The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 35, 1640-1649: 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

In Short

This thirty-fifth volume of a monumental documentary history compiles mid-seventeenth-century Spanish records, friar chronicles, and official decrees from the Philippines between 1640 and 1649. Through mission histories, military reports, and administrative letters, the text details a tumultuous decade marked by intense rivalries. Spanish authorities battle Dutch fleets for naval supremacy, lose their foothold in Formosa, and confront resistance from native rulers like Prince Corralat of Mindanao. Simultaneously, rival religious orders vie for local influence, establish institutions like the University of Santo Tomás, and endure devastating natural disasters, including the catastrophic Manila earthquake of 1645.

The Story

The chronicle opens in the late 1630s and early 1640s with a sharp focus on the internal conflicts fracturing the Spanish administration in Manila. Governor-General Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera clashes bitterly with Archbishop Don Fray Fernando Guerrero, causing a scandal that leaves the colony deeply unsettled. Corcuera further stokes religious infighting by reviving a controversial papal commission brought by Fray Diego Collado, splitting the Dominican province and reassigning vital mission posts under military guard. This internal strife eventually forces King Felipe IV to intervene from Spain, annulling the division and ordering Collado’s immediate return to Europe to restore order among the orders.

While Manila wrestles with internal discord, external threats multiply across East Asia. In Japan, Tokugawa authorities enforce total isolation, expelling Portuguese traders from Macao and executing dozens of diplomatic envoys and crew members to eradicate Catholic influence. Meanwhile, the Protestant Dutch Republic aggressively expands its naval reach. The Spanish abandon and subsequently lose their northern outpost in Formosa (Taiwan) after a feeble garrison succumbs to Dutch forces. Dutch fleets routinely block strategic trade routes, ambush Spanish supply vessels, and target crucial garrisons at Terrenate in the Moluccas.

On the domestic front, Spanish missionaries attempt to expand into Mindanao and Cagayan, only to face fierce resistance from Sultan Kudarat (Corralat), the formidable prince of Mindanao. Corralat launches devastating piratical raids to prevent the Christian conversion of his tributary territories. In response, figures like the sword-wielding Recollect friar Fray Pedro de San Agustín—known as "Padre Capitán"—build fortified outposts like the fort of Linao to repulse Moro attacks. Elsewhere, violent encounters occur between Spanish friars and native chieftains, such as Mangabo, the "Crocodile of Tago," who eventually spares captured missionaries after performing a sacred blood oaths (sandugo).

The mid-1640s bring further calamity and unexpected victories. On St. Andrew's night in November 1645, a massive earthquake levels Manila, destroying stone structures, killing hundreds, and leaving the population residing in temporary bamboo huts along the beach. Yet despite this ruin, Governor Don Diego Fajardo organizes naval defenses to repulse repeated Dutch incursions. In a series of dramatic sea battles, heavily outnumbered Spanish galleons—their crews praying daily to the Virgin of the Rosary—defeat the Dutch blockades. On land, Dutch landing parties at Abucay and Samal are driven back by native Pampango troops. The volume concludes with extensive surveys of Franciscan mission networks, administrative accounts of provincial tributes, and royal decrees establishing the College of Santo Tomás as a formal university.

How It Unfolds

Internal schisms emerge Governor Corcuera feuds with Archbishop Guerrero in Manila while backing Fray Diego Collado’s divisive plan to break up the Dominican province, prompting King Felipe IV to issue a royal decree annulling the split and recalling Collado to Spain.

Expulsion from Japan Japanese authorities enforce a complete ban on Portuguese trade from Macao, executing over sixty embassy members and sailors to demonstrate their absolute rejection of Catholic influence and foreign commerce.

Resistance in Mindanao Prince Corralat launches fierce raids against newly Christianized villages, prompting the engineer-monk Fray Pedro de San Agustín to fortify coastal settlements and train native populations in military tactics and gunnery.

The oath of the Crocodile After capturing Spanish friars in Caraga, the warlord Mangabo performs a dramatic sandugo blood covenant, swearing on his ancestors to protect Fray Lorenzo and defend the captives against rival chieftains.

The loss of Formosa Neglected by Governor Corcuera, the meagerly supplied Spanish garrison in northern Formosa falls to a determined Dutch military invasion, solidifying Dutch commercial and naval dominance in the region.

