Spanish–Chamorro Wars
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Q105973572
The Spanish–Chamorro Wars, also known as the Chamorro Wars and the Spanish–Chamorro War, refer to the late seventeenth century unrest among the Chamorros of the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean against the colonial effort of Habsburg Spain. The series of fighting erupted due to Spanish colonization, force-conversion of the Chamorro to Christianity by Spanish colonizers, and a brutal genocide conducted by the Spanish and their allies against the indigenous Chamorro people. Anger at proselytizing by the first permanent mission to Guam, which was led by Diego Luis de San Vitores and his team, including Pedro Calungsod, and a series of cultural misunderstandings led to increasing unrest on Guam and a Chamorro siege of the Hagåtña presidio incited by maga'låhi (Chief) Hurao in 1670. Maga'låhi Matå'pang killed San Vitores in 1672, resulting in a campaign of Spanish reprisal burnings of villages through 1676. Local anger at the attacks against villages resulted in another open rebellion led by Agualin and a second siege of Hagåtña. Governor Juan Antonio de Salas conducted a counter-insurgency campaign that successfully created a system of collaboration in which Guamanians turned in rebels and murderers and transferred most of the people from about 180 villages to seven towns, a policy known as reducción. By the early 1680s, Guam was largely "reduced," or pacified.
| Type | Subtype | Date | Description | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| event | war | 1670 | Spanish–Chamorro Wars | war, Spanish Empire, Chamorro people | Wikidata |
| event | war | 1672 | Chamorro Wars | war, Spanish Empire, Chamorro people | Wikidata |