Philippines

Heinrich Scherer

c1700

Nova et Accurata Exhibitio Geographica Insularum Marianarum cum insulis de pais Marainis ad austrum obiectis nuperrime inventis....

34 x 23 cms. Coloured. Excellent example

This unusual map by German Jesuit Heinrich Scherer consists of two parts. An inset to the left of the image [8.5 x 21 cms] to which the title refers, depicts a detailed survey of the island of Guam in the Marianas. The scrollwork title panel in the upper left corner of the engraving is supported by two native figures & is surmounted by a sun-burst containing the initials IHS - of the Jesuit order. The remaining two thirds of the engraving consist of an untitled Map of South East Asia encompassing all regions east of a line running north to south from central China through Hainan, western Borneo and eastern Java and so including most of China; Korea and Japan; the Philippines; the Marianas; the Moluccas and New Guinea and parts of Northern Australia. Unlike other delineations of Japan on Scherer's maps, mainland Honshu here appears in a much more recognisable outline, the curious distortion of Hokkaido here omitted.  The map is interesting in providing one of the first detailed European depictions of the island of Guam.  The islands were the home of the indigenous Chamorros and had first been visited by Europeans during Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe in 1521 when the latter's small fleet of 3 vessels had anchored at Umatac Bay. However the petty pilfering of the natives during this first encounter had given rise to the Islands' unfortunate first title, Islas dos Ladrones (Islands of Thieves).  In 1565 the islands had been claimed for Spain by  Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and a hundred years later a decree by King Charles II of Spain named the islands after his mother, Queen Maria Ana. In 1668, a small group of Jesuit missionaries led by Padre Diego Luis de San Vitores with a military escort and handful of Philippino and Mexican lay helpers, arrived on Guam from the Philippines via Mexico. They established a missionary Church and settlement in the capital at Agana and were gradually welcomed by the native population. The Jesuits began by teaching the Chamorros to cultivate maize,  to raise cattle and start tanneries, and to adopt western-style clothing. Once Christianity was firmly established, the Catholic Church became the focal point for village activities and Guam became a regular port-of-call for the Spanish treasure galleons that crisscrossed the Pacific Ocean from Mexico to the Philippines.  After the murder of Padre de San Vitores in 1672, the peaceful approach of the Jesuits was replaced by a forceful Spanish military occupation and a heavy-handed suppression of all of the Mariana islands in succession. During the course of the Spanish occupation of Guam, sources have estimated Chamorro casualties to the fighting and European diseases such as dysentry and influenza  reduced the native population from 150,000/ 200,000 to roughly 5,000 by 1741, mostly women and children. By the date of this map, the Chamorros had been forced to settle in five Guam villages: Agana, Agat, Umatac, Pago, and Fena, were monitored by the priests and military garrison and forced to attend Church daily and to learn Spanish language and customs. The Spaniards imported Spanish soldiers and Philippinos to restock the population, marking the end of the pure Chamorro bloodline. In 1740 Chamorros of the Northern Mariana Islands, except Rota, were removed from their home islands and exiled to Guam. The map was published in Jesuit Scherer's Atlas Novus in Munich in 1700, appearing in Part I Geographia Naturalis of the seven-part Atlas.