Los plebeyos rebeldes y el «sistema Forzado»: El transporte de convictos entre Nueva España y las Filipinas durante el siglo XVII

Abstract

This article examines the phenomenon of convict transportation between Mexico and the Philippines during the 17 century. Utilising sources located within the Archivo General de la Nación (México) and the Archivo General de Indias (Sevilla), I argue that was this convict transportation both helped the Spanish extend their power within the Pacific and functioned as a criminal justice measure in response to the emergence of an unruly and disobedient plebeian underclass in the cities and along the highways of New Spain.