History of the Mariana Islands

Histoire des isles Marianes (History of the Mariana Islands), was published in Paris in 1700 with authorship attributed to French Jesuit priest Charles Le Gobien, S.J. It provides a detailed glimpse into a tumultuous and critically significant period in the history of the Mariana Islands and the CHamoru people?the period commonly referred to as the CHamoru-Spanish Wars. It includes detailed accounts of the first 30 years of the Jesuit mission in the Marinas. It also features speeches by CHamoru chiefs, including the famous speech by Maga?l?hi Hurao that is etched onto the wall at the entrance of the Guam Museum.

Using research conducted in several national and international archives in Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, and at the Richard F. Taitano Micronesian Area Research Center in Guam, Alexandre Coello de la Rosa produced this English translation of the first Spanish edition of Le Gobien?s text. This present edition also stems from a manuscript preserved in the Arxiu de la Companyia de Jesus a Catalunya archive in Barcelona, with authorship attributed to Spanish Jesuit priest Luis de Morales, S.J., who had been part of the Jesuit mission to the Marianas in the late 1600s. Thus, this text calls into question Le Gobien's authorship. This edition opens with an in-depth introduction analyzing the context of the publication?s history, as well as its significance over time. The book also features annotated notes that expand the narrative by providing details about the history of the Jesuit mission in the Marianas.

"?The attractively bound History of the Mariana Islands takes us back to the beginning of the 18th century and the publication in 1700 of a book about the Mariana Islands by a French Jesuit, Charles Le Gobien, at a time when Christianization of far-flung locations was funded by the Spanish monarchy [?] Though written from the Jesuit perspective, and much given to the narration of the violence and uneasy relations that accompanied the evangelization of the Marianas, the book gives many details of the daily lives, beliefs and situation of the [CHamorus] on the various islands, particularly the bigger islands.?"