A Historical Study of Spanish Colonial Manila

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Manila, as the capital of the Spanish Philippines; started its history in 1571. By the end of the 16th century Spanish Manila had firmly established itself as one of the most populous and prosperous ports-city in Southeast Asia. The Manila Galleon trade system was the source of wealth for the Spanish colony, which connected Manila with Mexico via the Pacific Ocean. American silver flowed to Manila in exchange for Chinese silk and other luxury. The Chinese merchants and immigrants were attracted to Manila and formed a Chinese community which had the largest population at the beginnings of the 17th century outside China. The Chinese settlers contributed to the growth of Manila in many ways, not only as wholesale merchants, retailers and peddlers, but also as construction engineers and laborers who literally built colonial Manila.This study is part of a larger project of the present author to write a history of Spanish colonial Manila. As the first step toward this goal, the life of Chinese settlers in colonial Manila during 1750-1820 has been examined and illustrated, particularly their economic activities, and relations with Spaniards and other local people. For this, the Spanish manuscripts kept in the several archives in the Philippines, such as protocolos, marriage information, provisor's court records, and customs records, etc., were consulted.The Chinese residents in Manila during 1750-1820 suffered from the Spanish restrictive policy, to name a few, the requirement of the Catholic faith. They nevertheless succeeded in establishing a network of people which covered their hometowns in Fu-jian, the Spanish Philippines, and the Sulu Islands outside the Spanish sphere. The Christian Chinese married legally local women and produced mestizo offspring. The Chinese hand in hand with their mestizo descendants adjusted to the changing colonial environment and continued to support the growth of Spanish colonial Manila.