the other edge of the Spanish Empire

The Spanish Empire is often described as el imperio en el que nunca se pone el sol. Because I came from a former colony of the Spanish Empire, most of my knowledge about the empire where the sun never sets comes from that one tiny end of the empire. I didn't start getting exposure about the opposite end of the empire until I moved to the U.S. It's a good learning experience because I got to see the other cultures that were forever changed by the arrival of the Europeans. At the Library of Congress, I took the opportunity to learn more about the American side of the Spanish Empire expansion story.

Christopher Columbus, the explorer

The Age of Exploration began when Columbus set forth to the Americas for the first time (in the name of God and the Crown of Castile, as indicated by his coat-of-arms). The coat-of-arms also shows islands, which indicates that he's the explorer of the New World. His arrival to the continent is celebrated in some states in the U.S. as a holiday; however, negative feedback about his "discovery" of the Americas has popped recently... his legacy is one that still needs to be figured out, in light of current public opinion about medieval European colonialism in the U.S.

New flora and fauna 

As part of exploring the unknown and sharing the information they had gathered, the Europeans who came after him discovered and documented the flora and fauna of the New World, complete with illustrations and extensive notes. This is good because written material can be reviewed and edited; I think books are better than oral media when transmitting knowledge, particularly to later generations.

I do remember similar books among the effects of friars who also doubled as medicine men, as exhibited at the San Agustin church's museum in Manila.

The colonisers were so big on noting things down...

Clashing with existing civilisations

The Europeans were met by the indio civilisations that already inhabited the landmasses before they "discovered" the Americas. Not all of these encounters were peaceful, however... Just like in the Philippines, these Europeans were met with resistance where they were viewed as conquerors rather than as friends. Ferdinand Magellan's fate at the hands of Lapu-Lapu, in the Philippines, is case in point.

The Spanish Empire did not just bring European firepower to conquer the indios. They also brought along diseases that did more damage because the indigenous civilisations did not have resistance to microbes imported by the medieval Europeans.

Though the civilisations were wiped out, some artefacts remain. The carvings suggest that the civilisations were highly advanced (because of the intricacies of the designs). I'm not sure how these are related to the Mexican art I've seen in the de Young Museum.

Seeing these artefacts made me think back about what I've seen at the Ayala Museum. We're lucky that these artefacts have been discovered and preserved. Their value to our pre-European colonisation histories are slowly and surely being understood.