HISTORICAL DICTIONARY A–Z - Spain and Portugal: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present - page 268

grand expedition of scientific investigation
and administrative survey in that region.
The aim was to obtain a detailed knowledge
of the natural resources and ethnographical
variety of Spain's circum-Pacific empire, as
well as gaining insight into the present state
and future prospects of her colonies in the
area. After several years of preparation,
which included selection of experts in many
scientific fields, interviews with experi-
enced travelers and scholars, and the con-
struction of two specially designed research
vessels, Malaspina embarked at C ÁDIZ early
in 1789, sailed down the Atlantic coast of
South America, and proceeded methodi-
cally northward from C HILE to M EXICO ,
depositing his groups of experts along the
way to pursue their investigations and
gather material. Having reached Acapulco,
he pursued a hitherto confidential mission
of reasserting Spanish claims to disputed
areas along the Canadian and Alaskan
coasts as well as renewing the perennial
search for the Northwest Passage through
North America. Proceeding on across the
Pacific, Malaspina's ships visited the M ARI -
ANA I SLANDS and the P HILIPPINE I SLANDS ,
probed various island groups farther south,
then recrossed the vast ocean, making sev-
eral further stops to acquaint the scientists
with the flora, fauna, and native peoples of
the islands. Reentering the Atlantic, Mala-
spina visited the Malvinas archipelago
(Falkland Islands) to reassert Spanish claims
there and returned home in 1794, after
some five years.
Malaspina's voyage, comparable in its
extent and significance to those of such
other 18th-century navigators as James
Cook and Louis-Antoine de Bougainville,
not only gained a vast amount of artifacts
and scientific specimens as well as a full

array of information on the peoples of
Spain's Pacific realm; it also provided the
astute commander with an opportunity to
make detailed analysis of the character of
Spanish rule in the region. Malaspina's
report on the defects of Spanish colonial
administration and the growing disaffection
among the Spanish-American populations
was all too predictive of the storm of revo-
lution that would soon strike the empire.
Malaspina was well received upon his
arrival and promoted to rear admiral, but
he soon fell victim to political intrigues. The
death of C HARLES III, the enlightened mon-
arch who had initiated Malaspina's voyage,
and the departure of his able ministers left
Malaspina at the mercy of the dull-witted
C HARLES IV and his amoral adviser M ANUEL
DE G ODOY . Malaspina soon found himself in
waters that even he could not navigate and
was driven into exile, spending his last
years in Italy. Scholars have had to wait
until the early 21st century to gain a full
appreciation of the achievements of his
expedition and the complex legacy of the
Spanish seaborne experience.

Manila Bay, Battle of (1898)
The first blow struck by the United States in
the S PANISH -A MERICAN W AR proved to be
the decisive one to remove Spanish colonial
power in the Pacific. Alerted by his govern-
ment that war was about to break out,
Commodore George Dewey took his Asiatic
Squadron across the China Sea and down
the coast of Luzon to launch a surprise
attack on May 1, 1898. He found the ships
under the command of Admiral Patricio
Montojo anchored in Manila Bay and
brought them under heavy bombardment.
The Spanish ships, with their shorter range