Spanish-Chamorro Wars

The Spanish–Chamorro Wars, also known as the Chamorro Wars

Spanish-Chamorro Wars
and the Spanish-Chamorro War, refer to the late seventeenth
century unrest among the Chamorro people of the Mariana Islands in Date 1670-1699
the western Pacific Ocean against the colonial effort of Habsburg Location Mariana Islands
Spain. Anger at proselytizing by the first permanent mission to Guam,
(Guam and the
which was led by Diego Luis de San Vitores, and a series of cultural
Northern Mariana
misunderstandings the led to increasing unrest on Guam and a
Chamorro siege of the Hagåtña incited by maga’låhi (Chief) Hurao in Islands)
1670. Maga’låhi Matå'pang killed San Vitores in 1672, resulting in a Result Spanish victory
campaign of Spanish reprisal burnings of villages through 1676.
Belligerents
Local anger at the attacks against villages resulted in another open
rebellion led by Agualin and a second siege of the Hagåtña presidio. Habsburg Spain Anti-colonist
Governor Juan Antonio de Salas conducted a counter-insurgency Pro-Spanish Chamorros
campaign that successfully created a system of collaboration in which Chamorros
Guamanians turned in rebels and murderers and transferred most of
Commanders and leaders
the people from about 180 villages to seven towns, a policy known as
reducción. By the early 1680s, Guam was largely "reduced," or Diego Luis de Hurao (1670-
pacified. San Vitores 1672)
(1670-1672) Matå'pang
With Guam in hand, the Spanish looked to extend control to the Damián de (1670-1680)
Northern Mariana Islands. First was Rota, where the Spanish forces
Esplana Agualin (1676-
led by José de Quiroga y Losada conducted a quick military
(1674-1676) 1679)
campaign in 1680, followed by the villagization of the Rota
population into two towns in 1682. The Spanish were welcomed on Antonio de Ayhi Yura (1684)
Tinian but were forced to conduct a campaign on Saipan against Francisco de
armed resistance. After successfully crushing rebellious villages on Irrisari
Saipan, the force under Quiroga began constructing a fort to solidify (1676-1679)
control of the area. However with most of the Spanish soldiers in the José de Quiroga
north, Guam had erupted into rebellion. Yula led a sneak attack upon y Losada
the Hagåtña presido on July 13, 1683, killing the Jesuit mission (1679-1697)
superior, severely wounding Governor Damián de Esplana, and
killing four soldiers before they were repelled. A larger force of Casualties and losses
hostile Chamorros then returned to begin the third siege of Hagåtña. About 60 110-120
Meanwhile, the warriors from Tinian and Saipan had combined forces
to attack the force commanded by Quiroga on Saipan, who was forced to shelter in his partially constructed
fort. Quiroga was sieged until November when he was able to escape and sail to Guam, where he lifted the
siege of Hagåtña. The Spanish then conducted a series of campaigns against resisting villages on Guam and
executing insurrectionists until a new peace was secured.

The Spanish did not attempt to control the northern islands again until 1694, when Quiroga captured Saipan
but faced an entrenched defense by the population of Tinian, who had had taken shelter on Aguiguan. Upon
winning the battle, Quiroga ordered that the population of Tinian be relocated to Guam. While some disobeyed
and fled to the islands of the far north, Tinian was soon emptied. The final stage was a 1698 military
expedition against the eight small islands at northern end of the Marianas. The population there was resettled
on Guam in 1699, completing the villagization of rebellious populations and Spanish consolidation of the
Marianas.
 Contents
Background
"Poison waters"
First Siege of Hagatña (1670)
Death of San Vitores (1672)
Spanish reprisals (1674-1676)
Second Siege of Hagatña (1676-1677)
Spanish suppression (1678)
Pacification of Guam (1680-1681)
Rota pacified (1680-1682)
Final large-scale resistance (1683)
Final Reduction
References

Background
The ancient Chamorro people were organized into matrilineal
extended family groups, stratified into three hierarchical classes.
Chamorro seamanship and the sakman, also known as the "flying
proa," impressed the first Spanish sailors to the Marianas. A 1668
description reported that there were approximately 180 autonomous
villages on Guam with a total island population between 35,000 and
A 1742 diagram of a 40-foot sakman,
50,000.[1] There is very little archaelogical evidence for warfare
a fast sailing outrigger boat used by
among the ancient Chamorros. While some inland latte stone pre-Contact Chamorros for inter-
structures were located along ridge tops that allowed easy spotting of island travel
approaching warriors, it is not clear they were placed there for defense
or simply because they were along footpaths. For weapons, ancient
Chamorros favored the sling and, for melee, spears tipped with fire-hardened or barbed tips made from human
shinbone that often caused infections in those wounded. Armor consisted of palm leaf mats placed on the head
and chest on the otherwise naked body. Boys and young men competed in challenges with the sling and spear.
Early European reports describe Chamorro warfare as highly disorganized, small scale, and triggered by minor
disputes such as cut food trees. Battles typically lasted until the first death, whereupon the killer's family would
offer a turtle shell or other items of value to the family of the warrior that died to reestablish peace.[2]

