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80 C H A P T E R 6 Wars and Missionaries in the Seventeenth-Century Visayas A fter the Spanish shifted their base in the Philippines to Luzon in 1571, the Visayas became an economic backwater. However, the islands were not abandoned totally, for they were of strategic importance in the HispanoDutch War and in holding the frontier against Moro incursions. Particularly important were Panay and Cebu, the former because it was the main source of provisions, labor, and ships to support expeditions and garrisons in the Philippines and Maluku, and the latter because of its strategic location. On account of the abundant supplies of rice, timber, and labor in Panay, economic activities in the Visayas were concentrated there. Even so, its Spanish civilian population remained small and was clustered in the southeast of the island. Arévalo was founded in 1581, but in 1637 its inhabitants were moved to Iloilo where a fort had been built in 1602.1 In 1760 there were only forty Spaniards living in the jurisdictions of Iloilo and Panay.2 Nevertheless, from an early date the demands for provisions led to the commercial production of rice and livestock, and a shipbuilding industry emerged based on the island’s abundant supplies of timber and labor. These activities were to bring some fundamental changes to landholding, settlement patterns, and family life in Panay. Although economic activities focused on Panay, Cebu, because of its central location, remained the political and religious capital of the Visayas, becoming the seat of the bishopric of the Visayas in 1595.3 Nevertheless, in the late seventeenth century Cebu City was described as “a small village,” while in the eighteenth century the French scientist Le Gentil claimed it did not merit the title of city since it was “an assemblage of a few miserable huts” and its magnificent monasteries were inhabited by only two or three people.4 By 1751 the cabildo had been disbanded due to the lack of suitable people to fill its offices.5 As for other islands, the number of resident Spaniards was even smaller and many were priests. Apart from a small detachment of soldiers, there were only ten legitimate Spaniards in Leyte in 1785 and none in Samar, which had only a few Chinese mestizos in Catbalogan and one or two in other villages.6 These islands were therefore less affected by the early commercialization of agricultural production that elsewhere brought changes to landholding and labor systems. Hence in the late eighteenth century, communal land ownership and shifting cultivation were Wars and Missionaries in the Seventeenth-Century Visayas 81 still prevalent in these islands and in the late nineteenth century about 70 percent of Samar and Leyte was still forested.7 Commercial activities were more developed in Bohol, where there was an active trade in salt fish and some two thousand weavers produced cotton and abaca cloth for export.8 Nevertheless, apart from the shipbuilding industry established at Panamao off the north coast of Leyte, the Spanish authorities were generally content to profit from the eastern Visayas by extracting tribute, and occasionally labor, while entrusting the inhabitants to the Jesuits for their Christian conversion. The eastern Visayas were not totally isolated from external influences, however, since Moro raids, which were particularly intense in the late eighteenth century, had a major impact on demographic trends there. Different Visayan Islands thus followed distinct demographic trajectories that reflected the uneven impact of economic activities, missionary endeavors, and Moro raids. Garrisons, Shipbuilding, and Provisions Commercial economic activities in the western Visayas, especially Panay, were largely driven by the needs of defense. Provisions and labor were required to maintain the garrisons established in the Visayas, Maluku, and Mindanao and to support naval expeditions, particularly during the Hispano-Dutch War. When the Spanish first arrived they established forts at Cebu and at Otón in Panay.9 With the increase in Moro incursions toward the end of the sixteenth century, Spanish defenses in the Visayas were strengthened by the construction of a fort at Iloilo staffed by two companies of soldiers10 and by the establishment of a garrison at Caraga in northeast Mindanao in 1609. Subsequently other forts were built in Mindanao at Zamboanga and Iligan in 1636 and 1639 respectively. Apart from these garrisons, support was also needed to maintain the forts on the islands of Ternate and Tidore following their seizure from the Dutch in 1606. However, all forts in Maluku and Mindanao were abandoned in 1662 when, fearing...

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