Dutch relations with the Philippines, c.1600-c.1850: a survey of sources in the general state archives, the Hague Netherlands

Abstract

Few Asian countries dispose of a source publication comparable with The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, as regards the wide scope of the work and the minuteness of its annotations.1 Not only printed sources we find here in an English translation, but also a great number of documents selected from Spanish and other archives. Vol.53, "Bibliography", contains surveys of manuscripts, partly published in the foregoing volumes, and also an enumeration of the diverse archives and libraries which hold important documentary material. Dutch institutions have not been studied for this purpose, but there are some remarks about the location of material in the Netherlands. Under "Other European collections" we read: "A letter from the Director of the Netherlands archives at the Hague reports that there is no distinctive section of the archives devoted to Philippine MSS. Most of the papers are written in the Dutch language, and many treat of the Dutch expeditions to the Orient and the Dutch Oriental possessions.