Disrupting the transpacific: objects, architecture, war, panic

Abstract

The empires of Spain and Britain clashed frequently in the early modern period, and in the eighteenth century Britain's increasingly global approach to inter-imperial war repeatedly brought such conflict into the Pacific, culminating in the capture of Manila in 1762. Moreover, the British turn to the Pacific intensified the employment of a distinct British approach to war with Spain (including in the Americas, as in the 1762 capture of Havana undertaken together with the attack on Manila) that prioritised the transfer of silver and valuable objects over the permanent seizure of territory. A focus on eighteenth-century Anglo-Spanish conflict, and particularly the Seven Years’ War, allows the transpacific to be interpreted not only as a space for the circulation of silver and goods within the Spanish Empire (or between it and trading partners such as Chinese merchants), but also as a space in which sudden disruptions to that flow took place. In addition, this focus allows such moments of disruption to be seen as episodes of interconnection or convergence between Spanish imperial and British imperial economies, and provides a space for the consideration of ‘intelligence objects’ such as maps, pilots, and manuscripts whose exchange was precipitated by conflict. Finally, it allows for the exploration of how these processes involving moveable forms intersected with changes to Manila's built environment.