Draped in Silk - About The Galleon Trade PDF

RCBC Plaza
Corner Ayala & Gil J. Puyat Avenues
YUCHENGCO Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines 1200

(+632) 889.1234 (+632) 887.5144 fax
MUSEUM www.yuchengcomuseum.org
Draped in Silk: The Journey of the Manton de Manila
Manila-Acapulco Galleons
Galleones de Manila-Acapulco
The Manila-Acapulco galleons are Spanish trading ships that sailed once or twice a
year across the Pacific Ocean between Manila, Philippines and Acapulco, New Spain
(Mexico). This trade, spanning from 1565 to 1815, allowed the Spanish colonial empire
to flourish for 250 years, and ensured the economic survival of the Philippines as a
colony without depending on Mexico or Spain. The Mexican War of Independence
between 1810 and 1821 put a permanent stop to galleon sailings.
The Route
From Manila, the galleons sailed to southern Luzon onto Embocadero, the Northern
Samar island that was the final stop before sailing to the Pacific Ocean. The galleons
then began their ocean journey, climbing northeastward above the Marianas, and then
following the trade winds on an almost straight course to the California coast, before
falling southeast towards Acapulco. The return voyage was faster, taking a southerly
route for three months at the most, passing through the Marshall Islands and stopping
over at Guam on the last leg of the journey westward of the Philippines.
Manila as Entrepot
The first galleon left Cebu in June 1565, carrying a small shipment of cinnamon from
Mindanao. Manila, however, proved best fit by nature and economic geography to be
the central entrepot of the Oriental trade. To the Spaniards, Manila was “the mistress of
many seas and the capital of so many archipelagos, the center and depository of the
Orient.”
The Goods
Although the presence of the Chinese in the islands predated the Spanish by centuries,
the galleon trade’s demand for Chinese products spurred the continuous flow of
merchants and emigrants into Manila. The regular arrival of the Chinese junks
eliminated the necessity for direct trade with China.
By the 17th century, an average of fifty junks visited Manila annually. Besides silk, the
Chinese brought everything from needles to gunpowder, to all kinds of spices and
precious stones.

The Manton de Manila that became much coveted merchandise in Mexico and Spain
was, in reality, a silk shawl from China.
From Manila, the galleons shipped Ming Dynasty porcelain and silks from China, spices
from the Moluccas, perfumes from Arabia, rugs from Persia, fine muslin from Madras,
and pearls from Sulu. In exchange, the New World poured millions of its wealth into the
Philippines in the form of silver coins. The Spaniards, Mexicans, and Spanish-
Americans who crossed the Pacific on the galleons brought with them a wide variety of
tropical American flora, including papaya, cacao, pineapple, peanuts, varieties of beans,
chico (sapodilla), and avocado.
Religious images and icons found their way to the islands through the galleons as well.
In 1626, the image of Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje was brought by a noted
passenger, Don Juan Niño de Tabora, when he got assigned to be the governor-
general of the islands. The Marian image, which became the patroness of the galleons
for several years, was housed in the Manila Cathedral while the galleons docked in
Manila.
Aside from goods, the galleons brought in and out of the islands Spanish and Mexican
religious and political personages to maintain the colony for 250 years.
Shipbuilding
In 250 years, 108 galleons crossed the Pacific, but only 50 were constructed for the
Manila-Acapulco trade. In the beginning, ships were sent from Mexico. But from the
1570s, galleons were built in several shipyards in Pangasinan, Cavite, Marinduque,
Albay, Camarines, Masbate—all of them safe ports—with access to plentiful supplies of
timber and native labor.
Thousands of natives were assembled to build the galleons, while supplies to feed,
clothe, and arm the crew were requisitioned by the government from the provinces in
the form of levies and taxes.
It was in Cavite that most of the galleons were built, repaired, and refitted for each new
voyage. The shipyard, which was 10 miles from Manila, was guarded by the guns of
San Felipe and protected by the mountains from strong gales.
An order in 1679 prohibited the construction of Manila-Acapulco galleons outside the

Philippines.
The skeleton of the wooden ship is a complex system, with timbers joined together to
form the frame, to which the planks and decks are attached. Shipbuilders used
hardwood from the islands, which were excellent for shipbuilding.

Declares Father Fray Casimiro Diaz, OSA “The best that can be found in the universe…
and if not for the quality of the timbers, so dangerous voyages could have not been
performed.”
Other than locally sourced woods, the sail cloth is made from mantas de Ilocos and, for
the rigging material, abaca or Manila hemp was discovered as a good substitute for
rigging materials originally sourced from Spain and Acapulco.
From China and Japan, iron and lead, brought in the rough and wrought in Cavite, were
made into nails and bolts.
Despite the laws restricting the size and tonnage of the galleons, bigger ships were
made in Manila to respond to the orders for bigger lading space. By 1579, some ships
were 700-tonners; before 1614, there were 1,000 tonners. The galleons used to fight
the Dutch and the Portuguese exceeded 2,000 tons.
The Rosario had a tonnage of 1,710 and a space of 18,667 piezas (packages), when
the maximum was only 4,000; while the Santisima Trinidad was 2,000 tons.
The legal size would increase to 560 tons in 1720, but this had little impact on the trade.
Significantly, it was the smaller galleons which beat off pirate attacks.
Castles of the Sea, these strong galleons as described by Fray Casimiro Diaz, were
indeed a declaration that mobility was sacrificed to resistive power. According to English
sea captain and privateer “These large ships were built on excellent timber that will not
splinter… they have very thick sides, much stronger than (those) we build in Europe.”
“The English put 1080 eighteen and twenty four balls into the Santisima Trinidad without
penetrating her sides,” as chronicled by Pedro Calderon Enriquez.
Supervised by a Spaniard with experience in naval construction, constructing the

galleons in the hands of the Chinese or native maestros. The rough work in the
shipyard, the felling of the trees, transporting logs through the mountains to the sea
coast or keeping them afloat in the river, and hewing and planing timber was performed
by a native workforce conscripted under the Reparmiento de Labor (colonial forced
labor system).
The galleons that crossed the Pacific were meant initially as merchant ships, and thus
were not equipped with artillery for defense. But after pirates assaulted the Santa Ana
while off the coast of Baja California, Mexico in 1587, the King ordered the compulsory
outfitting of ships with cannons, the enlisting of experienced soldiers to parry attacks,
and the use of thick lumbers found in the islands, which made the ships even more
pitifully slow.

Draped in Silk - About The Galleon Trade PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Draped in Silk - About The Galleon Trade PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Draped in Silk - About The Galleon Trade PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

RCBC Plaza

Corner Ayala & Gil J. Puyat Avenues

YUCHENGCO Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines 1200

Draped in Silk: The Journey of the Manton de Manila

An order in 1679 prohibited the construction of Manila-Acapulco galleons outside the

Supervised by a Spaniard with experience in naval construction, constructing the

You might also like