José Antonio Cervera - The School of Salamanca at the end of the known world in the 16th century: Martín de Rada, Domingo de Salazar and Juan Cobo in the Philippines, 1565–1594. Salamanca Working Paper No. No. 2019-02

José Antonio Cervera: The School of Salamanca at the end of the known world in the 16th century: Martín de Rada, Domingo de Salazar and Juan Cobo in the Philippines, 1565–1594, Salamanca WP No. 2019-02.

Abstract

This paper focuses on the life and work of three of the most important men who arrived in the Philippines during the 16th century: the Augustinian Martín de Rada (1533–1578) studied at the universities of Paris and Salamanca. He was one of the best European scientists of his time in East Asia. The Dominican Domingo de Salazar (1512–1594), first bishop of Manila, studied the legitimacy of the conquest of the Philippines and wrote against the Spanish plan to conquest China. The Dominican Juan Cobo (? –1592) was the first Spanish to master the Chinese language and, through his book Shilu, the first European who introduced Christianity to the Chinese from a rational point of view and the first one to introduce European science into Chinese context. All of them were very influenced by the School of Salamanca and, from Manila, they always had their eyes on China. These three men of the late 16th century are paradigmatic examples of the influence of the University of Salamanca in the production of global knowledge in the early modernity. A summary of this text was presented at the international conference organized by the Max Planck Institute for the History of European Law: 'The School of Salamanca: A Case of Global Knowledge Production?', held in Buenos Aires from 24th to 26th October 2018.