The Marianas were the first islands in the Pacific reached by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, though it was not
until 1565 that Miguel López de Legazpi formally declared Spanish sovereignty over the Mariana Islands.[3]:3
Following Legazpi's visit, Guam became a provisioning stop for the lucrative Manila galleons trade between
Acapulco and Manila, which carried silver from New Spain to trade for silk and porcelain from China.
However, Guam was a minor piece of the vast Spanish Empire and few galleons even made port, as they were
content to furl their sails offshore long enough to trade for water and food with Chamorros who came out on
their sakman.[4]

A permanent Spanish presence was not established until June 15, 1668 when Father Diego Luis de San
Vitores landed at the village of Hagåtña, in charge of a force of 31, including five other Jesuit missionaries.
Few of the Spanish force were skilled with the firearms they brought, as San Vitores had been impressed by
the gentleness and peacefulness of the Chamorros in an earlier visit. He argued that bringing experienced
soldiers would create more conflict: "Experience has shown that soldiers do
not content themselves with defense of the preachers but commit
depredations."[3]:9 Upon arrival, local chiefs competed for the mission to
come to their villages. Chief Kepuha of Hagåtña threw a feast the following
day where the Spanish gave all the local chiefs iron hoops in exchange for
food. The missionaries baptized 23 islanders, mostly young children.[3]:10
The mission established its headquarters in Hagåtña, consisting of a grouping
of structures, including the precursor to the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral
Basilica. San Vitores refused to allow a palisade or other fortification, as
contrary to the mission's gospel of peace.[3]:15 In January 1669, the first stone
and lime church was dedicated in Hagåtña , followed by the opening of a
boy's elementary school, the first formal institution for education to be
established in the Pacific.[3]:17-18 The village of Hagåtña is
along the leeward central
A few days after arriving, the first confrontation occurred when a spear- coast of Guam
wielding Chamorro threatened a Mexican mission helper who was attempting
to destroy a shrine of ancestral skulls, under the orders of the priests. While
the Spaniards did not bother themselves with recording the religious beliefs of Chamorros, scholars assume
that their belief system was similar to other islanders in being largely based upon providing offerings to a
protective ancestor spirit to gain its help. Chamorros would occasionally consult a makana, who were believed
to be skilled intermediaries with guardian spirits. As well as destroying skull shrines, the Spaniards' religious
aims explicitly undermined the authority of the makanas, whom the Spaniards called "sorcerers".[3]:24-25

"Poison waters"
The first violence against the mission was a August 1668 violent
attack against missionary Fr. Morales on Tinian, who was ambushed
and speared in the leg as he went to baptize a dying man. Five days
later, two of the men accompanying Fr. Morales were killed when
Chamorros transporting them on sakmans suddenly attacked them
with machetes. On Guam, Fr. Luis de Medina was badly beaten when
visiting one of the remote villages on Guam.[3]:19 The missionaries
found that distant villages on Guam that had previous welcomed them
were concealing paths with brush, refusing to give them the traditional
welcoming food of breadfruit, and even meeting them armed.[3]:20

The Spaniards blamed the hostility on rumors spread by a Chinese

castaway named Choco on Saipan that the waters that the
missionaries were using for baptism was poisoned. This story was
plausible to those villages whose sole contact with the missionaries
was the baptisms conducted on the deathly ill or newborn, who The southern islands of the Mariana
experience high mortality. Contemporary Spanish accounts state that Islands archipelago. The distance
Chamorros in areas that regularly interacted with the mission group, between Guam and Saipan is about
135 miles (218 km)
such as Hagåtña, did not appear to give credence to these stories.[3]:19

This violence made San Vitores reconsider his opposition to armed

force. He sent to letter to the Philippines asking for 200 additional men, this time equipped with weapons, as
well as asking that Manila galleons stopping by be prepared "to carry out punishment and remedy whatever
misfortunes might occur."[3]:21 In late 1669, San Vitores led a dozen armed members of his mission, as well as
some Chamorro converts, to Tinian in an attempt to stop a war between two villages that threatened to
destabilize the missionary efforts there. When one of the warring groups made a surprise attack on the mission
party, three were killed by a small artillery piece. For the first time, the Spanish force directly killed
Chamorros.[4][3]:22

