What happened during the galleon trade? Spanish GalleonRadraS-Sardar (CC BY-NC-SA). In response to the unfair conditions, natives let the Spanish know that they did not approve of their colonization. Transfer of payment. 12. Local vessels were also more suitable for the waters than Spanish ones, so the Spanish modified their vessels to be similar to the Philippine ones, but befitting their purposes. He holds an MA in Political Philosophy and is the WHE Publishing Director. However, the authors were not able to attend the conference, possibly due to government or administrative restrictions (Jeffrey 2017). Throughout Petersons dissertation, he highlights the Philippines contribution to the Manila Galleon trade, giving them more credit for their part in the Spanish empire (Peterson 2014). However, the date of retrieval is often important. In addition, Mexico had a shortage of people to build and sail the ships (Peterson 2014:148-150). Including the Filipino perspective would shed light on the colonized view the Manila Galleon trade. Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter! Our latest articles delivered to your inbox, once a week: Our mission is to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. After maintenance and repair works were carried out, a galleon was ready for the return journey back to the Philippines, typically carrying up to 3 million silver pesos to buy goods to fill up the hold again. On its return voyage, the vessel brought back huge quantities of Mexican silver and church personnel bearing communications from Spain. During voyages, the conditions were unpleasant and grueling. At this time, the natives traded goods like gold, cowry shells, carabao horns, slaves, animal skins, fish, food, mats, cotton, and betel nuts (Girldez 2015:22-23;27). Some natives who did not follow Christian practices were punished with corporal mistreatment like whipping (Girldez 2015:78). (It is estimated that as much as one-third of the silver mined in New Spain and Peru went to the Far East.) World History Publishing is a non-profit company registered in the United Kingdom. . The galleons carried around 40 paying passengers as well as cargo, although no foreigners were permitted passage unless they acted as officers on the ship. The trade generated revenue needed by the government. However, the Spanish fleet was not prepared to encounter the extreme storms and weather in Southeast Asia. You're on your way back from a long, dangerous voyage to Manila, where traders from Spain's conquered lands in the Americas swapped silver coins and ingots -- looted from mines across Mexico and Peru -- for silks, porcelain, ivory, spices and the other riches of Asia. Further, they had large crews of around 100 men in the 16th century and up to 250 in the 18th century. Its rapid acceptance throughout the world made it a profitable commodity in a very short ti, Companies, Chartered Central America and the Caribbean, 14001600 A.D. Mexico and Central America, 16001800 A.D. Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. In addition to all of these difficulties, Acapulco itself was strongly fortified from 1617 with the construction of the San Diego Fort, a five-sided structure with six angled bastions. Fierce competition leads to high level of technological progress. Doctoral dissertation, Department of History, University of Hawaii at Mnoa, Honolulu, HI. They were the sole means of communication between Spain and its Philippine colony and served as an economic lifeline for the Spaniards in Manila. A replica of a Spanish galleon For many nations, international trade is literally matter of life and death. The trade began in 1565, and until 1813, the galleons sailed regularly each year from Manila to Acapulco, bringing . ." Abac was strong, plentiful and able to withstand saltwater corrosion, which made it the ideal material for ropes and sailcloth (Peterson 2014:10). MIEXICO, PERU, AND THE MANILA GALLEON 393 to keep the Mexicans from sending money to Manila to invest in the galleon trade.20 Even the closest official surveillance could not discover the frauds which were so skilfully concealed by a resort to "dummnies". The debtor country exports goods to pay for its debts to the creditor country. Special interests include art, architecture, and discovering the ideas that all civilizations share. In effect, a galleon was a slow-moving but formidable castle on the sea. Many Chinese became very wealthy through hard work. Obtained not without strong opposition from major maritime countries, its recognition is of the most vital interest to the Filipino . Robert R. Reed, Colonial Manila: The Context of Hispanic Urbanism and Process of Morphogenesis (1978). . The ships were, first of all, very difficult to find in the open sea, and even pirate vessels that loitered around the American coast for many weeks usually failed to find them. The tributes constituted the largest sources of income to the Spanish empire, which meant that the natives funded the Manila Galleon trade for the most part (Girldez 2015:79). Asian Pacific American Federal Foreign Affairs Council. The Manila Galleon Trade: Events, effects, lessons, ***Not available for delivery outside of the Philippines. