Did you ever hear about the Manila Galleon trade? Who was part of it?

How has
started?

In this work I am going to talk about it, I will talk about when it started it, benefits,
objectives, what it was, and so on.

This investigation is going to help us to know more about the trades that we had and
what it implies, even that this trade no longer exists, it brought us different things,
that we may not know, such as a big step in the globalization.

I tried to gather the most important information, so everything is clear while reading
this. This is an interesting topic, even though that it happened a long time ago, it
lasted over 250 years, and it brought different benefits that we will talk about, trades
by sail are still used and are common, even if we don’t use them that often as it used
to be.

For us to progress as a society we must know how the businesses were made, so
we can now how the globalization, and the economy are implied in this kind of trades,
so we can continue to keep growing and avoid making mistakes.

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 The Galleon of Manila

The Galleon of Manila it is also known as the Nao of China, they were big ships
that once every year gather the
ports of Acapulco and
Manila, it was between
the Philippines, and Mexico, to
exchange different types of
products of America, Asia and Europe. These products used to be hold silk,
porcelain, cotton, jade, ivory, spices, fine woods, lacquer, carpets, folding screens,
vases from Asia, and gold and silver from America.
This trade was possible because of the opening of the Suez Canal, and the invention
of steam ships, these 2 things reduced the time of the travel between Spain and the
Philippines to 40 days.
The galleons were the most powerful ships, and for that reason Spain decided to
use them for this trade. At the beginning they were not supposed to exceed 300 tons
and not carry merchandise worth more that $250,000 pesos, but then the “Santisima
Trinidad” in the XVIII century carried about 2,000 tons and more than 2.5 million
silver pesos.

This trade started in 1565 until Sept. 14, 1815., after Mexico gained the
independence of Spain. It lasts over 250 years.
In 1565 Andres de Urdaneta discovered a return route from Cebu to Mexico, this
happened when Miguel Lopez de Legazpi’s expedition
started in 1564 in Mexico with 4 ships to claim Guam and
the Philippines for King Philip II of Spain, but only one ship
returned, and it was the San Pablo, de Urdaneta was
navigating, and Felipe de Salcedo was in command, the
San Pablo return from Manila across the Pacific, and with
this the trade started.

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It consisted of 2 different routes, westward from Acapulco to Manila, and for the
return eastward.
The westward
was considered
easy, and used to
be between
February-Marche,
and it only needed
3 months to arrive
to the Philippiens, but it was not the same for the eastward, the difficulties started
began just when leaving Manila, they had to pass the waters of Japan, the to
California and finally down the coast of Acapulco.
Galleons used to pass through the Strait of San Bernardino, most of the time in June,
since it was considered the best time of the year.
To pass the Philippines archipelago could take between 2-4 weeks, the reach the
open sea. There were a total 30 galleons lost, where many were lost while navigating
out of the Philippines. Navigators were anxious to have distance from land, and were
aware of the rocks, islands, and fog.
This route used to take no less than 5-6 months, but there were galleons able to
cross in less time.
A total of 110 were sailed in the 250 years that it lasted.

The success of the galleon was the Mexican silver that was valued very well in Asia
and with it you could buy almost all the sumptuous
items manufactured in the East at a very cheap price
to sell in Mexico.
Since the 15th century, China had adopted silver as
a means of paying taxes and its officials. This metal
also appeared as the most suitable in an economy
that was growing in size and sophistication. But China lacked silver. American silver
thus arrived at a propitious moment. And with China being the richest and most

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populous country on earth, the trade route that linked China with the Hispanic world
was going to have global implications.
It is then when the world begins to integrate through commercial and financial
networks, giving rise to the global economy that is present today. It is also at this
time that China becomes, for the first time, the world's factory.

Starting in 1579, a fair was established in Acapulco, where the great merchants of
Mexico City bought in bulk everything that
the galleon brought from distant lands and
transported it to the capital to be sold
individually at very high prices that Mexican
society gladly acquired. The arrival of the
articles to the capital created a whole
tradition and a market (called Parián) was formed where merchants offered all the
novelties brought from the Far East.

This trade benefited only a small part of privilege Spaniards (Spanish governor,
members of the consulado usually insulares, and Spanish residents in Manila.
It also brought cultural exchange between these 2
countries.
For the Philippines it allowed modern and liberal ideas to
enter, and with this, inspiring the independence from Spain.
Mexico became a multi-cultural, cosmopolitan nation in
sophistication and urbanization.
At the time this trade happened Mexico was one of the
richest cities in the world, leading in cultural and intellectual
aspects. We also had the first universities in the continent,
and because of this, Mexico became the city of books,
writers, students, with influences from Asian cultures.

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The Manila Galleon represent the most important nautical event and a step to
globalization.
Among the contributions to Mexico are the “China Poblana”, named after an Indian
maiden (baptized Catarina de San Juan)
who settled in Puebla and wore
costumes embroidered with beads and
sequins. Also, the famous bandana that
came from India, as well as the Manila
shawls that were transformed until they
became the “Tehuana costume”; the “talavera of Puebla”, with its clear Chinese and
Spanish influences; It is also said that ceviche was born thanks to the influence of
the galleon, since the Acapulqueños, seeing that the Orientals eat raw fish, adopted
this custom, adding lemon, tomato, and chili. It also made Mexico a world city.

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To conclude this research, I can say that this trade gave us positive things, it helped
us to grow as a country, it helped us with globalization, even though merchants
would sell more expensive the goods that arrived in these ships.
And who would tell that it took over 6 months for a ship to arrive in Acapulco, that’s
why the Galleon would only navigate 1-2 times per year and used to be loaded with
a lot of things that the countries needed.

This helped me to know more about the trade that used to be done before the
independence, also the importance of the trades between countries, since this
helped us to grow as countries, to know more about other costumes, ideas, and
styles of life.
It is important to know about what kind of trades were made before, so we can look
at them, and know what to improve, and how to improve it.
By the end of this I can say that it really helped me to know more about the country
I live and the way that business used to be.

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 Bibliography

The Manila Galleon. (2020). Amura Yachts & Lifestyle.

https://amuraworld.com/en/topics/history-art-and-culture/articles/5489-the-
manila-galleon

Philippine Daily Inquirer. (2018, September). DID YOU KNOW: The Galleon Trade
lasted for 250 years. INQUIRER.net.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1031513/did-you-know-the-galleon-trade-lasted-
for-250-years

The galleon trade with Mexico ended September 14, 1815. (2011, September 14).
The Kahimyang Project.
https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/604/today-in-philippine-history-
september-14-1815-the-galleon-trade-between-the-philippines-and-mexico-
ended

» Stops Along the Manila Galleon Trade Route. (2019). Guampedia.com.

https://www.guampedia.com/stops-along-the-manila-galleon-trade-route/

CHINA HOY. (2017). Chinatoday.com.Cn.

http://spanish.chinatoday.com.cn/cul/art/content/2017-

08/08/content_744627.htm

Galleon Trade: Philippine History. (2020). Philippine-History.org.

https://www.philippine-history.org/galleon-trade.htm

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Ma. Isabel Ongpin. (2017, March 3). The Manila Galleon Trade: Events, effects,

lessons – The Manila Times. The Manila Times.

https://www.manilatimes.net/2017/03/03/opinion/analysis/manila-galleon-

trade-events-effects-lessons/315101/

Bernardina. (2016, April 18). Globalización de la cultura: la herencia del Galeón de

Manila. MXCity | Guía de La Ciudad de México; MXCity.

https://mxcity.mx/2016/04/galeon-de-manila/