Spanyol–kínai kapcsolatkeresés II. Fülöp uralma idején
Spanish–Chinese Efforts to Establish Relations during the Reign of Philip II

Summary/Abstract: From the conquest of the Philippines in 1565 and the founding of the city of Manila in 1571, the Spanish sought to establish commercial and diplomatic relations with China, the largest state in Asia, in order to share in the benefits of long-distance trade. This marked the beginning of Spanish–Chinese relations and constituted one of the most important episodes in the Spanish Crown’s Asian policy of overseas expansion in the 16th century. Unlike the New World, in the Asian region European technical superiority prevailed exclusively in the Pacific archipelago and over its indigenous population. In contrast, in the large states of the continent (China, Japan), their political complexity and military development made it impossible for the Spaniards to pursue a policy of force. While the Spanish conquered vast territories and subjugated peoples on the American continent, this was impossible for them on the Asian continent. The Iberians were unable to change the traditional system of political, diplomatic, and economic relations with Asia that had developed centuries earlier, so they were forced to integrate into a system in which the only modifiable element was trade, and the prerequisite for economic cooperation was the establishment of diplomatic relations. This study presents the initial period of Spanish efforts to establish relations with China during the reign of the Spanish monarch Philip II (1556–1598). Its aim is to examine the specific forms of Spanish diplomacy in Asia in the context of attempts to establish such relations, the background of which was consistently shaped by the Spanish Crown’s ambition to gain access to Asian commercial networks. The paper analyses the events through the perspective of a Hispanist approach and explains their connections within the course of the history of Spanish diplomacy in 16th-century Asia, one of the primary objectives of which was to exploit the economic opportunities associated with the so-called “China Enterprise.”Since the topic is previously unexplored in Hungarian historiography, the study focuses on the main points of contact in Spanish diplomacy, their commercial motivations, the background and limitations of these interactions, the recurring challenges, and the partial results achieved, presented in a clear chronological framework. Taking all this into account, the study may serve as a “springboard” for further, more detailed research and discussion of the topic.

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