5th Marianas History Conference Day 1 - 3

Page 211

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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2 The

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


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Articles inside

The History of Understanding Whales in our Waters

1min
pages 105-113

Sea-Lanes of Antiquity

1min
pages 75-101

Valuing our Ancestral Knowledge in the Seafaring System

1min
pages 65-72

Places Without Names and Names Without Places?

1min
pages 33-62

Solidarity Foods

1min
pages 9-14

The Dawn of America’s Pacific Empire

1min
pages 279-310

Jesuit Presence in the Mariana Islands

1min
pages 211-246

Fortifications as Geometric Machines

1min
pages 181-210

Marianas on Display

1min
pages 249-278

Governor Jose Ganga Herrero

1min
pages 247-248

Manila Galleon Shipwrecks

1min
pages 179-180

Reporting on the Marianas and Their Inhabitants in Early 18th-century Germany

1min
pages 171-178

The Chamorro Village of Guam after Resettlement

1min
pages 143-170

If Magellan had Balutan

1min
pages 115-142

Fatto Famalao’an

1min
pages 15-16

Pakaka i Pachot-mu! CHamoru Yu’!

1min
pages 17-18

Pacific Ocean: A 500 Year-old Word

1min
pages 21-32

Interpreting an Authentic Chamorro Sakman from the Historic Record

1min
pages 73-74

Exploring Latte in the Marianas

1min
pages 63-64

Of Songs of Birds and Whales, How Much Must We Lose?

1min
pages 103-104
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