When Cultures Clash

Hezel, Francis X. (2015). [www.micsem.org When Cultures Clash]. Country not known]. ISBN 978-1-935198-04-8.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: location (link)

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Abstract: The arrival of Spanish missionaries to the Marianas in 1668 was a first in Pacific Island history; it signaled the beginning of intense Western presence in the islands. The troubled years that followed, marked by intermittent outbreaks of violence, came to be known as the “Spanish-Chamorro Wars.” According to the standard textbooks, this thirty-year period was one of utter devastation–forced conversion, rapid cultural change, precipitous population decline, and loss of Chamorro identity.

Or was it? The Spanish missionaries, at least in the first few years of their work, did not have the protection of soldiers. Later, when troops finally arrived, the priests themselves recognized that the troops could be more of a hindrance than a help to their own work. Then, too, the Chamorro people might have been far more divided than early historians imagined. Some might have eagerly converted for any number of reasons, social and political as well as religious. Spanish records of this period reveal the sharp divisions between members of the Spanish party as well as the polarization in the local population.

The clash of cultures was real, as the author of this work presents it, but the Chamorro people probably had more of a hand in determining the outcome than earlier historians credited them with. The sins of the colonizers were also real, if grossly overstated. Even if the massive loss of life was due to disease rather than outright slaughter, the worst crimes against local people– and Spanish troops alike–were the result of administrative intrigues of later Spanish officials. Overall, this work seeks to offer a better grounded and more nuanced understanding of this critical period of initial Western contact in the Pacific.

Extra details:

DOI: 10.1525/9780520911185-008
CorpusID: 240498390
OpenAlex: W4233369510