Authors writing about the history of the “coolie trade” in Cuba have generally focused on the multinational effort to halt the trafficking of Chinese workers. Little has been written about either the role of consuls as middlemen or of Spanish participation in the traffic in treaty ports. Yet, several sources indicate that many officials at Spanish consulates in coastal China were intensely involved in the shipment of Chinese emigrants to Cuba and other coolie trade destinations, and were also at the centre of international scandals. These consular officers frequently used their authority to obtain a monopoly over the trade. In this article, I argue that the coolie trade was the main objective of Spain's consular deployment in China, and that the involvement of these consular officials was crucial in developing an abusive migratory system and sustaining the mistreatment of Chinese immigrant workers throughout the second half of the nineteenth century.

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Chinese immigration to the Philippines has traditionally been studied in relation to commercial activities. But between 1850 and 1898, there was an unparalleled influx of Chinese labourers, which raised the number of Chinese residents to 100,000. This influx was fuelled by the abundant profits obtained by Chinese brokers and foremen, Spanish institutions and authorities in Manila, consuls in China, and Spanish and British ship captains, all of whom extracted excessive fees and taxes from the labourers. The trade in and the exploitation of Chinese labourers in the Philippines have yet to be thoroughly researched. This article shows that the import and abuse of Chinese labourers in and to the Philippines continued throughout the second half of the nineteenth century, and that, despite some anti-Chinese Spanish colonial rhetoric, a wide range of actors and institutions, both in China and in the Philippines, took advantage of this unprecedented inflow of immigrants.

El presente artículo se centra en el tráfico de cuarenta y cuatro niñas chinas en el buque inglés Inglewood, organizado por intermediarios portugueses, británicos y chinos en Ningbo, y descubierto por autoridades británicas en Xiamen en 1855. Su destino final era Cuba y, de no ser posible realizar el viaje, serían remitidas a Manila. Filipinas era también la tapadera si su transporte despertaba las sospechas de las autoridades. El envío coincidía con la aprobación de un Real Decreto español que obligaba a embarcar una quinta parte de mujeres en los barcos de inmigrantes chinos a Cuba. Dadas las dificultades de contratar mujeres, agentes de inmigración aprovecharon redes preexistentes de tráfico infantil en Ningbo para cubrir esta demanda. A partir de fuentes Británicas, Portuguesas y Españolas, este artículo argumenta que el Decreto español estimuló el tráfico infantil femenino en China, llegando a influir en políticas legislativas británicas sobre inmigración china.

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