Españoles en Siam, 1540-1939. Una aportación al estudio de la presencia hispana en Asia Oriental

[Spaniards in Siam (1540-1939) A contribution to the research on Spanish Presence in Asia]

Col. Historia, 32. Madrid: CSIC, 1997, 206 pp.

ISBN: 84-00-07634-3

Introduction

Reference

Contents

Index

Resume

European Newsletter of South-East Asian Studies, KITLV – Euroseas, Vol. 9, N. 2, May 1997, pp. 55-56.

Reviews

Peter Boomgaard, KITLV, Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia and Oceania, vol. 154.1 (1998): 155-156

Gervase Clarence-Smith, South East Asia Research, 6, 3, pp. 309-313.

P.-B. Lafont, Revue Fracaise d’Historie d’Outre-mer, t. 85, 1998, 2e trimester, pp. 166-167.

Introduction

Spaniards in Siam, 1540-1939. A Contribution to the research on the Spanish presence in East Asia. The book has been published as a part of the History Collection of the Superior Council for Scientific Research. It is written in Spanish , contains a full index, graphics, maps, and is 206 pages long.

The book begins with the expansionist period following it to 1605, aftjher which the chapter continues with the domination of trade in the intercourse through the Manila Galleon up to the independence of the Latin American colonies in the 1820s and ends with the defeat by US forces, and considers the 19^th century as a period in which the Philippines was maintained as a second-class colony, attempting to emulate the Cuban model. The last chapter deals with the Spanish in contrast to the French and German Empires. The relationship with Siam provides the best example for studying the foreign relations of the Spanish colony in the Philippines, owing to the similarities between both territories and the relatively good continuity of the contacts.

The book also deals with some widely known facts, which have not been researched enough in Iberian sources, Among them are the attempts by Portuguese and Spanish adventurers to gain territories in continental South-East Asia in the end of the 16^th century, hoping to utilise the rivalries between Cambodia and Siam. In the 17^th Century, South-East Asia was also a territory of the Dutch-Spanish rivalry; Manila sent “pirate” expeditions to seize Siamese  ships. Ayudhya later attempted to find an alternative to the Dutch predominance  in its foreign trade Ana contacts. Throughout the 19^th century the relationship with Siam gives interesting clues to understanding the decay  of Spain in Siam; it shows the defeat in the Spanish-American war a a mere link in a chain started long before. The political failure of the expedition to Indochina in the 1860s seems to be the turning point.

The book ends when Siam changed its name to Thailand, and at this point, Spain started to take a political interest in the country owing to its ties with Japan. This fact marks the end of a relationship dominated by individuals, the most important characteristic of the relationship between the Philippines, Siam, and Spain.

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