John Newsome Crossley's book on the early Spanish governors of the Philippines is a contribution to interpretations of the Crown of Castile's local and global ambitions in the late sixteenth century. The first governor-general of the Philippines, Miguel López de Legazpi, arrived in Cebu in 1565, and shifted Spain's colonial focus in the region from the Spice Islands (Moluccas, Bandas) to Luzon. In 1571 his troops settled in Manila, at the time a Muslim polity. Crossley examines the period 1590–96, when the Spanish crown made crucial decisions about the expansion and defence of its new Asian colony. This book presents the biographies of governors Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas (1590–93) and his son, Luis Pérez, who took over the office in 1593, two months after his father was murdered during an expedition to Ternate.
The book's eighteen chapters cover a variety of issues that the Dasmariñases had to deal with in the remotest outpost of the Spanish empire. During his three years of rule, Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas did not receive any letters from Spain due to distance and unexpected interruptions in communications. These circumstances forced him and the other early governors to make delicate decisions autonomously, in consultation only with the representatives of the religious orders and resident colonials, yet often in conflict with them. Further complicating their rule was the fact that the Philippines was formally administered through the viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico), which decided on matters such as colonial expansion and defence, the trans-Pacific trade, and missionary undertakings. This unique situation was a source of conflict for the Spanish governors of the Philippines.
As a member of the royal elite of Galicia and as a Knight of the Order of Santiago, Dasmariñas Senior's politics shaped his government to the point of being a crusade against Muslim expansion in the Philippines, and was the source of his strengths and his mistakes. His son, Luis Pérez, was considered too young and dependent on the Dominicans during his governorship.
Crossley has crafted a convincing narrative of religious, political and economic aspects of the Dasmariñases’ rule, covering a range of issues including Spain's relations with regional Asian powers, especially China, Japan and Siam. The author describes the difficult coexistence of the Portuguese and Spanish administrations in East Asia, the general lack of trust between the inhabitants of Manila and Macao, and the reluctance of the Portuguese occupants of the Moluccas to collaborate with the Spanish. This book also portrays the growing presence of Chinese and Japanese immigrants in the Philippine capital, as well as the widening conflict with Muslims in Mindanao and Borneo.
The wide array of problems facing the early Spanish rulers resonated within the small European community in Manila, influencing internal differences, including those between the Augustinians, Franciscans, and Dominicans on the one hand, and the Jesuits on the other, regarding religious conversion in Asia. At the core of the conflict between the governors and Bishop Domingo de Salazar, for example, was a disagreement over how tax should be collected from the new indigenous converts, and the treatment of the Chinese in Manila.
Of particular interest are the expeditions to the interior of Luzon. Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas risked all of his resources, including his only son, in pursuit of conquest. Luis Pérez was appointed military commander and immediately assigned to the Magat Valley in northern Luzon. Still, a century later this region would remain uncontrolled due to the lack of Spanish settlers, the variety of indigenous cultures, and local resistance.
In recent decades, studies of the Manila Galleon Trade (between Manila and Acapulco) in the early modern period have highlighted the importance of this commercial link in the history of global trade. There has also been a shift in scholarly interest on trade, migration, or artistic influences, from the earlier studies which focused on the Roman Catholic missions in Asia or the so-called ‘Spanish Lake’. Crossley's book manages to illustrate both the development of Spanish imperialism in Asia, and the limits of its strategic interests and expansion. It includes descriptions of how territories were consolidated and defended, as well as culture clashes in the early colonial period.
In short, The Dasmariñases offers a very readable account of a turbulent period of the Philippines and East Asia, based on well-known archival sources. It also takes into account some additional texts, such as the Boxer Codex in the Lilly Library at the University of Indiana.
