Historical material 2: Spaniards first met biological Chinese in the Philippines
In 1570, the Spaniards in Cebu began to invade Manila on Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines. During the march, they encountered Hokkien merchants going there for the first time. It is inferred that a Spaniard who accompanied the army was responsible for this march.
The operation wrote a detailed report, which has a considerable explanation of this encounter, including many parts involving Chinese businessmen:
"On May 8, 1570, the military commander Martin de Goiti, with ninety arquebusiers and twenty crew members, boarded the following ship: the Chinese galleon 'San Miguel' of about fifty tons equipped with three cannon
San Miguel, the clipper La Tortuga, and fifteen Palau boats (Praus, a type of horse-drawn boat) operated by the natives of Cebu and Panay.
brig from Asia).”
"After sailing northwest for two days,... we arrived at Mindoro Island. This place is also known as 'Little Luzon'.... The military commander received the news that about five leagues (leagues, one league) from our anchorage
There were two ships from China parked in the river (equivalent to 5.5 kilometers or three nautical miles). The local natives called the Chinese residents "Sangleys". The commander saw that the weather was not right, and the southwest wind was blowing.
If a large ship could not be sent, Captain Juan de Salzedo (Captain Juan de Salzedo, the grandson of Governor Ligaspi, born in Mexico in 1549 and arrived in Cebu in 1567. He was the governor of Panay Island at the time) was sent with the native Palau boats and rafts.
Detecting the two Chinese ships and demanding friendly and peaceful coexistence with the Chinese. However, before this operation began, the southwesterly wind blew harder and our men had to stay at the mooring and find a place to spend the night behind a cape.
...At dawn, the Palau ship, which had gone ahead of other ships, arrived at the river where the Chinese ships were anchored. Those Chinese may have heard the news from the Spaniards, or because they heard the shots of matchlock guns, they all
They stood up and lined up, hoisted the foremast, beat drums and played music, fired rockets and culverins, and looked like they were about to fight. I saw many of them on the deck, holding arquebuses and going out.
Sheathed knife. The Spaniards are not fuel-efficient lamps, and they will not reject the Chinese challenge to them; on the contrary, they boldly and bravely launch attacks on Chinese ships, and are as courageous as usual, fighting with the Chinese. This is inevitable
It was too reckless, because the Chinese ships were tall and large, while the Palau ships were small and low, and could barely reach the first pillar of the enemy ships. However, the arquebusiers aimed well and accurately, and the Chinese could not hide away from them
place, so the Spaniards successfully climbed aboard their ships and captured the two Chinese ships.
"There were about eighty Chinese on board the two ships; about twenty were killed in the battle. The soldiers searched the cabin where the Chinese had hidden their most valuable items and found woven silk cloth and a bunch of
bundles of silk, gold, musk, gilded porcelain bowls, bolts of cotton cloth, gilded kettles and a few other curiosities out of proportion to the size of the ships. The decks of both ships were filled with clay pots and pottery, large
Porcelain vases and dishes, as well as some thin porcelain jars called sinoratas. They also found iron, copper, steel and small amounts of wax purchased by the Chinese.
"After the soldiers properly hid the items taken from the Chinese ship, Captain Salsto also came with the Palau ship as the rear guard. He was very angry for bringing chaos and destruction to the Chinese. He was rearing with the big ship.
Commander Gotti was even more dissatisfied after hearing what happened. After the ship dropped its anchor and anchored with the Chinese sailboat in the Bato River (where two Chinese ships were found), he hurried to China
The man explained that he was very sorry for their misfortune, but that they really should not have attacked the Spaniards. However, he said that not only would he let them go back, but he would also give them a boat in which they could travel without hindrance.
After hearing this, the humble Chinese thanked him profusely, knelt down, and even shouted loudly with joy.
“After the military commander explained the proposal clearly to the Chinese and the Chinese accepted it with joy, he authorized the chief notary, Hernando Rriquel, to take charge of repairing a ship and ordered him to remove the hatch and everything on board.
to the port of Panay. But when the commander saw that the sails, masts, and rigging of the Chinese ships were so different from those of the Spanish ships that the Spaniards could not operate them, he thought it best to ask the Chinese for three or four crew members.
Accompanied by some friendly Luzon Moros who were with the Spaniards, we sailed with our Chinese junk to the island of Panay. The Chinese readily agreed and provided the men requested. Accordingly, the ship was sent with twelve Luzon Moros on board.
men, four Chinese and four Spanish soldiers in custody.”