![\"\"](\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-58.png\")
<\/a>![Wikimedia<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nIn the late 1580s, a plan was devised by Spanish leaders to invade China. The goals were to Christianize the nation, plunder its wealth, and establish a base of operations from which Spain could conquer other parts of Asia. There were even plans for Spanish soldiers to mix with Chinese women and to establish encomiendas using local labor, much as they did in the Americas.<\/li>\n\n\n\nVersions of this plan had been floated before.\u00a0Hern\u00e1n Cort\u00e9s<\/a> made such a proposal in 1526.\u00a0Martin de Rada<\/a>, one of the first missionaries to visit China, suggested such a plan in 1575, though he did not advocate the use of force, but rather \u201cpersuasion and evangelization.\u201d\u00a0Francisco de Sande<\/a>, governor of the Philippines from 1575 to 1580, thought a force as small as 4,000-6,000 could take China.<\/li>\n\n\n\nThe one that actually took hold \u2013 the\u00a0Empresa de China<\/a>\u00a0or Chinese Enterprise \u2013 was pitched by diplomat\u00a0Alonzo S\u00e1nchez<\/a>. A Jesuit missionary, S\u00e1nchez had been to the Philippines and saw an opportunity to expand Spanish and Christian influence. He was able to get a version of his plan to King\u00a0Philip II<\/a>\u00a0who, with his Council of State, began developing the plan. Amongst others, Basque\u00a0Juan de Idi\u00e1quez y Olaz\u00e1bal<\/a>\u00a0helped S\u00e1nchez get his plan in front of the king. The Bishop of Manila and another Basque,\u00a0Domingo de Salazar<\/a>, also advocated for the plan.<\/li>\n\n\n\nSpain reasoned that, because of the ease with which they had conquered the Americas and the Philippines, China would be similarly easy. From a Spanish perspective, China was a wild place which, while densely populated, didn\u2019t have a military spirit. They thought that a small force of some 15,000 soldiers could take China, aided by popular resurrection once the Spanish came.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\nOf the soldiers that were part of the planned contingent, some 12,000 were meant to be Basque. S\u00e1nchez made this specific recommendation. There was no reason given for this suggestion, though one can speculate that the great reputation of Basques as navigators \u2013 such as\u00a0Juan Sebasti\u00e1n Elkano<\/a>, Miguel de L\u00f3pez de Legazpi (founder of Manila), Andr\u00e9s de Urdaneta (L\u00f3pez de Legazpi\u2019s navigator who discovered the return route to America from the Philippines), and Mart\u00edn de Goiti (explorer of the Philippines) \u2013 made them desirable for this mission. Other soldiers from Japan and Portugal were also part of the plan.<\/li>\n\n\n\nThe plan was derailed by the defeat of the\u00a0Spanish Armada<\/a>\u00a0when it tried to invade Britain in 1588 and subsequently abandoned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nA full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPrimary sources: \u00a0Los 12.000 vizca\u00ednos que deb\u00edan conquistar China para Felipe II<\/a><\/em>\u00a0by Javier Mu\u00f1oz, El Correo;\u00a0Empresa de China<\/a><\/em>, Wikipedia;\u00a0El plan m\u00e1s meticuloso y ambicioso de Felipe II para el Imperio Espa\u00f1ol: conquistar China con ayuda de Jap\u00f3n<\/a><\/em>\u00a0by Alejandro Alcolea, Xataka<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It seems inconceivable today, but in the late 1500s, the rulers of what is now Spain thought they could conquer China and then the rest of Asia with an army of 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers. They thought they could persuade Japan to join them. What\u2019s more, this army was going to be primarily Basque. Leaders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[836,13],"tags":[4268,1930,4269,4270,4271,206,4272,4273,337,70,4274],"class_list":["post-7784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basque-fact-of-the-week","category-history","tag-alonzo-sanchez","tag-china","tag-domingo-de-salazar","tag-empresa-de-china","tag-francisco-de-sande","tag-japan","tag-juan-de-idiaquez-y-olazabal","tag-martin-de-rada","tag-philip-ii","tag-philippines","tag-spanish-armada"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-58.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-21y","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7784"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7786,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7784\/revisions\/7786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Empresa_de_China.svg\"){kind=link}
- \n
