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Watchtowers in the Eighteenth-Century Philippines: Material Representations of Colonial State Power

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Formative Modernities in the Early Modern Atlantic and Beyond

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Abstract

The symbolic dimension of defensive structures has received rare historiographical attention. This chapter fills part of this gap by analyzing a widespread defensive structure in the Spanish colonial Philippines: watchtowers. These constructions were recurrent constituents of the coastal warning system and played a fundamental role in the defense against raiders from neighboring islands. After presenting the Philippine setting and contextualizing the Spanish-Asian colony, this chapter traces the development of these watchtowers in the eighteenth century and, in particular, the circumstances of their creation and usage. Tentative ideas will be presented in regard to possible semantic aspects of the watchtowers, going beyond their mere functionality. In doing so, it will become evident that watchtowers played an essential role as material manifestations of the colonial state in the Philippines.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Philippine National Archives (PNA), Spanish Manila, SDS 13820, 1751–1846, exp. 6, ff. 41r+v, Superior Decreto para que a los Sambales […] (4/1/1752); PNA, Erección de Pueblos – Bulacan, SDS 13940, 1747–1863, exp. 4, ff. 70–81, Espediente a representación del gobernadorcillo y principales del pueblo de Obando, […] en que piden de les concedan reserva de polos y servicios personales para proseguir la construcciónde su Yglesia […] (18/1/1769); Archivo General de Simancas (AGS), SGU 7245, 53, Filipinas, ff. 457r–459v, Victoria sobre una partida de moros (1798). See also Dery 1997, 83.

  2. 2.

    Archivo General de Indias (AGI), Filipinas 300, N. 58, Petición del agustino recoleto Miguel de Santo Tomás de Villanueva sobre la Paragua. Document 1.1, f. 49r (25/9/1754).

  3. 3.

    AGI, MP-Ingenios 233, Perspectiva de las embarcaciones ultimamente construidas para el corso contra los moros (22/5/1779).

  4. 4.

    Thanks to Ricky Jose for these two valuable clues (written communication from 4/9/2021).

  5. 5.

    PNA Superiores Decretos 1797–1802, SDS 14833, ff. 25r–27r, Se releban a los naturales, Dumaran, provincia de Calamianes, de tributo por dos años con la condición que se ha de acabar en este interbalo el fuerte (20/4/1797).

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  1. Spanish National Research Council, Madrid, Spain

    Eberhard Crailsheim

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  1. Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria

    Veronika Hyden-Hanscho

  2. University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Werner Stangl

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Crailsheim, E. (2023). Watchtowers in the Eighteenth-Century Philippines: Material Representations of Colonial State Power. In: Hyden-Hanscho, V., Stangl, W. (eds) Formative Modernities in the Early Modern Atlantic and Beyond. Palgrave Studies in Comparative Global History. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8417-4_3

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