The Colonial Department

Last weekend, the book version of this podcast, 'Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves', was launched in a small event at Book Bar SG along Duxton Road in Singapore. Of course, I got into a funny little accident right before it happened. Listen to scenes from the Singapore book launch here! My publisher and I talk about how the book came into being, how The Colonial Dept. tries to teach history, and what m...

Special episodes take you behind the scenes at The Colonial Dept.! In this bonus bit, I walk you through the book version of this podcast, which is entitled Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves: Lost Tales from the Philippine Colonial Period, 1565-1946. What's inside? How did I make it? How can you get it? Hopefully, I get to answer all your questions here. P.S. Tap here to read Peter Gordon's review on t...

Special episodes take you behind the scenes at The Colonial Dept.! In this bonus bit, we talk a bit about my book Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves ( order here ). I also announce our new remastered episode initiative—take a listen at the teaser inside! Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com Find out more about the book on Faction Pre...

From 1762 to 1764, the British invaded and occupied Manila. When they left and returned the capital to Spain, the Castilians turned their wrath on the Chinese community, calling them traitors, apostates, and collaborators. But what was the real score?  Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com The book version of this podcast is cal...

In the early decades of the 20th century, scores of young Filipino men began migrating to the United States to work. In their spare time, they dressed in their best suits and nattiest shoes, then hit the clubs. But when these dance-hall romances blossomed into marriages with white women, the law stepped in to stop them. Central to the plaintiffs’ legal arguments was a dazzling trick question of pu...

Sea snakes and scientists, popes and Pacific islands all star in this wide-ranging episode. As Germany and Spain threaten to go to war over a chain of islands, the Spaniards feared that the diplomatic ruckus kicked up by the Caroline Crisis would also swallow up their colony next door: the Philippines! Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdep...

When the conquistadors arrive in the Philippines, the takers of gold come face to face with the takers of heads. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com The book version of this podcast is called Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves: Lost Tales from the Philippine Colonial Period, 1565-1946 . ⁠⁠Purchase here⁠⁠ . (An ebook version is ⁠⁠als...

Sisid rice. “Star” meat. Loads and loads of kamote. Inside Japanese-occupied Manila, residents of the capital city must do what they can to fend off starvation. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com The book version of this podcast is called Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves: Lost Tales from the Philippine Colonial Period, 1565-1946...

The panicked cries of a watchman, the desperate tolling of church bells, the cloud of masts appearing on the horizon. In the coastal towns of colonial Philippines, these can only mean one thing: the slavers have arrived. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com The book version of this podcast is called Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves...

The “scientifics” of the so-called Ex Ex summit Mt. Banahaw in 1842, as part of their quest to survey the Philippine archipelago! What does this American scientific expedition find in our islands? Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com The book version of this podcast is called Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves: Lost Tales from the Ph...

Through extortion, occupation, and “tribute”, the Spanish conquistadors in the Philippines get to work looting and plundering that most precious of all metals: gold.  Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Sitoy, T. Valentino, Jr. (1985). A History of Christianity in the Philippines: The Initial Encounter, Vol. 1. New...

The Bataan Death March is rightly remembered as one of the worst atrocities in the Philippine theater of World War II. But it wasn’t the only death march. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Frederick Marion Fullerton Collection (AFC/2001/001/15785), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Co...

In the 1890s, a wealthy Filipino family sits down to eat a “full Filipino breakfast.” Let’s run down the history of everything on their menu, shall we? Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Doeppers, Daniel (2016). Feeding Manila in Peace and War, 1850-1945. Ateneo de Manila University Press. Legarda, Benito J. (1999...

Kapampangan warriors! Japanese mercs! Spanish soldiers! Portuguese promises! Let’s set sail with the grand fleet of Governor-General Juan de Silva as they face down the Dutch. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Borschberg, Peter (2010). “Luso-Spanish Naval Intervention.” In The Singapore and Malaka Straits: Violen...

From princess to flapper to schoolteacher to rebel, this is the extraordinary story of Tarhata Kiram. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com Charbonneau, Oliver (2021). Civilizational Imperatives: Americans, Moros, and the Colonial World. Ateneo de Manila University Press. Leetaru, Kaleev (2004-2011). “Woman’s Building/Bevier Hal...

A tantalizing wind was blowing into the Philippines from Madrid. In its wake was Carlos Maria de la Torre, who seemed determined to shock the entrenched colonial establishment. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @the.colonial.dept. Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Simpson, Renate (1980). “Higher Education in the Philippines under the Spanish.” Journal of Asian Hi...

Prime minister, general, and future convicted war criminal Hideki Tojo drops by the Philippines to see for himself if their colony is ready for independence. So how does his surprise visit go? Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Dery, Luis C. (1984) “Japan’s New Order in the Philippines, 1942-1945: A Blueprint for Asia Under Japan.” Philippine Social S...

Civilize? Christianize? As the Americans move into their new colony, they pack an unlikely weapon in their mission to take over the Philippines: sports! Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Gems, Gerald R. (2016). Sport and the American Occupation of the Philippines: Bats, Balls, and Bayonets. Lexington Books. Putz, Paul (31 January 2022). “Muscular Chr...

Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich Romanov, uncle to the last tsar of Russia, makes an unexpected pitstop at a sprawling estate along the banks of the Pampanga River. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Kowner, Rotem (15 June 2022). “Time to Remember, Time to Forget: The Battle of Tsushima in Japanese Collective Memory since 1905.” The Asia-Pacific Journa...

It’s an intercontinental textile trade war, as Spain throws open its colony’s ports to the world, and imported cotton from Britain muscles its way into Philippine markets. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Coo, Stephanie (2019). Clothing the Colony: Nineteenth Century Philippine Sartorial Culture, 1820-1896. Ateneo de Manila University Press.  Ladrid...

Native wood. Native workers. These are the foundations that made the prosperous Galleon Trade between Manila and Acapulco possible. But at what price? Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Peterson, Andrew Christian (August 2014). Making the First Global Trade Route: The Southeast Asian Foundations of the Acapulco-Manila Galleon Trade, 1519-1650. [Doctor...

Beginning in the 1670s, the biggest, most rapacious company on earth set its sights on the great trading port of the Pacific. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Dalrymple, Alexander (4 March 2015). “The East India Company: The original corporate raiders.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/04/east-india-company-original-corporate...

Prisoners from the Philippines get sent to the slammer—serving their sentences inside the military prison of Alcatraz! But what crimes earned them time on The Rock? Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Thompson, Erwin S. (2000). The Rock: A History of Alcatraz Island, 1847-1972. U.S. National Park Service. Reed, John S. (1995) "External Discipline durin...

The governor-general of the Philippines just conquered an island in Mindanao. Now, he’s about to do the same to each and every name in the archipelago. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com Check out the Catalogo alfabetico de apellidos at issuu.com/filipinasheritagelibrary/docs/catalogo_alfabetico_de_apellidos References: Cojuangco, Tingting (1993). Kris of Valor:...

With war looming against the Axis powers, the Nazi party tries to exert its influence on the small community of Germans and Jews who lived in the Philippines. How did we fight back against the antisemitism? Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: Weston, Nathaniel Parker (2021). Specters of Germany: Colonial Rivalry and Scholarship in the Philippine Reform...