Introduction

Christian-Muslim cohabitation in the Philippines was almost never peaceful. This was already evident to the Spanish chroniclers of the early modern period as well as to historians of the nineteenth century. The latter in particular characterized the history of the Philippines as a continuous confrontation between Muslim “Moros” and Catholic Spaniards, which they called guerras piráticas, “pirate wars.” By the middle of the nineteenth century, however, Spain was winning these Moro Wars, owing to the modernization of Spanish warfare, especially the utilization of steamships. The war changed over time, as did the Spanish discourse. It is the purpose of this present chapter to investigate how the Moros and the Moro Wars were described by Spaniards between the late sixteenth and the early nineteenth centuries. By focusing on specific moments in Philippine history, it will examine the ways in which the two enemies were juxtaposed and contrasted with each other and the resulting discursive dualism and polarization. It is outside the scope of this work to look for any linear development from one status of discourse to another; rather, the article follows the different forms of discourse, the polarizations, the peculiarities, and the reiteration of topoi over time.

The Global Context

As the Spanish representation of the “Moro enemy” in Southeast Asia is in the centre of interest, the subject has to be contextualized briefly within the intellectual changes that occurred in Europe and which influenced the Spanish mindset in Madrid as well as in Manila. In the sixteenth century, when the Spanish enterprise on the Philippines was just beginning, Europe was experiencing, on the one hand, dramatic changes in its confessional landscape (the Reformation), and on the other, the most threatening advances of the Ottoman Empire. The turmoil of these years and the religious and confessional insecurity lead to a vehement reaction of the Catholic Church. In the last third of the century, the Counter Reformation was in full gear, persecuting all religious heterodoxies in Europe and the overseas territories. One consequence of this was that religious arguments gained more weight in Spanish imperial discourse, and that the space for religious tolerance became ever smaller. This again influenced Spanish colonial enterprise (in particular the discourse of legitimization) and with it the discourses emanating from the colonies, especially the Philippines.