Why is the Philippines the only Spanish colony in Asia?

Spain established the first empire on which the sun never sets in human history in the 16th century. The Spanish Empire spanned all of Central America, most of South America, part of Africa, and the Philippines in Asia. The Spanish army in its heyday was so powerful that even empires as large as South America could be annihilated, so Spain could also occupy most of the land in Asia. However, Spain only got a piece of the Philippines, which seems to be a strange phenomenon. To know why Spain only occupied the Philippines, you must know the background and process of the great geographical discovery.

The main driving forces of the geographical discovery were the trade monopoly of the Muslim empire in the Middle East and the trade monopoly of merchants in Italy in Europe. Since the Muslim empire had already been trading with Southeast Asian countries and China before Europeans discovered Asia, many luxury goods from the East, such as tea, silk, spices, Chinese porcelain, etc., had to go through the Arabs before they could be marketed in Europe. The Arabs often sold these goods to Venetian merchants in Italy (Venice was the busiest and largest international port in Europe during the Renaissance). The Italians in Venice resold the oriental luxury goods obtained from the Arabs to other European countries. This kind of trade allowed Europeans to buy luxury goods hundreds of times higher than their original price.

In addition, the Renaissance also led to great geographical discoveries. The Renaissance promoted humanism and focused on thinking and practice. The Renaissance also repaired the weakened economy of feudalism in the European Middle Ages. The economic recovery in Europe has promoted the expansion of the goods market, and as a result, the demand for luxury goods from the East has also increased significantly. However, Europeans couldn't afford the expensive oriental items that were sold many times, so they felt that to get oriental luxuries at the cheapest price, they needed to trade directly with the east.

Although Marco Polo's eastward journey promoted the relationship between Europe and China and developed new overland trade routes, there were many checkpoints along the way, political instability and unsafe routes, which severely affected overland trade activities. The blockade of the port of Venice by the Ottoman Turkish Empire in the 15th century made Europeans feel the urgent need to open a sea route to the East.

Under this background, Europeans actively carried out exploration activities. Due to the advancement of science and technology in Europe at that time, shipbuilding, cartography and navigation were much more advanced than in the Middle Ages, so it was not difficult for Europeans to conduct exploration activities.

The first European countries to carry out exploration activities were Portugal and Spain. After explorers such as Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and Dias discovered the Caribbean Islands, the Cape of Good Hope, and the route to India, Portugal and Spain worked hard to expand their empires. They did this in the hope of discovering and controlling the "Spice Islands" where spices were produced. The Portuguese-Spanish expedition encountered setbacks in Brazil, and in order to reconcile the disputes, the famous "Treaty of Tordesillas" (Treaty of Tordesillas) was signed. This treaty stipulated that the area west of Brazil was Spain's sphere of influence, and Spain could conquer it at will; the area east of Brazil was Portugal's territory. Therefore, most of South America, except Brazil, became the territory of the Spanish Empire.

South America is rich in resources and made the Spanish rich. However, the "Spice Islands" they longed for did not fall in South America. South America also doesn’t produce spices. In order to control this archipelago, Spain actively conducted expeditions this time.

At that time, Portugal had already occupied parts of Africa, Goa in India, Malacca on the Malay Peninsula, some islands in Indonesia, and Macau, China; the Portuguese also arrived in Taiwan and Japan.

In 1521, the Spanish explorer Magellan sailed around the world with the approval and sponsorship of the King of Spain. Just after crossing the Pacific, Magellan encountered the Portuguese in the Moluccas of Indonesia. The Moluccas are the so-called Spice Islands. In this way, the two countries began negotiations, and the result was the signing of the Treaty of Zaragoza in 1523, which revised the sphere of influence and classified the area east of the Moluccas as the Spanish sphere of influence, and the east as the Portuguese area. Spain agreed to evacuate the Moluccas, and Portugal agreed to pay Spain 350,000 gold Portuguese coins as compensation. The Philippine Islands located to the west of the Moluccas continued to become Spanish territory.

So, only the Philippines is a Spanish colony in Asia. Since the 17th century, other European countries, such as the Netherlands, Britain, France, etc., began to carry out exploration activities, and Portugal, with its small territory, was not inferior to the influence of the Netherlands, so it ceded Indonesia, Malacca, Taiwan and other places to the Netherlands. Later, the British and French came, and Southeast Asia was divided among them.

Although Portugal's sphere of influence includes all of Africa and Asia, due to the small size of its native countries, poor resources, and insufficient human resources, they cannot occupy the vast territory like Spain. Therefore, the fact that Asian countries did not colonize Spain is not related to the Ming Dynasty. In fact, Macau was ceded to Macau during the Ming Dynasty. At that time, Malacca was also a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, but it was eventually occupied by the Portuguese. France also occupied Indochina, a huge Chinese vassal state.

In fact, China declined at the end of the Ming Dynasty when Europeans discovered the New World. At that time, many rebellions, revolutions and the invasion of Manchus left China vulnerable.

Although the rule of Emperor Qianlong and other emperors in the mid-Qing Dynasty revived China's economy, in terms of military strength and technology, it was still not as good as the Europeans. Therefore, China did not actually weaken when the Europeans carved up China, but began to decline as early as the end of the Ming Dynasty.