In the 16th century, the Spanish Empire was in good shape. It is true that there were some difficulties, but the dynastic union with Portugal allowed the Hispanic Monarchy to feel strong enough to undertake any initiative. With an empire that had spread across much of the planet and conquered the Americas, the obvious question was: What if we conquered China?

And it wasn’t a question
Up in the air: Spain has come up with a meticulous plan to conquer China in a move that could dramatically change the course of history. The problem, interestingly, is a conflict of interest with the religious.

A death in time. The year 1580 was a very interesting period for the Hispanic Monarchy. The Eighty Years’ War had begun shortly before, but in 1579 the provinces in the south of the Netherlands were defeated by World War II. The Treaty of Arras was signed, recognizing Philip’s sovereignty. This meant a relief in the number of troops allocated to the region and, of course, in funding. A loose truce was reached with the Ottomans in 1581, but the key point for the Empire was that Portugal’s last royal had died without heirs.

This was an opportunity that Philip II, son of Isabella of Portugal and grandson of Manuel I, took advantage of by claiming the throne of Portugal. This would put the New World territories and the trading colonies of Africa and Asia in Philip II’s hands. With the war against England still ongoing, possession of these territories was highly desirable to feed the Spanish coffers, and the Philippines would play an important role.

Looking at ChinaBetween 1576 and 1607, Spain had several routes across the Pacific Ocean connecting different parts of the Americas to the Mariana Islands, the Caroline Islands, and the jewel in the crown, the Philippines. The products included cloth, porcelain, lacquer, and spices for sale in Europe and America. And although the Spanish East Indies were already profitable, there was a thorn in the side: China.

In 1526, Hernán Cortés proposed to Charles I to conquer both the Philippines and China, thanks to the new Spanish ports in the Pacific. The plan failed for different reasons, but it was something that could be restarted, since the Portuguese had the strength of the attachment to their lands. And the leaders would be the secular rulers, military commanders and religious leaders of the new, young Spanish colony.

PossibleOne of the first to suggest a Spanish conquest of China was Martín de Rada. In 1575, the Ming Dynasty ruled China and after the Battle of Manila between the Spanish and the Chinese pirate Limahong, both governments built diplomatic bridges. At that time, Rada traveled to China to be the first Spanish ambassador to the region. The idea was to get the Chinese to give up territory for a Spanish settlement, but to no avail.

The missionary stated that with Rada’s experience in China, although the country was densely populated, they had no inclination towards war because they relied on numerical superiority and walls as a deterrent. We will not consider this view, but the Rada also had no intention of entering China by force and proposed a “conquest” based on persuasion and proselytization. Francisco de Sande, who was the governor of the Philippines until 1580, II. He sent a letter to Philip, assuring him that they could conquer China with as many as 4,000 or 6,000 men.

Pacific trade routes. The Philippine Islands were a crucial point | Image from SpanishPacific

funny soldiers. In fact, Father Adriano de las Cortes stated that the Chinese were not very skilled with weapons:

“Their conflicts and trials seemed to us to be lost more for laughs than for fighting. No matter how much they exercise, they have few or no soldiers, and almost no military art. They are cruel, they run hither and thither, they fall down, they rise up, they make extraordinary cries; their captains ride alone on horseback, unarmed, carrying only very small flags. We used to go to see them for fun and laughter. I will end this subject because I can only add to it nonsense.“.

new plan. Did it come about? Maybe so, maybe not, but the king was not keen on the idea and tasked Sande with cultivating the Ming’s friendship. Other Spanish governors tried to get Philip II to surrender, but the idea didn’t get any further, at least for a while. With the Spanish well established in the Philippines, the governor and the bishop gathered together a number of senior officials who would make decisions about them.

Three of the important figures were Santiago de Vera, the new Governor of the Philippines, Domingo Salazar, the first bishop of Manila, and Jesuit father Alonso Sánchez. Thus, at this assembly in 1586, a document was prepared detailing a precise and detailed military plan for the conquest of China. One way to put pressure on the king was to claim that expansion into the Asian continent would be a step towards liberation.

Another approach. The Rada’s initial proposal left much up in the air, but the new plan detailed both troop numbers and other more detailed details: their origins, salaries, equipment, recruitment system, supply routes, and coordination with non-Spanish forces. The number increased from 4,000 or 6,000 to about 20,000; these included the Spanish as well as Portuguese and Japanese mercenaries, among other possible forces.

The approach was also different. Sande wanted a typical military conquest, but the General Assembly proposed something different: more than conquest, the conversion of the people. It was thought that the Chinese would be willing to convert, and when that happened, they would be the ones who rebelled against their masters. And these 20,000 soldiers would not be an army, but something like an escort. If there was violence, the Chinese would not accept the Spanish as their new rulers. Or so they thought and conveyed in several letters.

UtopiaThe plan called for the use of force if necessary, but leaders had difficulty predicting the Chinese response to the invasion. In both cases, the plan ended with a vision of civilization resulting from marriages between Spanish soldiers and Chinese women and ruled by native rulers controlled by the Spanish.

In other reports, individuals such as the Jesuit Francisco Cabral claimed that the conquest of China would bring numerous benefits, that the country was poorly defended, and that the people would rise up against the oppressive mandarins.

We came across a church. In 1587 preparations began to wall off Manila and gather both arms and supplies. Even the Japanese general Konishi Yukinaga offered all possible assistance to Spain for his Company in China. But as you might expect, Spain was unable to conquer China. This was because another branch of the Jesuits saw this as a violation of the Christian rule of evangelization without the use of arms. The Portuguese Jesuits were also unconvinced, because if this went wrong, trade routes would be destroyed and the economy would suffer.

In June 1586, Sánchez went to Spain to report the plans, but his critics gave José de Acosta the task of going with him and refuting all proposals. Sánchez submitted his plans for conquest to Henry II, who curiously did not view them negatively despite Acosta’s warnings. He presented it to Philip, and in 1588 the Chinese Company Board was opened. The problem was that voices opposing it and the disaster suffered by Invincible Armada that same year halted the project.

What if we invade Japan? Gómez Pérez das Mariñas was elected the new governor of the Philippines with explicit orders not to declare war on China, causing tensions with the daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was threatening the Philippines by seeking to invade Korea. When Luis Pérez das Mariñas succeeded his father as acting governor of the Philippines, the idea of ​​invading China returned, but this time with a twist: invading Japan.

The idea proposed by the priest Martín de la Ascensión was to invade Japan, where they would find natural allies due to the civil war process, and to launch campaigns against China once the local armies were assimilated. It was suggested that the future Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu would be an ally, but like two previous conquest plans against mainland China, all came to nothing.

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