In early 1670, Fr. Medina and his catechist Hipolito de la Cruz were killed by a group of young men on
Saipan as they prepared to baptize a sick child. Then, in July 1671, a Mexican mission helper in Hagatña was
killed when he went outside the village to cut wood to make crosses. Spaniards arrested suspected murderers,
accidentally killing a Chamorro noble. While the Spaniards intended to hold a fair trial, the concept was not
understood by the Chamorros. One historian writes: "the barbarians were so greatly offended by justice, to
which they were strangers, that they behaved as if they would rather be killed without trial than be arrested and
examined."[3]:24

First Siege of Hagatña (1670)

The outrage at the trial combined with the anger at the attempts to destroy ancestral shrines and undermine
makanas to move the residents of Hagatña to open resistance. Hurao, a high-caste resident of the village,
began to rally villagers to open resistance.[3]:25 In response to the threat, the Spanish finally erected a wooden
stockade with two towers. They were soon confronted by an estimated 2000 Chamorro men, though the
Spanish quickly captured Hurao. While the military head of the mission, Juan de Santa Cruz, favored an
attack, San Vitores insisted on trying to appease the attackers with gifts of food and turtle shell. The besieging
Chamorros conducted themselves largely by the norms of ritualized island warfare, characterized by
ceremonial posturing, displays of physical prowess, and the avoidance of an all-out battle that might result in
heavy casualties. After a month, a severe typhoon ended the siege, inflicting more casualties than the battle.
During the entire course of the siege, Chamorros lost five men. This is compared to the eight Chamorro deaths
from warfare recorded by the Spanish in the previous three years, indicating that the siege was abnormally
bloody by the standards of traditional Chamorro warfare.[3]:26

In the five months after the lifting of the siege, San Vitores requested more troops and redoubled his
missionary efforts towards the northern islands. However, San Vitores appeared to believe that the mere
presence of additional soldiers would ensure peace. The Spanish did not make any efforts to punish or detain
those responsible for the attacks on missionaries or siege of Hagatña.[3]:27 Released from prison, Hurao began
traveling between villages to encourage opposition to the colonists.[3]:29

Death of San Vitores (1672)

In March 1672, a young Mexican member of the mission, Diego Bazan, was killed in Chochogo, an inland
village that was a center of anti-Spanish resistance. The next day, two Filipino catechists and their Spanish
soldier escort were also ambushed and killed in Chocogo. A few days later, San Vitores, who had been in the
southern village of Nisichan overseeing the construction of church began returning to Hagåtña. On the way, he
and his Filipino catechist Pedro Calungsod stopped in the village of Tumon to look for a mission helper who
had fled at word of the new violence. In Tumon, San Vitores met Matå'pang, a local elder whom San Vitores
had converted after nursing him to health from a serious illness, but had since turned away from the Spanish.
Infuriated at San Vitores' offer to baptize his daughter, Matå'pang said that San Vitores would do better to
baptize the ancestral skull in the house and stop killing children and that if the Jesuit did not leave immediately,
he would kill San Vitores. When Matå'pang left to get weapons and more men, San Vitores entered the house
and baptized the girl. San Vitores and Calungsod were caught by the enraged Matå'pang and his
companion,[3]:29-30 by legend Hurao. Calungsod was killed first, followed soon afterward by San Vitores,
whose skull was split by a sword and heart pierced by a spear.[3]:30
In response, the Spanish launched a punitive attack on Tumon, burning
several houses and sakmans. However, the Spanish column was attacked on
both flanks as it waded through the waters of Tumon Bay, losing three
soldiers to poison spears. Two Chamorro dead were counted. A month later,
Hurao was captured and executed by one of the Spanish militia.[3]:30-31

Fr. Francisco Solano, the Jesuit who became head of the mission after San
Vitores' death, continued conciliatory policies, partially from awareness of the
mission's weakness. Of the 31 original mission helpers, only 21 remained and
there were only 13 muskets. Solano was concerned that if hostile Chamorros
realized how inaccurate the muskets were, they would overwhelm the
mission. He forbade mission personnel from visiting the north of Guam,
which had become dangerously hostile, and there were even concerns that
southern villages would turn away. Two more Filipinos were killed on Rota, A 1686 depiction of the
the island just north of Guam, about a month later. Solano then succumbed to murder of Diego Luis de San
tuberculosis, only two months after the death of San Vitores.[3]:31 Vitores by Matå'pang (right)
and Hurao (left)

Spanish reprisals (1674-1676)

After the tumult of 1672, 1673 was calm. However, in February 1674, Fr.
Francisco Ezquerra and five of his six companion were killed while walking
from Umatac to Fuuna, a village near Orote Point. Spanish forces turned in
June 1674, when the Manila galleon that visited the island left behind Damián
de Esplana, a trained military officer with 23 years of military service in
colonial Chile, who was originally bound for the Philippines. Esplana was
immediately put in charge of the garrison of 21 militia.[3]:33

