LASA/EANLAS: Rethinking Trans-Pacific Ties: Asia and Latin America

“Going about with naturales infieles”: Inquisitorial Constructions of Islam in 16th-Century Mexico and Manila

• In Event: Pacific Inquisitions Part I: Crimes

Abstract

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries colonial officials in Mexico and the Philippines exchanged letters regarding concern about the potential spread of Islam in both regions. In 1565, the viceroy of New Spain, Martín Enríquez de Almanza went so far as to return fourteen enslaved people who had been transported to Acapulco from Manila, citing his concern that these enslaved people were Muslims and might convert indigenous people in Mexico to Islam. In 1577, a man named Zambrano, who was said to be a mestizo from Mexico, was tried by the Inquisition for having traveled to the Philippines and converting to Islam. In 1614, another official in Mexico complained about the presence of “moros chinos” that had arrived in Mexico from the Philippines and other regions across South and Southeast Asia. Against this backdrop, the Mexican Inquisition and its commission in Manila intervened to police religious practices across New Spain. This panel presentation will explore two cases in which individuals are tried for “Islamicizing” practices—one from 1582 originating in Manila against the Spanish man, Marcos Quintero, another from 1594 in Mexico City against the Spanish woman, María Ruiz—to compare inquisitorial notions regarding Islam in Mexico and the Philippines. Its working hypothesis is that while both offices continued to draw on practices associated with Islam in Iberia (such as dancing zambras, and speaking Arabic), in the Philippines the adoption of indigenous practices (such as learning local languages, and taking up indigenous sumptuary customs) also became associated with Islam.

Author

• Erica Feild, New York University