Crossing Empires from Sea to Land: Iberian Empires and Land Relations in Asia (16th-19th centuries)

Panel Convenor(s)

• MB

  Manuel Bastias Saavedra

  Leibniz University Hannover, Germany
• RJ

  Roger Lee Jesus

  Leibniz University Hannover, Germany

Panel Chair(s)

• MB

  Manuel Bastias Saavedra

  Leibniz University Hannover, Germany

Presenter(s)

• MB

  Manuel Bastias Saavedra

  Leibniz University Hannover, Germany
• GC

  Grace Liza Concepcion

  University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines
• PF

  Patricia Faria de Souza

  Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• RJ

  Roger Lee Jesus

  Leibniz University Hannover, Germany

The overseas expansion of the Iberian kingdoms into Asia in the 16th century brought not only a new economic player into consideration but also a political one, who expanded through land, transforming the places it reached. These empires adapted to each local context, recreating themselves according to different regions and realities. Observing how imperial institutions were locally shaped and structured is crucial to understanding how colonial powers built their networks in this oceanic crossroads. Land relations, as the different ways in which social groups constructed their relations to land and other groups, is a privileged way to look into these institutional adaptations. The Iberian cases provide a particular vantage point to engage with local dynamics of how land was understood, appropriated, managed, and distributed. As the first European colonial experiences in Asia, the Portuguese and the Spanish empires set in motion a process of local normative production that both shaped subsequent European colonization and had lasting effects on Asian societies, which prevailed across centuries and can still be seen nowadays. The aim of this panel is to reconstruct the organization of the relations between people and land in the Iberian world scattered through Asia over four case studies: two from the Portuguese territories (Goa and Bassein) and two within the Spanish presence (Philippines). Whether from a legal-historical perspective or looking to the foundations of colonial towns and the local concepts of ownership, or yet to the role of religious institutions managing those lands, these paper papers adopt a broad perspective, allowing to reframe the historical perception on each region.

Presentations:

• 14:00 – 15:45 (GMT+7)

  Land and Law in Spanish Colonial Philippines: A Legal-Historical Perspective
  

  Presenter: Manuel Bastias Saavedra – Leibniz University Hannover
• 14:00 – 15:45 (GMT+7)

  Settling at the Fringes of Pueblos: The Foundation of Towns and its Effects on Natives' Land Relations in Early Modern Philippines
  

  Presenter: Grace Liza Concepcion – University of the Philippines Diliman
• 14:00 – 15:45 (GMT+7)

  Governing Lands and Souls in the Portuguese Empire in Asia: the role of Jesuits in Bassein (1550s-1660s)
  

  Presenter: Patricia Faria de Souza – Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro
• 14:00 – 15:45 (GMT+7)

  Rethinking Land Ownership in the Portuguese Empire: the case of the villages of Goa
  

  Presenter: Roger Lee Jesus – Leibniz University Hannover