During the War of Jenkins’s Ear, Commodore George Anson led a circumnavigation during which he visited parts of the Spanish, Portuguese, and Qing empires. English scholarship and sources have largely dominated studies of this famed expedition, which, while dramatic, had little impact on the war in Europe. This article moves beyond the dominant narratives and main theatres of the war to assess the impacts of Anson’s voyage on various empires. Engagement with Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese sources reveals that Anson’s expedition was no sideshow for imperial officers in the Viceroyalties of Peru and New Spain, the colony of Santa Catarina and condominium of Macao, and the province of Guangdong. Anson’s forces caused severe economic disruption and impelled defensive measures in the Spanish empire; revealed the limits of Portuguese state control at the margins of empire; and influenced China’s engagement with squabbling European powers trading at Canton. Furthermore, this study of the world around Anson’s voyage reveals how a European conflict had important inter-imperial impacts.