Unlike the Jesuit Superiors before him, Esplana believed that "for the good of
the Christian community it was necessary to give an example of punishment
Topographical map of
that would warn the barbarians, whom mildness only made more bold." As
Guam, which is his first example, Esplana threatened the people of Chochogo, a center of anti-
characterized by volcanic Spanish resistance, unless it allowed free access to mission personnel. The
hills in the south and a Chamorros refused and Esplana ordered a night attack with orders to kill any
limestone plateau in the men who resisted. The Spanish recorded that several men were killed, as well
north as one woman in the nighttime confusion. Two weeks later, the Spanish
attacked Chochogo, burning its houses, destroying many spears, and killing
two Chamorros. In November 1674, Esplana led an expedition to Tumon,
where villagers were refusing to participate in any Christian programs. Finding the village deserted, he caught
up to a fleeing sakman, killing a man who had killed a mission assistant a couple years earlier. The dead man
he ordered dismembered and hung between two poles as a warning to other resisting Chamorros.[3]:35

In January 1675, Esplana attacked to the north of Guam, burning the resisting villages of Sidia and Ati. One
historian further states that Esplana "threw down a steep slope several natives who tried to impede his
passage." Esplana joined with the allied forces of Chief Antonio Ayhi to destroy Sagua, whose villagers had
previously killed one of the Jesuits. Esplana continued to the south, burning the villages of Nagan and Hinca,
which as been involved in the death of another Jesuit. Chamorros attempted to ambush the Spanish as they
approached Tachuch, near Merizo, but Esplana killed one Chamorro and then captured and executed the chief
of Tachuch as a warning to others who might resist. The Jesuits were full of praise for their new military
commander, who was seen as the savior of the mission. As well as a new commander, 20 additional Spanish
troops arrived on Guam in 1675.[3]:36
In December 1975, a Jesuit and two lay mission helpers were killed at Ritidian after scolding a group of young
men trying to get into the girls' dormitory. The group of men at Ritidian further burned all the mission
buildings in the village, though the Spanish record that the older villagers disapproved of the actions but were
unable to stop them. The next month, a Jesuit was killed in Upi by a Chamorro man who accused him of
cheating him in a trade. In response, the villagers of nearby Tarragui, who were close to the priest, sent an
armed force to challenge Upi to battle. Unopposed, the Tarragui force burned the home of the killer and
retrieved the body of the priest for burial. Both of these events in northern Guam involved personal insults or
disagreements, with a recorded disagreement among Chamorros themselves.[3]:37

In June 1676, Francisco de Irrisari arrived on Guam and became the first person to take the title of Governor of
the Mariana Islands, replacing both Esplana as military commander and the mission for civil matters as he
formalized complete authority. He also arrived with fourteen additional soldiers, bringing the garrison to over
50 men. Irrisari continued Esplana's tactics, marching on Talisay, a village inland from Agat, and conducting a
daylight attack that killed five people. A few weeks later, the garrison had to put down a revolt in Orote that
was incited when a Chamorro girl who attended a mission school and had converted to Christianity married
one of the Spanish militia against the wishes of her father. Irrisari hanged the father of the girl as punishment
for incitement and brought the new couple back to Hagatña for safety.[3]:36-37

Second Siege of Hagatña (1676-1677)

By this time, the Spanish attacks against villages had become the main
cause of grievance among anti-Spanish Chamorros. In the late
summer of 1676, Agualin, a blind high-caste Chamorro from
Hagåtña, began traveling around Gaum to rally resistance, like Hurao
five years before him. As well as the old stories of killing children,
Agualin said that the Spanish were turning children against those
resisting the Spanish and, by their opposition to bachelors' houses,
were "depriv[ing] parents of the good price they would have received
for the services of their daughters in these houses. Instead, they seek
The 2010 ruins of the walled Plaza to marry off the girls to their own mission helpers or soldiers."[3]:38
de España in Hagåtña, the precursor Agualin also stated that the mission demanded that Chamorros attend
of which was the presidio protecting religious services when they would rather be working, asking, "What
San Vitores's chapel and mission
death is worse than the life we are forced to live?"[3]:38[5]
buildings
Around this time, Antonio Ayhi became known as the most pro-
Spanish of the chiefs. Ayhi ensured the loyalty of this village, while
attempting to prohibit anti-Spanish Chamorros from passing through. Other pro-Spanish chiefs included
Ignacio Hineti of Sinajana and Alonso So'on of Agat, who led battalions in support of Spanish attacks on
hostile villages. By this time, at least four villages on Guam had mission schools, whose students were often
fiercely loyal to the Spanish. The militia had also begun marrying Chamorro women, further increasing the
number of Chamorro with personal ties to the mission.[3]:41

