Asia-Pacific in the Making of the Americas: Toward a Global HistoryMain MenuThe Spanish PacificThe China Trade Era19th-Century US PacificTimelineby Andrea LedesmaGalleryCollection of all images, documents, and photos featured on this site.AcknowledgementsCaroline Franka1a5e7e9a2c3dba76ecb2896a93bf66ac8d1635e
History of the Chinese Mestizo in the Spanish Colonial Period
12016-03-18T13:27:55-07:00Isabella Betita7d0d562afdd86f5d0b9bdd6b47254a8bdbcb5fa5840115plain2017-01-25T14:36:11-08:00Andrea Ledesma3398f082e76a2c1c8a9101d91a66e1d764540d34The Chinese—originating mostly from the southeastern part of the Fujian province—had been traveling to different islands in the Philippines even before the Spaniards colonized the Philippines in 1565.[3] However, the vast majority did not settle in the Islands.[4] It was only with the establishment of the Spanish colonial economy in the Philippines, brought about by the institution of the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade, that the Chinese started to migrate and live in the Islands in greater numbers.
One of the institutions that facilitated the integration of Chinese immigrants into Philippine life was the Catholic Church. The Church, in cooperation with the Spanish government, enticed the Chinese to convert to Catholicism by granting converts privileges that non-converts did not enjoy. This included exemption from certain taxes, as well as the right to marry local women and live in a designated area called Binondo, an island located just outside Intramuros, the seat of the Spanish government. The offspring of these intermarriages, the Chinese mestizo, could be depended upon to help the missionaries’ proselytizing efforts in China and elsewhere in Asia. In time, Binondo became a community of Catholic Chinese and their families, while non-Catholic Chinese were restricted to a place called the Parián (market-place). ________________________
[3] In the United States, the Chinese only began coming in greater numbers during the mid-nineteenth century. [4] According to early Spanish reports, there was a settlement of only about 150 Chinese in Manila at the time of Spanish conquest of the Islands.
12016-04-21T11:48:01-07:00Descripcion de las Yndias del Ocidentales by Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas31601 map of the western hemisphere with the northwestern part of North America unfinished and showing part of western Iberian peninsula and Africa, part of China, Japan, part of New Guinea, and some of the Solomon islands. Includes the Line of Demarcation between Portugese and Spanish colonial claims, including the Philippines. Archived in the John Carter Brown Map Collectionmedia/Descripcion de las Yndias del ocidentales.jpgplain2016-09-02T10:01:47-07:00
