HOM.14
Full Census of the Marianas, 1746-1773, is the fourteenth volume of the History of Micronesia: A Collection of Source Documents (HOM), compiled and edited by Rodrique Levesque.
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The History of Micronesia: A Collection of Source Documents was complied, edited and published by Rod Levesque from 1992 to 2002. Copyrights were obtained by the Habele Outer Island Education Fund, a US nonprofit, in 2022, which digitized the content to facilitate noncommercial access to, and use of, the twenty-volume series. The PDF file for HOM.14 is roughly 65MB.
Levesque's Summary
Volume 14 is focused on the genealogy of the Marianas, as it includes the first, and last, full listing of all their inhabitants. There were only 1,700 inhabitants in the Marianas in 1758.
All in all, this volume contains 76 chapters totalling 175 documents and 47 illustrations. The major events of this period include the visit of two French Navy ships at Guam in 1772. In 1762, the English Navy invaded Manila Bay and sacked Manila. They were also lucky in capturing the galleon Santisima Trinidad; her treasure was taken to England, and the ship itself was sold at Plymouth. Another significant event in the Mariana Islands was the expulsion of the Jesuit missionaries—a political decision.
Genealogy is a relatively-modem science. This volume contains the only full census that will ever be presented, for the year 1758, at a moment in time when the population was at its lowest point in history—only 1,700 inhabitants in the Marianas. Half of the people still used old Chamorro nicknames (as their family names).
Two years earlier, in 1756, a proposal had been made to evacuate the Mariana Is-lands, and move their inhabitants to the Philippines; this idea was rejected by the Spanish court, in favor of enticing some Filipino families to emigrate to Guam instead. However, the first ship carrying a handful of Filipinos turned back in distress and was shipwrecked, with a loss of lives. After that, there were no more volunteers, only re-placement soldiers.
The first regular English visitors to Micronesia were the crews of passing ships of the East India Company, on their way to China by the Pacific route. The first fleet that passed through Micronesia did so in 1761; they were trading ships.
In 1772, two French ships that had just taken possession of New Zealand (and baptized it Austral France) visited Guam, and none too soon, as the crews were dying of scurvy, and had run out of food. They found a savior in the person of Major Tobias, the Governor of the Marianas. This generous Spaniard provided everything they needed at his own expense. He even gave them a pilot to guide them to Manila.
A major event of this period was the English invasion and occupation of Manila Bay, between 1762 and 1764. The English wreaked havoc with the Spanish possessions, including their well-kept archives. They sacked the city in true pirate fashion, even after collecting part of a ransom. They heard of the incoming galleon Filipino having stopped in the Strait of San Bernardino; they immediately sent ships to seize her treasure, but arrived too late. They had better luck with the other galleon, the huge ship called San- tisima Trinidad. She had been dismasted near the northern Marianas, and had in the meantime turned back in distress. Two English ships were looking for the Filipino when they spotted her. A long fight ensued and the Trinidad was riddled with thousands of shots from English guns. The full story of her capture, by her own commander, General Meylan, is given here for the first time, in quite sober tone. This ship was repaired and taken as a prize all the way to Plymouth, England.
Among the booty that the English carried to England were some nautical charts. Most of these were published by Alexander Dalrymple in the 1780s and 1790s, when he got money to do so from the English Parliament. These charts are reproduced in this volume, with the proofs that the original sketches had come from the Philippines.
Another event was the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain and her colonies. When the orders came from Spain, in 1769, there were only three missionaries left in Guam and Rota, a far cry from the glorious period of a century before. The Jesuits were per-secuted strictly for political reasons. The most terrible blow, however, came in 1773 when the Pope himself suppressed their religious Order.
The Governors of the Philippines revised their regulations for the management of the galleons, and also their ordinances “for good government” in general. The Viceroy of New Spain, specially the Marquis of Croix, a Frenchman, also cleaned up the cor-ruption at the port of Acapulco.
The attempts to implement a new, and safer, route for the Acapulco-bound galleons were another matter altogether. Time and time again, after endless meetings of pilots and treasury officials, it was decided to adopt a new route around the north side of Luzon. The track used by the galleon San Jose in 1770 was a typical one. By the 1770s, the galleons no longer rose as high as 40° lat. N. in mid-Pacific, and they made a stop at the tip of California, to get refreshments and cure their sick.
Publication Details
Lévesque Rodrigue. History of Micronesia : A Collection of Source Documents. Vol. 14 Full Census of the Marianas: 1746-1773. Gatineau Québec: Lévesque Publications; 1999.
ISBN-10: 0920201148
ISBN-13:978-0920201145
LCC: DU500 .H58 2000