- In the late 1580s, a plan was devised by Spanish leaders to invade China. The goals were to Christianize the nation, plunder its wealth, and establish a base of operations from which Spain could conquer other parts of Asia. There were even plans for Spanish soldiers to mix with Chinese women and to establish encomiendas using local labor, much as they did in the Americas.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Versions of this plan had been floated before.\u00a0Hern\u00e1n Cort\u00e9s<\/a> made such a proposal in 1526.\u00a0Martin de Rada<\/a>, one of the first missionaries to visit China, suggested such a plan in 1575, though he did not advocate the use of force, but rather \u201cpersuasion and evangelization.\u201d\u00a0Francisco de Sande<\/a>, governor of the Philippines from 1575 to 1580, thought a force as small as 4,000-6,000 could take China.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- The one that actually took hold \u2013 the\u00a0Empresa de China<\/a>\u00a0or Chinese Enterprise \u2013 was pitched by diplomat\u00a0Alonzo S\u00e1nchez<\/a>. A Jesuit missionary, S\u00e1nchez had been to the Philippines and saw an opportunity to expand Spanish and Christian influence. He was able to get a version of his plan to King\u00a0Philip II<\/a>\u00a0who, with his Council of State, began developing the plan. Amongst others, Basque\u00a0Juan de Idi\u00e1quez y Olaz\u00e1bal<\/a>\u00a0helped S\u00e1nchez get his plan in front of the king. The Bishop of Manila and another Basque,\u00a0Domingo de Salazar<\/a>, also advocated for the plan.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Spain reasoned that, because of the ease with which they had conquered the Americas and the Philippines, China would be similarly easy. From a Spanish perspective, China was a wild place which, while densely populated, didn\u2019t have a military spirit. They thought that a small force of some 15,000 soldiers could take China, aided by popular resurrection once the Spanish came.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Of the soldiers that were part of the planned contingent, some 12,000 were meant to be Basque. S\u00e1nchez made this specific recommendation. There was no reason given for this suggestion, though one can speculate that the great reputation of Basques as navigators \u2013 such as\u00a0Juan Sebasti\u00e1n Elkano<\/a>, Miguel de L\u00f3pez de Legazpi (founder of Manila), Andr\u00e9s de Urdaneta (L\u00f3pez de Legazpi\u2019s navigator who discovered the return route to America from the Philippines), and Mart\u00edn de Goiti (explorer of the Philippines) \u2013 made them desirable for this mission. Other soldiers from Japan and Portugal were also part of the plan.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- The plan was derailed by the defeat of the\u00a0Spanish Armada<\/a>\u00a0when it tried to invade Britain in 1588 and subsequently abandoned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Primary sources: \u00a0Los 12.000 vizca\u00ednos que deb\u00edan conquistar China para Felipe II<\/a><\/em>\u00a0by Javier Mu\u00f1oz, El Correo;\u00a0Empresa de China<\/a><\/em>, Wikipedia;\u00a0El plan m\u00e1s meticuloso y ambicioso de Felipe II para el Imperio Espa\u00f1ol: conquistar China con ayuda de Jap\u00f3n<\/a><\/em>\u00a0by Alejandro Alcolea, Xataka<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It seems inconceivable today, but in the late 1500s, the rulers of what is now Spain thought they could conquer China and then the rest of Asia with an army of 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers. They thought they could persuade Japan to join them. What\u2019s more, this army was going to be primarily Basque. Leaders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[836,13],"tags":[4268,1930,4269,4270,4271,206,4272,4273,337,70,4274],"class_list":["post-7784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basque-fact-of-the-week","category-history","tag-alonzo-sanchez","tag-china","tag-domingo-de-salazar","tag-empresa-de-china","tag-francisco-de-sande","tag-japan","tag-juan-de-idiaquez-y-olazabal","tag-martin-de-rada","tag-philip-ii","tag-philippines","tag-spanish-armada"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-58.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-21y","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7784"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7786,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7784\/revisions\/7786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- The one that actually took hold \u2013 the\u00a0Empresa de China<\/a>\u00a0or Chinese Enterprise \u2013 was pitched by diplomat\u00a0Alonzo S\u00e1nchez<\/a>. A Jesuit missionary, S\u00e1nchez had been to the Philippines and saw an opportunity to expand Spanish and Christian influence. He was able to get a version of his plan to King\u00a0Philip II<\/a>\u00a0who, with his Council of State, began developing the plan. Amongst others, Basque\u00a0Juan de Idi\u00e1quez y Olaz\u00e1bal<\/a>\u00a0helped S\u00e1nchez get his plan in front of the king. The Bishop of Manila and another Basque,\u00a0Domingo de Salazar<\/a>, also advocated for the plan.<\/li>\n\n\n\n