In West- Indie. 293 / Schlacht vor Manille

Title

In West- Indie. 293 / Schlacht vor Manille

Representation of the sailing battle off Manila, today's capital of the Philippines.

ca. 1628

Artist

Bry, de - Merian (1528-1598)

In 1631, Matthäus Merian and Johann Ludwig Gottfried published Historia Antipodum, a heavily abridged, single-volume version of Theodor De Bry’s 14-part America series. After De Bry’s death, his sons continued the project. Merian, a skilled engraver, later married De Bry’s daughter and collaborated with Gottfried. The Historia Antipodum reorganized numerous travel accounts into three chapters covering nature, exploration, and recent colonial developments. Merian and Gottfried significantly reworked the content, merging reports and integrating illustrations into the text. Their depiction of the natural world and Indigenous cultures—drawing in part on José de Acosta’s writings—was particularly influential. The book stands as one of the most ambitious works of early modern travel literature.

Historical Description

From the 7th to the 13th centuries, the thalassocracies of Srivijaya and later Majapahit influenced parts of the Philippines. The smallest unit to be managed in a settlement was the Barangay, originally a related group that was headed by a Datu. However, the social structure of the Philippines varied from region to region. The box-like system of the Tagalog knew the aristocratic Maginoo, from which Datus, Rajas and Lakans were recruited. When the Spaniards claimed the Philippines as their colony in 1565 and thus incorporated it into New Spain, Islam was not yet deeply rooted, so it was not difficult for them to convert the Muslim population to Christianity. In addition, the Christianization of the Philippines was largely carried out peacefully, among other things, animistic practices were largely tolerated, some of which have survived to this day. Buddhism, which was probably the predominant religion in the Philippines alongside Islam in the 16th century, soon became practiced only by the Chinese minority. Given their defeat against the Spaniards in 1571, the Rajahs of Manila, Rajah Sulayman, Rajah Lakandula and Rajah Matanda converted to Catholicism. For this they were allowed to keep some privileges and were integrated into the colonial system of rule. Through the extensive integration of the native chiefs into the colonial system of rule, the social strata of the principalía came into being, which, as intermediaries and beneficiaries of the colonial system, consolidated it over centuries.