Histoire des isles Marianes (History of the Mariana Islands), was published in Paris in 1700 with authorship attributed to French Jesuit priest Charles Le Gobien, S.J. It provides a detailed glimpse into a tumultuous and critically significant period in the history of the Mariana Islands and the CHamoru people—the period commonly referred to as the CHamoru-Spanish Wars. It includes detailed accounts of the first 30 years of the Jesuit mission in the Marinas. It also features speeches by CHamoru chiefs, including the famous speech by Maga’låhi Hurao that is etched onto the wall at the entrance of the Guam Museum.
Using research conducted in several national and international archives in Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, and at the Richard F. Taitano Micronesian Area Research Center in Guam, Alexandre Coello de la Rosa produced this English translation of the first Spanish edition of Le Gobien’s text. This present edition also stems from a manuscript preserved in the Arxiu de la Companyia de Jesus a Catalunya archive in Barcelona, with authorship attributed to Spanish Jesuit priest Luis de Morales, S.J., who had been part of the Jesuit mission to the Marianas in the late 1600s. Thus, this text calls into question Le Gobien’s authorship. This edition opens with an in-depth introduction analyzing the context of the publication’s history, as well as its significance over time. The book also features annotated notes that expand the narrative by providing details about the history of the Jesuit mission in the Marianas.
About the author
Alexandre Coello de la Rosa (Barcelona, 1968) received his Ph.D. in History from Stony Brook, USA (August, 2001). He is (co)editor-in-chief of the journal Illes i Imperis and is currenly doing research at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Department of Humanities. He is a member of the research group Ethnographies, Cultural Encounters and Religious Missions in the Liberian World (ECERM-UPF) at the same University and ‘Conseguidores’: procuradores jesuitas y circuitos artísticos alternativos en el mundo hispánico (Pro Jes Art-UAM) at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, as well as an associate member of the Richard F. Taitano Micronesian Area Research Center (MARC) at the University of Guam. He specializes in colonial Latin American history, the ecclesiastical history of Peru and the Philippines, historical anthropology, and chronicles of the Indies. Some of his recent publications include (co-edited with David Atienza), Scars of Faith. Jesuit Letters from the Mariana Islands (1668-1684) (Institute of Jesuit Sources. Boston College, 2020) and (co-edited with Joao V. Melo), The Jesuit Encounters with Islam in the Asia-Pacific (Brill, 2023).
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