Jesuit Presence in the Mariana Islands
A Historiographic Overview (1668-1769)1
By Alexandre Coello de la Rosa
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Dedicated to Marjorie G. Driver (†2019)
Abstract: My contribution is a historiographic overview of the scholarly research about the conquest and evangelization of the Mariana Islands (XVII-XVIII centuries) in the 21st century. Since the pioneering work of renowned scholars of Micronesian history, such as Marjorie G. Driver and Francis X. Hezel, historians, archaeologists and anthropologists have analyzed Jesuit missions not only as a complement to colonial power dynamics in the Asia-Pacific, but also as a privileged field for analyzing cross-cultural encounters. Faced with essentialist approaches that question the “aboriginal” character of the current CHamoru of the Marianas, other studies reject their supposed disappearance, and appeal to their cultural continuity in historical time.
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Keywords: Jesuits, Mariana Islands, 17 and 18 centuries, Pacific Ocean, globalization.
Introduction
The island of Guåhån (or Guam) is the largest and southernmost of the isles and islands that comprise the Marianas archipelago, a set of fifteen volcanic and coral islands that extend from north to south, forming a wide arc of more than 800 kilometers in the western Pacific, between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator (Ciaramitaro, 2018, p. 198). Most of them are very small and practically uninhabited (terrae nullius), but the largest, inhabited islands have good aquifers and fertile land as well as bays and coves that make them accessible and safe for navigation.2 Evidence suggests that the first settlers were probably Austronesians
article is primarily an expanded English version of an article previously written in Spanish for e- Spania (2020). It is part of the project Mediaciones Culturales en los Imperios Ibéricos: Diplomacia Intercultural y Misiones en Asia y el Pacífico (siglos XVI-XVIII), PI: Joan-Pau Rubiés (MINECO/AEI FFI2016- 79496-P). I want to thank Scott Arthurson for his proof-reading, the (co)editor of Pacific Asian Inquiry, James D. Sellmann, and the helpful comments of the reviewers, which helped me to sharpen my arguments.
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archipelago is composed of two sets of islands. The southern islands include Guåhån (also Guajan, Guahan, Guam or San Juan); Luta (also Rota, Zarpana or Santa Ana); Aquigan or Aguiguan (also Santo Ángel); Tinian (also Buena Vista Mariana); and Saipan (also San José). The northern isles, most of which are uninhabited and experience more volcanic activity, are collectively referred to as Gani in the CHamoru language, and include Farallón de Medinilla; Anatahan (San Joaquín); Sarigan or Sariguan (San Carlos); Guguan (San Felipe); Alamagán (La Concepción); Pagán (San Ignacio); Agrijan or Agrigan
