In the Transpacific

Wake of Iberian
Globalization 

Political Theology and Infrapolitics in Spain’s
“Conquista espiritual” [Spiritual Conquest],
16th-18th c.
 Stills from Oro
(dir. Agustín Díaz
Yanez, 2017):
conquistador
Martín Dávila
claims possession
of the Pacific
Ocean and all
adjacent
territories for the
Spanish Crown
Outline

 Spanish encounter and
attempted conquest of the
Pacific world (16th c.)
 Political theology of the
“spiritual conquest” and
the rhetoric of pacification
 Infrapolitics of permanent
frontier war [guerra viva]
– “frontierization”
 Conquest of the sea

 1521 Cortés and native  1565 Spanish explorer,
American allies defeat circumnavigator, and
the Aztec empire Augustinian friar Andrés
de Urdaneta discovers the
 1532 Francisco Pizarro
“westerlies” and return
captures and kills the route to Mexico
Inca Athahualpa and  1571 Admiral and frontier
overthrows the Incan commander [Adelantado]
Empire Miguel López de Legazpi
establishes the walled city
[Intramuros] of Manila
Route of the Manila Galleon

Mare clausum (closed sea)

Foundations of the Spiritual
Conquest

 Millenarianism in the
service of law
 Conquest as “peaceful”
endeavor
 Government [policía],
population [poblar],
and conversion as ends
that serve as
instruments
 Philip II, Ordenanzas para
descubrimientos, nuevas poblaciones y
pacificaciones, 1573

 Forbear that any titles and the name of conquest
accompany any present and future discoveries: for
insofar as the matter (of colonial settlement) ought to
be conducted with all the peace and charity that we
desire, we do not want the name (of “Conquest”) to
give any occasion or excuse for using force or injury
against the Indians] (Charles Gibson, cited in Ursula
Lamb, ed. 126 [translation modified]).
 Hypothesis and critical
questions

 Discourse of “pacification” in the spiritual Conquest of
the Pacific obscures the partial, protracted, and
incomplete project of Spanish rule overseas
 What is Spanish rule in the absence of Spanish rule?
 Question of political theology
 What happens in Spain’s overseas possessions in the
absence of effective Spanish rule?
 Transculturation and mestizaje (Gruzinski, Bernal)
 Permanent war and deculturation (Sheridan Prieto)
 Question of infrapolitics (Scott)
"Modo de pelear de los
Indios de 
California"

Pencil sketch attributed to José Cardero (1792) from the

Malaspina expedition