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Manuscripts
Notebook of commercial/residency and travel licenses granted to Chinese by Governor-Generals of the Spanish Philippines
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- Description
- This manuscript, bound in a parchment cover, records copies of travel and residency/commercial licenses that the Spanish Governor-Generals of the Philippines Don Félix Berenguer de Marquina (1733-1826) and Rafael María de Aguilar y Ponce de León (died in 1806) issued to the "Sangleyes," a word used in the Colonial Spanish Philippines to refer to Chinese. The licenses were issued from 1793, February 16 to December 18. Don Félix left the Philippines by September 1, 1793, and de Aguilar succeeded him by that date. The licenses are formulaic and words are often abbreviated, befitting legal records. The licensees are all Chinese men, though occasionally a license does mention the licensee's wife and family. The licenses are granted for various activities, ranging from work with livestock, usually pigs and cattle, the right to practice agriculture and trade. The licenses grant residence permits for Chinese to live in places in the Philippines ranging from the Panay of the Visayas Islands to Los Baños on Luzon. Sometimes the licenses only permit a stay of two to three months in an area; others seem indefinite. The licenses also granted the right of Chinese, often described as captains, to return to China after trading in the Philippines. More than one scribe recorded the licenses, as evidenced by the at least two hands of the manuscript.
