The Empresa de China or China enterprise, was Spain’s totally bonkers plan to conquer China in 1588. Needless to say it didn’t work out, but here’s what the plan involved.
Phases (labeled on the map):
- 1st phase: Portuguese Castilian double invasion of Guangdong and Fujian
- 2nd phase: March upon Beijing and capture of emperor
- 3rd phase: Evangelization of Spanish
- 4th phase: Expansion into Asia and opening of fronts with Ottoman Empire
The “Empresa de China” (“Enterprise of China”) was a late 16th‐century Spanish scheme to conquer or at least dominate Ming China.
It was formulated around the time that Spain had consolidated much of its overseas empire in the Americas (New Spain in Mexico and Peru) and in the Philippines (from 1565 onward), and after Portugal and Spain had come under the same crown (the Iberian Union, 1580–1640).
The idea—floated by certain Spanish officials in Manila—was that a combined Iberian (Spanish + Portuguese) force might overrun southern China and then move north to capture the Ming emperor, effectively bringing China under Spanish Habsburg sway.
What it would have involved
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First Phase (Guangdong/Fujian invasion):
Spanish forces in the Philippines would coordinate with Portuguese forces (operating out of Macau or allied bases) to launch a two‐pronged attack on China’s southeastern coast (the provinces of Guangdong and Fujian). -
Second Phase (Seizing Beijing):
Having established a secure beachhead in South China, the plan called for a march inland and the capture of Beijing. The hope was that taking the emperor himself would force a general capitulation. -
Third Phase (Religious “restoration”):
Once military control was assured, Spanish authorities planned to facilitate large‐scale Christian evangelization (entrusting it to Spanish clergy) and set up a new governing arrangement—often described at the time as a “restoration,” implying that the Spanish would legitimate a “true” or “reformed” regime. -
Fourth Phase (Broader Asian expansion & trade):
Finally, Spain would open direct overland or maritime trade routes from China westward to the Ottoman Empire and beyond, expanding a global Habsburg trading network. The map shows dotted lines reaching across Asia, indicating the hoped‐for extension of Spanish and Portuguese routes.
Why it did not go ahead
Despite the ambitious vision, the “Empresa de China” never materialized. Several major obstacles prevented it:
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Logistical and Financial Limitations:
Spain was already stretched thin. Maintaining and defending colonial territories across the Pacific, the Americas, and Europe (especially during conflicts with England and the Dutch) absorbed the empire’s resources. Mounting a major land invasion of China would have been enormously expensive and required far more manpower than Spain had on hand in Asia. -
Scale of Chinese Power and Manpower:
Ming China in the late 16th century was a huge state with a large standing military and far greater population than the Spanish Philippines could muster. Even with Portuguese cooperation, the Iberians would have been confronting a formidable empire on its home ground. -
Portuguese Reluctance and Sino-Portuguese Ties:
Portugal’s foothold in Macau depended on relatively stable (if often tense) relations with Chinese authorities. Launching a massive invasion from Macau risked destroying the Portuguese trading privileges that made Macau so profitable. Hence, many Portuguese officials were not enthusiastic about a direct attack on their host empire. -
Strategic Priorities Shift:
The Spanish crown had more pressing concerns closer to home (wars in Europe, revolts in the Netherlands, Anglo-Spanish conflict) and in the Americas. The notion of conquering China—however tempting it looked on paper—took a back seat to these immediate threats. -
Political and Geopolitical Realities:
Even if China had internal problems (piracy, peasant rebellions, financial strains), the Ming court remained powerful enough to repel outsiders. Spanish strategists in Manila ultimately recognized that the sheer distance, China’s resources, and the uncertain support of local allies made the project impractical.
How do you think things would be different in the world today if they had successeded?
Yang says
As a Chinese individual who has recently developed a keen interest in Spanish history, particularly the Golden Age of Spain, I found this article to be incredibly fascinating and engaging! May I ask what software you used to create the map featured in the article? Thank you very much!
Brilliant Maps says
Hi Yang,
Thanks for your kind words. Unfortunately I didn’t create it, so I can’t say.
Philip the Bulb says
I never had read about this. This is absolutely impossible and anyone in any charge of the Philippine (the king) Empire would have dismissed on spot. Firstly, even at that early stage, the presence of Castile in Philippines was *illegal*, since the territory was clearly and without any doubt, in the Portuguese sphere. Philip knew this perfectly, and the order to colonise was issued upon the guess Portugal would do nothing because that territory was not of her interest. So it was, but almost two hundred years later, Bourbon Spain had to cede huge territories in South America to now Brazil, in exchange for Philippines. Secondly, the Spanish presence in Philippines always was thin, not that strong as in the Americas (the fact is the whole Pacific lands were part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, more or less Mexico, not even a General Captaincy on its own). Part of the confusion maybe come from the fact Spanish (and Portuguese) soldiers were not rivalled anywhere in Asia at that time, Spanish deployed army in Philippines confronted chinese and japanese mercenaries many times and always Spanish smashed them. But it was absolutely clear that you can defeat in proportions to 1:4 even (Spanish always defending, not attacking), obviously it is impossible with 1:1000 or the like, and no, the conquest of Tenochtitlan was done with 500 Spaniards, sure, and tens of thousands of aboriginal allies, who were happy to destroy the Triple Alliance for all. So, if Iberians somewhat expected to inflict some damage to the Chinese Empire, they should have needed a huge amount of local chinese allies, which was totally out of reality, and even in that case, figures would be overwhelming anyway.
The problem of the Philippine Empire was not the Dutch revolt, at all (in fact Spanish armies win one battle after another, until the final defeat which was *not* delivered by military means), even less conflicts with England (this one was literally a joke, apart from the humiliation for the king himself) or literally any other European country. The problem was Philip II received from his colonies an estimated minimum of 300 ton of gold and 18,000 ton of silver during his ‘government’, and the guy bankrupted FIVE times. The corruption was literally astronomical (a cause of admiration everywhere in Europe). Spain was, literally, one of the poorer, if not the poorest country in Europe. Which was of huge usefulness, since people emigrated to the Americas in the hundreds of thousands (the maximum possible for the then technology).
A more realistic, and even probable uchrony, would be if Cortés acted in the 1540s instead of 1520s. In all probability, the Triple Alliance would have imploded, and all the Aztec World would be disintegrated like the Maya. The inexistence of a central command structure you can decapitate means Spanish Armies would have had to conquest cities and lands one by one, with no profitable outcome, and with huge expenses (exactly what was happening in North Africa, where the barbarian pirates regularly razzied Christian areas to sack and capture slaves, by the way as far as South England), so surely the Spanish presence would have been a chain of heavily fortified shoreline cities engaged in trade acting as a magnet for local population. At most.
Kris C says
Portugal was part of Spain, between 1580 and 1640.