The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 16 of 55: 1609; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 16 of 55: 1609; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
The most abundant
wealth consists of diamonds, rubies, large and seed pearls, amber,
musk, civet, and camphor, from Borneo and China; vermilion, coral,
quicksilver, copper, and white cloth, from Cambaya and Mengala; rugs,
carpets, fine counterpanes, camlets, from Persia; brocades, ivory,
rhubarb, cardamoms, cassia, [274] incense, benzoin, wax, china,
lac for medicine and dyes, cloves, and mace, from Banda; with gold,
silver, and pearls, medicinal woods, aroes, eagle-wood, calambuco,
[275] ebony, and innumerable other rare plants, drugs, spices, and
ornaments. They say that Venecia lost all this when the commerce
passed to Portugal [276] (Book ii, pp. 84-86)....
[While the war between the Portuguese and the natives is at its
height, a galleon passes which is later found to have been neither
Spanish nor Portuguese, as the natives fear, "but a ship of Venetians,
private persons, on its way from Manila to China, with various bartered
merchandise of those states and of the east" (Book ii, p. 89).
A native envoy visits Felipe II in Lisbon, but fails to accomplish
much. The later wars between Portuguese and Spaniards and natives
are characterized by assistance for the latter from English and Dutch
sources. King Felipe "especially to recover Temate," turns "his eyes
to the convenience afforded by all the Filipinas, to a greater extent
than India." Later he orders by "his royal decree" that "all the
governors of the Filipinas should be instructed to aid the Malucas,
and all the Indian states of the Portuguese crown; for this may be
done more conveniently from those islands than from India itself"
(Book iv, p. 140). Argensola recurring again to the proposition of
abandoning the Philippines and other islands, says:]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account