; Philippine routes, 36; pilot guide for, 35, 37; ship construction and, 34–35; shipwrecks of, 37–45, 51–52; silver and, 3; in sixteenth and seventeenth century Philippines, 34–37; termination of, 94; trade flows of, 3 Manrique de Lara, Sabiniano, 82 Maranao people, 64, 83n15 Marapao, Emiliano, 98–99, 102 Mariana Islands, xiii, xvi, 6; in Boxer Codex, 121, 122, 123, 123 Marinduque underwater site, 49–50, 52 Marine Archaeology Unlimited Incorporated (MAUI), 49 Maritime archaeology, 6, 234; reliance on, 220; seaborn trade revealed by, 219, 236 Maritime Ceramics Route, 220 Maritime commerce, 167, 228. See also Japan, late medieval Seto Sea trade; Philippines, sixteenth and seventeenth century maritime trade; Shipwrecks; Spanish colonial coins, in Southeast coast of China Maritime cultural community, 152 Maritime Silk Road, 220 Maritime Spice Route, 220 MAUI. See Marine Archaeology Unlimited Incorporated Mauritius, 38, 52
Mayans, 16 Mediterranean comparison, 222–24 Melaka: capture of, 29; exchange in, 26; as harbor town, 14; Portuguese in, 30; trade center of, 32 Memorial de las cossas que combienen a los naturales de las yslas del Poniente (Mendiola), 75 Mendieta, Jerónimo de, 78 Mendiola, Benito de, 75 Mercantilism, 95 Mexican War of Independence, 94 Mexico, 16; Mexico City, 202, 204, 205, 205–6; Oaxaca, 207, 207, 208, 209; Spanish sovereignty over, 34; Veracruz, 208, 209, 209 Mihara, 174–77, 175, 178, 181 Miksic, John, 220, 223 Milled bust coins, 148–49, 153–56, 158 Milled pillar coins, 148, 148, 153, 153, 158 Millenarian movements, 80 Minamiura, 177, 178, 180–81 Mindanao Iumad, 64, 67 Miscegenation, 64, 66 Missions: Jesuit, to Butuan, 25; in Philippines, 17; reducción and, 16 Misugi, Takatoshi, 202 Mizunoko-iwa underwater site, 170–72 Moluccas, 4, 18, 32. See also Spice Islands Mongol Empire invasion, 232–34 Mongolia, 12, 233 Monsoons, 35, 37, 222 Montañés, 34 Monte Corvino, Juan de, 79 Morga, Antonio de, 38–39, 52, 62–63, 74, 77, 119 Morley, Sylvanus, 96 Moros, 16, 64, 83n15; as pirates, 17; raids by, 17; war with Christians, 25; women and, 17. See also Muslims Mount Merapit volcano, 19, 24 Musk, 33 Muslimization, 13–18 Muslims, 5; betel nuts preferred by, 17; culture of, 12, 13; impact of Philippines first conquest and, 66–67; pilots, 19; states of, 64; trade by, 14–16, 24, 221 My Arduous Journey around the World (Van Noort), 38–39 Nagasaki, 188, 188–89; history of, 193; porcelain from, 191, 193, 193
Index Nahuatl language, 78 Napoleonic Wars, 34, 94 National Commission of Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines, 62 National Museum of the Philippines, 39, 42–45, 49, 113, 197, 202 Naturales people, 124, 126, 139. See also Tagalog people Naval battlefields, 234–36, 235 Negrillos people, 124, 126 Negritos, 62–63 Negros, 112 Newson, Linda A., 65 Nguyen Tan Dung, 236 Ningbo ship, 227 Nuestra Señora de Atocha, 150, 157 Nuestra Señora de Covadonga, 55n13, 94 Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación, 55n13 Nuestra Señora de la Vida, 42, 42–43, 51, 53 Nutmeg, 10 Oceaneering International, 45 Oceania, xiii, 2, 61 Ohashi Koji, 189 Ohmura Sumitada, 193 Opium, 17 Opium War, 158 Pagden, Anthony, 132 Palawanos people, 63 Pampangos people, 62, 63 Pangasinanes people, 63 Paredes, Oona, 25 Parian site (Manila), 198–99 Parsons, Jeff, 99 Pearls, 33, 54n3, 64 Pearson, Michael N., 222 Pelras, Christian, 14 Peppers, 10 Peregrinación del Mundo (Cubero Sebastián), 62 Pérez Dasmariñas, Gómez, 119, 140n2 Pérez Dasmariñas, Luis, 119, 140n2 Petrus Regout & Co, 110 Philip II, 72, 73, 157 Philip III, 157 Philippines, xiii, xviii, 93; British in, 94–95; Catholic Church in, 16; Dutch in, 38; economy of, 34; exports of, 54n10; global
