“If Your Majesty wants China, you must first conquer the islands”

From Iberian expansion and transpacific relations in the 16th century

Abstract

This article aims to analyses the Iberian expansion towards the East across the Pacific Ocean in the final decades of the 16th century. The documentation explored was consulted at the Archivo General de Indias (AGI) and consists of travel reports, chronicles, and letters involving territories such as the Philippines, Mexico, and Spain, whose monarchy sought to consolidate its power in these regions and, above all, to forge relations with China. The theoretical and methodological framework employed is in line with the perspective of Connected Histories. From an empirical point of view, the object of study focuses on traces relating to different situations involving non-European figures who were extremely decisive in these processes, thus distancing itself from the so-called great men already highlighted by more traditional historiography. Among the main results, it is worth noting that the research points to the fact that the Spanish crown had to compromise to maintain the imperial structure in those spaces. Thus, this reflection offers clues to nuance a certain retrospective illusion that almost always leads us to think of European conquests as inexorable.