This groundbreaking book presents the first full history of the Manila galleons, which marked the true beginning of a global economy. Arturo Giraldez, the world’s leading scholar of the galleons, traces the rise of the maritime route, which began with the founding of the city of Manila in 1571 and ended in 1815 when the last galleon left the port of Acapulco in New Spain (Mexico) for the Philippines, establishing a permanent connection between the Spanish empire in America with Asian countries, most importantly China, the main supplier of commodities during that era. Throughout the two-and-a-half-century history of the Manila galleons, the strategic commodity fuelling global networks was always silver. Giraldez shows how this most important of precious metals shaped world history, with influences that stretch to the present.
Arturo Giraldez is professor of modern languages and literature at the University of the Pacific.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments IntroductionChapter One: The Philippines before the SpaniardsMonsoons, Islands, and the “Rim of Fire”Native Peoples on the ShoresBarangays and the Age of Commerce after 1405The Mountain Peoples The Gold of the Visayas and the Harvest of Cowries The Mediterranean Connection and the Long Post-1400 Trade Boom China and the Islands before Spain Chapter Two: The Origins of Spanish Settlement in the PhilippinesManila and the Origins of World Trade Atlantic Silver in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries China and the Global Market in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries The Discovery of the Sea: Iberians and Spices The Military Revolution and the 35 Percent of the World The Portuguese and the Vasco da Gama Era Ferdinand Magellan Spanish Expeditions to the Spice Islands Miguel López de LegázpiSpaniards in LuzonExploration of LuzonChapter Three: Spanish Settlement in the PhilippinesThe First Decades of the Colony and “The China Enterprise”Settling Down in the PhilippinesThe “Magellan Exchange” and the IslandsA New Agricultural RegimeReorganizing the TerritoryThe Colony’s FinancesNative Contributions to the Colonial EconomyThe SituadoThe Role of Manila in the New Territorial ArrangementsIndirect Rule: The Principal'aColonial AdministrationChapter Four: The Seventeenth CenturyThe “Little Ice Age” The End of the Silver CycleThe Eighty Years’ War with the NetherlandsThe Philippines and the War with the Dutch The Moro WarsJapan and the FriarsThe Portuguese in ManilaThe European Companies The Armenian DiasporaThe New Christians’ Mercantile Diaspora The End of the Century Chapter Five: The GalleonsThe Line The Voyage Officers and Sailors Acapulco Chapter Six: The Economy of the LineChina and Silver in the Modern Era Textiles and the Galleons Galleon Line Regulations A Royal Inspector’s Visit Chinese Merchants: The Sangleys The Chinese Rebellion of 1603 The Rebellion of 1640 Chapter Seven: The Eighteenth Century and the Galleon LineA New Ecological Regime The Mexican Silver Cycle The Tea and Opium Cycle The War of Jenkins’ Ear and the Manila GalleonThe Seven Years’ War in the PhilippinesThe Chinese in Eighteenth-Century PhilippinesReforms in the Philippines The Moro Wars in the Eighteenth Century Changes in Spanish Imperial PolicyThe End of the Galleon TradeThe End of the LineNotesBibliographyIndexAbout the Author