agency in, 12; gold in, 120; Japanese porcelain in, 195, 197–200, 202, 213–14; languages of, 78, 83n3; missions in, 17; people of, in Boxer Codex, 124, 124–26; plantations of, 95, 112; Portuguese in, 13; Spanish in, 4, 13, 15, 132. See also Butuan; Ceramics, in Spanish Philippines; Manila Philippines, first conquest of indigenous people: arrival of Iberian sailors and, 61–64; evangelization and, 78–80; transformation and resistance during, 60–61, 81. See also Consequences of Philippines first conquest; Impact of Philippines first conquest Philippines, sixteenth and seventeenth century maritime trade: expansionist ambitions during, 29–30; Manila-Acapulco galleon trade in, 30–34, 51; Manila Galleon shipwrecks in, 37–45, 51–52; Manila Galleon trade route in, 34–37, 36; Portuguese during, 29–30; shipwreck and underwater sites in, 45–50, 52; Spanish during, 29–30 The Philippine Islands and Their People (Worcester), 96 Philip V, 158 Phytoliths, 21–22 Piano de Carpini, Juan, 79 Pigafetta, Antonio, 24, 63, 125 Pijaos of Popayan, 67 Pintados, 63, 84n27 Pirates, 13, 16, 18, 26 Pires, Tomé, 139 Plagues, 76–77 Plantations, 95, 112 Plasencia, Juan de, 124, 139 Plaza Independencia site (Cebu), 198, 200, 203, 213 Plaza San Luis site (Manila), 198, 199, 213 Plunder, 94, 157 Pollen, 21–22 Polos, 75 Polygamy, 14–15 Population shock, 65–68 Porcelain: blue and white, 12, 50; from China, 172; export of, 158; on Nuestra Señora de la Vida, 42; on San Diego, 40; from San Isidro underwater site, 50; on San José, 44; Taiwan and, 5; trade in, 11; of Vietnam, 20. See also Japanese porcelain, in Asia Pacific Pordenone, Odorico de, 79
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Index Portolans, 182 Portuguese, 7; Asian trade system of, 53n1; in Asia Pacific, 4; in East Asia, 196; in India, 4; in Macao, 54n9; in Melaka, 30; in Philippines, 13; during sixteenth and seventeenth century Philippines, 29–30; in Southeast Asia, 32–33; Spice Islands and, 32 Potatoes, 76 Pottery: in China, 15; in Japan late medieval Seto Sea trade, 168–73, 170 Principales, 70–72, 82 Principalías, 65, 71–72 Pueblos de indios, 68–71 Qing dynasty, 5, 137, 152–55, 157–59, 187–89, 193–94, 215 Quanzhou Maritime Museum, 149 Quanzhou ship, 229 Quirino, Carlos, 119, 129 Quiroz, Jorge, 205 Rada, Martín de, 128 Real Eight Company, 158 Recopilación of 1680, 67, 68, 71 Reducción, 13–18 Register of Incoming Ships at the Hyōgo North Gate, 167–69, 171–77, 180–81 Reid, Anthony, 30 Relation de l’Inquisition de Goa (Dellon), 137 Religion: in Boxer Codex, 129, 130, 131; evangelization of, 78–80; religious practices, 79–81. See also Buddhism; Catholicism; Christianity; Hinduism; Islam; Judaism Republic, 104 Rey Carlos, 34 Rice, 12, 19, 24, 163 Ríos, Hernando de los, 119 Rizal, José, 65 Rogers, Woodes, 55n13 Ronquillo de Peñalosa, Gonzalo, 74 Rooswijk, 158 Royal Captain junk, 48, 52 Ruthven Museum, 98, 99 Saburō Kurō, 180 Saga, 188, 188 Sakai, Takashi, 194 Sakoku policy, 193, 196, 212, 214, 216–17
