The Role of the Franciscans in the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the Philippines and Japan in the 16th–17th Centuries: Transpacific Geopolitics?

Abstract

This article proposes to study the role of Franciscan missionaries in the establishment of economic and diplomatic relations between the Spanish Philippines and Japan. More specifically, it argues that the missionaries played an active part in the construction of a trans-pacific commercial and religious network connecting the Spanish Americas with Asia. In so doing, the article aims at correcting the commonplace historiographical assumption that the Franciscan presence in Japan was negligible and of little interest compared to the Jesuits’. Indeed, the diplomatic relations between Japan and the Philippines were set against a general context of Iberian expansion in Asia. The Spanish conquered Manila in 1571 for chiefly commercial reasons. However, the spreading of the faith provided a justification for Spanish territorial ambitions in Asia. In this process, the Franciscans played a prominent role, as they were picked as ambassadors to Japan by the governor of Manila. The Franciscans did not have mere regional ambitions for Japan: they intended the country to become a hub for the whole Pacific region.