The Islands Beyond the Empire: Portuguese Essays on Early Modern Philippine History (16th-18th Centuries)

The historical processes that kept the Philippines beyond the scope of the Portuguese Empire were ultimately reflected in the historiography. Traditionally, Portuguese historians focused on the overseas expansion of their country, during the 15th and 16th centuries. Maritime exploration and its colonial empire, both cornerstones of Portuguese national identity, developed into their own fields over the course of the 20th century. Portuguese books and articles concerning the Philippines thus tended to address the archipelago in connection to Portuguese presence in other parts of Southeast and East Asia. This collection of essays maps the trajectory of Portuguese scholarship in its long, and often indirect, efforts to incorporate the Philippines into Portuguese historiography. It includes seventeen articles published between 1960 and 2016, along with one unpublished work, by 11 Portuguese researchers and scholars. The selections represent a balance between relevance to Portuguese scholars and offering examples that cover a diversity of topics ( cartography, cultural transfers, missions, trading networks).