The Rediscovered Islands

Magellan's expedition opened up a new route to the other side of the world, before Elcano commanded the return voyage aboard the ship "Victoria." This proved that the Earth was round and that the ocean was made up of a single, interconnected body of water. And on the other side of the globe, there was an archipelago to explore: the Philippines.

The Pacific Ocean became theoretically known as the "Spanish Lake," with the Philippines on one side and the colonies of the western Americas on the other. It took centuries for its boundaries and archipelagos to be identified and mapped.

China's mysteries and riches traveled to Europe via the Cape Route, or aboard Manila Galleons via Acapulco, before being taken across the Isthmus of Panama on foot and shipped from Havana to Seville and Cádiz. In the East, trade was primarily controlled by the Chinese.

The Suez Canal route linked Europe to the Far East and was used by scheduled steamboat services. The intensive flow of goods and people passing through it piqued the curiosity of those unable to travel.

The nascent art of photography captured images of exotic cities and landscapes, revealing other cultures that people had previously only been able to imagine.

Barcelona became Spain's gateway to the Philippines as a hub for scheduled services and a driver of late economic development.

The city also played a key role in the policy of "Europeanizing" the islands and exploiting one of their main assets: tobacco.

The process of occupying and colonizing the islands was not easy, nor was it peaceful. With locals already having their own social and religious conflicts to deal with, European rule made the situation even more complicated.

Spain's limited military presence made it impossible to control the thousands of islands, with their difficult mountainous terrain.

The Spanish merchant marine also set its sights on the Philippines, although it was only involved in local trade during the Age of Sail.

It was only after the steam engine was developed that the idea of a direct link between the islands and mainland Spain became appealing. Captains and pilots were studying these seas as an option for the future.

Sailing in the Pacific was entirely different from the tradition in Europe and North America, with its own culture, vessels, and navigation techniques.

Westerners were surprised by the islanders' seafaring skills, and experts viewed their boats as exotic little marvels that were worth documenting.

The waters around the Philippines and the routes leading to them were pirate hunting grounds, making them dangerous to sail through.

Literature and film have recreated images of innocent-looking Chinese sampan boats that turned out to be packed with ferocious pirates.

Because of this threat to maritime traffic, European ships had to carry their own artillery and arms to fend off attackers.

In the second half of the 19th century, many Spanish historians and anthropologists were curious about Philippine culture and took an interest in their customs, clothing, language, and sailing vessels.

A number of Spanish museums put together collections of Philippine artifacts and art so people in Spain could see the culture of their faraway "cousins" for themselves.

Ships regularly sailed to and from the Philippines, first operated by the Marqués de Campo steamboat company and then by Compañía Trasatlántica.

This shipping company in particular capitalized on most of the trade relations between mainland Spain and the Spanish colony in the Pacific. Four of its ships were named after the most important islands: Panay, Cebu, Mindanao, and Luzon.

It was difficult and costly to accurately map all the islands in the vast Philippine archipelago.

This area of over 1,000 islands remained partly unexplored and inaccessible until the Spanish occupation ended. As a result, accurate information about its seas and islands became valuable.

Compañía General de Tabacos de Filipinas S. A. was founded in Barcelona and became the flagship of the Spanish economy in the final years of colonization.

It had its own steamboat fleet and wielded huge influence in the islands. Even after Philippine independence, the company continued supplying the world with excellent tobacco.

At a time when steamboats were already traveling regularly between Barcelona and Manila, some sailboats were still continuing the tradition of crossing the oceans using wind power alone.

One example was the polacca "Explorador," which sailed between the Philippines and the Americas, completing the reverse of Magellan's journey centuries before.

The exploration of the Philippines went beyond its natural treasures: scholars were also interested in it for scientific reasons.

These barely explored seas provided a vast area of study for botany, biology, and mineralogy, as well as meteorology and oceanography.

The Spanish presence in the Philippines ended in 1898, after a revolution there called for independence, and following the intervention of the Americans, who declared war on Spain and challenged the country in the Caribbean.

The Spanish Navy was defeated and destroyed in the Battle of Manila Bay. This marked the end of an era that began when Magellan arrived in the Philippines with his boats and cannons in 1521.