Two for One

[Jim McDougall]

The Spanish colonial weapon noted appears to me to be from Filipino context and the Spanish East Indies viceroyalty (of Mexico City) situated in Luzon.
The trade routes from the Americas to Manila and the 'Manila Galleons' most certainly carried the influences of the edged weapons in New Spain into the Spanish Philippines.

The 'Spanish Fight' , the mysterious school of swordsmanship followed by the skilled swordsmen of Spain known as 'destreza' survived in New Spain well through the 18th century and became one of the central influences on Filipino martial arts.

As one of the ports of call of these Manila galleons was in San Blas, in Baja, California, it is easy to see how the distinct styling of the espada ancha of Mexicos northern frontiers influenced Filipino edged weapons.

In the case of this example, the heavy 'machete' type blade might be regarded perhaps in the broadly termed 'bolo' groups, but the widened forte resembles the klewang types (in my limited knowledge on these forms).

Whatever the case, this example may be a 19th century version of these Filipino 'espada ancha' types (as my example, pictured) but this one seems earlier as mine is quite rudimentary in construction.
In Luzon, with Manila of course the capital, one of the main ports was Cavite City in Nueva Castila, and the typical center for the traffic in these Manila galleons.
Many Mexican soldiers and sailors were situated there, and apparently many became mercenaries who went to French allied regions in SE Asia, notably Cochin China (Vietnam) . Perhaps these heavy machete type weapons were among those carried into these circumstances.

It does not seem these were particularly present elsewhere in the 'Spanish Main' such as the Caribbean or the Americas, so in my thinking, if outside the Filipino context, SE Asia would be the most likely secondary possibility.

The first two pics are my example 'bolo' (?) and next, a northern frontier example of espada ancha (early 19th c) showing the characteristic hilt style with drop down forward quillon.