In late August 1676, Chamorro resisters set fire to the church and mission quarters at Ayra'an. A force led by
Irrisari responded, leaving eight soldier to protect missionaries at Orote before returning to Hagåtña. A week
later, as the pastor of Orote and the soldiers were leaving for Hagåtña, they were attacked by a large force of
armed men. Suddenly, a local man named Cheref appeared and offered to take the Spanish away to safety in
his sakman. After the Spanish had boarded the sakmanwas well away from shore, Cheref and his men
overturned the boat and attacked the Spanish with spears and clubs. This incident would raise uncertainty
about who among the Chamorro could be trusted.[3]:38
In response, the Spanish reinforced walls of the Hagåtña presidio, construction new sentry stations and
changing the layout of buildings to improve security. Antonio Ayhi arrived with a force to assist in the defense,
but the Spanish advised him to leave for fear of repercussions to his village. In mid-October 1676, Agualin led
to a force of 1,500 men to the presidio, which was defended by 40 Spanish militia equipped with 18 muskets.
The siege largely followed the form of the first siege: the Chamorros ritualistically lined up outside musket
range to taunt their foe. The Spanish periodically sallied forth, killing one or two Chamorro before the
besieging force fled to the hills, only to return and reestablish the siege. The Chamorro destroyed a cornfield
that fed the mission, but the Spanish managed to grow enough crops within the stockade to survive. The
defenders easily fended off the half-hearted attempts to storm the presidio, until January 1677, when the
besieging Chamorro force disbanded and left. Agualin eluded the Spanish until 1679, when he was recognized
while landing a sakmanand killed.[3]:39-40 During the siege, Antonio Ayhi and other pro-Spanish leaders
attempted to bring food to the besieged mission.[3]:41

Spanish suppression (1678)

In June 1678, the new governor, Juan Antonio de Salas arrived with thirty additional soldiers, and immediately
restarted the violent suppression of resisting villages. Salas assaulted the villages of Apoto and Tupalao,
burning them to the ground, killing two, and taking two children for enrollment in the mission school in
Hagåtña. The Spanish force met resistance at Fuuna, killing an unrecorded number of men before torching the
homes. Salas continued to Orote and Sumay, both hotbeds of anti-Spanish resistance, torching both before
proceeding to Talofofo and Picpuc.[3]:42

In their campaign, the Spanish informed the populace that Chamorros would turn over any murderers or
rebels, that anyone sheltering a murder or rebel would be hanged. If these rules were not obeyed, the village
would be collectively punished. Adherence to these new rules would be rewarded by special recognition and
titles and a badge of authority, which was very attractive to the Chamorros as their traditional culture used
similar status signifiers. Often, the Spanish would designate someone as captain of the village police, giving
them a wooden staff, and encourage the new captain to deputize men he trusted as corporals, in effect creating
a police force that mirrored the Spanish military structure. These village forces were then expected to assist in
suppressing revolts in other villages. The Jesuits recorded that Chamorros readily accepted the rules because
some hoped "to ingratiate themselves with the Spanish, others to achieve pardon for their crimes, and all of
them hoping for a reward."[3]:42-43

These new incentives soon resulted in the turning in of dozens of the desired "criminals", sometimes killing
them before turning in their heads as proof. In January 1679, Ignacio Hinete killed three people in Tarragui
who had been involved in earlier unrest. Hinete notified Salas to send someone to pick up the heads so they
could be impaled on the wall of the presido as a warning to others. People in villages around Guam presented
the heads of those who had murdered priests, or turned them over for public execution by the Spanish. In April
1680, the people of Rota sent the body of Matå'pang, where he had been hiding, in the hopes of avoiding
Spanish punishment. The Chamorro resistance was largely broken and its remnants went into deep
hiding.[3]:43-44

Pacification of Guam (1680-1681)

In June 1680, a Jesuit wrote that Guam had been "quiet for more than a year," but that priests needed armed
escorts for safety and to ensure compliance: "The mission is so dependant upon arms that without them
nothing can be done, because the local people pay little attention to the Fathers when they are alone. The
people here respond only to fear."[3]:45 In late 1679, two priests accompanied by 40 Spanish troops and 40
armed Chamorro allies left Hagåtña to travel to villages that had not seen a Spanish visitor since the hostilities
of 1676. Everywhere they went the Spanish burned the houses for young men, destroyed the skulls of
ancestors and spears, baptized children, and selected children to attend the mission school in Hagåtña. Many
villages were abandoned by residents who feared the column was
inflicting more retribution, but in most cases were lured back by
promises of safety. The Spanish were welcomed in towns such as
Tarragui and Ritidian. Some villages, such as Hanum, refused to
submit and the Spanish burned some houses in retaliation.[3]:45-46