Salazar, Domingo de, 67, 73 Salcedo, Felipe de, 31 Samai people, 64, 83n15 San Agustín, Gaspar de, 65 San Bartolomé, 38 Sandalwood, 10 Sande, Francisco de, 73, 75, 127 San Diego: astrolabe of, 39, 41; ceramics on, 39–41; coins on, 3, 157; samurai swords on, 41; shipwreck of, 37–42, 40, 52, 157, 186; stoneware on, 38 Sangleyes people, 62, 66, 128–29, 129 San Isidro underwater site, 46–48, 47, 50, 52 San José, 44–45, 51 Santa Ana, 55n13 Santa Catarina church, 17 Santiago, 35, 123 Santísima Trinidad, 34–35, 55n13 Schurz, William, 32, 37 Scientific Survey and Location Ltd (SSL), 49 Serafín Gómez, Susana, 207 Seto Sea. See Japan, late medieval Seto Sea trade Settler colonialism, 219 Seventeenth century. See Philippines, sixteenth and seventeenth century maritime trade Shan Hai Jing, 137 Shapinsky, Peter, 182 Sheep, 77 Shichirō Hyōe, 181 Shinan ship, 229, 230 Shipbuilding: Ningbo ship, 227; Shinan ship, 229, 230; during Song dynasty, 228–29; Southeast Asia colonialism and, 224, 224–31, 226; Wando ship, 226 Shipwrecks: archaeology of, 236; at Binh Chau, 231, 232; of Encarnación, 43–44, 51; of Española, 45–46, 52; at Godavaya site, 223; at Jepara site, 227; at Kurakizaki site, 228; of Manila Galleon, 37–45, 51–52; at Marinduque site, 49–50, 52; at Mizunoko-iwa site, 171–72; of Nuestra Señora de la Vida, 42, 42–43, 53; of Quanzhou ship, 229; of Rooswijk, 158; of Royal Captain junk, 48, 52; of San Diego, 37–42, 40, 52, 157, 186; at San Isidro site, 46–48, 47, 50, 52; of San José, 44–45, 51; of Southeast Asia, 223, 229; at Tanjung Simpang site, 229; underwater sites and, 45–50; in Vietnam, 230–31
Index Shirō Jirō, 181 Siam, 4, 32, 35, 127, 140n9; people of, in Boxer Codex, 128 Sidebottom, Steven E., 223 Silk, 11, 157, 158 Silver: China as sink of, 3; impact of, 4; Manila Galleon and, 3; plunder of, 157; Spanish colonial coins, 156, 158; trade in, 11 Sinopoli, Carla M., 98, 112 Situado, 33–34, 55n14 Sixteenth century. See Philippines, first conquest of indigenous people; Philippines, sixteenth and seventeenth century maritime trade Slavery, 15, 16; Philippines first conquest and, 67–68 Small White Reef I underwater site, 155 Smith, Cecilia, 112 Smuggling, 3 Song dynasty, 18, 226–32 South, Stanley, 92 South America, 29, 31 South China Sea, 224–31 Southeast Asia, 7; Islam in, 11; people of, in Boxer Codex, 127–28, 128; Portuguese in, 32–33; shipwrecks in, 223, 229; Spanish in, 4–5, 32–33; spice trade in, 10–12; stoneware in, 53 Southeast Asia, colonialism in, 219–20; Annales school approaches, 222–24; before arrival of Europeans, 221; Mediterranean comparison and, 222–24; naval battlefields of, 234–36, 235; shipbuilding and, 224, 224–31, 226; Vietnam colonization and, 231–36 Southwest Pacific, xiii Souza, George Bryan, 119 Spanish: in Asia Pacific, 4; in China, 4; encomienda as tool for, 16; gold and, 84n22; in Japan, 4; Japanese porcelain and, 213–14, 217; Mexico and, 34; in Penghu, 4; in Philippines, 4, 13, 16, 132; during sixteenth and seventeenth century Philippines, 29–30; in Southeast Asia, 4–5, 32–33; Spice Islands and, 32; in Taiwan, 4. See also Ceramics, in Spanish Philippines Spanish colonial coins, in Southeast coast of China: cob coins, 146–47, 147, 149–53, 150, 151, 158; coin blanks, 146; contribution from archaeology and, 156–59; discovery of, 149–53; distribution of, 156; global trade and, 156; imitations of, 155; influence of, 149, 159; maritime
