Manila Galleon Trade
The Manila galleon trade was the Spanish shipping route that linked Manila with Acapulco across the Pacific from 1565 to 1815, carrying American silver west and Chinese silk, porcelain, and other Asian goods east.
What happened and why it matters
The Manila galleons ran the first regular trans-Pacific shipping lane, the ancestor of today's Asia to US West Coast trade. The route became possible in 1565, when Andres de Urdaneta found a return passage by sailing north to catch favorable winds and currents, reaching Acapulco that October. Mexican silver bought Asian goods in Manila, and from Acapulco mule trains carried cargo overland to Mexico City and Veracruz for shipment on to Spain. That ocean, land, and ocean sequence is an early form of intermodal freight, like containers moving from Asia through Los Angeles by rail to the East Coast.
Related events
Sources
- Manila galleon en.wikipedia.org
- Philippines: The 19th century britannica.com