The Jesuits were pleased by the pro-Spanish and pro-Christian change

in attitudes. In Orote, the body of a man hanged for insurrection was
dragged by small children who pelted the corpse with stones while Women tending gardens outside the
shouting, "Die, dog, die. You refused to be a Christian."[3]:47 Most government center in Hagåtña, 19th
inhabitants of the island were attending church and regularly bringing century
children for baptism and bodies for burial, which had been a major
source of tension in 1670. The church in Hagåtña was moved outside
of the presidio walls and build to accommodate 1000 parishioners. Further, the Spanish had largely succeeded
in consolidating the population. The residents on seven rural villages near Hagåtña were convinced to settle
within a couple miles of garrison, creating the barrios of Sinajana, Anigua, and Santa Cruz (now part of East
Hagåtña). The entire town center was enclosed in a wall, first wood but rebuild with stone, with two gates
facing the sea and interior hills. Outside of Hagåtña , the Spanish policy of reducción concentrated Chamorros
in six towns of about 1000 residents each: Pago, Agat, Inarajan, Umatac, Inapsan, and Mapupun. These towns
each had a church and were being built in orderly rows at Spanish direction. Still, the Spanish burnt houses
outside these villages to discourage unauthorized settlement, thereby creating the lanchu system that became
typical of Chamorro society, in which people lived in towns but worked on remote ranches.[3]:48-50 The
concentration of the population in larger settlements appears to have accelerated the spread of deadly foreign
diseases, with 917 deaths being recorded from 1680-1683 on Guam and Rota, compared to about twenty
Chamorro deaths from hostilites in the same period.[3]:80

Salas unexpectedly left in 1680, leaving José de Quiroga y Losada, a junior military officer in command of the
island.[6] Fortunately, a year passed without much incident and Antonio de Saravia arrived in June 1681.
Unlike his predecessors, Saravia's appointment as governor was made by the King of Spain, so Guam was no
longer subordinate to rule from the Philippines or Mexico. As the first official governor, Saravia appointed
Antonio Ayhi as lieutenant-governor of the colony and gave him the title maestre-de-campo, roughly the
equivalent of a colonel. Ayhi then convinced the other major village chiefs to take the oaths of fealty given by
Saravia on September 8, 1681. These chiefs were then deputized to represent the governor in regions around
the island, and were subsequently tasked with being mayors and other officials for the Spanish administration.
Saravia built new roads, taught new trades, and introduced new livestock, such as chicken and cattle.[3]:50

A significant problem of the Spanish was the conduct of the garrison. Since the arrival of Esplana, the soldiers
had begun operating independently of the Jesuits. Meanwhile, the new recruits were often not well trained
and, in the worst cases, criminals who had been given the choice of military duty on Guam or a prison in the
Philippines. While the garrison had expanded to 115 in 1680, there was only pay for 40 soldiers, meaning that
each soldier was making a third of their expected salary. This resulted in low morale, attempts to find money
by whatever means possible, and general indiscipline. While the Jesuits had been grateful for the additional
soldiers in the early hostilities, they became increasingly appalled by the soldiers behavior. By 1680, soldiers
had moved on from seducing girls at the mission school to raping village women. One Jesuit in 1680 wrote,
"The thefts that the soldiers have carried out among the Indians, and the other extortions, have been endless."
Chamorro anger at the depradations of the garrison only grew over the years.[3]:53-56

Rota pacified (1680-1682)

With Guam pacified, the Spanish turned their attention to control of the northern islands. In late 1680, Quiroga
led a force to Rota. He captured several rebel leaders, who were later executed, and sent up to 150 refugees
from Guam who had fled the unrest back home. In April 1681, rebels from Inapsan who had burnt down their
church and rectory fled to Rota. They were followed by Quiroga
who, with local assistance, drove the rebels into the hills until most of
them surrendered.[3]:57

The Spanish then proceeded with the reduction of Rota, on the model
of that already completed on Guam. In March 1682, a church and
rectory was constructed at Sosa (modern day Songsong), and then a
second town at Agusan. The population was then largely
concentrated in these two towns. However, there was still resistance.
A spear was thrown at the door of the Sosa rectory while the church
in Agusan was burnt twice during the year. However, the Agusan
priest was confident about his victory: "The dead receive Christian
burial, and the sick are brought to the church for the sacraments on the
shoulders of relatives."[3]:57-58

With Rota firmly under their control, the Spanish looked further north.
In early 1682, the mission superior, Fr. Manuel Solorzano, took a
military escort on a trip north. On Tinian and Aguigan, Solorzano
baptized 300 infants. However, his party was nearly ambushed on 1764 map of the Mariana Islands
Saipan and achieved little on the island before being forced to turn
back to Guam because of unfavorable winds. Twice in 1683, Saravia
tried to lead Jesuit missions north but the two boats used by the Spanish were unable to brave rough
weather.[3]:58-59

Final large-scale resistance (1683)

