Asia-Pacific in the Making of the Americas: Toward a Global History

Science Across the Pacific: The Scientific Ideas and Books of the First Augustinians and Dominicans in the Philippines

The Spaniards arrived in the archipelago they called the Philippines in 1565, creating the colonial city of Manila, although China remained their main objective. Several plans to conquer China were made (see "Spanish Manila"), and at the same time, Catholic missionaries from different orders—Augustinians, Franciscans, Jesuits and Dominicans—tried to establish, without success, a permanent mission in mainland China. The members of the Dominican order were the last to arrive to the Philippines, but from the outset, they learned the Chinese language and preached to the Chinese people living in Manila (the sangleyes). The most outstanding of these first Dominicans was Juan Cobo. He wrote several works, the most important being the manuscript Beng Sim Po Cam, the first translation of a Chinese book into Spanish, and the Shi Lu published in Manila in 1593. The Shi Lu was the first book to introduce Chinese intellectuals to Christian religion from a non-dogmatic point of view, the first work in Chinese on several aspects of European science, and the first book in Chinese that clearly states the Earth is round, giving interesting arguments to prove it. 

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