Incomplete Conquests
The Limits of Spanish Empire in the Seventeenth-Century Philippines

Stephanie Joy Mawson (Author)

9781501770265

Hardback, published 15 July 2023

294 pages, 5 b&w halftones, 9 maps - 5 Halftones, black and white - 9 Maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.7 cm, 0.907 kg

If other studies have emphasized the environmental origins of a weak Spanish empire in Asia, including the vast distances separating the Philippines from America, and the special difficulties faced in governing islands, Mawson's account underscores human agency.

In Incomplete Conquests, Stephanie Joy Mawson uncovers the limitations of Spanish empire in the Philippines, unearthing histories of resistance, flight, evasion, conflict, and warfare from across the breadth of the Philippine archipelago during the seventeenth century. The Spanish colonization of the Philippines that began in 1565 has long been seen as heralding a new era of globalization, drawing together a multiethnic world of merchants, soldiers, sailors, and missionaries. Colonists sent reports back to Madrid boasting of the extraordinary number of souls converted to Christianity and the number of people paying tribute to the Spanish Crown. Such claims constructed an imagined imperial sovereignty and were not accompanied by effective consolidation of colonial control in many of the regions where conversion and tribute collection were imposed. Incomplete Conquests foregrounds the experiences of indigenous, Chinese, and Moro communities and their responses to colonial agents, weaving together stories that take into account the rich cultural and environmental diversity of this island world.