When Governor Saravia died in November 1683, Damián de Esplana, who had returned to Guam only a few
months earlier, presented sealed orders appointing him the next governor. Esplana immediately ordered
Quiroga north to conquer Tinian and Saipan. In March 1684, Quiroga's force of 76 Spanish soldiers and at
least as many Chamorro allies left Hagåtña. They were welcomed on Tinian but encountered strong resistance
at Saipan. Dozens of sakmans prevented an easy landing. One or two Saipanese warriors and a Spanish
soldier was killed before forcing the local Chamorros to flee inland. Pushing northward, the Spanish burnt the
minority of villages that still resisted. A Jesuit writes that one resister "was cut down with an axe and his body
hung by the foot from a tree to inspire fear." The force then crossed the island and pushed southward. Only the
village of Araiao put up significant resistance, but the their warriors were soon routed and the Spanish claimed
the head of one of the leaders. The campaign ended, Quiroga sent 25 soldiers to force submission of the
sparsely populated islands further north while he began constructing a fort on Saipan.[3]:61-62
 Southwestern Saipan from Mount Tapochau. Tinian is faintly visible across the Saipan Channel.

However, the reduced garrison in Hagåtña tempted the rebels still on Guam. Chief Yula (Yura) of Apurguan,
near Tamuning, rallied other resisters, starting in Ritidian and Pago. News of the rebellion spread quickly. By
chance, most of the village priests were on their way to Hagåtña for a meeting and avoided being caught in the
uprising. The exception was the priest of Ritidian, who was slain at the command of a chief who was angry
that the priest had insisted that his daughter be married in a church. However, many Chamorros on Guam
sided with the Spanish. The rebels tried to convince Ignacio Hineti to join them, but he refused. The boys
attending mission school often sided with the priests and garrison.[3]:62

On July 13, 1683, Yula and about 40 others concealed weapons as they infiltrated the presidio while
pretending to attend mass. They killed the guards, left an injured Esplana for dead, and killed two Jesuit
priests. The attackers repeatedly stabbed Fr. Solorzano, the mission superior, and severed his hand before a
Chamorro mission helper who sided with Yula cut the priest's throat with a knife. Boarding students from the
mission school killed one attacker with knives. In total, four Spanish soldiers were killed and 17 badly
wounded, but they managed to kill Yula and drive away the rebels.[3]:63

An even larger force of rebels returned a few days later to attempt to take the presidio but were met defenders
reinforced by Ignacio Hineti and his allied Chamorros. Hineti killed the new leader of the rebellion, placing his
head on a post.[7] However, the attackers managed to burn the church and rectory and threatened to swarm the
walls. The Jesuits armed themselves to defend the stockade, eventually forcing the attackers to withdraw by
sakman, where they incited Chamorros both on Guam and in the northern islands to join the rebellion. The
two Jesuits based on Rota were killed, one when he landed in Tinian while attempting to warn Quiroga of the
uprising and the other on Rota from rebels who had sailed from Tinian.[3]:64

On Saipan, Quiroga was unaware of the rebellion until the seventeen soldiers he had left on Tinian were killed
and their boats burnt. A combined force of Chamorro warriors from Tinian and Saipan launched an attack,
driving Quiroga's force into the unfinished fort. Rallying, his counterattack forced the enemy to flee. However,
the rebels soon returned, sieging the fort for weeks and making three determined charges in an attempt to
breach Spanish lines. Quiroga lost four soldiers in the fighting, while the Chamorro had "considerable losses."
At this point, the Spanish force numbered 35, from the original 75 that had begun their campaign. Quiroga
eventually was able to sneak down to the shore and take sakmans back to Guam in November 1683.[3]:64

The third siege of Hagåtña had lasted for four months when Quiroga arrived. There had been intense fighting
in late July and August and at least five Filipino soldiers who had married Chamorro women had deserted.
The injured Governor Espana had become indecisive and it was likely only because of the support of the pro-
Spanish Chamorro militia that the garrison had held out against the far larger besieging force. However,
Quiroga had a fearsome reputation and the rebels abandoned the siege at his arrival. For months afterwards,
Quiroga pursued the rebels, burning more villages and executing prisoners, until an exhausted peace was once
again established. The latest spasm of violence resulted in the loss of about a third of the Spanish garrison,
between 45 and 50, and perhaps 30 or 35 losses among the Chamorro rebels.[3]:64-66

Final Reduction
Esplana grew violently paranoid after being nearly killed in 1684. He ordered soldiers to "shoot at sight any
enemy islander", resulting in the deaths of "two children aged eight and nine years, two women who were ill,
and an infirm old man."[3]:67 Esplana used his office to both procure young girls for his sexual appetite and
put profits from the galleon trade in his own pocket. In 1688, when Esplana suddenly left for Manila, Quiroga
became interim governor and disciplined soldiers to force them to give up "the licentious life to which they
were accustomed."[3]:67-68 The outraged soldiers mutinied and threw Quiroga into a cell. Only the pleading of
the Jesuit mission superior stopped the garrison's plans to execute Quiroga and secured his release. Esplana
returned the next year, though he largely lived in Umatac as he worked on his shipping schemes.[3]:68

