Age of Trade

Arturo Giraldez is professor of modern languages and literature at the University of the Pacific.

Giráldez seeks to bridge the disciplinary gap between those who study the early modern Americas and those who analyze the Spanish Empire from a European perspective by examining the so-called galleon trade, the Spanish-controlled shipping link that connected the Philippines with Mexico between 1565 and the early 1800s. This link, the author argues, represents the dawn of the global economy in that it turned global trade into an uninterrupted flow. Fueled by Chinese demand for American silver and New World demand for porcelain, silk, spices, and ivory, the galleon trade was vital to the global Spanish Empire. The author discusses how the Spanish, taking advantage of endemic internal conflict, settled the Philippines and turned Manila into an emporium; how Manila's ethnic Chinese population played a vital role in its trade; and how political unrest and natural disaster disrupted traffic until, in the late 18th century, unrest in China, the British occupation of Manila, the expulsion of the indispensable Chinese community, and changing consumer taste among Mexico’s upper classes caused a severe decline in trade. . . .[T]his study...does a fine job showing how the galleon trade closed the last gap in the globe-spanning web of trade. Summing Up: Recommended. General, public, and undergraduate collections.

• 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 PrincipalíaColonial 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