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) defines globalization as "the increasing integration of economies around the world, particularly through the movement of goods, services, and capital across borders.". Filipinas: la gran desconocida, 15651898. Encyclopedia.com. The lack of materials and the lack of people made it a difficult and slow process to build galleons in Mexico and engage successfully in global trade (Peterson 2014:154). Hecht, Johanna. Please support World History Encyclopedia. In terms of longevity alone, plus the trade that it engendered between Asia, Spanish America and onward to Europe and Africa, it brought in its wake events and movement of people among the various continents that are still apparent and in place today. . There are obstacles that impede research and publication to share the story about the Philippines role in the Spanish empire, but it does not mean research should not be pursued or shared. The Murrys California Favorite RV Destinations, The Impact of the Manila Galleon Trade on the Philippines, Land Management and Land Use, Northwestern Belize. IT WAS . https://www.worldhistory.org/Manila_Galleon/. Findings In other words, Spain simply did not have enough resources to further develop their trade network. As documented by Italian traveler Antonio Pigafetta, in 1518, Ferdinand Magellan and his fleet set out to travel from Spain to the spice islands of Moluccas, where valuable nutmeg and cloves originated (Pigafetta 1969). Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. By the twentieth century, they were recruited into the United States Navy (Aguilar 2012:384). There were exotic spices like cinnamon, clove, mace, and pepper, and perfumes like musk. The long voyage to the Americas was memorably described by the Italian Gemelli Careri who made the crossing at the end of the 17th century: The voyage from the Philippine Islands to America may be called the longest and most dreadful of any in the world, as well because the vast ocean to be crossed being almost one half of the terraqueous globe, with the wind always ahead, as for the terrible tempests that happen there, one upon the back of another, and for the desperate diseases that seize people in 7 or 8 months, lying at sea sometimes near the line, sometimes temperate, and sometimes hot, which is enough to destroy a man of steel, much more flesh and blood, which at sea had but indifferent food. After the thirteenth century, porcelain and silk became major trade goods as the Chinese produced and exported them in large quantities for cheap prices, which led to competition among indigenous populations (Min 2014:46). A roll of silk, for example, was worth 10 times more in the Americas than in Manila. Non-Spanish observers coming to Filipinas (even those who are only within the boundaries of The Galleon Trade One of the reasons why the Spaniards wanted to stay in the Philippines was because of the Galleon Trade. The Manila galleons were Spanish treasure ships which transported precious goods like silk, spices, and porcelain from Manila in the Philippines to Acapulco, Mexico, between 1565 and 1815. Even if there was food and water, they could be spoiled or be of poor quality (Prez-Mallana 1998: 143-145). By royal decree from King Charles III, the company was established to encourage trade between the Americas, Spain and the Philippines (Fisher 2011:476; Girldez 2015:188-190). With a foothold established, the Spanish began taking advantage of the Philippines. A worthy reason for punishment included the refusal to convert to Christianity. Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. Onboard ships, they were also used for naval engagements against enemies such as the Dutch and the Muslims, or Moros, who were often raiding and attacking Spanish galleons at sea. The term Indio was used to identify natives who were subjugated workers obligated to serve the Spanish, but also was used to identify them as Christian members of Spain (Peterson 2014:22-23). To slow down the shipbuilding industry, natives burned a forest to deplete timber resources and prevent a shipyard from being built in Pangasinan, a province located north of Manila (Peterson 2014:203). 1925 The Manila Galleon and Trade Relations Between the Philippines and New Spain, 1521-1811. Las flotas de la Nueva Espaa (16301710): despacho, azogue, comercio. Eastbound galleons faced the harder challenge. Higher level of competition with decreasing prices. Attempts to engage in the prosperous trans-Pacific trade were futile without a base in Asia. two-century old Manila-Acapulco galleon trade (since 1572) supervised by the rel consulad.5 Historical records show that the galleon trade is one of the major economic policies which made the Spanish experience unique. The Spanish empire benefitted greatly from their access to and engagement in the trans-Pacific trade network. Spanish Colonial Empire in the Age of Exploration. The trading ships traveled between Manila