Irrigating the Periphery: Hydrology, Coloniality and Counter-Irrigation in the Philippines

Cover Image, Journal of Historical Georaphy, Volume 89, September 2025.

In an article from The Journal of Historical Geography, Rhomir S. Yanquiling, Wolfram Dressler, and Will Smith explore how Spain used the prenza system—a colonial water infrastructure—to establish, maintain and consolidate territorial control in the Philippines.

Despite extensive research on the role of water infrastructure in consolidating power and political control in frontier regions, few studies have examined how colonial ideologies and water infrastructures have historically defined territories to control populations, labour, and land use over time. This article explores how Spain used the prenza system–a colonial water infrastructure–to establish, maintain and consolidate territorial control in the Philippines. Through the lens of hydrosocial territorialization, we show how the control of water became intertwined with the control of land and labour, extending territorial governance outward from Manila. We argue that the prenza system was more than just slabs of stone and concrete; it functioned as an instrument of power that facilitated political, economic, and ideological territorialization, contributing to a broader state-making project by creating zones of integration. However, we highlight the limitations of this hydro-colonial project by examining how the Ifugao people of the upland Cordillera resisted state territorialization through their rice terracing system, challenging the instruments of state-making imposed in the lowlands of Luzon.