Eventually, the garrison gave in to the demands of the missionaries to finish the conquest of the northern
islands. In early 1691, Esplana, Quiroga, and 80 soldiers sailed to Rota, where the visibly trembling governor
pled the populace for peace before ordering the expedition back to Guam. This convinced the Jesuits that
Esplana was incapable of bringing the rest of the Marianas under the control of the mission. Nevertheless, by
1689 the number of Spanish troops had increased to 160, while the Marianas mission reached its maximum of
twenty Jesuits. Meanwhile, the Chamorro population of Guam continued to be wracked by foreign-introduced
disease; in 1689, the pre-San Vitores population of 35,000 to 50,000 had fallen to below 10,000.[3]:69-70

Esplana died in August 1694 and Quiroga used his position as interim
governor to finally complete conquering the Marianas. In September,
Quiroga and 50 soldiers sailed to Rota where they chased the
residents of a resisting village into the mountains until they gave up.
The Spanish destroyed their weapons and relocated 26 sakmans
worth of people to Guam. In July 1696, Quiroga and 80 troops,
including a unit of Chamorro militia, sailed to Tinian. However, the
residents took refuge in the imposing mountain island of Aguiguan.
Several Spanish soldiers were killed by stones and spears when trying
to approach and Quiroga withdrew to Saipan, while he waited for 20 The sheer cliffs of Aguiguan were an
sakmans of Chamorro militia to catch up. On Saipan, Quiroga obstacle to the 1694 Spanish
encountered only token resistance, chasing Saipanese warriors for expedition
days. However, he also told the populace that he would not seek
revenge as long as they allowed missionaries to work on the islands in
the future.[3]:71

When he returned to Tinian with his Chamorro allies, Quiroga found that the entire population had retreated to
Aguiguan. Quiroga made the same offer to the people of Tinian that he had made on Saipan, but they did not
respond. He then burned the houses on Tinian as a warning, to no response. The Spanish then blockaded
Aguiguan so the refugees could not get food or water, before finally assaulting the island directly. Several
defenders were killed and some who expected to be executed threw themselves off the cliffs, but none resisted
once the Spanish force reached high ground. Several people implicated in the murder of a priest were
executed. Quiroga pronounced that all the people of Tinian must relocate to Guam. Some of the people of
Tinian fled to the northern islands to escape Spanish control, but none dared stay on Tinian and the island was
soon abandoned.[3]:73

More than 300 of the 2000 people who lived in Gani, the eight small islands at the top of the Marianas chain,
had been relocated to Saipan. When the Jesuit pastor of Saipan realized that the people from Gani had begun
sneaking back to their home islands, he called on the new governor in Guam, José Madrazo, to complete the
reduction of the north. In September 1698, twelve Spanish soldiers and a fleet of 112 Chamorro sakmans
sailed to Gani. Awed by the size of the force, the people of Gani agreed to do whatever the Spanish desired.
1,900 residents of Gani were relocated, some temporarily to Saipan, before final settlement in southern Guam
in 1699. The completion of this process was the final phase of violence and villagization that had begun 29
years earlier.[3]:73-74

References
1. "War in the Pacific National Historic Park: An Administrative History - Chapter 1: Before
European Contact" (https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/wapa/adhi/adhi1.htm).
National Park Service. 8 May 2005. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
2. Dixon, Boyd (16 December 2019). "Ancient CHamoru Warfare" (https://www.guampedia.com/a
ncient-guam-warfare/). Guampedia. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
3. Hezel, Francis X. (2015). When cultures clash: revisiting the 'Spanish-Chamorro Wars' (https://
www.academia.edu/23563686/When_Cultures_Clash_Revisiting_the_Spanish-Chamorro_Wa
rs). ISBN 978-1-935198-04-8. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
4. "War in the Pacific National Historic Park: An Administrative History - Chapter 2: Visitors from
Afar" (https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/wapa/adhi/adhi2.htm). National Park
Service. July 2004. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
5. Leon Guerrero, Victoria-Lola; Quinata, Nicholas Yamashita (16 October 2019). "Agualin" (http
s://www.guampedia.com/chiefs-aguarin/). Guampedia. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
6. Goetzfridt, Nicholas (13 October 2019). "José de Quiroga y Losada" (https://www.guampedia.c
om/jose-de-quiroga-y-losada/). Guampedia. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
7. Leon Guerrero, Victoria-Lola; Quinata, Nicholas Yamashita (October 8, 2020). "Hineti" (https://w
ww.guampedia.com/hineti-2/). Guampedia. Retrieved February 28, 2021.

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