and Acapulco for about 250 years. It is important to recognize that without the help of the Philippines, Spain would not have had the same powerful empire between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. The natives were familiar with the waters in the region, and knew the best resources and techniques to build ships and sail them (Stead 2014). The Spanish also used native fibers such as Manila hemp, or abac. In the Philippines, the galleon trade caused great trade and greater profits for the Spaniards in the Philippines, which benefited both the natives and the colonizers. Advantages: The galleons brought Mexican silver, merchandise, and useful plants to the Philippines as well as other influences from Mexico and Spain. . In the early days, before the Pacific waters attracted other European ships on the prowl for loot, the galleons went unarmed, but the Spanish quickly remedied this oversight. Also the PH became part of the first global trading. Because of their usefulness and knowledge, Spain conscripted thousands of natives to perform physical labor. Spain also sent priests and clergies to Christianize, educate and consolidate the natives (Girldez 2015:75-79). The Manila-Acapulco Galleon, inaugurated in 1565 by Urdaneta, was the response to this logistical need. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. This leads to production at large scale and the advantages of large scale production can be obtained by all the . Manila Galleon Passenger LuggageAlejandro Linares Garcia (CC BY-SA). However, these writings may not have survived or may not have been read by historians like Girldez who are not familiar with the Filipino language. In 1527, Alvaro de Saavedra Ceron attempted the voyage with better provisions and more favorable winds. The Manila Galleon Trade was a thriving global trade network between 1565 and 1815 that connected the economies of Asia, the Americas and Europe for over two centuries. Even if there is a lack of primary Filipino sources, it does not mean their perspective should not get shared. From the Spanish (and official Mexican) point of view, the Philippine colony and its commerce were liabilities, even though much sought-after Chinese products were acquired. time some of the Moluccas. The Filipinos are proud of their history as seafaring people, and it is up to others to appreciate them as well. The 1529 treaty of Zaragoa (Saragosa) between Portugal and Spain extended the astonishing division of the world these two nations had previously established in the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494. 1998 Spains Men of the Sea: Daily Life on the Indies Fleet in the Sixteenth Century, Carla Rahn Phillips, translator. But Chinese silk designs may have inspired some of the patterned garments of Guatemalan sculptures, whose faces also betray the subtle influence of Asian ivory carvings. For about 300 years, the Manila Galleon trade route operated and carried valuable goods across the Pacific. The cargo was stored below decks in galleons that could weigh in at up to 2,000 tons, although most were around 1,000. Between the sixteenth and eighteenth century, Spain emerged as a dominant trading empire with the establishment of the Manila Galleon Trade. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. 2014 All Our Vessels Are Rowed From Within, These Are Paddled From Without, Spanish and European Colonial Reception of Philippine Indigenous Crafts. Chartered Companies. Evidence from two case studies, New Granada and Korea, accompany the model. During the height of the Galleon Trade or the Manila-Acapulco trade, which really mostly carried goods from China, many Chinese merchants in the Philippines imported all the things that the colonists craved back at home: butter, flour, walnuts, oranges, salt pork, ham, beef, and more. The Manila Galleons were Spanish . Even a successful voyage from Manila to Acapulco could be trying, lasting from six to nine months. During the conference, there were various sessions where authors from the National Museum of the Philippines were slated to present their recent archaeological research regarding the Philippine maritime history. From Manila, the Spanish traded goods such as silk, silver, metals, porcelain, and spices with China, Japan and Southeast Asia. Spain was uniquely well prepared to conduct this commerce because of the convenient geographical location of Manila and America's large supply of silver. Theme presented at the 3rd Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage, Hong Kong. Our life is hard to but their life was harder (Aguilar 2012:365). Daz-Trechuelo Spnola, Mara Lourdes. The Spaniards in Manila came to depend on the annual vessel so much that when a ship went down at sea or was captured by English pirates, the colony was plunged into economic depression. One Manila galleon could require up to 2,000 oak trees, which was equivalent to approximately 50 acres of woodland (Peterson 2014:210). This paper presents a brief recount of the Manila Galleon sites investigated to date. 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