cultural community and, 152; milled bust coins, 148–49, 153–56, 158; milled pillar coins, 148, 148, 153, 153, 158; minting of, 146–47, 156; of silver, 156, 158 Spice Islands, 12, 30, 32, 158, 210 Spoehr, Alexander, 109, 112 Sri Lanka, 223 Srivijayan kingdom, 11, 12, 18 SSL. See Scientific Survey and Location Ltd Stoneware, 12, 17, 26; ink bottles, 103, 103–4; from Marinduque underwater site, 49; salt-glazed mineral water bottles with single applied loop handle at neck, 103, 104; on San Diego, 38; on San José, 44; in Southeast Asia, 53; from Thai Sawankhalok kilns, 45, 46; from Thai Sisatchanalai kilns, 48; from Vietnam, 20 Suárez, Francisco, 129 Subrahmanyam, Sanjay, 132, 139 Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (Morga), 38–39, 62, 74, 119 Suez Canal, 95 Sugar, 95, 96, 112 Suma Oriental (Pires), 139 Suribachi, 169–70 Sutherland, Heather, 222 Swords: in Boxer Index, 125; in Japan, 164; from Java, 19; samurai, 41 Sy, Jaime L., 198, 200 Tagalog people, 63, 71, 83n3, 83n8, 84n17, 120; in Boxer Codex, 134, 138; societal elites among, 125–26; traditions of, 139 Tagawa Matsu, 194 Tagbanua people, 63 Taiwan, xiii; Heping Dao, 5, 7; Japanese porcelain in, 194, 194–96, 213, 215; porcelain and, 5; Spanish in, 4 Takauji Ashikaga, 163 Tanaka, Shigeko, 212, 216 Tandolanes people, 63 Tanjung Simpang underwater site, 229 Taosug people, 13, 15, 17, 26 Tarō Saemon, 179 Tausug people, 64, 83n15 Taxes, 68, 72, 157, 165, 169. See also Situado Tea, 158 Temquiqui people, 127, 140n8 Terreros, Eladio, 202
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Index Thailand, 4; ceramics of, 112; Sawankhalok kilns, 45, 46; Sisatchanalai kilns, 48 Thang Long people, 234 Tobacco, 76, 95 Tōdaiji Temple, 165 Tojin-yashiki, 193, 193, 213 Tornaviaje, 31 Tory, Geoffrey, 135 Tower forts (baluartes), 17 Toyotomi Hideyoshi, 187–88, 193 Trade: of Asia Pacific, 3–4; in Butuan, 10, 12; in ceramics, 11; of China, 11, 26; in gold, 11; in Macao, 32–33; major areas in third century, 11; in Manila, 32–33; Manila-Acapulco galleon, 30–34, 51; of Manila Galleon, 3; of Melaka, 32; by Muslims, 14–16, 24, 221; in porcelain, 11; in silk, 11; in silver, 11; spices, in Southeast Asia, 10–11. See also Exchange; Global trade; Japan, late medieval Seto Sea trade Tran Hung Dao, 236 Tran Khanh Du, 236 Treaty of Saragossa, 30–31 Treaty of Tordesillas, 132 Treaty of Union, 33 Tributes, 75, 163, 164, 232, 234 Turley, Jeffrey Scott, 119 Typhoons, 24 University of Michigan expedition of 1922–1925: collection methods for, 98–100; Guthe and, 95–98; Guthe Collection of European ceramics as result, 100–111 Urdaneta, Andrés de, 31 Vancouver, George, 95 Van Noort, Olivier, 38–39 Vecellio, Cesare, 136–37 Vera, Santiago de, 82 Vietnam, xiii; ceramics of, 112; Champa in, 131; Chu Dau kilns of, 48; colonization of by Yuan
dynasty, 231–36; French in, 4; porcelain and stoneware from, 20; shipwrecks in, 230–31 Visayan Islands, 63, 66, 71 Visayans, 63, 124, 124–26, 134 Von Verscheur, Charlotte, 166 Wagner, Kip, 158 Wallerstein, Immanuel M., 30 Wando ship, 226 Wan-li, 157 Wan Li Tong Bao, 152 Waray people, 83n3 Warrior power, 166 Wave and fish design porcelain, 190, 190 Wheat, 76 Wilkes, Charles, 96 Women, Moros and, 15 Woods, Damon L., 125–26 Worcester, Carl, 95–98 World economics, 1 World Wide First (WWF), 39, 44 Xaque’ people, 127, 137 Yakan people, 64, 83n15 Yamawaki Teijiro, 189 Yang, Lien-sheng, 128 Yellow Sea, 225 Yoshimitsu Ashikaga, 163 Yuan dynasty, 12, 18, 230; Vietnam colonization by, 231–36. See also Kublai Khan Zambales people, 62, 63, 124, 125, 126 Zeng, Zelu, 158 Zhangzhou Museum, 151 Zhangzhou type ceramics, 47–49 Zhengde, 48 Zheng family, 189, 194, 215 Zheng Jing, 215 Zheng Zhilong, 194