Disaster strikes Manila A catastrophic earthquake on November 30, 1645, razes Manila's stone structures, forcing citizens to flee into makeshift bamboo shelters while Governor Fajardo deploys troops to maintain order and prevent lawlessness.

Naval triumphs and village defense Outmanned Spanish galleons break the Dutch blockade in a series of naval engagements, while local Pampango forces under indigenous officers successfully repulse Dutch landing parties at Abucay.

Institutional consolidation Pope Innocent X and King Felipe IV elevate the Dominican College of Santo Tomás into a royal university, while Franciscan records detail the widespread administration of remote provincial missions.

The People

• Felipe IV: The Catholic King of Spain, who attempts to govern his far-flung Pacific colony through royal decrees that revoke controversial religious divisions, order military reinforcements, and elevate educational institutions.
• Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera: The ambitious and headstrong Governor-General of the Philippines whose authoritarian measures, feuds with church prelates, and military neglect of outposts like Formosa spark widespread political turmoil.
• Prince Corralat (Sultan Kudarat): The formidable ruler of Mindanao who aggressively opposes Spanish encroachment, launching naval raids to protect his territorial influence and prevent the Christianization of his tributaries.
• Fray Diego Collado: An ambitious Dominican missionary whose attempt to establish a separate, factional province creates severe instability within the clergy until royal orders force his return to Europe.
• Fray Pedro de San Agustín ("Padre Capitán"): A Portuguese-born Recollect friar trained in military architecture and gunnery who uses his engineering expertise to build forts, organize defenses, and resist Corralat's forces.
• Mangabo ("The Crocodile of Tago"): A feared chieftain from Mindanao who, after capturing Catholic friars, undergoes a dramatic change of heart and seals an inviolable peace through a traditional blood oath.
• Don Diego Fajardo: Corcuera’s cautious successor as governor, who restores civic order following the 1645 earthquake and successfully organizes the naval defense of the archipelago against Dutch fleets.

In Its Own Voice

"Reason of state calls the two opposite arms, the ecclesiastical and the secular, difficult to adjust [to each other], and this is true; yet in the last analysis they are arms of one body..."

An opening reflection on the bitter political conflict between Manila's governor and archbishop.

"He began to swear and to invoke his divatas, with howlings so extravagant that he was terrifying."

A description of the native chief Mangabo performing the traditional sandugo blood covenant to protect captured friars.

"All this occurred in that night; at dawn on the following morning, most of the people left the city and took shelter in the suburbs, [even] in the humblest huts of the Indians, which are built of bamboo and nipa."

An account of the immediate aftermath of the devastating Manila earthquake of November 1645.

What It's Really About

Beneath its administrative reports and religious chronicles, this volume exposes the fragility of early modern imperial expansion. It illustrates how a distant colony survives on the absolute periphery of a global empire, constantly squeezed between external military rivals like the Dutch East India Company and resilient indigenous powers like the Mindanao sultanate.

The text highlights the ongoing tension between sword and cross—the secular government and the religious orders—showing that Spanish authority was rarely a unified front, but rather a volatile network of competing interests. Ultimately, it reveals how colonial survival depended heavily on native alliances, such as the Pampango militias who defended the islands when Spanish resources were depleted.

Why Read It Today

For readers interested in colonial history, East Asian trade networks, or the history of the Philippines, this volume offers a vivid primary-source window into seventeenth-century geopolitical struggle. Rather than presenting a smooth, retrospective narrative, the collection conveys the raw uncertainty of life in early Manila—where news arrived by wooden galleon, decisions were made months after orders were issued in Madrid, and communities faced sudden destruction from earthquakes and foreign blockades.

The reading experience requires some patience. Because it is an edited compilation of historical documents, friar histories, and royal decrees, the prose moves between formal legal language, dramatic mission narratives, and dry census listings of parish tributes. Readers will also encounter period-typical religious biases and colonial terminology regarding non-Christian populations. Yet for those willing to navigate its dense archival structure, the book repays the effort with striking historical vignettes—from an artillery-trained friar designing island stockades to the resilience of a population rebuilding their city from bamboo after an earthquake.