The Loyal Foreign Merchant Captain: Thomé Gaspar de León and the Making of Manila’s Intra-Asian Connections / El leal capitán mercante extranjero: Tomé Gaspar de León y la construcción de las conexiones intra-asiáticas ...
Keywords:
Philippines, Intra-Asian Trade, Iberian Asia, Agent of Empire, Social Network Analysis, Filipinas, Comercio intraasiático, Asia ibérica, agente del imperio, análisis de redes sociales.Abstract
This article presents a micro-historical analysis of the life of Thomé Gaspar de León, the South Indian-born Christian who became one of the most successful merchants in Manila’s intra-Asian trade, and one of the most trusted agents of the Hispanic monarchy in Asia in the mid-eighteenth century. Combining methodologies of social and economic history, this study provides new insight into patterns of empire-building in maritime Southeast Asia and the Pacific. It highlights Manila’s previously neglected role as an intra-Asian trading hub and reveals how its commercial connections to Batavia, Macao, and other regional port cities, forged by men like Gaspar de León, ultimately strengthened Spain’s Asian empire. / Ésta es una aproximación microhistórica a la vida de Tomé Gaspar de León, un cristiano nativo del sur de la India, quien a mediados del siglo XVIII se convertiría en uno de los más exitosos comerciantes intraasiáticos de Manila, así como uno de los más confiados agentes de la monarquía española en Asia. Combinando los métodos de la historia social y económica, este estudio brinda nuevas perspectivas sobre la construcción imperial en el sudeste asiático y el Pacífico. También resalta el minimizado papel de Manila como eje comercial intra-asiático y muestra como los nexos comerciales forjados por figuras como De León, en puertos como Macao o Batavia, fortalecieron la presencia española en Asia.
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